Reap in Joy Ps. 126:5-6 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

If everyone could go “soul winning” and reap in joy, there would be a lot more Christians laboring in the harvest.  Reaping is always joyful [Lk 15:7, 10].  But to reap in joy, one must remember what is involved.  To reap in joy requires that:

You sow in tears – Ps 126:5 – sowing is work.  Sowing is the time of tears; reaping is the time of rejoicing.  You can be sure that Paul shed some tears [Acts 20:19, 31; 2 Cor 2:4].  Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  He wept over Jerusalem [Lk 19:41-44].  If you want to reap in joy, then there must be some tearful work done long before the rejoicing begins.  These are tears of compassion.  The burden is heavy to see people come to Christ.

You go forth – Ps 126:6 – you must realize that you are an ambassador for Christ.  You are constantly available to the Holy Spirit to be sent when and where he desires so that you can sow the seed that he wants sown in the hearts of people he is working on.  Every time you go anywhere you should be going forth with the purpose of sowing.  Sowing should be preeminent in your mind.  Look around you, the fields are white unto harvest [Jn 4:34-38].

You bear precious seed – Ps 126:6 – the precious seed is the word of God [Mk 4:14].  You aren’t sowing catchy phrases or anecdotes.  You are sowing the words of God.  So, you must always bear precious seed.  Carry tracts and give them out wherever you go.  Carry your New Testament so that you can open it and give the words of God to anyone at any time.  Memorize scripture so that you can give them something from the word of God that is timely and right to the point.

You sow in faith – Ps 126:6 – the verse says “doubtless come again.”  Since sowing is work and lacks the joy of reaping, people have a tendency to give up after a little while.  However, when you sow in faith there is a hope and assurance that God is pleased and he is going to do something with that word that has been sown [Is 55:10-11].  Doubt is what kills faith [Jas 1:6-8; Mk 11:22-24].  Doubt defeats your desire to sow.  Faith encourages sowing.  If you sow in faith, you have no reason to doubt.  God is going to do something with his word.

You work through the harvest – Ps 126:6 – the verse says, “come again… his sheaves.”  In other words, this guy doesn’t leave the harvest.  He keeps working in the harvest until the grain appears and until the sheaves are harvested.  Too many times people do a little work in the harvest and then quit.  There are many people who testify that they “used to” pass out tracts, go on visitation, and witness.  Don’t stop.  Work through the harvest.  By working through the harvest, returning where you have sown seed, watering and cultivating, you will get to reap.  And in reaping you will experience the joy of your labors.  Build some relationships with the people with whom you have sown seed.  Stay with the work.  Some of them are going to get saved.

You return with your sheaves – Ps 126:6 – the key word here is “with.”  So much soul winning is about winning them; not about discipling them.  Jesus said, “… those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost…” [Jn 17:12].  If we are going to return with our sheaves then we must be certain that they are getting saved and we must disciple them so that they will grow and remain.  When 3,000 souls were saved in Acts 2, they were added to the church.  We must do a better job of keeping the sheep in the fold.

Conclusion: You will reap in joy if you follow all of what the psalmist said in Ps 126:5-6.