Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we are wrapping up our teaching
series called Growing Season, where we've been
going back to the farm to learn what the farm
has to teach us about faith. Today we're talking
about the harvest. After all of the work of planting
and sowing and waiting and watering, we finally
come to the harvest. But what about when we don't
actually get to see that harvest come to fruition?
What then? That's what Rob is going to unpack
for us in today's sermon. Today's reading is
from the Gospel of John chapter 4, verses 35
to 38. Don't you have a saying? It's still four
months until harvest. I tell you, open your eyes
and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest.
Even now, the one who reaps draws a wage and
harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the
sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus
the saying. One sows and another reaps is true.
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for.
Others have done the hard work and you have reaped
the benefits of their labor. The word of the
God. Well, we have spent all summer doing this
teaching series called Growing Season. We'll
be looking at farms and farming and all that
stuff. And you may wonder, well, why would you
spend so much time on that? And I just want to
let you know, there's kind of three. big reasons.
One is that the Bible is actually full of farms
and farmers and agriculture. You can barely turn
a page without coming across it. So that's the
first reason. The second reason is related to
it. The idea that God himself is like a farmer.
He is like a good shepherd, like a vine grower,
a gardener who is growing good things in our
lives and in our world. So that's the second
reason. The third reason we did this is because
it's summertime. And summertime for a farmer
is not a slowing time. It is a growing time.
It is a growing season. And it's true that many
churches will often take summer as an opportunity
to take a break or step back or kind of slow
down. But we said, no, we want to lean in to
the growing season of farmers and see what God
can grow in us this summertime. So that's kind
of why we did this series. And as you can see,
it involved interviews. my dad from time to time
as well, who was a retired farmer. Now, some
of you maybe made it to all 10 of these teachings,
these Sundays, and we're at the very end now.
But if you missed some of them, or if you missed
a lot of them, or this is your first Sunday and
you've missed all of them, then we put together
just a little recap video to let you know kind
of where we've been this summer. You are God's
field. The Bible is an agricultural book. Summer
is the growing season and God is planting and
growing something here at Trinity. And so for
all of these reasons, we are going back to the
farm this summer. This is our old milking barn.
There was a cherry tree out there. It's still
here. Right here. This is a handprint that I
pressed into this cement when we poured this
little basketball court about the late 80s. Is
that your handprint on the cement? Yeah, yeah,
yeah. God's presence is everywhere when you are
dealing with the mysteries of life, planting
a seed and seeing it grow. It's not in human
hands how that seed will germinate and produce
maybe a hundred seeds from the one you planted.
as we pray, God, you know, change my circumstances.
But God says, nah, right now I just want to change
you. God is growing roots and roots take time
and they grow in the dark and no one applauds.
and no one sees everybody has to go to work in
some fashion and i kind of think that maybe i
was fortunate because i just had to step outside
the door and my work was right there and i didn't
have a commute i didn't really mind it most of
the time i think god operates the same way that
a dairy farm operates one ordinary day at a time
every morning every night this rhythm you don't
want it around all summer because of the flies
it attracts so it's often spread on the field
some people spread it almost every day and let
it break down in the fields farmers actually
are there to teach us something that we have
forgotten and that is that what smells like waste
may still have worth that not everything that
smells bad is useless and not everything that
is messy is meaningless. I think being around
animals, you realize that life has its beginnings
and it has its ends. And sure, you can feel badly
if you lose an animal, but you've got 50 others
that are still alive and you have to look after.
So life goes on. God is good. And if we are faithful,
why is there still so much trouble in the field
in my life? or in the world? Why so much pain?
Why so much suffering? It is a very deep question.
