Thank you again for having me. Let me pray and
ask for God's help as we look at this together.
Father God, thank you so much for your living
word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit who inspired
these words. Please, would your spirit be at
work in our hearts now, helping us to see Jesus
in all his glory so that we might love him and
live for him. In his name we pray. Amen. I don't
know how you'd answer the question, what do you
do? You know when people say, what do you do?
It's pretty tricky when you're at college, isn't
it? What do you do? One Christian minister I
know answers the question by saying, I prepare
people to die. It's pretty provocative, in the
hope, of course, that it would lead to a conversation
about Jesus. I tried that a while ago, and unfortunately,
I tried it on a doctor. just after a nurse had
given me a general anaesthetic. And instead of
following up by telling the doctor all about
Jesus, I got drowsier and drowsier as the doctor
started telling me all about his Buddhism. So
it slightly backfired. But how would you answer
the question, what do you do? How do you think
God would answer that question? If you'd ask
God that question, what do you do, God? It is
important to be clear on what God's doing, because
if we don't understand what our Father's doing,
then we won't understand what we're doing. There
is a link, isn't there, between what God is doing
and what his people are to be doing. I ask that
because in this part of John's Gospel, Jesus
tells us what God's doing. And it is all about
verse 34, reaping a harvest. My food, said Jesus,
is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish
his work. 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're ripe for
harvest. So Jesus is working in his father's
harvesting business, reaping a harvest not, of
course, of crops, but of people. Now, that's
something at this point in John's Gospels the
disciples really hadn't yet grasped. You'll know
the story of John's Gospel. Jesus had recently
met two people. In chapter 3, he met a religious
leader called Nicodemus. At the start of chapter
4, he met a Samaritan woman, unnamed. And those
two people couldn't be more different, could
they? One was a man, one was a woman. One would
have been thought of as pure, Israel's teacher,
Nicodemus. The other was thought of as unclean,
a woman who'd had five husbands. One meets Jesus
at night, the other in the middle of the day.
One of them comes to Jesus, the other one Jesus
goes to her. Two completely different people.
And yet they both need the same thing. They both
need the sin -bearing death of God's Son and
they both need the life -giving word of God's
Spirit. Two different people both need the same
thing because God is at work saving people, all
kinds of people. The disciples, however, hadn't
yet grasped any of this. Have a look down in
verse 27. Just then the disciples returned and
were surprised to find him talking with a woman.
But no one said, what do you want or why are
you talking with her? In other words, they don't
understand what God is doing in the world. They
don't know what their father's business is because
if they did know, they might have said, hey,
Jesus, have you told her about the kingdom yet?
We've just been into town, Jesus, and we've been
telling loads of Samaritans about you. But now
the disciples are more concerned with food. They
think it's lunchtime. And so Jesus goes on to
explain to them that it's not lunchtime. It's
harvest time. Because God's work is reaping a
harvest of people, and now is the time for that
harvest. with an idea of lunch in mind. I am
looking forward to lunch, by the way. I do get
lunch, do I? These verses are a bit like a sandwich.
So if you think, the bread on top is the woman
sewing. So verse 29, she goes into the town and
says, come see a man who told me everything I've
ever done. That's the sort of bread on the top.
The bread at the bottom is the Samaritans believing.
So in verse 39, the Samaritans come from the
town. believe in Jesus, and they refer to the
woman's testimony. He told me everything I've
ever done. So there's the bread on the top, the
woman sowing, the bread on the bottom, the Samaritans
believing, and the meat, or the cheese, or the
hummus, or whatever it is you have in the middle
of your sandwiches, is Jesus explaining to his
disciples that he's all about reaping a harvest
of people. That's what the Father's doing in
the world. Therefore, that's what the Son's doing
in the world. And therefore that's the work that
the disciples and we should be doing in the world.
Let's look at the sandwich for the next few minutes.
We're going to think about an unlikely sower,
a ripe harvest and then a world saviour. Let's
think about the unlikely sower. We meet her in
verses 27 to 30. The disciples return from their
shopping trip and they're surprised, literally
astonished. to find Jesus talking with a Samaritan
woman. But what she says next is equally astonishing.
It's in verse 28. Then leaving her water jar,
the woman went back to the town and said to the
people, come, see a man who told me everything
I've ever done. Could this be the Messiah? Notice
she does three things. The first thing she does
is she leaves her water jar. Now that is amazing
because The water was the very thing that she'd
come for in verse 7. And now she's leaving it
behind. I was going to say that the water bucket
pales into insignificance, but that would be
a terrible joke and I would never make that.
