Sermon
Seeing Our World through the Eyes of God
February 3-4, 2001
Pastor Donald Sheley

Would you take your Bibles, and if you'd like, you can take the notes. I trust that you have them, notes for our lesson today. It's from John chapter 4 and we're at verse 31. For you that our guests with us today, it's a delight to have you and what we're doing is we've spent a number of weeks, in fact, since almost before Christmas, working our way through this gospel of John. And this situation or this event here in chapter 4 is the story of Jesus having a conversation with a lady beside a well in a village just a few miles north of Jerusalem. It's Jacob's well and the city was called, or the village was called the village of Sychar, and it was located in the Samaritan area. And we've learned that from history this little area of Samaria did not fellowship with the Jewish people because they were a mixed people because of previous generations -- the captors had brought in foreigners and they had intermarried in this little community, and so Samaria was out of bounds for Jewish people who claimed purity of race. So they didn't want anything to do with these mixed people.

Jesus strikes up a conversation with the lady and we followed that conversation. It's been fascinating and we've learned so much. Now the conversation is finished, the disciples who were in town buying food have now returned, and they have brought back some food for Jesus. The little lady, as soon as the disciples arrive on the scene, the little lady hurries away into the village because she's going to invite her neighbors and friends to come out and meet this person who she says is the Christ. So this brings us now to our lesson, and if you're in your Bible it's page 716 or we're in John 4. If you'd just like to read the verses with me from our notes that will be fine. It says that: In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, Rabbi, that is teacher, eat. But He said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know. Therefore the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought Him anything to eat? Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.'

Now let's get right to the text and we'll read just a portion of it and then I'll talk to you. In the passage which we are studying here in chapter four, we are told that when Jesus and His disciples arrived in Samaria, where He was to meet the Samaritan woman, Jesus waited in the valley near Jacob's well while the disciples went up the hill to Sychar to buy food.
While they were gone the woman came, and Jesus talked with her, leading her to faith. Now let's stop there just for a moment. I used that phrase for a purpose because there are various expressions that define that moment when a heart reaches out to Christ and puts their trust in Him has Lord and Savior. We sometimes say that that's the moment of being born again, or that's the moment of conversion, or that's the moment of redemption, but there are some within our Christian family who speak of conversion or being born again as being led to faith. And the implied is that there is that process that often takes place where a person over a period of time, whether short or long, starts from ground zero as far as spiritual knowledge and they are led to a place where now they understand and they can put their trust in Christ. We call -- they refer to that as being led to faith.

Let me illustrate that. This week I had a gentleman come to my office and he said, Pastor, I want to share with you my personal testimony. He said I'm 57 years of age, he said I've been fighting God for 40 years. I was raised, he said, and I had Christians around me. My brother is a pastor. He said, my family are Christians and they've been praying, but I have been running. I wasn't interested in the things of faith. I wasn't interested in religion. He said, now I've reached a point in my life where I've messed it up. And he said, in my despair I called my brother who pastors in Los Angeles and I said, brother, I think I've come to that point. I need something, and he said to his brother in Los Angeles, can you tell me where to go to church? And the result was that the brother got on the Internet and he said well there's a church called Church of the Highlands. He said, well that's just down the street a couple blocks from my house. He said, why don't you go there. So that man said I've been coming Pastor for the last number of weeks, and he said, in the coming my heart is being opened and, he said, things I rejected, things I did not understand, he said, it's becoming opened to me. And he said, something has been happening, and so he said, what I did is two weeks ago I decided I'm going to go visit my sister who lives up in Redding. And he said, she's a Christian, and he said, always when I go up before I go up on Friday night and we spend Saturday together and Sunday morning at 9:00 when they go off to church I use that as my reason to come back home. And he said, you know, this last time I was there my sister said to me, Brother, what you go to church with us today? He said, I think I will.

It was a little tiny church. The pastor whose name is Pastor Hennessy began a conversation and as the result he said, Pastor, I don't know how it happened but he said when I came to myself I was on my knees saying the sinner's prayer and weeping. And he said, I wept all that morning, he said, I wept all the way driving home from Redding, and he said, there has been this wonderful, wonderful thing that's taking place in my life. And I thought of that term, being led to faith, step-by-step. Here 40 years people have talked and prayed and he's been surrounded, and now he visits his sister and has an opportunity, the result is, he was in church last evening and he's just beautifully growing in his faith. So I used the term and so when you hear it -- being led to faith -- you'll understand that that's the way some people say this is the way I explain my conversion the moment that I came to faith in Christ.