Yeah, that's our loader tractor. It was bought
new in 93. So it's over 30 years old, but it
still works. We used this one to scoop the manure
out of our manure pit. That's right. But eventually,
eventually we're going to get tired and we're
going to discover that human effort is not enough
to get through life. Most of us rely on custom
work to some degree. You hire somebody with the
implement. that you need. More hiring and less
volunteering. It's contracting, not community
building. That's right. It could be a farmer
in the field, could be you in the pew, but community.
essential to what makes for a meaningful life
it was always our aim to give you a range of
experiences that would help you make your own
decision if it was a decision to farm well so
be it in the case of our family and our four
kids nobody really chose farming they all went
different ways this learning is passed on it's
passed on from one person to another person from
one generation to another other generation. And
then, of course, last week when I was away, we
had Mike Messenger preaching. And he spoke about
how generosity and giving is part of kind of
farming culture, both biblically and today. All
that brings us to today, to week 10, where we're
going to end. And what better place to end than
with the topic of the harvest. Now, the harvest.
At this time of year in southern Ontario, it's
a very interesting time. Because on the one hand,
a whole bunch of harvesting is already over and
done. has already been baled and put in the barn.
Most of the wheat has been cut and the wheat
is now in the granaries. That's done. But also
happening right now, there are things that are
coming to harvest at this very moment. So if
you go to a roadside fruit stand, you will see,
you know, peaches and you will see blueberries
and you will see beans and tomatoes. Those things
are being harvested right now as we speak. And
then there are other things that it's still not
time to harvest yet. The big fields of cow corn
or the big fields of soybeans, they're still
green. It's going to be several weeks before
they're ready to be harvested. So that's one
thing about farming. The thing is, a harvest
doesn't arrive everywhere all at once, right?
Some things grow from seed to crop in just a
matter of weeks. Other things take months. If
you had a chicken and it was, incubating some
eggs. It would only take three weeks for those
eggs to hatch. But if you had a cow that was
pregnant with a calf, it would take nine months
in order for that calf to finally be born. Whatever
it is, the harvest represents the moment. when
everything that you've been waiting for, everything
you've been looking for, longing for, finally
becomes visible. The harvest is the culmination
of all that hard work, all the planting, the
plowing, the cultivating, the planting, the fertilizing,
the irrigating, the weeding, the struggle, the
praying, the praying, the praying. For much of
the growing season, you know, a farmer... looks
out at a field where the harvest is not yet visible.
It's only at the very end. It's only at harvest
time that you finally see what you've been waiting
for, finally see what you're praying for and
hoping for. Today, Jesus, in our reading, he
uses the language of harvest, but he's not talking
about the harvesting of crops. He's talking about
harvest in a different way. Because you see,
in our lives, in your life, in my life, there
are things that we are waiting for, things that
we are working for, things that we are praying
for. Some of you here today, you are waiting
for healing in your life. Some of you today,
you are working toward a future, working to get
through your degree, working to get, you know,
a career off the ground. Others, you are praying.
You've been praying and praying for a relationship
or something like that. And nothing has happened
yet. It hasn't come to harvest time. And so we
end up feeling kind of like farmers looking out
over field, just hoping and praying that some
good will come from all of our hopes. prayers
and efforts. In that reading today, we caught
just a little bit of Jesus's teaching, but what
you didn't see is that right before this, Jesus
had had a radical encounter with this woman at
the well. It's a very famous story, John chapter
4, Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.
What I want to say to you is that if you look
at that woman's life, you see that she is like
someone who is waiting for a harvest to come
into her life. She has longings that have not
been fulfilled. She has pain in her life that
has not been healed. She has questions in her
mind that have not been answered. So she is a
person waiting. for a harvest. And I wonder if
we look at her just a little more closely, if
you don't see some of yourself in her. Let me
explain. First of all, she is a person who has
been longing for acceptance. The reason I say
this is because we're told that she went to gather
water at the well in the heat of the day alone
at noon. But most women would go in the cool
of the morning and they would go together. It
was a very social time. Why did she go alone?
Why has she been excluded, right? I think she
is feeling, you know, excluded and longing for
a harvest of being connected. I mean, what does
she do? Why are people rejecting her? She's waiting
for a harvest of belonging, a harvest of acceptance.
And maybe you can relate to her in that way.
But the second thing we know about her is that
she has been living with pain. If you read the
story and the conversation Jesus has with her,
it becomes apparent she has had several marriages
that have not worked out. Five, actually. And
if you have had five marriages, I can guarantee
you, you have plenty of hurts to go along with
them, right? So what wounds is this woman carrying?
You know, what mistreatment has she suffered?
