“When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do safe things? That faithfulness is, holding the fort? That playing it safe, is safe? That there is any greater privilege than sacrifice? That radical is anything but normal? Jesus didn’t die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous. Faithfulness is not holding the fort. It’s storming the gates of hell. The will of God is not an insurance plan. It’s a daring plan. The complete surrender of your life to the cause of Christ isn’t radical, it’s normal. It’s time to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. It’s time to go all in and all out for the All in All.”
All In — Mark Batterson, Pastor National Community Church, Washington, DC.
An ethos is the sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group or institution. In an ethos where a man no longer “clings to life” but rather dies to self and lives to serve others, a man “really comes alive”. Reminds me of that great line from the movie Braveheart, “All men die, few men ever really live!” Christian men today can personally experience this paradox that Jesus spoke of. The word for “life” that Jesus used in Matthew 10:35 and 16:25 was psuche, which refers to our heart and soul, not necessarily our physical life. Jesus used the same word for “life” in John 10:11, the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep, as He set the bar for our own conduct, by freely giving his heart and soul for us. In giving His heart and soul Jesus also gave His life. Religion gives us an endless list of rules to follow whereas Jesus gives us an exciting life to follow, which continues to create martyrs in many lands.
My bride of 52 summers, Pat, has journaled her conversations with Holy Spirit for many years. Here is an entry I found from doing a word search of “harvest” after the word this Sunday morning. It seems to be even more relevant to our human condition in 2023 than when originally given to her. Please open your heart as you read it.
Thoughts: A new day…Open doors…Renewed vision.
Holy Spirit: “If I were to say to you this day… ‘the world is your oyster, and many are the pearls to be found in
it’…what would that mean to you?”
Pat: Maybe, that each soul is a pearl, and of great price; that the price for all has been paid; that the pearls must be harvested.
Holy Spirit: “Yes, it is a picture of harvest…and still the laborers are few.”
Pat: What does this mean for me Lord?
Holy Spirit: “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into His harvest.”
From the Journal of Pat Barnes July 8, 2017
Jesus gives us, in Matthew 9:36-38, a succinct synopsis of the human condition. In addition, our Lord identifies, in the simplest of terms, a strategic objective, to harvest souls, and a tactical imperative, to ask for workers to send out as harvesters. This synopsis alone, The What, and our response to it, is the silver bullet that can change the human condition. Jesus lays out in Matthew 10:1 His plan, the how, for us to accomplish the what. Jesus gave his disciples authority over all the demonic forces and sickness that held men captive. Authority is simply delegated power to act on behalf of another. In this case, as Christ followers, we have been given this same authority to be harvesters, not spectators. Brothers, we can do this!
Two thoughts:
(1) The operative word is compassion or splanchnizomai, meaning to be moved inwardly, to yearn
for relief in the distress of others. Our emotionally based culture is noted for the sympathy for many issues.
However, compassion is much different, being compelled by a strong desire or passion to alleviate the suffering or misfortune being experienced by others. Compassion is a response of the heart…not a response of the soulish nature. Jesus had compassion on them because He saw sheep without a shepherd, the same scene that is before us now. In combat, I was trained for and given authority to look for and engage targets of opportunity as I patrolled my area of responsibility. This is a very appropriate mind-set for we men as spiritual warriors in 2023.
(2) Jesus looked out on the human condition and saw “a field that was ripe and ready for harvest.” A warrior might view this as “a target rich environment” or even as multiple “targets of opportunity”. Both views stir one up for action because of the opportunity to fulfill our purpose…our Ephesians 2:10 and Jeremiah 29:11…the reason we get up in the morning. This motivation must come from the heart, driven by love…not a works mentality. Our highest goal is not the recognition and applause of men, rather the applause of nail-scarred hands.
Observation: The problem is this…in the American Church, many men look out on the culture and see chaos and people with problems, rather than opportunities to serve them. Men have sought ways to insulate themselves from these problems so they have retreated into safe places like their office, their residence, their hobbies, church programs/buildings, etc. The problem with this motivation to insulate, to avoid sacrifice and to play it safe, is that the harvest “is out there”, outside our buildings…outside our homes…outside our comfort zones. As C.S. Lewis once proffered, “we have created a culture of spiritual eunuchs.”
Recommendation: That we men intentionally set aside some prayer times for hearts to be changed inside our
buildings so that compassion would then overtake our motivations…then we could “see” what Jesus sees, the
harvest, the strategic objective, and ask the Lord of the Harvest to send us, to the tactical imperative into His harvest fields. I believe repentance and prayer will bring a new awakening! Isaiah 42:9 and 43:19. “Jesus died to make us dangerous men”, not to be men who set their goal in life to arrive safely at death!
Barney Barnes, 02-19-2023, Warrior Spirit Ministries