Main Idea: The Law of the Harvest is the understanding that God’s best always results from a process that takes time.

Introduction: Anne Scheiber was 101 years old when she died in January of 1995. For decades Anne lived alone in a small rundown apartment in Manhattan that cost $400.00 a month. Anne retired from the IRS in 1943 at age 51 earning $3,150.00 a year. For the next 50 years of her life she lived off of Social Security and a small monthly pension from the IRS.

Anne was a very thrifty person because of her low income. She chose not to spend her money on herself—clothes or furniture were not an interest to her. She didn’t subscribe to a newspaper. The only entertainment she was known for was going to the public library to read the Wall Street Journal.

You can only imagine the surprise of Norman Lamm, the president of Yeshva University in New York City, when he was notified that his university was awarded the entire estate of Anne Scheiber, a woman he had never heard of or had ever attended his school. He was especially surprised that the estate of a woman totally unknown to him was valued at $22 million dollars.

How did this happen? How was this possible? Well, when Anne retired in 1943 she had managed to put aside $5,000 and chose to invest that money in stocks. By 1950 she had enough profit from that investment that she had $10,000 and bought stock in a pharmaceutical company. Due to stock splits and never touching the principle or dividends her estate compounded to $22 million. What was her secret for success? Essentially this—she spent most of her life building her worth. Regardless of what happened she somehow sensed that what mattered most for her money was not immediate but the result of a process developed over time.

Anne Scheiber’s story demonstrates in a material way a spiritual principle. It illustrates what is called the Law of the Harvest. What is the Law of the Harvest? For me, The Law of the Harvest is the understanding that God’s best always results from a process that takes time. Stephen Covey in his book First Things First uses this term to describe the idea that you get out of something what you put into it. John Maxwell in his book 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership calls it the Law of Process, describing the process that is required for leaders to develop and mature. Jesus used this principle in the Parable of the Talents, teaching that a person must invest God’s gifts to ever see their full potential. In fact the entire Bible is based on this principle that our life and this world is moving toward a destiny in eternity that results in our experiencing his best for all eternity!

This principle of the Law of the Harvest is tucked away in an obscure law found in Leviticus 19:23-25. The passage comes in a section of Leviticus dealing with laws of purity or holiness. The laws were given to guide Israel to understand that all of life was to be consecrated to God’s service. That would mean one day in seven, 10% of all produce, the first of a harvest, the first born of an animal and symbolically the first-born child. By giving it to God it showed a basic knowledge that nothing I can grasp with my hands ultimately belongs to me.

Yet when it came to fruit trees there was a difference. If God was to receive the best offering then the best was not going to come in the first three years. The typical fruit trees that were planted were the olive, fig and date palm. An olive tree is a very slow growing tree. A date palm takes 30 years to mature but can produce fruit for 200 years. So the law God prescribed required a process that was clear and would result in God being honored with the best and the farmer being given what would last for the longest amount of time.

The process was essentially a four-step plan. The farmer, first, plants the tree. Then as the tree grows he fertilizes, cultivates and prunes the tree. For a minimum of three years he does not eat or sell the fruit from the tree. In the fourth year the farmer takes all of the fruit that the tree bears and offers it to God at the tabernacle or Tent of Meeting. Finally, in the fifth year the farmer is at liberty to consume and benefit from the tree’s production. Now understand there is a spiritual dynamic that underlies what is happening. This is more than sound horticulture. The Scripture says, "...that it’s yield may increase for you" and then this statement: "I am the Lord your God." Underneath all this process is the fact that God wants them to understand that by giving him their best he will give them what will last. God’s restrictions were for their lasting benefit. The best is always the result of a process that takes time. The Law of the Harvest is the understanding that God’s best always results from a process that takes time.

