12-7-25 - Look On The Fields That They Are White For Harvest

John chapter four. We'll be looking at verses 27 through 42. And in this passage, Jesus talks about, well, a couple of things that are all kinda tied together. Right? He talks about his food, sowing and reaping, and the work of the laborers.

And often, I think we see these kinds of passages and immediately we think about pastors and teachers and we think of that as what the passage is about. And that is the primary application, when Jesus is talking about sowing and reaping in the fields, that's the primary application. But there is something instructive in here for us, for those of us who aren't pastors and teachers. There is a calling on every Christian to be part of their savior's work of sharing the gospel. My hope for us this morning is that we would see that, that we would engage in this work and that it would be satisfying to us and give us great joy to spread the gospel Lord, and it is eternally true.

At this point, his disciples came and they were amazed that he had been speaking with a woman. Yet no one said, what do you seek? Or why do you speak with her? So the woman left her water pot and went into the city and said to the man, come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done. This is not the Christ, is it?

They went out of the city and were coming to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples were saying to one another, no one brought him anything to eat, did he? Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Do not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case, the saying is true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.

Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. He told me all the things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they were saying to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the savior of the world.

This is the word of the lord. Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. So our passage picks up at the tail end of Jesus' conversation with this Samaritan woman.

Earlier, the disciples had left and gone into the city to buy food. And Jesus, when he arrived at Jacob's Well, just outside of Sychar in Samaria, was weary. We could imagine that like the disciples, he was also hungry. We know he was thirsty because when the woman arrives at the well, asked her to get him a drink. Jesus talked to her about living water, the salvation of god, and her sins.

He reveals that he is the Messiah, the one who will declare all things to us, as the Samaritan woman said. Then the disciples show up and the woman leaves. And we get no sense from this story that Jesus ever got the water he asked for. Instead, he became zealous to give this woman water that leads to everlasting life. Jesus then deals with the disciples in a similar way, except instead of water, he talks about food.

The disciples who know Jesus is weary knew he was hungry when they left. They start imploring him to eat, but he says, I have food to eat that you do not know about. And the disciples are kinda like, what? Who came and gave Jesus food? Did you see anyone?

Where is this food? Where did it come from? The disciples are thinking about physical food because that's what they see in the moment as the most pressing need for them and for their teacher. Just like the woman who originally thought when Jesus said that if you knew who asked, you would have asked for living water, goes, well, show me this well that I may drink. Or like Nicodemus earlier in chapter three who marveled when Jesus said, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

What was Nicodemus response to that? How can a man be born again when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? A teacher in Israel, the Samaritan woman, the disciples. Jesus says these things and they all think of them in terms of the physical nature, physical water, physical physical food, physical birth.

They're not concerned with the spiritual state. They're focused on the physical. And this will happen again later when Jesus says, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. What happens then? All the crowds that had been following him leave him because they don't understand that he's talking about spiritual things.

We can look back at this and we can clearly see that Jesus is dealing with spiritual realities. But isn't it true in our lives that like Nick Nicodemus, like the woman at the well, like the disciples here in our passage, that we get caught up in our physical needs? We get caught up in our physical needs and wants and we neglect spiritual things. How often are we forgetful of the importance of reading our bibles and being fed from God's word? We get caught up on our physical needs as if they're the only needs that we have, but they're not.

And in this way, we're just like the disciples here. Our physical needs right now overshadow, at least in our minds and our hearts, our spiritual needs and our spiritual disciplines. We would rarely forget to eat a meal or to get a drink of water, but we often forget to read God's word. We so often neglect and forget our spiritual need to be fed from God's word and let his will for us and his work for us be our food. The food that Jesus is talking about is spiritual food.

He says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. So what is God's will for Jesus? What is this work that Jesus is accomplishing? Well, first and foremost, Jesus was sent to save God's people. Jesus came to redeem them, not in a physical sense.

He didn't come to dethrone the Roman Empire. He came to rescue captives out of their slavery to sin and from the condemnation of hell. This is the will of God and the work that he gave to Jesus. His will all was also for Christ to be a prophet and to declare the word of God to the people, to proclaim the coming kingdom. Jesus accomplishes salvation for his people, and he also tells them about it.

It. He told the woman in verse 26, I who speak to you am he, in reference to her comment about the messiah that was to come. To everyone, Jesus proclaims the coming kingdom of God. And eventually, in John, he'll tell of his death and resurrection. He's declaring the kingdom of God in the way of salvation.