Back to our notes. About the time the woman left her water pot to go to the city to bring others to Jesus, the disciples finished their errand and had returned. They were surprised that Jesus had been talking to the woman, but they were doubly surprised when Jesus showed no interest in the food they had purchased. He told them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Now Peter and John and the others thought on this purely literal level, as Nicodemus and the woman had also done, and began to wonder if someone had brought Him food during their absence. Now I'm going to just show you something when you read the gospel of John there is an interesting way in which Jesus conducts His conversations. This passage follows the normal pattern of His conversations of the Fourth Gospel. Jesus says something which is misunderstood. You remember, now let's go back to Nicodemus, Nicodemus said, you know rabbi, and he complemented Him. And Jesus turns to him and said, you must be born again. Hold Nicodemus said, now that's interesting. How does a man my age be reduced to a fetus that goes back into the mother's womb and is born all over again? I don't understand that. Well Jesus, then He says something which has a spiritual meaning. It at first is taken with an uncomprehending literalism and then slowly He unfolds the meaning until it is grasped and it's realized.

You say, why would He do that? Because He had a way of communicating with people that when they came to the conclusion of their search they had the feeling that they had found that truth themselves. He led them in their search for truth and their reasoning, their mind, began to open up and when they came to the conclusion it was something they had learned themselves. It's the same way with this lady at the well. She needed water. Jesus said, you know, I have some living water. If you knew what I have you'd ask Me. Living water? Because when you used the term living water to a Jew that meant it was running water, either it was a river or a stream. And she said, now just a minute. Jacob didn't find any river around here. He had to dig for this well. She's got her curiosity. She's thinking. Then He changes the conversation. He brings it into a spiritual meaning. Finally, she comes to the conclusion, I'm in the presence of the Messiah.

Back to our notes. When the disciples returned with the food from the village of Sychar, they were surprised that their Master was full of renewed energy. He had received refreshment which they knew not of. This they could not understand, and so they begged Him to eat of that which they had brought to Him. Their request was a kindly one. But the disciples' suggestion that Jesus should eat some of the food they had brought becomes the occasion for Him to teach them something of His priorities. And this is really the heart of what I want to say. Their concern was for His food, but He said, now just a second fellows. I thank you for bringing the food, but I have food to eat of which you know not of. To our notes again. The disciples' suggestion that Jesus should eat some of the food they had brought Him becomes the occasion to teach them something of His priorities. It was meat and drink to Him to do the will of God, and the urgent task is not to be postponed. It's interesting. We note here that Jesus' answer is He has food of which they knew nothing. And it's strange how a great task can lift a man above and beyond bodily needs.

And I use a couple illustrations from history. All his life Wilberforce, who freed the slaves, was a little insignificant, ailing creature. And when he rose to address the House of Commons in London. At first, the people would laugh. They used to smile at this little, tiny man as he would stand up to talk, but as the fire and the power came from this man, they used to crowd the benches whenever they knew that old Wilberforce was going to be speaking in the House of Commons. As they would put it; This little minnow becomes a whale. His message, his task, and the flame of truth and the dynamic of power conquered his physical weakness. And as he would stand there amidst the august body of parliament, that little man rose far beyond his stature in their sight.

There's the picture of John Knox preaching in his old age. The books say that he was a done old man. That's an English way of saying he had grown old. He was so weak that he had to be half lifted up to the pulpit steps and left supporting himself on the book-board, that was that the board on top of the pulpit. But before he had long begun his sermon the voice had regained its old trumpet-call and he was like, and this is the way the Scots say it, 'to ding the pulpit into blads'. And we would say to knock the pulpit into splinters. But that old man filled with his message and his love for God, a man whose voice even the queen feared, that man became -- out of his weakness became a powerhouse in his day of preaching.

My suggestion and is what Jesus is saying is fellows, I know you've made the journey and you've got physical food, but I want to tell you there's a source that feeds the inner man, a sustenance that is divine, something that lifts us beyond the physical limitations and the physical needs, and does something very special to us.

I went home the other night and I was watching a documentary. Maybe you watched it. It was the documentary of a man, an American man, who loved his Bible and I'm sure that I can put it altogether here for you. I'll quickly try to tell the story. There was a longing (beats on chest) way down inside of Him and he loved his Bible, but he just felt somehow he hadn't really found God like he wanted to. So he decided I'm going to go to Australia, took his bicycle, a few belongings, and he started his trek out across the wilderness, out across the deserts of Australia. He couldn't go very far with his bicycle because the wheels kept sinking in the soft ground so he deserted his bicycle and he walked. All he had taken was two cans of tuna, which were gone the first day, and just a little other -- I forgot what it was -- and just a little bit of water. He wanted to experience something where he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt it was God. So he started walking -- one day, two days, three days, four days. After a few days, of course, he's thirsty. He said on one occasion, I forget, it was seven days he went without water. That seems almost humanly impossible; doctors would say that. With his hands he dug a well out there in the Australian desert. He found a little muddy, murky water that he drank. He went on. Mom and dad back home here in America became very disturbed. Where's our boy? And so they put together a rescue team from America and flew them to Australia, and the Australian government got in on the scene and they had all of the news media and everybody involved.