That principle is one that my generation particularly and our children’s generation have never learned. We haven’t learned it financially. Personal debt is at an all time high, showing that whatever we want we buy on credit, in turn chaining ourselves to a future of gnawing, crippling debt. We haven’t learned it in our relationships. Like it or not, there is a pervasive idea that the relationships of family, marriage, children and friends are expendable if they do not meet my personal needs or goals. We haven’t learned this in our careers. We assume that if I haven’t reached my peak earning potential, my goals for my business, my full agenda by 35 then we are a failure. We haven’t learned this culturally. In spite of the reality that our population on one end is getting grayer we continue to aim more and more of our economy, business and value toward those who are younger. (If you’re gray, you’re gone!) We haven’t learned this in the church. We always imagine that there will be some new method or program that will come along that will transform everything. We haven’t learned this personally. We still believe that there is a short cut to a great job, great marriage, great body, great personality, great whatever. We haven’t learned this spiritually. We just think that to be the spiritual person, to know God’s best, comes quickly, cheaply and easily. We forget that the key to effectiveness and success in anything is the result of a process that takes time.

I want to especially apply this Law of the Harvest to you and to me in our life. Ask yourself, "Where is it that I believe specifically God wants me to apply the Law of the Harvest?" Is my relationship with Him the best He desires? Is my devotion to my church the best He desires? Is my marriage, family or relationships reflecting the best that He desires? What is it that I believe is God’s best for my life? You see underlying the Law of the Harvest is the statement, "I am the Lord your God." By virtue of my being bought by Jesus Christ’s death for me on the Cross, I belong to Him. Whatever I do, wherever I go, whatever I become, whatever I have, it is because of whose I am!

Once you have asked the question about where you believe specifically God wants you to apply the Law of the Harvest, there is a four-step process that needs to be understood.

1. Step One is to understand that applying the Law of the Harvest will mean choosing to risk change. (Lev. 19:23) As Israel entered the land that was to be their home farmers would plant fruit trees for food. That simple action of planting a fruit tree seedling was a tangible risk for the future. The farmer risked failure because he had no idea if the tree would grow, survive and ever produce fruit. Yet in planting that tree he did so understanding that if the future were to be different, it would require planting a fruit tree today.

What is it you need to risk planting for the future to be different? You may need to plant a seedling of forgiveness so your future is free of bitterness. You may need to plant a seedling of preparation or training so your future isn’t hindered by being unprepared. You may need to plant a seedling of obedience to God so your future will be blessed by Him. You may need to plant a seedling of admitting you don’t know Jesus as your Savior so your future for all eternity is secure. Wherever you believe that God wants your future to be different it starts by choosing to risk change.

2. Step Two in applying the Law of the Harvest will recognize that it takes time and effort for God to do his best. (Lev. 19:23) After the farmer has planted the seedling he must spend the next three years laboring but not benefiting from his labor. He was to cultivate, fertilize, prune and protect the tree. Yet no matter how delicious the fruit looks, how hungry he and his family may be, how poor he may be or how hard the times might get—none of the fruit can be consumed or sold – for three years!

Once you and I decide we are willing to risk change for our future to be different we must accept that the future is shaped through a process of time. I know that there are many miracles in the Bible where God acted immediately. Yet there is a larger portion of God’s actions in the Bible that took time—clock time, calendar time. From the time God promised Abraham and Sarah they would have a son and Isaac was born took 25 years. Before God was ready to use Moses to deliver Israel he was 80. Over 3000 years of recorded human history passed before God sent Jesus into this world. It has been 2000 years since our Lord’s promise that, "If I go I will come again" (John 14:3). What God does in our life that achieves his best takes time.

It’s a process that also involves constant work. There are no shortcuts and every attempt we try to take to find or use a shortcut only delays our usefulness. Just understand whenever God will do his best will take time – seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia and eternity. It will take sweat, energy, labor and cost.

3. Step Three in applying the Law of the Harvest will accept that a time of testing is required for God to do His best. (Lev. 19:24) At last three years of labor—cultivating, fertilizing, pruning have resulted in an excellent crop. The fruit is excellent. It looks appealing and is obviously valuable for the market. Yet you are told that all of it – all of it—is to be given to God. You are required by God together the fruit—all of it—and take it to the priests for them to use. It is God’s—all of it! Can you imagine the tension? How would you feel? Wouldn’t just a few fig preserves for breakfast be good? Or couldn’t you feed your family with the income that selling the dates or olives would bring? You see the test is in obedience. Will you give it all this year in recognition that it’s all His!