He's drawing people into the kingdom. This is God's will and work for Jesus to do. In John seventeen three, in John chapter 17 verses three through four, Jesus says, this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work which you have given me. And a little later in verse six, he says, I have manifested your name to the men you gave me out of the world.

This is Christ's food. It is to reveal the father. It is to declare the kingdom. It is to rescue captives and be the savior disciples brought back. Disciples brought back.

He cares more about leading souls into the kingdom of God than eating. And this continues to be the theme of who our god and savior is. Christ, who was beaten, abused, mocked, scorned, and nailed to a cross, remained silent and endured such physical hardship because it was his father's will. This is our lord's food, to see his people saved, to proclaim the kingdom of God, to glorify and magnify the father. Remember what Jesus says after fasting in the wilderness for forty days?

When the devil comes and tempts him, turn these stones to bread? He says, man Jesus responds. He says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Doing the will of God and accomplishing his work is more satisfying to Christ than mere bread or meat. Jesus lives and is sustained by doing God's will.

Is this true of us? Do we love the word of God and the gospel of fasted? And when was the last time you fasted for a reason other than your physical well-being? I think in our circles, intermittent fasting is kind of a popular thing to do. But when we do that, we're doing it for physical reasons.

We're trying to be healthier. I'm talking about fasting because we wanna devote the time we would spend eating to filling our hearts and our minds with God's word and in prayer to him. It's clear that we can go without a meal if we think it will benefit us physically. But it seems less clear that if we were it seems less clear that it benefits us spiritually. I'm concerned that we struggle to do it if our focus in doing it is spiritual.

Do you love talking about the word of God? Do you love engaging in spiritual conversations with one another? Have you ever known the joy of leaving a conversation about the word of God and feeling energized? Even if you're introverted. Right?

Sometimes you converse with people and you get tired and you're done and you go home and all you wanna do is take a nap. But have you ever had the joy of talking about God's word and fellowshipping with brothers and sisters in Christ's church and then you go home and you feel energized? You feel strengthened to obey God? Or do you find those conversations dull and boring? Do those conversations make you feel uncomfortable?

Spiritual food Jesus is talking about when we engage each other in conversations about God's word. When we engage in conversations about the gospel should satisfy and sustain us in our Christian life as they do our lord. Don't neglect these conversations with one another or the opportunities the lord gives you to share the gospel with your neighbors. These are good things. These are things that should satisfy us.

Now, you may say, God's will for Jesus and the work he sent him to accomplish is different than his will and work for us. And so I say, sure. Yeah. We're not saving people. Right?

We didn't die on a cross. We're not saving people in that sense. But god has a will for us, and he has work for you and I to do. So what is it? Well, he tells us in first Thessalonians four verse three, this is the will of God, your sanctification.

Be sanctified. Be transformed by by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. If you neglect spiritual conversations with your brothers, if you neglect sharing the gospel with your neighbors, how is your mind being transformed? How are you being renewed? And I'd also say that that the Lord has physical work for you.

And you ought to do everything that you can in your calling to make much of Christ in your work. Part part of that is that you do good work and glorify God with your work ethic. Don't tie God's name to laziness or bad work. You have a calling. Do it well and for the glory of God.

Wives and mothers, those of you that stay home, that's true of you too. Do your work well with diligence because it's the work God has called you to do. This is our food, that we do the will of God and accomplish the work that he has given us to do. And this applies to sharing the gospel with with people. We generally think about this as largely being the work of pastors or maybe elders and deacons.

And, again, while that is primarily the case that the ministers of the word do the majority of the proclaiming God's word and teaching about the kingdom of God, it is the joy of all of us. It is the joy of all Christians that we be partakers of the work of sowing and reaping. That we would partake in sharing gospel and spreading god's name and the glory of his kingdom and the glory of salvation and Jesus Christ to our neighbors. While not ordained to any formal ministry, you and I should, out of the abundance of love we have toward God and our neighbors, share in the joy of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Doing it should not be cumbersome or a burden to us, but it should give us life.

It should be our food. Notice the woman earlier in verses 27 through 30. She's not a teacher or a minister. She just found out about Jesus at the well. She didn't know who this guy was.

He came asking her about water and offered her living water, and they had this weird conversation. And now all of a sudden, she's convinced he's the Messiah. He's revealed himself to her. And what does she do? Does she just go home and act like it never happened?

