John 4:27-38

“27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no-one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way towards him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.””

              I am often surprised by the work God has already done in people’s lives.  We do not know what we do not know.  I was on a boat heading to Grand Manan on vacation this past summer.  I engaged one of the crew in a discussion.  He looked tired, had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and I judged that he was probably not a Christian.  Was I wrong!  In conversation I found that he had a terrible struggle with alcohol, lost his wife, was afraid of the influence alcohol would have on his children.  In that struggle he became a Christian.  He was struggling to give up smoking, had his kids in church and was trying to rebuild his life.

              Here God had been working in this man’s life for years, but I had no way of knowing that.

              I remember visiting about twenty years ago with a family in town.  They were into the simple lifestyle.  Back then they were into super-insulation, alternative sources of energy, natural products and the like.  I found out that the person had a masters in divinity degree from a seminary.  Though I do not believe the person was a believer, I was surprised to find the depth of information the person knew about the Bible.  He gave me his books and in reading them I know he was exposed to good truth.

We never know what God is doing in people’s lives.

How well do you know the people you work with?  Do you know if they go to church, have ever gone to church or are ever thinking about going to church?  Have they had any exposure to the Bible?  Do you know if they have ever attended Sunday School?  Have they had any good or bad experiences with Christianity?

We are so often afraid to ask or talk about our faith because many of us believe this truth:  People don’t want to talk about God.

I am challenging you with an alternate truth today.  You are the one who doesn’t want to talk about God.  You are afraid. 

I want to put this challenge before you.  If you are ready to take it on, take it on.  It will either prove my point.

I want you to ask people at your work if I am right or not.  I don’t want you to try to convert them, hammer them or anything else.  I want to ask you to ask them if I am right or wrong.

So here is the plan.  Go to a coworker or someone in the community and say to them, “I think my pastor is loony.”  Then say to them, “He said, people don’t mind talking about God.  Is he right or wrong?”

Then I want you to email me or call me with the result.   Don’t hammer them or tell them how bad they are if they don’t want to talk about God.  Don’t cram the gospel down their throats because they say they do.  Just do this poll and let me know the results.  I will publish them so that we will know if what I say is right or wrong.

Look around you and you may find that you don’t know many of your Christian friends very well.  Do you know the circumstances under which they became believers?  Have you ever asked them when they became a Christian?  What you may discover is that some of them were misidentified as people who didn’t want to talk about God.  They had a hunger, but they didn’t know who to talk with or may be couldn’t find someone who would listen.

This surprise factor is what hit me in John 4.

35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

              Let’s review the story.  Jesus leaves a successful ministry in Judah, in the south, and travels through Samaria.  The Samaritans were despised by the Jews.  If they could, the devout Jew would travel around their area rather than travel through so that they would not become unclean.  They held them in contempt.

              Jesus meets a woman at Jacob’s well.  She asks a series of questions and hears Jesus affirm that he is the Messiah.  The disciples come back at that instance and she runs off to the village to tell the men about Jesus.  Jesus is alone with his disciples, but the people from the village are heading down the mountainside to where Jesus is.

              Jesus says, “Look at the people coming.  Look at the harvest.  You say the harvest is four months away, the harvest is today!”

              This is astonishing because a harvest takes place after planting, weeding, watering and growing.  But here are the Samaritans, a group despised by the Jews, a group whose first encounter with Jesus will be in just a short time, a group of people who rejected most of the Old Testament, and Jesus says, “The harvest is ready.”

36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.

Wait a moment.  We can see that Jesus and the disciples are getting ready to reap the harvest.  The whole village will come to believe in Christ.  So who is the sower?  Who planted the seed?  Who came to these people and gave them some basic information about God?  We don’t have a record of John the Baptist coming.  We know that they accepted the first five books of the Bible, but rejected the rest of them.  So who is the sower?  Who will be glad to see these people follow Christ?  The Pharisees or Sadducees?  The Jews?  I doubt it. 

Notice what he goes on to say.

38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.””

I ask again.  Who did the hard work?  Who has been sowing spiritual truth in the hearts and minds of the Samaritans? 

              Some might think, and many commentators said this, that Jesus was the one who had done the hard work in dealing with the Samaritan woman.  But he uses the word “others.”  This means more than one person had already sowed in the lives of these people.  The seed had been planted by other people.  The disciples arrived in time for the harvest.

              So who did the hard work?  No one knows.  If Jesus told his disciples, the Holy Spirit did not have John record it for our benefit.  But though we do not know who planted seed in this Samaritan village, someone did.  And it surprises us to see it in the text.

              Doesn’t this story make you wonder about other people?  When we meet a stranger, could it be that someone in his past has already talked to him and laid a foundation for spiritual things?

              In other countries, such as the Moslem world, we might wonder.  But here in Maine, there is a great chance that they have had contact with Christianity, the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

              How many born-again Christians are there in Maine?  I don’t know, but we are here.  I wonder how many people we know have ever had another Mainer talk to them about spiritual things, invite them to hear a Christian speaker or conference.

              I wonder how many people you work with listen to Billy Graham or watch religious broadcasting once a year.  I wonder how many people we are with who have found a Christian radio station and stayed on it to listen to David Jeremiah, Chuck Swindoll, James Dobson or someone else that shares the gospel?

              I wonder how many of our friends own a Bible?  I wonder how many have picked it up and read it either in a casual way or during a time of crisis?

              I wonder how many of our friends used to attend a good church or Sunday school when they were younger?  How many had the groundwork laid during those formative years?

              I wonder how many of our friends have been to a funeral where the gospel has been presented with compassion and clarity?  Or how many have attended a Christian wedding where couples affirmed their love for Christ and one another?

              So why not ask a second question after the first. 

              “My loony pastor said that there was a likely chance that our friends have attend church, read a Bible, listened to a religious TV show or heard a sermon on the radio.  Is he right or wrong?”  Again, listen, don’t preach or jump on them.  Carry on a normal conversation with them. 

              Let me know the results.  I do know that Jesus told the disciples that the hard work had already been done by someone else.  They would have the privilege of doing the harvesting. 

              Harvesting is the time of joy.  Seed planting time was not always enjoyed as much.  A person might weep at the work of planting seed, but they would certainly rejoice at the time of harvest.

              Are you living on assumptions or on fact?  Do you know that people around you are not interested in Jesus, the church, spiritual things or are you assuming that they are not?  The best way to turn an assumption into a fact is to ask the question. 

              You may find that you are a seed planter.  I know many Christians who are discouraged at seed planting.  For years they have prayed, shared, tried to lead someone to Christ and it hasn’t happened.  Don’t give up.  The Samaritan village would not have been as receptive to Jesus if the seed planters had not done their work.

              But you may also have a chance to see a harvest.  You invite someone to hear Wendall Calder and to your surprise, they agree to come!

You invite them as your friend on friend day and they receive Christ!  Unknown to you, God has had other laborers in his field.  You are at the harvest.

Imagine how good it could be if we would even take the step to see if people were interested?  If we would invite them and accept their yes or no.  If we would get the word out, sow the seed, water the plant who knows what we might get for a harvest?

Tonight I am going to show a DVD by Bill Hybels in which he gives a message in Boston that I heard.  I bought it for this occasion.  In it we find Bill sharing stories where he is both a harvester and a seed planter.  I encourage you to come back tonight so that we can help equip you better to understand the world we are in and be an effective servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

I believe God is working in our community.  The people we meet may not know Christ, but many have been exposed to Him one way or another.  I believe that we can see a harvest if we will be willing to spread seed and are alert to the possibility of the person whose past contacts have them ready to receive Christ.