Latest / Chapel Talks / It’s Not Lunchtime — It’s Harvest Time | John 4:27-42 | Richard Leadbeater

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It’s Not Lunchtime — It’s Harvest Time | John 4:27-42 | Richard Leadbeater · Chapel Talks

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