Lord of the Harvest
Download MP3Before we open up God's word together, if you would look in your worship guide, we're going to say the Apostle's Creed. One of the reasons we're doing that this evening is because we wanna remind ourselves of the gospel message that Robert and Erica will be taking. The gospel message we believe. The Apostle's Creed is set in churches all over the world every Sunday as the affirmation of this is the Christian faith. So if you would recite with me together.
Joel Brooks:I believe in God the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, our lord, who was conceived by the holy spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried. He descended into hell. The 3rd day, he arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the father almighty.
Joel Brooks:From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the holy spirit. I believe in the holy catholic church. The communion of saints. The forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
Joel Brooks:Amen. Amen. If you would open your Bibles to John chapter 4, we also have that text in the worship guide if you wanna read along there. John chapter 4, and we're gonna take time to read this whole section of scripture. These words are far more important than any words I could say.
Joel Brooks:Listen carefully, this is God's word. We'll begin reading in verse 7. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For the disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Joel Brooks:The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
Joel Brooks:Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.
Joel Brooks:Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you are right in saying I have no husband, for you have had 5 husbands. And the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.
Joel Brooks:The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place that where people ought to worship. And Jesus said to her, woman, believe me. The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. You worship what you do not know.
Joel Brooks:We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth, for the father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit and those who are worship those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. And when he comes, he will tell us all things.
Joel Brooks:Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples came back, and they marveled that he was talking with a woman. But no one said, what do you seek, or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her water jug and went away into town and said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?
Joel Brooks:They went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat? Jesus said to him, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
Joel Brooks:Do you not say that there are 4 months then come the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor.
Joel Brooks:Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with him. And he stayed there 2 days.
Joel Brooks:And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the savior of the world. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. And pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Our father, I ask that you would honor the very reading of your word. And that through the power of your spirit, even now it begin to penetrate deep into our hearts, into our minds. We confess that our hearts, our minds are so calloused and they are so slow that we need you to break through our defenses. So we ask that you do that. Lord, we need to hear from you.
Joel Brooks:We we need words of life. My words are death, but your words are life. So in this moment, at this time, I ask that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. Pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen. Feel like I have to introduce myself. My name is Joel. It's been 6 weeks, since I've been up here. We've been going through the book of John when we last left off.
Joel Brooks:And this is actually our 3rd week going through this particular story. The story of the woman at the well, but since it's been 6 weeks since we've last been here, we probably need a little bit of refresher. So let me just kind of take a few, go back a few weeks. In the story, Jesus being led by the spirit, he's going to Galilee, he decides that he must pass through the area of Samaria. Verse 4 says that Jesus must do this, or that he found it necessary to do this, which is interesting.
Joel Brooks:This is this is the spirit of God leading Jesus to go this way because the Jews avoided Samaria like one would avoid the plague. Samaritans were heretical, traitorous, half breeds. The Jews despise them, yet Jesus had to go there. The spirit of God is leading him, they're likely to meet with this very woman. When they finally get to Samaria, Jesus, he sends his disciples away to go and get food, and while they're gone, he is utterly exhausted.
Joel Brooks:And so he sits down at this well on the outskirts of town, and it's here that he first comes into contact with this woman. We don't know much about this woman at first, but we can at least infer that she is a social outcast. Because a normal time to come to a well would be early in the morning and you would come with all the women of the village. But this woman came during the heat of day at noon all by herself. She doesn't want to be around other people.
Joel Brooks:We find out later why she is a woman with a past. Actually, she's a woman with a present. She is filled with shame. And during her brief encounter with Jesus, he exposes this in her. I mean, after talking about how he could give her living water, he then says, go get your husband.
Joel Brooks:And when she says, I don't have a husband, Jesus says, well that's one way to put it. What you said is technically true. You've had 5 husbands, and the man you're sleeping with right now is not your husband. And things got really awkward, really awkward fast. But Jesus, he kept pressing in.
Joel Brooks:And the reason he asked her about her husband is because that was the well to which she was going to, she was thirsty and she was trying to quench her thirst by going to man after man after man after man. And Jesus is saying that is a cistern that is broken. It will always be dry. I offer you living water. I offer you myself.