I think she represents any of us here today who
are longing for some healing in our life, whether
it's physical healing or spiritual healing or
emotional healing or whatever. Third, this woman
is longing for another kind of harvest, right?
She has had all these marriages end on her, but
we don't really know how. What happened? Did
her husbands die? Did they end in divorce? Did
they end in abandonment each? type of those things
represents a different loss in someone's life.
She has seen her hopes dashed again and again
and again. And so she represents anyone here
today who has ever planted a seed in a relationship,
you know, planted a seed in a marriage or in
a family or in a friendship. And for whatever
reason, it never grew to fruition. I don't know.
Is that you? Can you relate to this woman? And
finally, she is a woman who is looking for answers.
When Jesus speaks with her, it's very interesting.
She has all these questions. She has questions
about worship. She has questions about religion.
She has questions about where God can be found.
So she's not just at the well looking for water.
She is a woman who is looking for answers. And
so therefore, she would represent any of you
here today who are looking for a harvest of Answers.
A harvest of certainty. A harvest of truth. Maybe
you've got questions about God. Maybe you wonder
where God is to be found just like her and you're
waiting for God to show up. So there she is.
She's like a farmer standing at an empty field
or a half -grown field looking for a harvest.
A harvest of belonging. A harvest of healing.
A harvest of restoration. A harvest of truth
and answers. That's her. That's what she's longing
for. But what about you? Like what harvest are
you waiting for in your life, right? What is
that thing you've been working for and you've
been praying for and you've been longing for
and you hope that, my goodness, just one day
I just want to see this happen. Maybe it's a
child who has lost their way and you just want
to see that child find their way again. Maybe
it's some other prayer that has gone unanswered.
Maybe there's an addiction in your life and you're
just waiting somehow for the day to come when
you can finally break that bad habit that is
holding you back. Or maybe it's a sickness that
you're suffering with. Or maybe you're like this
woman and you're just waiting for God to reveal
himself. Waiting to know that God is there. You've
got so many. Here is the thing about harvests.
And let's start with the best news. The best
news is sometimes we actually do live to see
the things that we have longed for come to fruition.
I mean, farmers normally. Normally, they get
to see the harvest. They get to see the seeds
that they plant grow and ultimately come into
the granary. They get to see the animal get pregnant
and give birth. And by winter, the pens are full
of babies. And the same is true for us. Our prayer
does get answered. And the relationship is restored.
And that door opens. And the healing comes. And
we say, I'm healed. I can't believe it. I don't
know how it happened, but I have been healed.
And we get to say, for whatever reason, I saw
the answer. I saw the harvest. That's it. It
happened. This is what I've been waiting for.
I knew that God was up to something. And now
I can see it with my own eyes. I knew it all
along. And that... Happens for this woman actually.
She had told Jesus. Oh Jesus you know I know
the Messiah is going to come one day. And I know
that God will reveal himself one day. And Jesus
says guess what? I am he. I'm the one that you've
been waiting for. It's this amazing moment. She
has been looking for answers and boom, now the
answer is sitting right in front of her. She
had been looking for God and now God has found
her. She had been looking for acceptance and
love and lo and behold, Jesus shows up and accepts
her and loves her. I mean, not everything in
her life is sorted out, but she gets to see it.
She gets to witness it. All of her hopes and
dreams. finally become visible. The harvest has
begun. And she gets to see even more harvest
than that because she goes off to the town and
she tells everybody in town, hey guys, you'll
never guess what happened. I just met the Messiah.
He's out there by the well. You got to come and
see him. And so all the townspeople come rushing
out to the well. So that same woman that was
looking for God gets to witness the harvest of
a whole bunch of people coming to meet Jesus
and to find God just like her. her. And we love
it when this happens. We love it when this happens.
Sometimes God allows us to see the fruit. And
when we see it, we rejoice. You pray for your
child for years. And then you realize there's
some amazing change. Or you work at your marriage
for years. And then all of a sudden you wake
up one day and you're like, you know what? We're
not where we used to be. Things are getting better.
