The Reality of the Harvest

John 4:31-38 The Reality of the Harvest Introduction: This passage in John introduces to us the subject of Evangelism. Evangelism is the preaching of the Christian Gospel or the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others with the intention of conversion. We live in a society that says, “it’s okay to be religious, just as long as you keep it to yourself”. Meaning, believe what you want, just don’t evangelize, or try to convert people to your way of thinking or your particular religion. And this viewpoint is very prevalent throughout our society. But I hope you realize that that statement in and of itself is a religious or philosophical belief. It was actually first introduced by Immanuel Kant. The person that holds to this view is doing exactly what they are telling others not to do. Which is, to force their personal beliefs or convictions on someone else. It might sound nice, and very P.C. but it is completely unrealistic. Everyone believes something and it wouldn’t be worth believing if it isn’t worth telling others…. All this to say, everyone of is evangelizing in some way, shape, or form. The question is: What are we Evangelizing, and is it worth believing? One of the things that I love about the testimony of Scripture, when sharing my faith is that it lines up with the human experience. It makes so much sense. C.S. Lewis put this so profoundly, “The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.” There are three things about Evangelism that we are going to talk about today. • Opportunities to Evangelize Are All Around Us - We Just Need to Realize Them. • Every Christian is Called to Evangelism. • Sharing your Faith is Life Giving and Joy Bringing. • The Work of Harvest is Waiting - ready even now to be harvested. even overflowing. 1. “Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 2. Jesus has gone through Samaria on purpose. To find one thirsty soul. Last week we began by highlighting the fact that God is seeking people, he is seeking people out to be reunited with himself. We saw last week that Mankind is spiritually thirsty and God is the fountain of living water, the one to satisfy mankind, body, soul, and spirit. And we clearly see this in the person of Jesus and the way he seeks out this woman. 3. As she exits the scene we find that the disciples are confused as to why Jesus is even talking with her. Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach his disciples and open their eyes to new spiritual realities. He tells them that he is engaged in the work of the Father, the harvest is already upon them and now is the time to enter the work of harvesting for eternal life. 4. The major concern of the disciples in this story was their search for food. Their invitation for Jesus to eat is a reflection of their concern. The primary focus of Jesus was hardly on food; it was the search for people. Jesus responded to their request that he should eat by indicating that he had a source of food that was unknown to them…The food of doing the Father’s will 5. Since the disciples are thinking about bread, Jesus talk’s to them on their level. This is another case where Jesus is using double language and is misunderstood… 1. What is Jesus doing? He is seeking to open the eyes of the disciples, giving them new understanding…simultaneously he is wanting to open our eyes…..He is saying, look, perceive, pay attention, the time is now, there are opportunities all around us to plant and to harvest for (Bread? Food?) -Eternal Life. 1. Jesus is talking about sharing the Good News of what God is doing for his creation. God has returned at long last in the person of Jesus Christ to deal with the worlds problem -Sin. This he will deal with by removing sin, by paying the full price of punishment for sin on the cross, thereby setting free those who believe in him and finally setting free the whole creation that is subject to bondage and decay. 1. In short the message is that God is recreating all things and inviting us to be apart of that new creation, to be a part of all things being made whole again. 2. Jesus wants to wake us up to this truth - all of us need this, we need to be reminded to evangelize, we need to be reminded that people are seeking, thirsting, hungering. (Though they may play it cool on the outside). We need to be reminded that they are perishing. We need to be reminded that we have a message of life, peace and hope. We need to be reminded of the harvest that is right in front of us. We need to be reminded that there is more to life that just daily bread and sustenance, that there is more than just getting by, and living our life on the earthly plane, that there is spiritual life that is needed, and spiritual food to be had. 1. “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” - Deuteronomy 8:3 2. We are told that the Samaritans, upon hearing the testimony of the Woman, left the town and were coming to him. You can almost picture it, even as Jesus is telling his disciples to look and see “the harvest is ready to be gathered in”, they see there in the distance a multitude making their way to meet Jesus. 1. What a powerful moment, Jesus is saying don’t you realize it yet, were not in Samaria for food, we’re here for the spiritual harvest. 3. Jesus wants us to see the world differently than the way we ordinarily see it. You will never have a heart for evangelism or missions if you don't see the world the way Jesus sees it. Missions and evangelism depend on seeing reality the way Jesus sees it. He gives us a different vision. 