Inspirational - Article

We Want To Play, Too

Jer 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

It is very possible that some of you remember the feeling of being the last one chosen for the softball game in your school years. It is quite possible that thoughts of inferiority or rejection were creeping into your mind as you watched everyone else that was a "good" player being chosen to play on the team and you were left standing alone. Maybe you can still hear the groans from the team members as you struck out for the 10th time in as many days. You just could not measure up to the standard demanded of the game, so after a time, you gave up trying.

Our scripture verse indicates a much more serious outcome than being rejected at a softball game. It seems there is a sense of despair as this scene unfolds. According to some commentators, Jeremiah is describing the scene in Jerusalem as it had been under siege of King Nebuchadnazzer for 2 years and finally the famine was so great that the account in 2 Kings 25:3 tells us, "And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land." It appears from the verse in Jeremiah that they had been waiting, and waiting, and waiting and yet no one appeared to deliver them from the siege they were under. Jeremiah gives us the scene of the cold winter descending on the wheat fields after the warm summer days had turned into autumn, and the reapers had put up their scythes for the season, and turned a deaf ear to the cries of the forgotten grain left standing in the fields, "we are not saved".

"We are not saved" should grip us to the point that we are willing to get out of our comfort zones, out of our easy chairs, out of our complacency, and out into the night where souls are perishing and hearts are despairing, out into the cold night where they are waiting to receive bread from our table. They stand on the outside of the fence and look in as we talk about reaping methods, the best kind of grain, whose responsibility it is to actually do the work, and all the while this cry "we are not saved" reaches our ears but misses our hearts.

Why is it that so few are really being saved out of the world and into the church of Jesus Christ? Why is it that the few that we do "save" out of the world are soon discontented and they then soon begin their quest for greener pastures. Is it because the "harvest" just does not appreciate the "harvesters" or might there be a possibility that the "harvester" needs an overhaul to become more effective? Are we content to play the same old game while they call to us from the sidelines, "we want to play too"? But, we say, "You'll make the team look bad" and, "you don't throw the ball the way we throw it", and, "other teams will not think so highly of us if we let you play", and, "you call the pitches balls that we call strikes and strikes that we call balls". "Why don't you go learn how to play and then we will accept you", we say by our actions, and as they go away from us, we hear again those awful words, "We are not saved"!

This team, the church of our Captain and Lord, is endeavoring to win the warfare against the opposing team, of which Satan is in control. He is using his aggressive tactics in his attempts to subdue us and keep us from winning. It is he who is keeping us in our comfort zones. It is he who is making us satisfied with the idea that Bible says "few will be saved" and so, we give up trying. It is he who is telling us "they're not salvageable, you couldn't work with their situation". It is he who is making us feel smug because we have "rescued" a few and thereby have "done that which is our duty to do"!

I offer a few things to consider as we ponder the statement "we are not saved". Yes, many of us do live in a world where people are basically self-sufficient and who, by their standard, have need of nothing. I also realize there is a smorgasbord of religion available to choose from. I also realize it is not nearly as costly to accept the watered-down version of the gospel. Is this really the reason that so few are truly being "saved"? I use the term "saved" not in the sense of salvation, but rather in the sense of a person being rescued from functioning as a person out on his own to being brought into company and fellowship with other pilgrims in their pilgrimage to the heavenly country.

1. "They are not saved" because they quickly learn that there is a deficiency under the veneer that we have become so adept at portraying. Do we feel threatened when they take a peek into our hearts, our ethics, our homes, and our relationships to see what we really are made of? My friend Gregory, recently purchased a house and was keen on seeing if the floorboards under the carpets could be used as a "hardwood floor" that he loves. Imagine his joy, as he lifted the carpet, in discovering, that there were in fact already there, polished hardwood floors! Do these people have the same rewarding spiritual experience when they take a peek into our lives? They have already seen so much of the psuedo Christianity in their journey that they are ready to see genuine Christians through and through!