She just like, yeah, you know, cool. I met this guy who says he's the Messiah. He might be right. No. No.

She leaves her water. She leaves her pot. The whole reason she came to the well was to draw water. And she leaves the reason she came, and she goes into the town. She left the physical need, the reason she came, her physical need, and she goes because she's had a spiritual need met and she wants it to be met for others.

She wants others to have their spiritual needs met. She believes that Jesus is the Messiah and so she abandons her water, goes into the city, and brings the men of the city to meet Jesus and see for themselves that he is the Messiah. Does the gospel of Jesus compel us like it did this woman? I'm afraid in our lives, in my life, that we're not so easily motivated. But we should be.

We should be. Like Jesus, this should be our food. This should be satisfying to us. Now, after explaining his food, Jesus takes the analogy a bit further. He starts talking about the harvest.

Do you not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white for harvest. Jesus appeals to the idea of sowing and reaping a little later. First, he reminds the disciples of the regular practice. Sow seed, wait four months, and then reap it.

But then he tells them to lift up their eyes because the harvest is ready. You don't have to wait four months. The harvest is ready right now. Jesus had just spent some time talking with this Samaritan woman, and she left her pot and is stirring up the men of the town in Samaria in Sychar. And now they're on their way to see this Jesus.

There's no waiting for four months in this instance. The harvest is ready now. The harvest is ready now. Whether we're helping our brother or sister in their walk with Christ or we're talking to our unbelieving neighbor about the gospel. We often have in our minds this idea that we need to work with people, that they're not ready to hear that yet.

They're not ready for me to actually tell them the gospel. I'm just trying to start a conversation or start a friendship or start, start talking to them. And then maybe maybe organically we can have that conversation. We can have that hard conversation. We can talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ and their need for salvation.

Maybe that will just come about organically. We think that they're not ready to quite hear the gospel yet. And while it may be true in some cases that not every time is the right time, I know that at least for me in my life, that has often just been an excuse. We wanna wait for months only to look at the harvest again and say, nah. It's not ready for reaping yet now either.

But Jesus doesn't want us to be complacent and sit on our hands and wait for the harvest to come to us. The harvest is imminent. Sowing and reaping the gospel now can happen simultaneously, and the laborers don't always know which one they're doing. Sometimes we're planting seeds of the gospel, and other times we're reaping the fruit. And sometimes we have the joy of doing both.

Jesus says, look on the fields that they are white for harvest. I want you to consider with me for a moment what field he's talking about. There are usually two arguments around this passage. One suggests that Jesus is speaking universally about the field of the earth and the souls of men. And another says that Jesus was talking with the Samaritans, or talking about the Samaritans and that he and his disciples disciples.

And so one argument is Jesus is talking universally about the harvest of the world and then another argument is he's talking specifically about the Samaritans. And I like what JC Ryle says because he says, it's both. It's both. Jesus is dealing with the immediate reality of the Samaritans and he's speaking universally as well. Jesus says to them, lift up your eyes.

He tells them, lift up their eyes, look up and see the field. Here they are at Jacob's Well in Samaria near Sychar, close to Mount Gerizim where the Samaritans worshiped. The immediate field that Jesus is referring to is this crowd of Samaritans that he sees coming up over the horizon to meet him at the well. And we should realize that this is a big deal, that these Samaritans coming to talk to Jesus and his 12 disciples who are all Jews is a big deal. Earlier in this chapter, John makes clear to us that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Samaritans are detestable to them. The Samaritans are crossbreeds. They're Jews who intermarried with Gentiles. Back during the exile. Second, the Samaritans were actively involved in trying to thwart the rebuilding of Israel in the temple in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Third, the Samaritans, probably because of their intermarriages, corrupted the worship of god. They worshiped god, but also their idols, and they worshiped at Mount Gerizim and not in Jerusalem. This is a big deal to the Jews. With that said, Calvin argues that the Jews in Jesus' time probably despised Samaritans simply because they inhabited land that the Jews believed belonged to them. So, here are these filthy, wicked, idolatrous Samaritans and Jesus says to his disciples, lift up your eyes.

Can't you see the people coming to us? Lift up your eyes. Look at the fields. Look at these Samaritans. And he says, they're white for harvest.

These Samaritans who descended from such wickedness. Could you imagine what the disciples were thinking? It was bad enough Jesus was talking with a woman, a Samaritan woman, but now he's saying that these Samaritans are our work, that these are this is the field that's white for harvest that we need to proclaim the kingdom of god to. Doesn't Jesus know that the Jewish leaders think that they're detestable? That they're wicked?