It's as if she realizes that what Jesus is offering
is so much better than what she originally wanted.
She leaves the jar behind. The second thing she
does is she goes back to town. Now that would
not have been an easy thing for this woman to
do. Given this woman's relationship history,
she wouldn't have just been avoided by the Jews.
She'd also been avoided by her own people, other
Samaritans. Five previous husbands, and now having
a man she's not married to, would have meant
that she was viewed with disgust by other women,
treated with contempt by other men, which is
presumably why she's at the well at midday. This
woman would have been ignored and isolated and
yet she went back into the town. And she goes
because she has found someone unlike anyone she
has ever met. Who knew all about her past and
who still offered her life. So she leaves the
jar, she goes back to town. The third thing she
does is she tells people about Jesus. Verse 29.
Come see a man who told me everything I've ever
done. Could this be the Messiah? Come and see.
Come and see is what Jesus had said to his first
disciples in chapter 1, verse 39. It's what Philip
had said to his friend Nathaniel in chapter 1,
verse 46. And now the invitation to come and
see is given by a Samaritan woman to a bunch
of filthy outsiders. She's an unlikely sower,
sowing in an extremely unlikely place. Now, she's
not cleaned up her life, this woman. She's not
had the time. She hasn't been to theological
college. There's loads for her to learn. She
hadn't done a training course in personal evangelism.
I mean, her testimony needs some work, doesn't
it? But what she lacks in knowledge, she more
than makes up for in courage and enthusiasm.
And it is often the case, isn't it, that new
believers are the most eager evangelists. It's
like they can't keep it to themselves. There
was a recently converted guy in our church who
turned up last Sunday at our 6 .30 service with
four people. One of them had smelt of weed and
he was carrying a loud hailer. Because this Christian
guy, who'd been converted a couple of months,
went into Wimbledon, near where we are, in order
to do some street evangelism with some Christians.
The Christians didn't turn up, so he was on his
own, and he saw four people handing out flyers,
I think protesting against ID cards or something.
So he said, hey, if I join you, will you join
me? So he spent two hours in Wimbledon handing
out flyers about ID cards. They then went for
dinner at Nando's, and then he said, six o 'clock,
church time. They all came. And as one of them
walked in with a loud hailing, you think, oh
my goodness, what's going to kick off here? But
they all came. They were singing the last hymn.
One of them has come back every week since. But
he's bubbling over with enthusiasm. He can't
stop himself. It's wonderful to see. Well, this
Samaritan woman is like that. She's just met
the Messiah and she can't keep it to herself.
She goes and tells. And the people do come and
see. Verse 30, they came out of the town, they
made their way towards him. It is ironic, isn't
it, that the disciples go into town and they
come back with bags of food. The Samaritan woman
went into town and she comes back with crowds
of people. Which shows that she understood what
the disciples hadn't understood. It's not lunchtime.
It's harvest time. She's an unlikely sower. And
I guess the same could be said of you and I.
We're unlikely sowers. Well, then we get to the
meat, or whatever it is, lettuce, in the middle
of the sandwich. Verse 31 to 38, this is a ripe
harvest. A ripe harvest. Again, what would you
say if somebody asked you what you're most concerned
with? So what occupies your mind most? What do
you pray about most? What fills your diary? Well,
the disciples seem most concerned with physical
things, in particular food, because as the people
are coming over the fields towards them, they
urge Jesus in verse 31 to eat something. So they've
been to Greg's in Sychar, and they've come back
with 13 meal deals, because it's lunchtime, isn't
it? Their concern is eating food. Jesus' concern
is verse 32, harvesting people. I have food to
eat, he said, that you know nothing about. Now
again, the disciples think he's talking about
physical food, but he's not saying, when he says
I've got food to eat you know nothing about,
he's not saying I've got a secret stash of energy
bars. Just as he did with Nicodemus and the Samaritan
woman, Jesus is talking about spiritual things,
not physical things, as he explains in verse
34. My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of
him who sent me. and to finish his work. 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're ripe for harvest. Now,
I'm no farmer, and my record of keeping plants,
and actually household pets alive, is not good.
I do know that four months before harvest is
not harvest. That's why it's four months before
harvest. Four months before harvest is the time
of year when the fields are brown and the seeds
are sown. Well, at this time of year in Sychar,
it was four months before harvesting crops. But
when it comes to harvesting people, it's not
four months away. It's now. So what do the disciples
see when they look out over the fields? Verse
30. They see crowds of Samaritans coming from
the town. The fields are white for harvest, four
months before harvest. And they're coming at
the invitation of the Samaritan woman. Jesus
is saying, look, forget food. Forget crops. It's
saving people that I'm most interested in. That's
why I'm here. That's what my father's about.
