SLAVE FOR THE MASTER OF THE HARVEST

Throughout history millions of people have been enslaved, tortured, or killed because
others misused free will. History has proved the truth of what the prophets all said in
the scriptures with regards to man’s injustices to one another.

The term slave and slavery evokes strong negative thoughts for many because of the
abuse, hard labour, and loss of freedom that slaves in general have suffered.
Nevertheless the usage in the Christian parlance is not oppressive. Christians are
referred to as slaves of God because they have been bought with a price. The cost
had been with the precious blood of Christ Jesus the son of God.

By virtue of Christ Shed blood, all of us have been emancipated from slavery to sin
and death, thereby making ourselves available for service in God’s army. Let read
together 2 Cor 5:14, 15. If you’ve found it, it says, For the love the Christ has
compels us, because this is what we have judged, that one man died for all;
so, then, all had died; and he died for all that those who live might live no
longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised up.

It was love that moved Jehovah God to make everlasting life, the real life, available to
each one of us. He loved us and sent forth his Son as a propitiatory sacrifice for our
sins. Think, too, of the love that his Son Jesus showed in dying a painful death so that
we might obtain everlasting life! In light of the foregoing, what will you do with your
life?

Will your life be determined simply by personal preference? Will the deciding factor be
the advice of those wanting you to achieve a secure position in the secular world? Or
will what you do with your live be determined by superior considerations? The
inspired reminder says: He died for all that those who live might live no longer
for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised up.

We all are obligated to obey the commands of Jehovah. Like the Hebrew slave who
loves his master, Christians should be eager to serve the Master, Jehovah, who has
given them life and all its blessings. Les share the sentiments of Apostle John in 1
John 5:3. It says, for this is what the love of God means that we observe his
commandments; and yet his commandments are not burdensome.

Those commandments include preaching the Good news of God’s Kingdom and
keeping separate from the world and neutral in its conflicts, while doing our utmost to
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sanctify Jehovah’s name and practice true love.

The scriptures made it very clear that Christians should be eager to serve their Master
and only Him. Think of the implications of Jesus’ words when he said “No one can
slave for two masters”;

All people on earth today are in two categories- those who serve God as Disciples of
Christ and those who do not.

Jesus in his ministry showed that Jehovah is a caring and loving Master. On one of
such occasion Jesus saw the people in great spiritual need and felt pity for them. He
indicated to the disciples that they had a great deal of work ahead of them. Let’s read
this rendition in Matt 9:35-38. It says. And Jesus set out on a tour of all the
cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good
news of the Kingdom and curing every sort of infirmity. On seeing the
crowds he felt pity for them, because they were skinned and thrown about
like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciple:” Yes, the
harvest is great, but the workers are few. Therefore, beg the master of the
harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

Seeing the great spiritual need that the people had, Jesus said to his disciple “the
harvest is great, but the workers are few. Therefore, beg the master of the harvest to
send out workers into his harvest.”

After telling his disciples to ask for more workers, he sent out his 12 Apostles in pairs
on a preaching, or harvesting, tour. They had instructions as to how this job was to be
done. They were to preach the kingdom and most importantly they were not to get
sidetracked by materialism while participating in the harvest.

It was a thing of joy for all those who participated in the work of harvesting because
they received blessings from their loving master. These blessings included the
increase in the fold of more harvesters. In Pentecost 33 C.E., about 3000 were
baptized and Jehovah kept giving the increase.

Do we still need more workers in the harvest today?

In a forceful illustration, Jesus foretold that the harvest work would come to a climax
in the time of the end. Open your Bible to Matt 13:24-30. Another illustration he
set before them, saying: The kingdom of the Heavens has become like a
man that sowed fine seed in his field. While men were sleeping, his enemy
came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left. Then the blade
sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also. So the slaves of
the householder came up and said to him, Master, did you not sow fine seed
in your in your field? How, then, does it come to have weeds? He said to
them, an enemy, a man, did this. They said to him, do you want us, then, to
go out and collect them? He said, no; that by chance, while collecting the
weeds, you uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the
harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, first collect the
weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up, then go to gathering the
wheat into my storehouse.