That there's no hope for them? These Samaritans can't be saved. They're worse than Gentiles. And how often have you and I, when we've met people, we've run a cost benefit analysis on them? We've looked at them and we've looked at their lives and we've thought about the things that they say, and we run this cost benefit analysis and determine that we would be wasting our time with them.

We think they're too far gone or they're too deep in their sins to repent. We assume that they won't believe or they won't listen, and so we just mark them and we try to avoid them. Or maybe worse, we think they're not worthy of our time. Whichever it is, we prove ourselves Samaritans that Jesus is pointing the disciples to? Can God save the people that we see that we kind of wanna mark and avoid because they're not quite like us?

Because they don't talk like us, they don't look like us, they don't think like us, they don't worship like us. I mean, what about the disciples? They weren't quite the pinnacle of godliness either, were they? They were made up of some fishermen and some other men who we don't even know their line of work and a tax collector. And then you have Judas, some real upstanding, outstanding guys, right, who didn't have any sins.

Right? Jesus didn't call the 12 because they were well-to-do or good men. He didn't call them because they were rich or they had lots of, gifts. He called them because that's who he chose. Jesus calls the dirty.

He calls the poor. He calls the greedy. He calls sinners to come and follow him. Jesus doesn't show partiality in who he calls. Were the disciples much better than these Samaritans?

Are we much better than these disciples? I think sometimes we think so. We think we're better than the disciples. Like how when we read through Exodus and we think we're better than the Israelites. But we we would be nothing.

The disciples would be nothing and have nothing, but our sin and the damage our sin causes if Jesus didn't save us. Paul says in Ephesians two verses 11 through 13, therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands, remember that you are at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And this is true of all of us. We were all dead in trespasses and sins. Our sins are not any better than or or worse than someone else's sins.

Our sins all mark us as being ripe for judgment. We all were far off but have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Jesus has saved us. And so why would we lack faith that he could save others? That he could save these Samaritans.

That he could save people who aren't like us and don't talk like us. And I think some of the reason we think this way is because we think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Daniel has been teaching the children's membership class. And he mentioned to them a few Sundays ago, you may have to correct me if I get this messed up, but he mentioned to them a few Sundays ago how when he was younger, he used to think that he was a Christian because he was just smart. Because he was he was just smarter than everybody.

If they were just smart, they would they would be Christians too. But they're not smart. They're dumb because they don't believe. Right? Is that He said that's how he used to think.

And eventually, he realized that it wasn't because he was so smart, but because God gave him eyes to see. Because God gave him faith. Because God called him. And I don't think Daniel's alone in thinking that part of the reason that he's saved is because he's got something to offer. I think each of us are tempted to think of ourselves better than we actually are.

A few years ago, Pastor Dave hasn't said this in a while, but a few years ago he would say, he would talk about employees providing value to their employers. And it used to frustrate me because he would say, you don't really provide any value to your employers until you're like 30 and you've been doing the job for four or five years. And it used to make me so mad because I'm 29 right now. Men don't actually that's what he would say. Men don't actually start contributing value until they're 30.

Now, was I frustrated because pastor Dave was wrong? Or am I frustrated because I think pretty highly of myself and my ability to work? Another reason we lack faith is that we just don't see how God could save someone out of the darkness they're in. How could that person ever come to faith? They're too ingrained in their sin.

They live with their boyfriend or girlfriend. They have no respect for authority. They despise the church and God's people. They openly revel in their sins. How could God ever redeem that?

And again, I would just ask us, have we forgotten that he redeemed us from our sins? Sins? Who would we be if not for the blood of Christ? Now we've talked a lot about the field and harvest, and I think, generally when we get to this point we stop thinking about our own work because this seems directly tied to the work of pastors. I mentioned that quite a bit here.

And as I mentioned, we have the joy of also, we, those of us who aren't pastors, who aren't teachers, we have the joy of also sharing and spreading the gospel to lost souls. So you might ask, okay. Well, what's my field? Where's my field to share the gospel with? Lift up your eyes.

Look around you. Who are the people that are around you? Remember the woman? She felt it was her responsibility to go into the city and tell the men of the city, come meet a man who told me all the things I ever did. She took that upon herself.

