Sermon: The Gospel Cycle: Pt.1 God Pays Wages and Gives Divine Favor to His Reapers
To refresh your memory, I refer you to the figure depicting the “Gospel Cycle.” (See below.) The Gospel Cycle consist of six supernatural events that occur continually in the lives of Christians who obey the command of Jesus Christ and go out and preach the gospel to the people of this world who are lost. (Mark 16:15) When the gift of God is stirred up in the Christian reaper, with boldness they will preach the gospel of Christ and give their personal testimony, and many people will believe on Jesus and be born-again. The Reaper will perform mighty miracles, which in turn will get the attention of many other people who will hear and believe the gospel and be saved. Most assuredly, whenever the gospel is preached, the Reaper will suffer persecution at the hands of unbelievers in society and God will show Himself strong and deliver them, witnessing through the lives of Reapers that God is with them always.
Today, we will begin examining the last supernatural event in the cycle: God pays wages and gives divine favor to Reapers. This is my favorite part of the cycle of events. Not because I love money and material things. Rather, because most Christians do not believe that God will pay them money when they preach the gospel and win the lost to Christ. Frankly, it’s amazing to me how Christians can struggle so much with this truth. Think about it, Christians have faith that God through His son Jesus, has freely given to us salvation, healing, and deliverance from all types of bondage. But, Christians struggle to believe that God will pay wages and give favors to those who preach the gospel to the lost.
Perhaps Christians would benefit from this example. Think of a parent and child relationship. Imagine that a thief came and kidnapped the child and took them far away and treated them very badly. The heart-broken parent searched near and far for the child for many years but could not find the child. But then suddenly, a Good Samaritan happened to find and rescue the child from the clutches of the kidnapper, and returned the child to the parent. Now tell me, wouldn’t the parent be both grateful and gracious to the Good Samaritan? Surely, the parent would seek to do all that they could to reward the Samaritan for returning the child to them. And, the parent and child would never forget the Samaritan.
God has purposed in His heart to give Reapers wages and divine favor when the gospel of Christ is preached and souls are saved. At John 3:16-18, we learn from Jesus, that God so loved the world that He gave His only precious Son, that any person who believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life—and never will come into condemnation. Jesus Christ, sacrificed His life on the cross to pay the ransom owed for all mankind who were held captive by Satan and in bondage to sin. (Romans 5:8)
For spreading this good news to those who do not know Jesus and winning them to Him, God, like the parent referenced above, is grateful and gracious toward the Reaper for bringing the child of God back to Him. Oh please see the heart of God for the lost as expressed at II Peter 3:9-10. God is not willing for any of His children to perish when this world comes to an end—as certainly it will. But He desires that all people would repent of their sins, receive forgiveness, and live for Him. Again, it is the Reaper who works with God to preach the gospel of Christ, so the lost person can repent and receive salvation. When just one precious soul is won to Christ, with great joy a party breaks out in heaven! (Luke 15:10)
It is without question or debate that God sees to it that Reapers are handsomely rewarded for their work in winning the lost to Christ. Jesus assures us of this truth in many scriptures:
*Luke 10:1-9, note in verse 8 Jesus said “the laborer is worthy of his hire.”
*John 4:35-38, in verse 38 Jesus guarantees that anyone who reaps the lost will receive “wages and gathers fruit unto eternal life.”
*I Timothy 5:18, The Apostle Paul notes that the reaper is “worthy of his reward.”
* Mark 10:29-30, Jesus assured His disciples, that anyone who leaves their own home and obligations for His sake and the gospels, shall receive 100 times more in this life time material wealth and social fulfillment, with persecutions.
From these scriptures we can conclude that God would be unjust and unfair to require the Reaper to preach the gospel and win souls to Christ, and not pay wages as He promised. Thus, the Reaper should faithfully expect to receive wages and divine favor from God as they work to bring the lost to Christ. There are only two things God cannot do, and that is, lie and fail!