Or you serve at church. Or you mentor a young
person. Or you volunteer at kids church. And
you actually get the privilege of watching something
beautiful in their lives change and happen and
come to. fruition. Sometimes God allows us to
see the harvest. And when we do, goodness gracious,
it is time to rejoice. Look at what Jesus says.
The reaper is receiving a reward and gathering
fruit for eternal life so that the sower and
the reaper may rejoice together. So yes. Of course,
there are seasons in your life where you're planting,
seasons where you're working, seasons when storms
come, seasons of loss, seasons when you have
manure on your boots, seasons when it's a dark,
dark night you're going through, but there are
also seasons, by God's grace, that you stand
back and you look at what God has grown and you
say, my goodness, look at that. You know, I think
actually Camp Trinity is one of those moments.
I just, you know, again, you saw the videos,
but we've been sowing seeds all summer. And I'm
not saying that every one of those seeds has
grown to fruition and come to harvest, but today
we saw on those videos, we saw friendships that
had formed, families who had felt welcomed. in
this place. That is a harvest. We have seen young
adults and teenagers who have grown into leaders.
We celebrate that every now and then. God lets
you look across the field and see the harvest
come in. But not always. Not always. Sometimes
we live to see this and other times somebody
else gets to see it, not us. Right? Jesus says
this interesting line. He says, one sows and
another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which
you did not labor. Others have labored and you
have entered in to their labor. kind of true
on a farm. The farmer actually inherits a lot
of work that was done by the previous landowner.
Somebody built that barn 120 years ago. It wasn't
me, but we benefit from it. Someone cleared the
land. Someone removed all the rocks, right? Someone
even, you know, planted some seeds. Maybe you
bought a farm and the first year the crop wasn't
even planted by you, but you get to enjoy the
fruit of it. You have entered into someone else's
labor. you may one day harvest a field that you
never planted, and on the flip side of that coin,
you may plant a field one day that somebody else
will get to harvest. This is really hard for
us to accept, because what we want is what we
want to see the results of the things that we
do right now. Hey, if I encourage someone, I
want to know that it made a difference. If I
pray, I want to know that it was answered. But
sometimes it doesn't work that way. Sometimes...
You know, like a Sunday school teacher might
teach a child about Jesus and never see anything
come of it. But 20 years later, someone else
gets to see that seed come alive in their life.
Or there might be a parent who is praying faithfully
every day, every night for a son or daughter.
And that parent literally never even lives to
see how that prayer eventually gets answered.
I can remember having conversations with friends
when I was in university about faith. And I'll
tell you, those conversations seemed to go absolutely
nowhere. But years later, you know what? Somebody
else came along and had another conversation.
And somebody else had another conversation. And
suddenly, something began to grow in their lives.
One person sows and another person reaps. Jesus
tells his disciples, others have labored. Others
have worked and you have just got to enter in
to that labor. In other words, I want you just
to know that don't assume that the harvest begins
and ends with you. When those Samaritan townspeople
came rushing out to see Jesus, you know, the
disciples got to be there to witness the harvest
come in. But come on, that story had been going
on long before they arrived. God had been working
long before they ever showed up. They just got
to be part of the harvest. And so maybe there
is someone here today, and this is the thing
that you need to hear, and that is that many
of the most important things we do will bear
fruit in someone else's hands. You've been praying,
you've been loving, you've been serving, and
you've not seen much come of it. But don't worry.
And don't confuse the phrase, I haven't seen
the harvest, with... there will not be a harvest,
right? Because they're not the same things. Sometimes
we plant something in someone's life and it bears
fruit in somebody else's time, in somebody else's
field, in some other season. Sometimes our calling
is simply to prepare the ground or to water a
young plant and trust that God is going to make
sure that something happens after us. And so,
if you happen to be the one who gets to reap,
You can be grateful and you can rejoice. But
if you happen to be the one who gets to sow,
just don't lose heart. Sometimes we live to see
it. Sometimes somebody else gets to see it. But
lastly, there is another kind of harvest. And
that is there are some things that we pray for
and some things we work for. long for that we
don't get to see and actually nobody else ever
gets to see the harvest either. Because sometimes
the harvest comes at the very end. See, Christianity
doesn't promise that every prayer you pray is
going to somehow be answered in this lifetime.
