prayer. Our Holy Father, as we reopen your holy infallible word, we beseech you for much grace by the work of the Holy Spirit, and as we hear your word proclaimed, and we'll hear it effectually, We'll hear it to our sanctification, to the deepening of our faith in Christ, to the work of a greater assurance of our faith. And we pray too, Father, that with what we will be gleaning today from your word, we pray, Lord, that you would increase our zeal, enlarge our hearts with a greater and holier passion, for those souls of those sinners that you have providentially placed in our circle of influence that we would endeavor in giving ourselves to sowing the seeds of gospel truth in their hearts by the working of your grace and the power of the spirit. These things we earnestly ask For the sake and the honor and the praise of Jesus Christ our Lord, in his name we pray, amen. studying of what we were looking at last Wednesday night when we considered Matthew chapter 5 concerning the truth of being salt and light, salt of the earth, light of the world as believers in Jesus Christ. And in this passage in John 4, we're going to see salt and light in action. and draw from it important principles for us, for every believer in Christ, where God has planted us to bloom for his glory. We're gonna begin reading at verse 31, and we will finish at verse 38, as we consider sowers and reapers in the work of missions. 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 said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat? Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say there are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that sower and 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. Others have labored and have entered into their labor. And so reads the infallible, inerrant word of the living eternal God. There are few things in life which leave greater regret than missed opportunities. Missed opportunities which prove in the long run to bear greater consequences which we did not initially see. For example, during the war between the states in September 1863, The Southern Army of Tennessee, under the command of General Braxton Bragg, had gathered together a fighting force of 65,000 men in the northwest part of Georgia around Chickamauga Creek. They were to meet the Union Army, known as the Army of the Cumberland, whose sole mission was to defeat the Confederate Army once and for all. However, to the utter shock of the Union Army, they were overwhelmed by the strength of the Confederates. In fact, the Battle of Chickamauga would be the largest Confederate victory in the Western theater of the war. Yet this battle would turn out to be the greatest loss for the Confederate Army because as the Union Army retreated to Chattanooga, the opportunity to rout and completely destroy their army was missed by the sheer hesitation and procrastination of General Bragg, who could only see the 20,000 men he lost in the battle as opposed to the ultimate victory he could secure by overtaking the Union Army before they had time to reinforce their strength. Failing to take that opportunity would actually cost the South the loss of Atlanta and their main source of supplies nearly a year later as General William T. Sherman re-invaded Georgia and gained a lasting victory for the North. Clearly such a story like this illustrates for us the tragedy of having missed a great opportunity. But as this principle holds true in the physical realm, it also holds just as true in the spiritual realm. We see this in Matthew chapter 25, in the parable Jesus tells us about the talents. And we even hear this principle stated in a rhetorical question Jesus expresses when he says in Matthew 16, 26, what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his own soul? Certainly the point pressed on us by scripture itself is that there will be consequences to missed opportunities, consequences that could even prove eternally tragic. Well, when we turn to John chapter four, it seems that this principle is what our Lord himself takes the opportunity to press on his own disciples as a teaching lesson in the context of their beholding the conversion of the Samaritan woman. Even as they initially left Jesus at the well to go into town to buy food, We can only assume they must have passed by the woman from Samaria as there was only one road from the well to the town. But passing by her, they clearly saw nothing of any interest about her, and certainly not from a spiritual standpoint. To those Jewish men, she was just another Samaritan whom Jews had nothing to do with. But when they returned from the town and saw Jesus engaged in the unthinkable, talking to a Samaritan, and then to make it even more scandalous, a Samaritan woman, These poor disciples were bewildered over what to make of this situation. They could not see what Jesus saw, nor had any clue to what had just taken place with this woman having been born again. All that appeared on their mind and all, therefore, they could translate in their immediate context with Jesus was, we've got the food, so let's break for lunch. That's all that was on their mind. But for Jesus, our Lord never missed an opportunity to disciple his disciples. As they