2. "They are not saved" because the agape love Christ lived and taught is lacking. John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. There can be an evangelization program that is second to none in its organization and methods but if this important ingredient of true Christian love is missing on the inside we will not see the results Christ desires from us. We would conclude with James, "This man's religion is vain". They will know there is true love being practiced when each one "esteems others better than himself". They will know there is true love being practiced when we have the grace to say with John the Baptist, "He must increase but I must decrease". Are we willing to be as a stepstool to make so our brother can reach higher while I am receiving little attention? They will know true love is being practiced when brethren are peacemakers and not piece makers and are able to work through their differences rather than causing church divisions. We probably all remember in our childhood how we argued about which is the best, Ford or Chevy, John Deere or International, Holsteins or Jerseys, PowerStroke or DuraMax! I am afraid we have carried some of our childhood tendencies right into adulthood and sadly, into the church. We quibble over the insignificant and divide over the trivial. There is something that alarms me even more, and that is how "spiritual" we make our arguments sound. Is this not the spirit of the Pharisees whom Jesus dealt with in a harsher manner than with any other class of people? Ro 14:17-19 tells us; For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith

one may edify another

3. "They are not saved" because we are not comfortable in allowing them to stretch forth our tents. Isa 54:1,2 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. This is a beautiful picture of effective evangelism! How beautiful it must be to God, when the desolate, the abandoned, the rejected, the outcasts, and the no-good players, are all brought into the "tent" (the church) and there they find refuge, acceptance, honor, and understanding. Too often our idea of church growth is when families from other communities move into our "tent" for various reasons and then our "tent" become large enough to start an "outreach tent" which then appeals to families from other
communities again. This is not what it means to have "them" stretch forth the curtains of our habitations. I am not minimizing the importance of evangelism by colonization, but lets not be satisfied with doing only that. It blesses my heart to look through our various church directories and see various last names there that have not been among us since the early stages of the Mennonite churches in America. Allowing "them" to stretch forth our tent implies that we must be willing to look at issues through their eyes. How willing are we to accept advice and suggestions from them? Do they know that we value their input even though it may be different from the way we are used to doing things? Can we allow our horizons to be broadened as they pose questions to us? Are we then willing to change our methods if there is pointed out a better way to us? I fear at times there is a deep-seated religious pride that keeps us from ministering effectively to them.

4. "They are not saved" because of our pursuit of materialism. While Jesus was conversing with the woman at the well, the disciples were gone into the village to buy lunch. Very likely they met the woman coming out as they were going in. Their objective was, get a hamburger - avoid the Samaritans - get back to Jesus - and on up to Galilee where their "own" people were residing. They were quite astonished when they came back to Jesus and saw him taking the time to talk with the lady. They offered the lunch to Jesus but it seems that Jesus was not interested in material things as they were. He said, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of". How often are we so intent in our materialistic pursuits that we "see but do not see" the real needs all around us? I remember some time ago hearing a message in which the minister was teaching that the antidote to materialism is not in the scaling back of our operations or in selling some of our assets, but it's in reaching out to the lost.

May God grant to us the humility to change where he convicts. May He grant us true love that moves us with compassion to "seek and to save that which was lost". May He grant us the passion of His own heart that is best expressed in Ps 147:2,3 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

We Are Not Saved

We are not saved; hear the cries of the lost,

Will you not help us, regardless of cost?

The summer is ended, the harvest is past,

Will you not share of that which thou hast?

We are not saved; is there no one who grieves,

That we are left out, to robbers and thieves?

Do you not mind that we stand all alone,

alone in the night, with no place to call home?

We are not saved; let us into your tent,

It's so warm and inviting, from heaven it's sent

We want to belong, is our hearts greatest cry

Will you not please, just give us a try?

We are not saved; the siege has been long,

The battle's been fierce, the enemy strong.

We long for your help, your comfort, your cheer

Victory is sweet when companions are near.

We are not saved; the night is so cold,

Who then is courageous, willing and bold,

To move from complacency, slumber and sleep

To step up and be counted, the harvest to reap?

Lord, give us a burden for the harvest so great,

To save a few souls before it's too late

And give us the joy of hearing them praise,

Their Lord and their Master, for now they are saved!

Unknown