There’s always a time of testing required to experience God’s best. Whatever we might want or believe to be God’s best will be tested, purged, purified and perfected. No place is that better described than in Jesus, who, as Paul said, "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross" (Phil. 2:8). Hebrews 12:2 says of Jesus, "Who for the joy set before Him endured the shame and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God." 1 Peter 1:7 describes the testing of our faith, " that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." John in his Revelation says believers themselves also are tested, "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Rev. 3:21).

This step comes jointly with the time step. The test may be the time. Yet it may be that in the time there is the test. The test may mean a series of successes and failures. The test may be the sweat, sacrifice and surrender of your will to God’s will. The trial will work to glorify God, increase our effectiveness, develop our integrity, mature us spiritually and shape our character. It’s going to require a time of testing for God to do His best.

4. Finally, Step Four in applying the Law of the Harvest will be the result of experiencing God’s power at work to accomplish his best. (Lev. 19:25) "And in the fifth year" – that says so much! After the risk, the time and the trial of labor for the trees then it’s all yours to enjoy! Finally you are able to crush the olives for your own use, make cakes of the figs and dates and sell the fruit in the market. This year—it’s all yours! You notice, though, that after the fifth year that the sixth year is better and the seventh and the eighth. Each year your harvest is more effective and productive! You understand you risked, waited and watched but now because "I am the Lord your God" you are seeing the result.

Henry and Richard Blackaby note in their book Spiritual Leadership that some of the world’s greatest leaders did not reach their greatest potential until they were senior adults. The current movie Pearl Harbor focuses briefly on the leadership of Winston Churchill, leader of Britain during WW II and his courage during the German bombing of London. Did you know that Churchill’s father died believing that his son was too stupid to become a lawyer and would never reach his full capabilities. He was perceived as a mediocre politician until he became Prime Minister at the time of Hitler’s rise to power. Yet all the years of time and testing proved the preparation for truly one of the greatest leaders of this past century.

On this Sunday we honor those in the senior years of their life. (Understand "Boomers" that Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger are eligible for AARP cards.) They are those who have served this church, community and country in the years past. There is a picture that we found of a Mr. C. M. Mack taken in the mid 1950’s while he is teaching fifth grade boys in Sunday School. He is well into his 70’s and it is obvious that the boys were being fifth grade boys. If some of you were in that class your retirement is not that far off. Yet what that picture shows is a realization that the best someone has to offer may come "in the fifth year". The best wisdom, skills, knowledge or insight that a person has to give is after risk, time and testing have done their job.

Today our family celebrates five years as your pastor. Those five years are small compared to that of my predecessor Emil Williams, who led this congregation so effectively for thirty years. They are slight compared to that of C. Z. Holland, who served you for twenty or more years. Yet I can see this Law of the Harvest in our life. It was a risk for us as well as for you to respond to God’s compelling to become your pastor. The time of ministry since being here and before coming here, 20 years of ministry and preparation from 1975-1996, was vital. These recent five years have not been absent of trial or testing for our life personally nor for our congregation. Yet on this day we celebrate the fifth year, blessed beyond any ability to describe it and offered a future that has opportunities unimaginable. Risk, time, trial and result. All because "I am the Lord your God."

Conclusion: Where do you need to apply the "Law of the Harvest"? Where do you need to risk change so that your future will be different? Where are you growing impatient because it seems time is working against you? Is the test getting harder than you think you can bear? Do you need to be reminded that the best may come in the "fifth year"? Today understand that God’s best always results from a process that takes time- His time. The Apostle Paul said, "That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever." (2 Cor. 4:16-18) God’s best always results from a process that takes time—and his best lasts forever.

Sunday, June 24, 2001

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org