4. We are not just in Santa Rosa because it is a nice place to live, we are here as witnesses to the coming Kingdom of God. 1. Jesus cares about people, he cares about their eternal state, their eternal happiness, and we should too. • Christ Disciples are to be Sent into the Harvest. 1. “I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 1. Jesus has just awoken this woman from spiritual sleep, and now he aims to do the same with his disciples, they are to awaken to the work that Christ is calling them to. 2. Throughout this book John makes it very clear that Jesus has been sent by the Father to accomplish the Father’s will - “Eternal Life.” 1. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” 2. “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him.” 3. Jesus makes it clear here and clearer as the story goes on that he is sending his disciples out in the same way that he was sent out, to demonstrate and tell this good news of eternal life. 1. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” -John 20:21 2. God is a missionary God in this culture and in every culture. His nature does not change with location. Therefore, a missionary posture should be the normal expression of the Church in all times and places. 1. The Church needs to realize that mission is its fundamental identity. 2. Because of our identity in Christ we are to continue the mission of Jesus. 3. “The missionary movement, of which we are a part has its source in the Triune God Himself. Out of the depths of His love for us, the Father has sent forth His own beloved Son to reconcile all things to Himself, that we and all men might, through the Spirit, be made one in Him with the Father in that perfect love which is the very nature of God. ... We who have been chosen in Christ... are by these very facts committed to full participation in His redeeming mission. There is no participation in Christ without participation in His mission to the world. That by which the Church receives its existence is that by which it is also given its world-mission.” -Wilhelm Richebächer 4. The concept of the Missio Dei, (the mission of God), is recognition that God is a sending God and that the Church is also sent. It is the most important mission in the scriptures. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of that mission; the Holy Spirit is the power of that mission; the Church is the instrument of that mission; and the culture is the context in which that mission occurs. 5. Scripture identifies “the elect”(the Church) as being chosen for “declaring the praises of God,” a missional task carried over from the unfulfilled and unappreciated task of missionary Israel. 1. The Apostle Peter explains, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9) 2. So understand this morning if you are a Christian, it doesn’t matter if you are a spring chicken, or a seasoned saint, (Consider the samaritan woman’s witness of Christ), you are sent by God, into your surrounding city, neighborhood, to co-workers, family members, and friends as a witness to Christ and what he has done for you and what he can do for others. 1. Today if you are a Christian you are sent. You are sent by Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, into the harvest to plant and reap souls for everlasting life. You are called as you are, where you are, to be who you are, representing Christ to those around you. 2. Just like Jesus we are being called to speak to people and with our words and actions to awake them from spiritual sleep. That would realize that they’ve been seeking living water all of their life. • The Overflowing Joy of Sharing the Surpassing Glory of Christ 1. Jesus is fulfilled, or sustained.- there is exhilarating joy in sharing your faith, in speaking on behalf of Christ. Look at Jesus - 1. I don’t believe that doing the will of God actually put food in Jesus stomach. I believe what Jesus is describing here is that he is so overjoyed at this moment. He has just shared the offer of eternal life with one of his creatures, and it thrills his heart to do so. 1. He is so focused on this surpassing pleasure of doing God’s will that food is the least of his concerns. 2. There is a sense in which telling others about Christ, feeds our spiritual appetite. 1. “Jesus claim here is that doing the will of God is spiritual nourishment. When we give ourselves to the work of personal evangelism and world missions, God pours more life into our souls. In giving life away to others, God pours life into us. The more you share God, the more you savor God. Jesus said it was his food to do this work. How can energy-expending work be energy-giving food? I believe it's because, when you join your hand to God's favorite enterprise, there is a special provision from the Lord. The very doing of the work of evangelism puts you into such intimate communion with the heart of God that giving becomes getting. Feeding becomes eating. Missions is a way of nourishing your soul on God.” -Piper Conclusion: My prayer, for my self and for you, is that God would wake us to the surpassing pleasure of doing his will. That he would wake us up from the day to day rut of just going through life concerned with only the physical realm, and we would see clearly the spiritual reality; that there is a harvest of souls all around us, opportunities everywhere, if we simply tune into what the Spirit of God is doing. That we would see people and opportunities the way Jesus did. Paul put it like this in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21: “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”