Joel Brooks:Jesus then talks about worship, about how he is the Messiah. He is the way to God. Jesus is the one who replaces the temple. And it's at this point, we pick back up the story from where we left off. The disciples, they return from town with the food they were going to get, and they see Jesus talking to this woman and so they're shocked because respectable men didn't talk to women, especially Samaritan women like this, and they're probably thinking scandals.
Joel Brooks:It's gonna be all over the papers. It's gonna ruin their ministry. And so they kind of give her the cold shoulder. They don't really talk, they whisper to one another. She senses their unease and so she leaves.
Joel Brooks:And once she's left, the disciples offer Jesus some of the food that they just went to go get. And Jesus tells them, thanks, thanks, but no thanks. I've already eaten. They're thinking, what do you mean you already have eaten? You just sent us out to get food.
Joel Brooks:How did you get food? Who brought you a sandwich? How is this possible? And Jesus tells them, guys, what you were just walking in on, what you just saw take place with me and this woman was food. Guys, what you witnessed that scene right there would happen was more nourishing to me than any food you could have possibly brought to me.
Joel Brooks:It was more satisfying, it was more energizing than going out to eat. What just happened here with this woman was fuel for my body and soul. I want you to just let that sink in. I mean, but before Jesus had met with this train wreck of a woman, he was exhausted, he was tired, he was hungry, he sat down to rest his weary bones. And then through this interaction refreshed.
Joel Brooks:It was invigorating to Him. And this is just hard to believe. I mean, it wasn't like He was meeting with a close friend and was getting encouragement. It It wasn't like he was meeting with some scholar or intellectual where at least he'd have, you know, food for thought. Somehow that would be nourishing.
Joel Brooks:Here, Jesus is meeting with an emotionally needy woman who is a social pariah. I cannot think of 1 guy, not one, who would want to meet 1 on 1 with an emotionally needy woman who is a social pariah rather than go to maybe Saul's barbecue and have a beer with his friends. I cannot think of 1. And I gotta confess, I I look at this woman and people like her, and I think of them as vampires, as vampires. We actually had a vampire live next to us at one point.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I mean that. She had surgically implanted fangs and we had walked our house and she would hiss at us from her front porch. It was welcome to Crestwood. I mean, that's what you get. But I see this woman as kind of a vampire.
Joel Brooks:She sucks the life out of you. You know people like that? When you're around them and they're just life suckers. But that's because we look at women like that and we think if we're gonna reach him, we have to do it all on our own power, all in our own strength. Not like the father already has a plan, his spirit is already sent already actively working and we get to just join his work.
Joel Brooks:Have you ever met or seen a woman like this? She she would be the one who lives in the poor part of town. Think East Lake, Samaria, you know, or Woodlawn, Samaria. She's been bounced around from man to man to man to man. Now she's just shacked up with some man because if she if she doesn't do this, she's gonna be kicked out on the streets.
Joel Brooks:She's had a hard life. Have you ever seen a woman like this? She looks very weathered and haggard. There's nothing that you would look at and be drawn to her. And of course all the people around her know about her, whisper about her, give her the little glances and so she she avoids everybody because she knows, she she's just filled with shame.
Joel Brooks:And so she goes when she needs to get something to drink or eat, and she goes to the little, you know, quickie Mart or whatever down the street, she's gonna make sure she goes at a time when nobody else is around so she won't be made fun of, so she doesn't have to interact with anybody. And so she quietly goes into that little food mart and she maybe opens up the refrigerator and she's getting out a monster drink or whatever it is. And Jesus meets her and says, hey, I can give you something better. I can give you something far more energizing. I can give you cool, refreshing living water that will change your life.
Joel Brooks:And she's changed. She really is changed. And when the disciples, when they come back and they witness this interaction, and they're bringing Jesus his food, Jesus tells them, hey, doing what I'm doing and interacting with this woman right here is better than any food you could possibly bring me. This is food enough. And what Jesus is doing here is he is inviting every one of us to come to that table.
Joel Brooks:He's saying I want you to eat at the table I'm eating at. When you reach out to others, when you're sharing the gospels with others, it is more nourishing than food. Come eat from this table. It's an invitation to us. Listen, sharing your faith is to be the bread and butter of Christianity.
Joel Brooks:That's what it is. Sharing your faith is the bread and butter of Christianity. It nourishes both you and it nourishes others. And if you don't do this, you will starve. Our family just got back from Montana.
