That rebuke Jesus gave his disciples should be understood by anyone who professes to be a Christian. We all have an obligation to tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ. There are people who are searching for life’s answers, there are those that are looking for a better way, and there are those that are questioning why they are here – Jesus tells us to Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. Our faith should be demonstrated in our compassion for the souls of others; the Lord Jesus Christ explained to his disciples that For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). When Jesus called Simon and Andrew He did not call them to be saved pew sitters; he went to them And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:18). He called his disciples to be an active people. I have often wondered if this is one of the many things that James referred to when he wrote Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works (James 2:18). In my mind there is no better litmus test of one’s faith than if they are actively trying to win others to the Lord Jesus Christ.
James wrote to those who willingly and literally take on the challenge of telling others about the Lord Jesus Christ that our work is not in vain: Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins (James 5:20). For the lost that we are able to bring to Jesus we bring them to a point of total forgiveness, a point where their sins are now blotted out by a holy and loving God. It may be that we are the planters of the word of God and others get to do the harvesting; the Lord Jesus Christ promises that those who plant and those who harvest are equally blessed and will share in the rewards and rejoicing when a lost person turns to Christ as the source of their eternal salvation: And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours (John 4:36-38).
As Christians, we must feel a burden to tell those who are lost about our faith in Jesus Christ. The mighty king and psalmist David understood the compassion that drives us to want to share our faith in God with others. He wrote, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him (Psalms 126:5-6). It should burden us to the point of tears that there are lost people around us. It should bother us that the person who cuts our hair, who delivers our mail, a family member, or the person who repairs our car might be heading for eternal condemnation in a literal lake of fire. It should bother us to the extent that the verse in Jude, And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen (Jude 22-23) becomes a description of our efforts to reach others with the good news – the gospel – of the Lord Jesus Christ.
