Beloved, if there is one person you do not even know who makes it into heaven because of you that has to be worth the effort. I remember preaching one night and afterward is the time when people like to come up and say something nice about the Word but this time, no one was coming forward. I remember my flesh getting up and just when I was about to simply walk out, one man came up to me and said that he had walked into church that night on the last leg of his Christianity and that the sermon restored his faith in God. I heard God at that moment in my heart say that the sermon that night was for this man. We get into this mega-church mentality that demands huge results every time out and when the results are lessened we think that somehow we have failed. God's Word does not return void beloved. Your efforts are always necessary and always fruitful:
When one of you says, "I am a follower of Paul," and another says, "I follow Apollos," aren't you acting just like people of the world? After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God's servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It's not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God's workers. And you are God's field. You are God's building. -- 1Corinthians 3: 4-9 (NLT)
Maybe your efforts are planting a seed and maybe it is watering a seed. Either way, it is God who gives the increase and sometimes, we will not around to see that increase. That does not mean that your planting or watering were of any less value. It just means that you cannot see the end result. I believe when we get to heaven we will see the people there that are there solely because of the efforts we made. The key verse today contains a couple of encouraging truths for us to quickly examine today. First of all, we are not to grow weary from doing good! The problem however, is from the very fleshly desire to be rewarded somehow for our good-doing. We want our do-good efforts to be acknowledged. We want the pat on the back or the attaboy but they do not always come. I remember I was going to quit writing a couple of years ago. It takes a lot of effort to write as much as I do and I started to believe the whisperings of the enemy that no one was reading! That no one appreciated the efforts. I prayed and said that I was going to stop. I received an email that night from someone on my list who was confined to a wheelchair due to a motorcycle accident. She wanted me to know that my writing had restored her faith. She passed away just a few days later. God dealt with me then and said that it is not my concern what is going on behind the scenes. It has to be enough to know that God is working behind the scenes. That God is giving the increase.
Secondly from the key verse we see that there is a harvest for our efforts at the proper time. We however, do not get to select that time. God is sovereign. If we have to wait until we are in the glory of heaven to see the harvest for our efforts, then so be it. Other times, we may see the fruit of our efforts. Sometimes we can see it and sometimes we cannot. We must live by faith however that when God is our partner, we do not have to worry about the usefulness of our efforts. He took a couple of fish and some loaves of bread and fed thousands upon thousands of people. He can certainly take my marginal efforts and produce a harvest I can only imagine. We just cannot give up. Only the devil wants us to give up.
The spirit of discouragement is very real beloved and the enemy loves to wield it against the children of God. These words today are not to infer that we can avoid discouragement but rather how to defeat it. We need to remember that what we are going through -everyone goes through. Even the great and mighty people in the Bible such as Elijah and Joseph went through discouragement. We are never alone. And we need to stop listening to the whispers of the enemy. We need to remember all God has already done for us. He is always faithful beloved. The Bible says that He who started a good work in us will finish that work until the day Christ returns. We need to check what we are being taught. There is nothing but misery in this world beloved. Happiness is a fleeting feeling we chase but never expect to catch. Joy however is firmly rooted in Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever. When Jesus has the supremacy in our lives then there is no condition that can alter the joy found in our position. Lastly, we have to remember that we do not get to see the results of our efforts in ministry all the time. We have to have faith in God. That He will give the increase and that when we see Him in glory there will be a harvest of people there who are there because of our efforts today. Don't give the devil an inch. Be encouraged today in Jesus name.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 20, 2013