Joel Brooks:We go there most summers, And when we're there, we help out a ranch called Hope Ranch. And so it's kind of a, you know, it's a vacation, but it's also just a time where we get to, to work with a local ministry there. And we become really good friends with the family that runs it, And and the wife, the mom who who helps run is is remarkable. What they do is this. They get troubled boys or troubled girls, maybe, who lives in a boy They live in boy homes or girl homes, and they come to this ranch for the day.
Joel Brooks:Maybe just for a few hours. And they take them horseback riding through beautiful scenery, and just kinda treat them well. Give them an outing, and that's kind of it. And it's it's actually kind of an exhausting thing to do day after day, because these are people Like, do you really want to invest in them? You're not gonna see them anymore.
Joel Brooks:I mean, this is like a one shot deal, And, and it was so remarkable seeing how she would interact with these people. There might This past time there there were there were some girls, you know, who were coming in from a girl's home. And she just prays, Lord, who? Who? And she only has time to go up to 1 child and she will go up to 1 of the children still on the horse and she will grab the child's hands and she will just say, hey listen to me.
Joel Brooks:Do you have any idea how treasured you are by God? Do you have any idea? I don't know what words you've heard from from parents or from foster parents or from people over you. I don't know what kind of environment you come from. I don't know what your daily life is like, but hear this, you are treasured by God.
Joel Brooks:In 10 years from now, I want you to remember these words that Jesus Christ loves you. That's all the time she has. I wanna be like that. Jesus wants us to have encounters like that. He wants us to evangelize.
Joel Brooks:Now I realize that in this day and age, evangelism is is somewhat of a dirty word, but I'm not going to back away from it. As Christians, we are called to evangelism. Evangel, meaning gospel or good news. We are called to be people who proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Let let me ask you.
Joel Brooks:Why why shouldn't we? Why wouldn't we want to declare good news? I mean granted bad news, you kinda wait for the right time to share with people. You have to wait for that special moment to like break the bad news to them. But you don't break good news to people.
Joel Brooks:You don't wait for just that right opportunity. It's a good news you interrupt them. This is good news. Just a question of whether you believe it's good news or not. When this woman hears the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, her life is utterly transformed.
Joel Brooks:Now she doesn't instantly become perfect. We see that here. But she is a changed woman. Just look at the change that happens in her life. Look at verse 28.
Joel Brooks:Verse 28 says, so the woman left her water jug and went into town and said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? So in verse 28 we read that she left her water jug behind. I love you, John, for giving us that little teeny detail there. She went there to get water, but she leaves her water jug behind.
Joel Brooks:Why? Because she has been filled with living water and now she goes into her town and she literally gushes Jesus. She is overflowing with Jesus. That's all she's doing is just talking about Jesus, bringing people to Jesus. Living Water has flooded her life.
Joel Brooks:So she runs into town, she begins telling people about Jesus. Now if you remember earlier, when we first met this woman, she went to great lengths to avoid people. She didn't want anybody to see her or know where she was. She was ashamed to be around people, but now she is actively trying to find people to bring them to Jesus. I want you to look at her message.
Joel Brooks:Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Now there's at least 5 or 6 men who might have a problem with this, what she is doing at this moment. But she is so open with her past. She just doesn't care. Do you see how open she's become with her life and how she's now telling everyone about her sin and she could do this because her sin no longer defines her.
Joel Brooks:Shame no longer has any hold on her. She has moved from shame to self forgetfulness into a joy. She has moved from isolation into a community. The gospel has changed her. And she is now thinks it no longer matters what you think about me.
Joel Brooks:All that matters is what Jesus thinks about me. I know that there are likely some of you here thinking, I see that, you know, and yeah, that's great, but no way. There is no way I would ever go someplace and be like, hey, this man said everything I ever did. Here's who I am. Because you're thinking if people really knew you then they wouldn't love you.
Joel Brooks:But hear me, Jesus knows who you are more than you do. And you need to come to Jesus like this woman at the well did, and let him tell you who you are. And what he's gonna do is he's gonna tell you, you know what you are far worse than you even thought you were. You are a far greater sinner than you could possibly understand. Then he's gonna say, but you know what?
Joel Brooks:You are more loved and accepted than you could ever imagine. That's what he did for this woman. So she runs to the town, come and come and see this man who told me everything that I ever did. And I can almost hear these shocked replies of people going, really? He he he knew all about that?
