A few weeks ago, in a cornfield out in Iowa, Major League Baseball put on a real Field of Dreams game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. The game lived up to its billing, providing three home runs in the last inning, not to mention a walk-off home run that gave the White Sox the victory. Fantasy became reality as a movie came to life.
Jesus once spoke about fields, but he didn’t have baseball in mind. Jesus talked to his disciples about the fields being ripe for harvest (Matthew 9:35-38). Now, a cornfield is getting closer to the picture Jesus had in mind. The only difference is the corn would have represented people. If you plant corn, you know you have to wait and pray, hoping the corn seed you planted will be met with the right conditions so that one day you can pick real corn off the stalk.
In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus talked about sowing seed and the different types of soil that the seed falls on. Jesus said the seed was the Word of God (Matthew 13:1-23). If we are not careful, I think we might confuse these two different accounts. In the latter account, Jesus is talking about people’s reactions to the gospel seeds that we sow. Some people will receive the gospel and some people will not.
But Matthew 9:35-38 is different. Jesus is saying that the fields are ALWAYS ripe for harvest. There are people right now who are ready to receive the gospel, if only we will share. It is true that we will sow gospel seeds and sometimes have wait to wait many years before we see the fruit of it in people’s lives. But it is equally true that sometimes we will sow gospel seeds and see immediate fruit. Not everyone receives the gospel the first time they hear, but some do. At the same time, sometimes we reap what others sow. You may share the gospel with someone who has heard it a thousand times, and you just happen to be the one who leads that person to the Lord. That’s what Jesus is saying in this account: Look up, There is always corn ready to be picked!
Many denominations and churches have lost their way. They wonder why their numbers are plummeting. The answer is rather quite simple. They’ve stopped harvesting. A church or denomination that stops winning people to the Lord will eventually die in the same way that a crop will die without water. We must share the gospel with everyone everywhere everyday so that all the gospel seeds that have been planted by us or others will continued to be watered.
Most church leaders agree that the church has at least five purposes, which are mandated from Scripture. Though given different names by different leaders, those five purposes are Worship, Ministry, Discipleship, Fellowship, and Evangelism. I would add Prayer to that list. However, of those five, I would consider one to be essential or primary. You might think it to be Worship because after all, didn’t John Piper say that missions exists because worship doesn’t. Piper’s analysis is correct, but glorifying God is the end-result. Without people being won to to the Lord, Worship, Ministry, Discipleship, and Fellowship simply cannot happen.
My dream is that struggling churches would return to following Jesus by being “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). That Jesus would open their eyes so that they would see corn as far as their eyes can see (a trip to Iowa in the middle of harvest season might be a good place to start). That they would once again “seek and save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10).
If I was a lost person, the last place I would want to go is to church. I would have no desire and would feel out of place (kind of like a fish out of water). But, if I had just come to know the Lord, the first place I would want to go is to church. I would crave the exhortation, edification, and encouragement from being with other like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ. The culture we live in has changed. The church needs to stop inviting people to church and start inviting people to Jesus. Cultivate relationships with lost people on their field. We’re the road team now. Go to their homes and do things with them that they enjoy doing. It might be going to a ballgame. Then, initiate gospel conversations. If you are then able to pick some corn, don’t leave them out to dry. The first thing you should do is invite them to attend church with you. After all, you’re already friends.