A good harvest is always a reason for joy and thanksgiving. It is a time for reaping the
fruits of long, hard labour. The harvest foretold in Christ’s parable of the wheat and
the weeds would provide a twofold reason for all mankind to rejoice. Why? Not only
because it would mean the ingathering of the required number of sons of the kingdom
or holy ones, to be associated with Christ in his indefinitely lasting rulership, thus
ensuring good government for the earth, but also because this harvest would of itself
be proof that we are living at the conclusion of a system of things and at the dawn of
a righteous new order.

The sower represents God’s fellow workers, those who proclaim the Kingdom good
news as received from Jesus Christ.

The fine seed represents the kingdom message found in God’s Word, and recipients of
this message are the sons of the kingdom. The first of these being Jesus’ apostles, and
other disciples who received the gift of the holy spirit at Pentecost 33 C.E.

The enemy is the devil, and the weeds are the sons of the wicked one- his hypocritical
religious offspring in Christendom.

The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things.

Continuing his explanation of the illustration of the weeds in the field, Jesus stated:
The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels.
Therefore, just as the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be in the
conclusion of the system of things. The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they
would collect out from his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who

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are doing lawlessness, and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace. There is where
their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be.

As the sons of the kingdom let their light shine, many are coming to learn and worship
the Master of the Harvest. Since the Mid-1930’s, the influx of the great crowd of the
other sheep has been gaining momentum. Worldwide today, we number almost 7
million.

The big questions now are.

 Where do you stand with regards to the fulfilment of Jesus’ illustration of the wheat
and the weeds?

 Are you supporting the ingathering work being done by the wheat like anointed
brothers of Jesus?

Today we are all being invited to slave for the Master of the harvest. The great
harvest work taking place today requires many workers. All true worshippers of
Jehovah must participate in preaching and teaching kingdom truths to the best of his
or her circumstance. What encouragement those Paul have for us in 1 Cor 3:6, 7?
Read with me. I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow; so
that neither is he that plants anything nor is he that waters, but God who
makes it grow.

The implication of this scripture just read shows that we all are instruments in the
hands of our great God and Master, Jehovah.

Faithfulness on the part of the sower is not measured by the results of his work. Paul
alluded to that when he said, “each person will receive his own reward according to
his labour.” The reward is according to the labour, not according to the result of the
labour. Some will respond because of having a good heart condition, whereas many
would not.

Thousands today are being helped to come to an accurate knowledge of Jehovah’s

way. In Nigeria we have a total of 280,539 Publishers making up Jehovah’s slaves, and
workers in the field. Are you yet to take a stand for true worship? Are you yet to
become a publisher of the good news after many years of associating with Jehovah
people? Or, are yet to make a dedication to Jehovah after many years of service as a
publisher? The recommendation is to grow to full Christian maturity. Recognize your
personal responsibility to participate in the ministry. Just living a good life is not
enough; you must be active in producing kingdom fruitage. The Psalmist said in Ps 34:
1 and I quote “I will bless Jehovah at all times; constantly his praise will be in my
mouth. Let us heed Bible counsel to have plenty to do in the work of the lord.” We
urge all who are yet to take a stand for the truth to do so now, because the end is
near, and it is dangerous to keep putting off accepting responsibility and making
dedication.

Brothers, is it not a grand privilege to have a share in the great harvest work going on
under the direction of the Master of the harvest, Jehovah?

The joys and blessings are pictured by ancient Israel’s festival of ingathering, or
festival of booths. Just like celebrants of ancient festivals, great crowd today are
pictured as having palm branches in their hands and joyfully ascribing salvation to
God and to the Lamb.

Where do you stand with regard to the fulfilment of the illustration of the wheat and
weeds? The fact that the harvest of the sons of the kingdom is well advanced proves
that the conclusion of the system of things is nearing its end. Your attitude toward the
anointed brothers of Christ and the treatment you accord them will be the
determining factor as to whether you go into everlasting cutting off or receive
“everlasting life”. Prove yourself to be a loyal companion of the anointed class, the
faithful and discreet slave, whom Christ has appointed to provide spiritual food at the
proper time.

Keep active in the ingathering work, for remember, this good news of the kingdom will
be preached in all inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and the end will
come, and he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved.

Slave for the Master of the harvest and you would not be ashamed because grand and
beauteous are the rewards that comes from him. Are you ready to slave for the Master
of the Harvest?

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