Joel Brooks:He knew about the time, you know, you She's like, yes. Was he okay with it? No. He wasn't okay with it at all. But he loves me.
Joel Brooks:And he offered me living water. I am a new person because of him. That old person doesn't matter. Won't you please come and meet him? Just come and meet him.
Joel Brooks:Now, as a preacher, I have to say that when I'm reading this woman's sermon, I I find it a little irritating. Just a little irritating. It's a little too grammatical and emotional for my taste. It's not how I would have done it. It's also a little maybe too me centered.
Joel Brooks:Is theology is weak? I mean, she says, come see a man. I'm thinking a man. I would've said son of God personally. I mean, I would've said come meet the son of God.
Joel Brooks:It's not just a man. She also ends her sermon with a question. Can this be the Christ? Rule number 101 in preaching her. In preaching 101, first rule is this.
Joel Brooks:You never end a sermon with a question raising your own doubts. But that's what she does. I mean, could this be the Messiah? Could it? Worst of all, her sermon's entirely too short.
Joel Brooks:It's 2 It's 2 sentences. 2 sentences. Kinda makes me angry. She has the impact she has, but 2 sentences. Look at that impact.
Joel Brooks:Look at verse 30. Says, they went out of the town and they were coming to him. And so so the whole town is is is now coming to Jesus because of her. I mean, so yes, her theology could be improved, her presentation of the gospel can be improved, but it was enough. That's John's point in recording this.
Joel Brooks:Is that this is enough. This is what we've been called to do. Evangelism is simply telling other people to meet the person who has changed your life. That's evangelism. Come meet the guy who changed my life.
Joel Brooks:Listen, if you've been given a fountain, you will gush to others. You will gush Jesus. There is no such thing. Remove it from your mind as far as you can. There is no such thing as a private Christian faith.
Joel Brooks:Our faith is called on by Jesus to be public. And it's really not hard. If Jesus is part of your life, if he's an active part of your life, then he just gushes out. Not to go to people and give them the 4 spiritual laws, you know, get the felt board out, you know, draw diagrams. You don't have to do that.
Joel Brooks:Just let Jesus be part of your conversation. Moms, you're at Triangle Park and as you're talking about diapers, you're talking about nap schedules, as you're talking about all of this, why don't you mention, you know, I'm just so thankful to Jesus for my child. I've been praying that Jesus would change my stubborn child. Just mention the name Jesus. If He is an active part of your life, He should be gushing out.
Joel Brooks:Let's look back at the text. After Jesus tells his disciples that doing his father's will is like food, He says these words in verse 35. Do not say there are yet 4 months, then comes the harvest. Do you not say there are 4 months, then comes the harvest. Look, I tell you lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.
Joel Brooks:So Jesus here, he compares evangelism to harvesting. Now, last week when I was coming back from Montana, I was actually flying from Denver into Birmingham, and the guy who sat next to me on the plane, what are the chances, the odds, he was one of the higher ups in Greater Europe Mission. He lives in Denver. He was just flying in to go to a wedding. So of all the seats, he's down next to me.
Joel Brooks:Now Greater Your Mission is also the mission agency that my wife and I were accepted with 20 years ago. And for the last 20 something odd years, this man has spearheaded church planting and evangelism in Europe. And I just got to spend 2 hours with him talking about evangelism and and church planning. And for the last 10 years, this man would just get to, he would wherever there would be a revival breaking out or mass conversions breaking out in Europe, he would get to fly there and just meet the different leaders and the different churches, and he would just get to study it. And see, how is God working?
Joel Brooks:How is God moving? It's like that is possibly the coolest job ever. And then at one point he's saying, yeah I got to go to China. I got to meet a man in China who is responsible conservatively for over 2,000,000 conversions. And he's telling me this and I'm thinking, China's not in Europe.
Joel Brooks:But I didn't want to correct his I didn't wanna correct his geography at that moment, because it was a fascinating story, and I wanted to do that. But but he's he's telling me all this and then he just he prays when he goes, can I pray for you? I mean, we're laughing as God has us together on this plane ride. And so, he prays out loud for me for about 10 minutes. Everybody thinks we're crazy.
Joel Brooks:We are. And then afterwards I asked him. I said, can you just tell me maybe what are some of the mistakes you have seen the church make in evangelism or admissions? What mistakes has greater your mission made? He goes, okay.