watched this woman run back into town, even leaving her large water jar, yet for the disciples, food and drink was the only thing they could compute. So they urged Jesus to eat. It was at this moment, however, that the teaching lesson began. First, it started by Jesus turning the attention of his disciples away from their physical hunger for food to an infinitely greater hunger which rewarded an eternal satisfaction. Responding to their urgency for Jesus to eat, our Lord simply stated that he had food to eat which they knew nothing about. Their understanding to this statement, though, was purely mechanical. Has anyone brought him something to eat? I mean, this is almost comical. But to that question, to that question, Jesus then declared to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. And so here's the first lesson our Lord presses on his disciples by way of his own example. doing the will of the Father and finishing the work His Father sent Him to do, that is, saving His people from their sins, is the satisfaction and pleasure and delight Jesus lives for more than the refreshment of a hot meal to a hungry stomach. In other words, for Jesus, His food is not the concern of meeting the temporal needs of His body, but the priority and passion to do the Father's will by redeeming sinners whom the Father had given Him to save. So then to His disciples, our Lord is emphasizing those things in life which matter most. It's not food and clothing and shelter. It's seeking first God's kingdom and his righteousness. Our physical needs are secondary to the need we have to be redeemed of our sins and reconciled to God. It is the mission then to bring sinners to salvation, which overrules all of the needs we have in this life. And since the disciples completely miss this by what just happened to the Samaritan woman, Jesus takes this opportunity to remind them why he's been sent into this world, which in turn applies to the mission he has called them to take by turning sinners to their only hope for salvation, which is in God's eternal son. But following this first lesson, Jesus then proceeds to a second lesson, which brings us to the larger exposition of our study this morning in verses 35 to 38. What the disciples didn't know was that they were about to encounter not only the Samaritan woman again, but a large entourage of Samaritans coming to see Jesus. And here was a spiritual opportunity which our Lord did not want his disciples to miss. not just for the moment at hand, but as preparation for their future mission in spreading the gospel across the known world at that time. Employing the use of two different proverbs, Jesus shows his disciples what the motivation for missions should be and the kind of workers God calls into such a work. Let's consider now each of these points in turn. First, the motivation for missions. Look at me in verse 35. Do you not say, there are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. This proverb which Jesus expresses to his disciples was not a biblical proverb, nor was it a proverb written in any known literature. It was rather a rural saying which had gained prominence over time in an agricultural society. Thus Jesus begins by asserting, do you not say? What's behind the proverb was the agricultural year, which was divided up into two six-month periods where four months elapsed between the end of seed time and the beginning of harvest. What seems to have given rise to this proverb is that since there are four months preceding harvest, then there is no hurry to get to work. In other words, because the seed has been planted and there is no way to get around the waiting period for harvest, then don't rush it. Therefore, growth is slow and cannot be sped up. But while this proverb held true in agriculture and could be applied to many other things in life, yet for Jesus, he did not apply this proverb in the matter of spiritual things. When it came to his redemptive mission in saving sinners and this mission carried out by the means of his disciples taking the gospel to sinners, our Lord doesn't want his disciples to sit back and relax in the thought that there is no need to stir themselves to action in the evangelization of sinners. So as they were sitting there by the well, enjoying their lunch, relaxed with no care on their mind as to the spiritual state of the people around them, Jesus, he declares to them with a sense of urgency, look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see, the fields are white for harvest. Continuing this metaphorical language from the world of agriculture, the sense of what our Lord was impressing on his disciples was that the fields would not be ready in four months from now to harvest, but they're ready right now, at this moment. The fields are white for harvest now. But what are these fields? What are they that are white for harvest that Jesus was urging his disciples to look upon and take action? Well, they were all those Samaritans who were in that moment coming toward Jesus, eager and ready to hear him because of the witness they had just heard from the Samaritan woman. So here was Jesus urging his disciples to get up, get ready, pay attention. Don't miss this opportunity to take the gospel