That's what I'm about. Harvest time is now. It's
time for all sorts of people. To be given life
and enter the kingdom. That's the work of God
that Jesus came to finish. It's like food to
him, verse 34, in the sense that doing God's
work, his father's business, brings him much
greater sustenance and satisfaction than any
sandwich or Sunday roast could. He's come to
finish God's saving work. And he does that by
speaking his word, as we'll see in a moment,
verse 42. And ultimately by dying on the cross.
So you'll know at the end of John's Gospel, chapter
19, verse 30, Jesus' final words before he dies
on the cross are, it is finished. Not I'm finished.
It's finished. What's finished? Well, God's rescue
plan is accomplished. Sin has been paid for.
God's wrath has been satisfied. The way to the
Father is now open. But from the time of Jesus'
first coming up to the time of his second coming,
it's harvest time. He's saying to his disciples,
open your eyes. Wake up. Understand the times.
There are people all around us in need of living
water. Stop being concerned with food. Imagine
for a moment that you're a consultant in charge
of A &E. And one evening the call comes in that
there's a huge crash on the M25. And you're warned
as the chief consultant to expect a large number
of patients coming in in critical condition.
And so one by one the ambulances arrive. Paramedics
bring in stretcher after stretcher. And all around
you in A &E people are suffering. They're dying.
And you as the A &E consultant sit in your office
with your feet up. with a food menu, trying to
work out whether to order pizza or a curry. That's
a little bit like what the disciples are doing.
All around them, people are dying of spiritual
thirst and hunger, and they're thinking about
lunch. By the way, before we think too critically
of the disciples, I do want to confess that I'm
exactly the same as them. My mind and diary and
prayers get very quickly taken up with me and
now and physical. And I dare say I'm not the
only one in the room. It may well not be food
that occupies our minds, but we can so easily
pour all our energies into our work in this world
and very little thought or energy about God's
work that lasts into eternity. Or in church life.
Church life can very easily focus on the barns.
and not the fields we do need to keep lifting
our eyes don't we to the fields and the future
because our heavenly father's business is saving
people that's the work that lasts into the next
world and i take it that we just see our jobs
our course our relationships our the whole of
our lives in the light of that In the light of
the fact that it's harvest time. So Jesus says
to us now, as he says to his disciples then,
open your eyes, look around you, understand the
times you're in. Now when it comes to harvest
time, there are two types of people. There are
those who sow and those who reap, verse 36. 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 the other reaps, is true. So sower
and reaper have different roles. Just as Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 6, I planted the
seed, Apollos watered, God's making it grow.
God employs different people in different roles
in his harvesting work. You'll see this every
week in your... You see it every day in college.
Different people, different roles, different
gifts. But it's the same work. It's the same
ministry to share in the joy when the harvest
comes in. And Jesus' disciples were particularly
privileged in verse 38. I send you to reap what
you've not worked for. Others have done the hard
work and you've reaped the benefits of their
labor. Now we may be referring to the prophets.
And John the Baptist, they do the hard work.
They've laid the ground. The disciples come in
and sort of in a football analogy, they just
tap it in an open goal on the back post. They've
done all the hard work. You reap the benefits.
But I think actually in the immediate context
suggests that it's the Samaritan woman who's
done the hard work. She's the one who's gone
back into town and brought back a load of people
who were about to be harvested into the kingdom.
That's the work that God is doing in his world.
And therefore, whether you're a teacher or a
student, for those who are full -time mums or
part -time physios, every Christian is employed
in God's harvesting work. Because it's harvest
time. Apparently a South African bishop called
Frank Retief gathers all the church leaders together
in his area once a year. And he tells them to
get their diaries out and write at the top of
each page this phrase. People without Christ
go to hell. And then he says to them, now organize
your life around that truth. Imagine putting
that at the top of every page of your diary or
on your Google calendar. People without Christ
go to hell. Okay, I've got to... What am I going
to do in the light of that then? See, there's
an unlikely sower. And there is a ripe harvest.
And the third thing, much more briefly, is a
world saviour. We see that in verses 39 to 42.
This woman is an unlikely sower. The Samaritans
are definitely an unlikely harvest. And yet,
verse 39, many of the Samaritans from that town
believed in him. because of the woman's testimony.