Some prayers remain unanswered. Some relationships
remain broken. Some sicknesses are not healed.
Some people die. They die waiting for an answer
to their prayer. You know, we spend years and
years planting and we never get to see anything
grow. What do we do in those moments? This week,
I came across this verse. When I was away on
some vacation. And I thought oh man. I want to
print that. It's printed on the back of your
sermon notes. It just stuck with me. Paul writes
this. He says let us not become weary in doing
good. For at the proper time. We will reap a
harvest. If we do not give up. Now notice those
words. At the proper time. Not today. Not tomorrow.
Not even according to your time. But God has
a proper time. An appointed time. When God will
bring all his work to completion. And frankly
that might not be till the very end. The great
hope of the Christian faith. Is that one day.
When? The final day. At the very end. One day.
God will gather up. Everything he has been growing.
In your life and my life. Every prayer you've
prayed. Every act of love that you showed. Every
cup of cold water that you gave to someone who
was thirsty. Every child you welcomed at camp.
Every person you forgave. You may not live to
see the fruit of it. Nobody else may live to
see the fruit of it. But on the last day you'll
realize. What I planted grew into something.
It's there. It lasted to the very end. And God
harvested it. One day there will be a great.
Harvest home. I don't know if you ever heard
that phrase, harvest home, but there used to
be these old festivals. I think they were from
England. It was a big celebration at the end
of the harvest. Once everything was gathered
in the barn, once the long season was over, the
community would come together and they would
eat and they would sing and they would dance
and they would celebrate and they would give
thanks. My friends, that is where the whole Christian
story is going. There is a day that is coming,
and only God knows when that day is coming, when
everything that has been broken will be made
new. Every tear you ever cried will be wiped
away. It's a day when even death will be defeated,
right? And on that day, God will gather like
a... The Lord of the harvest, he will gather
everything home. That's how the story of the
Bible ends. It ends with a gathering. It ends
with a harvest. It ends with a final coming home.
And you may say, oh, that sounds really good
to know that one day it'll all work out in the
end, Rob. But how do we know this is true? How
do we know there'll be this great harvest home
at the end of time? Well, actually, the Bible...
tells us that that harvest has already begun.
And it began in Jesus Christ. And that's how
we know that it will happen. Look what Paul says.
Christ has been raised from the dead. Therefore,
he is the first of the great harvest of all who
have died. When Jesus died, it looked like complete...
Crop failure. Empty field. The dream was over.
But when he rose, you know what he became? He
became the very first apple of the new harvest.
The end harvest. He became the very first stock
of corn from the final harvest of God. Right?
And so now... We know that harvest is coming
because it already showed up in Jesus in the
middle of time. The resurrection of Jesus is
God's promise that the final harvest is coming.
So if you plant something and you don't see the
fruit, don't conclude, oh, I've wasted my time.
No, no, no. And when you pray for something and
you don't see that prayer come true, whatever,
don't doubt that God exists, right? And when
we bury someone that we love, We don't have to
believe the grave gets the final word. No, we
need to remember that one day God will gather
up everything that he's been growing. And some
of it we get to see now. Some of it somebody
else will get to see. And some of it won't be
seen except by God at the very, very end when
he gathers everything home. That's why we keep
planting. That's why we keep working. That's
why we keep praying. That's why we keep loving.
Because the harvest actually finally doesn't
depend on us. It depends on God. And so after
10 weeks of this growing season series, this
is probably the best place to finish. Jesus tells
his disciples to see all these people that are
arriving, the great harvest. And he says, hey,
lift up your eyes. Look at what God is already
growing. Rejoice in the harvest that you can
see. Keep planting for the harvest that you will
never see. Trust God with the fields that look
empty because none of it, none of the praying,
none of the planting, none of the waiting, the
grieving, the loving, none of it is wasted in
the hands of the Lord of the harvest. The first
fruits. are already out of the ground. Jesus
is risen. The harvest has begun. And one day,
by the grace of God, we will all be gathered
home. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning
in to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons.
This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville
in Mississauga, Ontario on August 16th, 2026.