to these people who were about to be upon them. There is a field of eager, soul-hungry sinners ready to be harvested in the kingdom. Go get them. That was the sense. That was the spirit. of what Jesus was saying here to his disciples by this proverb. He was using a common saying and turning it upside down to get his disciples to open their eyes and see the spiritual reality that was physically in front of them. The time, therefore, was not to wait. The time was to take action. And so here's the lesson which applies as much to us as Jesus, his disciples in the 21st century, as it did to his disciples in the first century. The motivation for missions out of this immediate context in John 4 35 is this. We must take advantage of every opportunity to take the gospel to eager souls. Listen to that again. We must take advantage. of every opportunity to take the gospel to eager souls. There's always going to be someone who is ready to hear the gospel and believe on Christ. Therefore, we must be ready to take that opportunity for the sake of Christ. Such a person could be in our homes, in the workplace, marketplace, schools, wherever such a field that is white for harvest shows up, we must be ready to take action with the gospel to be that instrument in the Lord's hand to usher that soul savingly into Christ. It was this very principle and lesson about missions, which Jesus encouraged Paul the apostle with when he was down in discouraged in the city of Corinth. Though Paul had already witnessed the conversion of a few to Christ in his initial labors there in Corinth, yet he faced more opposition than he did reception to the gospel. And so on one night, we're told in Acts chapter 18, verses 9 and 10, that the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, comforting his apostle with these words, do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people." These people whom Jesus spoke of were not yet converted. They had not come to faith in Jesus Christ at this point in time. But Jesus knew who they were since he knows all his people from eternity who have been given to him by the election of the father. But the point impressed here on Paul was that there were many other people in that pagan city ready and eager to hear the gospel and believe on Christ. So Paul then was not to fear what men might do but go on preaching the gospel because the field in Corinth was white for harvest. Paul therefore was not to give up and leave the city of Corinth but stay and persevere in gospel preaching because Jesus had a people there whom he was about to usher into his kingdom. Well, what did Paul do? He obeyed the Lord. And he ended up staying in Corinth for the next year and a half as he witnessed the planting of a local church by God's saving grace in that pagan city. Now, someone might say, well, if Jesus showed up and spoke audibly to me to remain somewhere, to take the gospel to a people our Lord had already chosen to save, then you know what? I'd frankly have no problem doing what Paul did. But Jesus doesn't speak that way anymore. So how am I to know if the field is white for harvest? Well, that's a fair question. So here's the answer. Okay, here's the answer, listen closely. While it is true that Jesus no longer speaks audibly in visions as he did in the apostolic times, yet, beloved, he is not silent. We still hear his voice by his written word. And what we read in his word as application to what we're considering under this point is that the elect of God redeemed by the blood of Christ are a people out of every tribe, every tongue, and every nation. You want a biblical reference to that? Revelation 5.9, Revelation 7.9. So understand this. No matter where we go in this world, no matter where we go, the Lord has a people. He has chosen to save out of that nation, no matter where we go. Thus, there is a field in that town, in that city, in that county, in that state, in that nation, which is white for harvest. And though we don't know who they may be yet, but God knows. God knows who they are. And he has commanded us to take the gospel to sinners among whom there is a field that is white for harvest. So then, Let us not be minding only those things which are earthly, like eating food to nourish our bodies. No, there is a greater reality that is all around us, which Jesus our Lord doesn't want us to miss. There are sinners ready to hear the gospel and believe on Christ. But the question is, are we ready? Are we ready to take the gospel to them? Or do we think that we've got time? We've got time to wait for the harvest. No, Jesus teaches us that the time is now. Second Corinthians chapter six tells us today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Now, so we must take advantage then of every opportunity to take the gospel to eager souls. This then is the motivation in missions as we're told here in John 4.35. But from the motivation in missions, let's now consider the workers in missions, the workers. Look at me at verses 36 to 38. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and 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. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. One of the greatest and most overlooked principles in the work of missions is that God has called some to sow and others to reap. Some to sow. others to reap. In other words, there are those Christians who witness faithfully to the Lord, they pray for sinners to be saved, and they sow the gospel seed into the hearts of many people, but they very rarely, if ever, see the fruit of their labors. God has called them to be sowers. Yet there are other Christians who witness for Christ and see multiple sinners. come to faith in Christ. These are those whom God calls to be reapers. The difference between sowers and reapers is that the sower has done all the hard work of tilling the ground through many prayers and faithful witnessing. They have made the sacrifice of spreading the gospel hard and unresponsive hearts, patiently, and I emphasize that, patiently enduring no visible fruit, trusting God all the way that eventually this person, if it pleases the Lord, will come to Christ. And if and when this person is ready to be converted to Christ by God's mercy, God then sends his reapers who enter the work of the sower and they are thus used by God to bring this person into the joy of salvation in Christ. Principally, this is what Jesus is teaching by this parable, one sows and another reaps. While it is true in some cases that the sower and reaper can be the same person, we see this for instance in Paul the apostle. We see it in modern church history, in the lives of George Whitefield, William Carey, John G. Payton. But these men are exceptions that prove the rule. The rule of God's kingdom and the matter of harvesting souls to eternal life is that one sows and another reaps. However, what must be recognized by this kingdom rule is that the sowers and reapers are involved in the same work. This is why Jesus says in verse 36 that sower and reaper do what? They rejoice together. They rejoice together. But how is this? In verse 38, our Lord clarifies how this mutual joy can even be experienced. He tells his disciples, I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor in this context historically. Jesus is referring to the Samaritans in whose hearts the gospel seed had already been sown. First by Moses via the Pentateuch, then John the Baptist, and even Jesus himself. By what he had just done in saving the Samaritan woman who then went and gave witness to Christ to the townspeople of Sychar that were now, all those townspeople, that were now on their way to see Jesus. The disciples, therefore, in this moment would have the privilege of sharing in the result of harvest, the resulting harvest, entering into the labor of those who had gone before them. But certainly the most important point to be made from what we're considering here in John 4, 36-38, is that despite whoever the sower or the reaper may be in the gospel mission, neither of them can ever take the credit for the salvation of any sinner. All the glory for the salvation of any sinner goes to God in God alone. This means that while it is our responsibility to share and preach the gospel as the church, yet it is God's responsibility to save sinners. 1 Corinthians 3, 6-9 settles this matter for all time. In this passage in 1 Corinthians, Paul the Apostle is recounting his initial mission there in the city of Corinth and then those that followed him in that same labor. He writes this, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. None of us will take any credit for the salvation of any sinner. None of us. None of us. As Paul says, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. So it is God alone who saves. It is God alone who gets all the glory, all the praise, because salvation is of the Lord. just merely sow and reap. But no matter what God has called us to do in the work of missions, whether at home or abroad, what is expected of us all is to be faithful, to be faithful to the Lord in that calling. Because you see, what is it that's required of a steward? Remember this in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 2? What is it that's required of a steward? Paul writes and says, it's only one thing. It is required of a steward that he be found faithful. That he be found faithful. Do you notice what Paul doesn't say in that text? which I'm very thankful for. Paul does not say in that text, as required of a steward, that he be found magnanimously fruitful with hundreds and thousands of souls coming to Christ under his labors. Nope, that's not said. You know why that's not said? Because friend, that's God's call, not yours. That's God's doing, not yours. Our doing is simply to be found faithful, faithful to what the Lord has called us to do. And whether you're called to be a sower or a reaper, you are given the gospel as a stewardship and you are to be faithful in sharing and spreading that stewardship, that saving gospel of Christ to other people. And with that in mind, let me leave you with this one searching question as we close our study. Here it is. Are you making and taking opportunities to sow the seed of the gospel in the circle of your influence wherever that may be? Listen to that question again. Are you making and taking opportunities to sow the seed of the gospel in the circle of your influence wherever that may be? That is a fair question. And