A Labouring Spirit

The real mission of Jesus Christ has always been to reconcile men to God. Jesus says to His disciples in Luke 10:2, “… The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”

Jesus has never seen the shortage of the harvest. There are always sinners ripe for harvest. There are always backsliders in need for a re-harvest. The only shortage was and is still the shortage of laborers. Multitudes followed Jesus everyday yet he saw a only a few laborers among them. Likewise, we have many members in our churches but only a few are committed to the ministry's vision of soul winning and church growth.

The real challenge which God must and is helping us with this year is how to convert more and every member into laborers. We need to have more people committing to laboring in the Lord's vineyard as they are committed to the business of making money and attaining other achievements. In fact, we need more people who will come to the understanding that, if we will commit to God and His work, then it will be easier to attain the other things we seek.

Matthew 6:33- “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” and Exodus 23: 25- “And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” What then does it take to develop a laboring spirit? I believe strongly that no man can have a fervent laboring spirit until he knows and appreciates what God has done for him.

The Apostle Paul makes bold to say in 1 Corinthians 15: 9 – 10, “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

He knew the extent of the love with which he had been bestowed by God. He was not just a sinner, he was a persecutor and a killer of God's people and his due reward was for God to just kill him but God saw a church builder in him and helped him. Knowing and comparing the judgment he should have suffered with the salvation he got made him super grateful and this greatly influenced his service for God.

Do not take your salvation for granted. Whether you were born into a 'Christian background' or not, you were bound for hell until Jesus rescued you. Value your calling and make the grace bestowed on you count. The grace upon the Apostle Paul was available to all the rest but only he utilized it to the extent that he was able to boldly say, at the end of his life- “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

I also believe that you cannot cultivate a fervent laboring spirit until you begin to feel that you are the only one  available and willing to do the work. You see, when everybody expects somebody to do the work, everybody will finally discover that nobody will do the work. When somebody however realizes that the success of the work depends upon him, he stops expecting others to do it and he takes responsibility. In the work of the ministry, we need all hands on deck but everyone must have the 'I, only I' Elijah Spirit.

If each of us thinks like Elijah, we will be zealous, leaving no soul untouched. Apostle Paul labored more than all the rest because he concluded in his mind as seen in 1 Corinthians 9: 16- “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” He concluded that there was no one else to leave the work for. I also believe that one cannot cultivate a fervent laboring spirit until you agree that you came to Christ late and so you have to work harder, if possible to make up for lost time.

In 1 Corinthians 15: 8, he says “And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.” He came to the conclusion that he was a late comer and so he did not entertain the pleasure of laboring less. This reminds me of the parable of the house owner who went out severally to hire laborers for his vineyard in Matthew 20. This man went out to employ people at about 6am and they agreed on a wage of a penny a day.

When he saw that the laborers would not be able to finish the work, perhaps seeing their level of zeal, he went out at about 9am and hired more. He then had to hire more at 12 noon, at 3pm and even at about 5pm too and he promised to pay each of these extra men a commensurable rate. By 6pm, when he was ready to pay, he paid them all a penny each and this provoked the early workers to jealousy. He however maintained that he reserved the right to spend his money as he willed.
This man exemplifies God and each of us his children.

Some of us came into Christ early in childhood. Others came in as teens and youths while others came into faith in their middle ages and others much later in life. God is not going to reward me more because I got born again at age 5 and remained a Christian till I was 120 and He would not reward another man less because he gave his life to Christ at 119 and died a year later at 120.

We will be rewarded for how consistent we each are in fervency at redeeming the time. While the 6am laborers thought it wise to do it with wisdom seeing that the day was still long, the 5pm laborers were so grateful for the opportunity to work that they were zealous and diligent in their work in order to show the house owner that they would have done better if they had been employed earlier. In all, you cannot develop a laboring spirit until you convince yourself that time is of essence and that you must “be about my Father's business” whether you are 12 or 120 years of age.

Beloved, the Christian race is not a competition as it were, but it is. Jesus asked Peter in John 21: 15- “…Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” Peter the said to him, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee” and Jesus said “unto him, Feed my lambs.” This implies that I must strive to love Jesus and labour for Him even more than Bishop because He is looking for those who will go to any length to prove their love. Remember, that he says in Revelation 22: 12 – “… behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”