He told me everything I've ever done. But notice
they want more. They don't just want to hear
her testimony. They want to hear his word. And
so they plead with him to stay for longer, which
leads to verse 41. Because of his words, many
more became believers. They said to the woman,
we no longer believe just because of what you
said. Now we've heard for ourselves, and we know
that this man really is the saviour of the world.
See, God is doing his work in his world, his
harvesting work, through the word of his son.
So these people here in Samaria aren't like those
at the end of chapter 2. If you know the story,
there are people at the end of chapter 2 who
believe in Jesus because they saw the signs that
he was performing. It's sort of superficial belief,
if you like. You know, give us another one, Jesus.
But they don't actually trust him. They don't
want him. They just want his tricks and his miracles.
It's superficial. This is sincere faith. The
Samaritans haven't seen any miracles. They believe
because they heard the words that he was speaking.
We no longer believe because of what you said,
but because of what he said. And there are two
big announcements, if you notice, of Jesus' identity
in this chapter. One was by Jesus himself, that's
in verse 26. I am the Messiah, the Christ, the
King. The other is by a group of Samaritans in
verse 42. They identify him as, rightly, the
saviour of the world. And John's bringing those
two things together. The Messiah is the saviour
of the world. In other words... Here is the one
through whom God is reaping a harvest among all
sorts of people. From the Nicodemuses of the
world to the Samaritan women of the world. To
people like me and you. The Messiah, the saviour
of the world. That's how God, that's through
whom God is reaping a harvest. And now is the
time for that harvest. Just two brief invocations
as I close. And that is, number one, doing God's
work is a privilege. It's a sign, isn't it, of
God's outrageous grace that Jesus not only goes
to Samaria, talks to this outcast, and offers
her living water. He washes her clean by his
Holy Spirit, and then he employs her in his harvest
field. And God has done that for you. If you're
a Christian believer, he gives us new birth and
involves us in his work. I said it earlier, but
I find it absolutely staggering that God doesn't
just save people like you and I, as if that's
not outrageously gracious enough. He says, I've
got work for you to do. I want to involve you
in my harvesting business. You've got lots to
learn. But don't worry about that because I'm
going to be with you. I'm going to help you,
equip you. I'm going to give you my Holy Spirit
to change you and give you gifts to make you
useful in my service. I think one of the things
I've been struck by the longer I've been in Christian
ministry is actually, I've been struck by several
things. One of them is hard work. But also at
the same time, it is privileged work. What else
would you rather do with your life than give
yourself to playing your part in the harvest
field, in harvest time? Doing God's work is a
privilege. And don't let the devil ever tell
you otherwise. It's the meant privilege. But
secondly, doing God's work is a priority. The
harvest is plentiful, says Jesus in Matthew,
but the work is a few. Ask the Lord of the harvest
to send out workers into the harvest field. When
I've always thought about that verse previously,
I've always thought, oh, the workers are few.
I've emphasized that bit. And by workers, I think
I've meant vicars. The vicars are few. Now, there
are few, and we need more and more. But a couple
of things to notice. Jesus says there is a plentiful
harvest field. I mean... You see that in John
4, the crowd of Samaritans walking over the field.
There is a plentiful harvest, and we do need
more workers for that harvest field. But not
just more vicars and pastors and women's workers
and children's workers and youth workers to be
full -time. Every Christian is involved in the
harvesting business. We do need more workers,
and it is a priority. And so whether we end up
in full -time Christian ministry or not, the
harvesting work is a priority. So what do you
do? If I ask that question at the start, what
is it you do? You could answer that in all kinds
of ways. I'm a husband. I'm a dad. I'm a lecturer.
I'm a student. You work in God's harvest field.
That's what you do. It's not that you will work
in God's harvest field one day when you graduate
and when you finish your exams. You already work
in God's harvest field. And so give your life
to those privileges and that great priority because
it's harvest time. Let me lead us in a prayer.
Thank you Father for your outrageous grace to
people like us that you would, just like this
Samaritan woman, save us and employ us in your
service. Father, we're sorry, I'm sorry for times
when we forget that that work is a privilege
or a priority. Father, please would you persuade
us in our hearts and minds. That it is now harvest
time and we get to play our part in harvesting
the crop of people. Thank you, Father, that you
involve us in the family business. Father, please
help us to be useful, to be faithful, to be fruitful
in your service so that many more people like
these Samaritans, like us, would come into your
kingdom and enjoy eternal life. In the Lord Jesus.
And it's in his name we pray. Amen.