it's a searching question for, for every Christian. Because far too often for many Christians, if you know, if, if they are not called to the gospel ministry in a vocational sense, If they're not called to be pastors, and of course referring only to Christian men there, if they're not called to be church planning missionaries, then for many Christians, they just tend to think to themselves, they tend to reason, well, you know, that's somebody else's job, that's somebody else's responsibility, that's somebody else's calling. That's not mine. That's not mine. And my question to any of you as believers in Christ would be this. Has God providentially placed any unbelievers in your life personally? Like right now? Right now? Are there any unbelievers in the circle of your influence? If you are a young family, for instance, okay? Christian mom, Christian dad, are all of your children saved? Because if they're not, and I doubt it, I doubt seriously if they are, if they're not, then guess what? The field is white for harvest. Right there under your roof. Right there in your home. You don't even have to go outside, outside of your home. to be sowing seeds of the gospel. God has given you those souls right under you in your children. So are you making and taking opportunities to eagerly invest the gospel of Jesus Christ in your kids to sow the seeds of the gospel in their hearts? But then again, you may not be married, you may not have children, you may be single. Well, okay then. Well, are there unbelievers in your single life? More than likely in wherever it is you're working, in the workplace. So are you praying for opportunities there? Are you looking for opportunities there? Are you asking the Lord to open doors that none can shut? so that somehow in some way you can sow the seeds of the gospel to those people you work with. I challenge any of you on that note and in that context, if you will start praying for the Lord to open up those kind of doors where you work, you will be surprised what will happen. you'll be very surprised. I can testify to that personally with what happened to me years ago when I had to work security in the Atlanta area. I was contracted in many different places and it was frankly amazing to me how the Lord answered that prayer for me and I found myself literally witnessing to someone on almost a daily basis. Somehow, someway, that door opened, someone crossed my path, and they raised a question that was spiritual, and away we went. It's amazing. There were so many seeds sown in so many hearts, during those very, very few years. Indeed, I'll say that as a pastor, vocationally, that's frankly something I miss. Because the people that I'm with the most are, you know, those Christians. And so, I'm equipping the saints for the work of ministry. That's my primary audience, but I'm challenging you and I'm encouraging you wherever God has planted you, whether in the home or outside the home, where are there unbelievers in your life and what are you doing? What are you doing? Are you praying for their salvation and are you seeking to sow seeds of the gospel in their life? Beloved, listen to me. This is the calling and command of Jesus Christ that he has placed on his church as a whole. But it's not just a calling and a command. It's also a joy. It's also a privilege that we get to carry out, okay? Taking the word of the living God to those who need to hear it, trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to use it in bringing forth a redeeming harvest of sinners into his kingdom. And I frankly don't understand the Christian who doesn't want to be a part of that. If your heart has grown cold of late to that great calling, to that great work, may the Lord renew it today. May he renew it today. by his grace and for his glory. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, what a great mission that you have laid upon your church as a whole. No matter where we are in this world, Lord, you've entrusted to us the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of your love, to spread that saving gospel to those in the circle of our influence. And Father, we pray that you will strengthen our hearts to not be lazy in this work, to not be apathetic to this work, but that you would fill our hearts, Lord, with a renewed joy in the wonderful and holy stewardship you've entrusted to us. To take those opportunities and make those opportunities. That you would providentially open up to each of us. To speak about the glory of Christ. The glory of his saving work. to impress on sinners in our midst their need for Christ because of their sinful condition and call them to the Lord Jesus, even as we ourselves were once called. And I pray to Lord that where the fear of man may be a great hindrance to many of your saints here today in regards to this work. May you visit them in great mercy, Lord, and quash that fear. And may you enlarge their hearts with the strength that you gave your servant Paul when he said that it is in the fear of the Lord that we persuade men. And may that be the fear, Heavenly Father, that controls us as your people, the fear of God. We pray these things for the sake of our Lord Jesus, asking them always and only in his name. Amen.