Joel Brooks:That's that's easy. Comes from John chapter 4, and he quoted this verse. Do you not say there are yet 4 months? Then comes the harvest. Look, I tell you.
Joel Brooks:Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. And what this man said is, you know what? In farming, a lot of what farming is is waiting. You wait. You wait for just the right season to put in a seed.
Joel Brooks:You wait for the rains to come. You wait for it to grow. You you wait for it to be sunny so you can then go and you can you can harvest it all when it's when it's ripe. But when it comes to harvesting souls, when it comes to evangelism, Jesus says the wait is over. There is no more waiting.
Joel Brooks:It's time for us to get to work. And he said, when I look back at what's been wrong with the churches or with people concerning evangelism, we have been far too conservative, far too timid, far too cautious, far too much time waiting, when now is the time for evangelism. We've spent too much time trying to take the spiritual temperature of people, Waiting for just the right moment. Trying to wait for when the door is not just unlocked, but unlocked and swinging open and somebody's saying, come here. Instead of seizing the moment for Jesus.
Joel Brooks:In verse 35, Jesus told the disciples, says, do you not say there are yet 4 months then comes the harvest. And what Jesus is doing here is he's quoting a very common proverb of the day, which means be patient, don't rush into things, don't expect miracles as you go about doing a task. In our day we would say something like hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Rome wasn't built in a day. And here Jesus is saying okay, you've heard that proverb, and it is true for most of life, but it is not true concerning evangelism.
Joel Brooks:Expect miracles. And today is the day. The wait is over. Share your faith with an urgency and just watch what God will do. I mean, he tells his disciples to lift up their eyes and see that these these fields are white for harvest.
Joel Brooks:And he's saying this because, you know, when when wheat is ready to be harvested, the the tops of it turns a very light color, turbanes, And in that day they would have all been wearing white turbans, white robes to keep the heat away and so he sees these people coming. He says, Look, the fields are white for harvest. Here comes the harvest. The waiting for evangelism is over. Let me ask you.
Joel Brooks:If you're waiting, if you're waiting, what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the Messiah to come? He has come. Jesus has come. Are you waiting for your sins to be dealt with, atonement to be provided?
Joel Brooks:That was provided for us on the cross. Are you waiting for Jesus to be sitting on his throne? He is. He has ascended. He is reigning on high.
Joel Brooks:Are you waiting for his Holy Spirit? Yes, he has unleashed his Holy Spirit now living inside of us and currently convicting the world of truth and righteousness. What are you waiting for? Fields are white for harvest. Real quick we'll look at just these last words and I'll end it.
Joel Brooks:Verse 36. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. I'm not completely sure here who the sower is, who the reaper is. Scholars are all over the place on it. I lean towards thinking Jesus is the sower, the woman is the reaper.
Joel Brooks:It's the most natural reading of this. It doesn't really matter though. What Jesus is saying is that sowing and reaping are now happening at the same time. There's not seasons anymore. I mean, we're planting, reaping, planting.
Joel Brooks:I mean, it's just, it's just happening at this point. And he is saying that there's great rejoicing for both those who sow and those who reap. And for him there's great rejoicing for the, for the woman who's reaping him for him who sowed the seed. I could just I could picture the rejoicing. I mean, as this throng of people are coming up the hill to Jesus, it's likely that Jesus sees that woman again in the midst of the crowd.
Joel Brooks:And I could just picture him looking at her and him smiling and just, I mean, they're probably having this moment thinking, can you believe it? Can you believe what God has done? Can you believe how utterly he has transformed your life and what he is doing in this community because of you? And there is rejoicing together. And Jesus says, that is food.
Joel Brooks:This is food. This is more nourishing than any meal. And Jesus is inviting us all to that same table to be a part of what he is doing in this world. Pray with me. Our father, what a privilege, what a joy that we get to, be a part of your will and what you're doing all across this world as you're calling people to yourself.
Joel Brooks:That you allow us to partake in that. That is food that nourishes us. God, some of us in here are starving. We have forgotten the bread and butter of Christianity, of the gospel to which we have been called. And I pray you would remind us that you would wet our appetites.
Joel Brooks:That through your spirit as we hear your word, as we have heard your word, Lord, that you would bring in that desire for us to share. Thank you for this task, for this joy, and thank you how you have met us just like you met that woman at the well. And you have utterly transformed our lives. So you receive all praise. In your name, Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen.