The woman was no pastor or teacher. She just wanted others to see the messiah and that he was here. You can also I can also go and say to the people around us, come see a man that told me all the things I have done. That's your field. Your field is the people around you.

It's your neighbors. It's your children. Dad and mom, it's your Dad and mom, it's your responsibility and joy to raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Not not to raise little Pharisees who know the right answers in Sunday school and know how to put on a facade. But those who see Jesus and see their own sins and their need for salvation, and they cling to Jesus Jesus.

We don't do that by acting like we're sinless or better than others around us. We do this by confessing our sins even to our children when we sin against them. In this, in sharing the gospel and talking to them about sin and God's forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ, you're sowing and reaping in God's harvest. And it should be your love for God that compels you to do this. Verse 36 is just beautiful.

In the second half of the verse, Jesus says, so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. God sends us to sow and reap in his harvest. Sometimes that happens simultaneously, and sometimes you sow a whole lot of seed, but you never see the result of it. And sometimes you reap a harvest that you didn't sow. Jesus says, I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.

Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. It's not really about who sows and who reaps. It's not not really what it's about. Doesn't matter if you're sowing seed or reaping the fruit. Who cares who sows or reaps?

The fields and therefore the harvest, whatever fruit comes from them belong to God. It doesn't matter what part we play in sowing and reaping. What matters is that we work together to provide to to provide a harvest to the father, to work in his harvest, whether that's sowing or reaping. That's what matters. You may sow and sow and sow in your child's life, and it may be years before you see the fruit of your sowing.

And it will probably be because someone else reaped it. I think about many of the things that my my dad particularly said to me in high school, but I don't remember them until, like, now, which is, like, ten years too late, it feels like. But what's funny about those things is that I've learned them from other men here. I just didn't listen to my dad when he told me ten years ago. But when I'm reminded of the things he told me, I I remember it was my dad who told me that originally.

I didn't I didn't just learn that today. I actually knew that. I just didn't listen. And there's regret there. There's a failure to have faith in my father that my father was right.

And yet, there's joy that I didn't go my whole life not realizing that he was right. This happens with our this happens with our children. I'm not old enough to have this happen yet. My child's three, but I hear the stories about some of those of you who have put your kids through high school and are in college or or beyond. And this is common that moms and dads will say things to their kids over and over and over again, and then pastor Dave or pastor Eric will say the same thing to them, and then they believe.

And we praise the Lord for that. Both those who sow and reap rejoice together in that. And I know that this is probably true between some of some of us husbands and wives too, where we talk to one another and we say things to one another, and we can say the same thing to our spouse for three months. And then she hears it at women's bible study. She comes back and tells you this wonderful revelation she experienced, and you're just like, I've been telling you that for three months.

Right? But husbands, you do it too. Who cares? Be thankful that God is working in the hearts of those that are around you. Ultimately, it doesn't matter who sows and who reaps.

Sometimes we have the joy of both. If we're faithful, we as a church will probably spend more time sowing, and that's okay. The prophet sowed all kinds of seed that they didn't get to see realized. And then on the other hand, the Samaritan woman was faithful and sowed seed in the men of the city, and it came to fruition within two days. Later in verse 42, the men say, it's no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the savior of the world.

The woman didn't cause them to believe. God gave them faith to believe. Her witness didn't save them. Jesus did. Sharing the gospel should be part of our food as it was Jesus' food.

It should be more important to us than the water, like it was more important to the woman than her water. It is both the responsibility and joy of every Christian to share the gospel with his neighbors, with his family, and with his children. Think about the people in your life, your children, your extended family, your neighbors, your coworkers. When was the last time you told them about Jesus? When was the last time that you told them about your faith?

Are you open about your faith? Do the people around you know that you're a Christian? Could the people at work be able to say, yeah, I know. I know so and so, and they are a Christian because of how they live, because of how they talk, because it their faith compels them. Their love for God compels them to be open and share it with us.

Or do you keep it like You don't need to be a teacher or a You don't need to be a teacher or have all the answers. You can simply say, meet a man who told me everything I ever did. You can invite your neighbor to church. We have ample opportunity, especially now during the season of Advent. During this time we're celebrating the incarnation of our Lord.

People are already thinking about Christmas. The field is white for harvest. We should take advantage of this time. So that like in verse 36, we may be receiving wages and gathering fruit for life eternal. This was the work of our Lord.

This was the work he was engaged in. This was his food, and it should be ours as well. Let's pray. Pray.