Twenty days, 25 days, 30 days, 35 days and the old rescue team said we have never found alive a person being out in the desert like this all of these days. On the 41st day the helicopter pilot, who has his media cameraman there with him, he sees this movement in a ravine and he lowers his helicopter, and sure enough, there was this emaciated human being wasting away, hardly being able to walk. He put him in his helicopter and got him back to the hospital, and after a few days revived him. Very interesting. He was very, very cautious with his words. They said, why did you do this? Because I was trying to find God. Did you find Him? His answer was, I'm here, aren't I? What he was saying is not everybody should do this but my heart so longed for God. He had his Bible with him, read it. And his (beats on chest) inter-being and whatever. He said there were times I would sit down and just weep for hours, not for myself, but he said, something was taking place inside me and he said I'd just weep for hours. And, he said, that experience -- he found God.

But I thought as I was thinking about today in terms of finding that sustenance that lifts us above the limitations of life, and somehow imparts a divine power and an energy within us that comes from doing something that brings us near to the heart of God, or expresses at least the will of God. And here's what Jesus is saying, Disciples, you're making a big issue out of this food. Thanks, but no thanks. What I want you to know, the greatest satisfaction in life doesn't come from food it comes from a spiritual source. This is what Jesus is saying. They haven't learned that yet. Disciples, My task, My food is to do the will of Him that sent Me, to do what His Father in heaven. And John over and over throughout the gospels talks about Jesus being sent from God under divine assignment, God's man. And Jesus said, more important than the physical, Disciples, is the spiritual and doing the will, fulfilling the divine assignment, the reason that we're here. But He also went on to say something else, He said not only to do the will of My Father, but to finish the task He has given Me to do. Jesus, of course, was mocked at, laughed at, rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, but it says that He said His face steadfast towards Jerusalem. Jesus never lost the focus for His purpose and the goal. He was always there, and that task was to go to that cross and provide a means of salvation for all mankind. That was His task, and what Jesus is saying, Men, thanks for the food, but what's more important to Me is to do what I'm here to do, and that's to do the will of My Father and to complete My task for My being here.

Now when we're younger in life we may not quite grasp that. Jesus had only a few months and He was going to that cross. Old David says help us to number our days so that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom. Most of us live our days without much thought of the ultimate goal, but I assure you that the older you get and the closer you get to the finish line, I tell you, everyday becomes precious. Everyday is precious, and you set your heart...I was talking with a pastor the other day. I said, you know, Pastor, my get to that finish line and not mess up before I get there. When I went to that reunion with my wife they had the list of everybody that 50 years ago graduated as prospective ministers, and when I looked down the list I realized that many of them didn't make it to the finish line. They're strewn along the highway of life as some of life's tragedies. They didn't keep the focus. My prayer is to be able to say like Paul as he said in 2 Timothy 4:6-7, I fought a good fight. The time of my departure is at hand. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.

Jesus kept that beautiful balance of desiring to do the will of His Father, but always keeping His eye focused on the eternal goal. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the secret to the most satisfactory way of living. Doing what God wants us to do everyday, but realizing we're headed for an eternal goal. Jesus could come to His closing prayer and say, Father, I have finished the task that You gave me to do. Ah, what a peace to meet the Maker. Disciples, let's not make such an issue out of this bread I want you to know that life's greatest satisfaction comes from doing that which is spiritual. Now He said I want to teach you another lesson. He said, some of you say there are four months and then the harvest will come. You say, when you study the geography, the landscape, around Sychar; it's a beautiful valley and it was very fertile and much vegetation. And I don't know what plant may have been ready to be harvested, but probably as the disciples came back from the little village of Sychar they were talking about the physical harvest of whatever it was that was about them. Jesus said, Fellows, they tell us that there are four months then comes the harvest. And the Jewish, and I put it out there in your notes, the Jewish people divided the calendar year into six times, and there was a specific time between planting and harvesting. So He takes their attention away from what's around them and He said, while we're talking about spiritual things let's talk about a spiritual harvest. Look, lift up your eye. The fields they are white ready for harvest.

What had happened, and most Bible commentators will tell you this, most likely that little lady whose seed of eternal truth had been sewn and she's going back to find those that she wants to bring to Jesus. She's got them all lined up and they're coming out by the hundreds and here they are streaming along, coming along the hillside from that village down to the well. Jesus said, see, the fields are white and harvest time has come. He had planted the seed in the little lady's heart. She went and planted it in the hearts of her village people, and here they come and He's seeing the world as the harvest field. Then He made some interesting observations, and quickly I'll come to a close. He said, you know, He said some plant and some harvest. There's always a wage involved and the wage in this spiritual harvest is eternal life. We're dealing with eternal souls, and He is saying some of us will plant and never see the harvest, others will enjoy the labor of what someone else has planted. Think of old Pastor Hennessy up there in Northern California the other day, for 40 years a family has been planting love and prayers and forgiveness around this rebel, and even though he did very little planting he enjoyed the harvest of seeing a soul brought into the kingdom. Jesus said, I know that you're conscious about the physical harvest that's around us, but let me take your eyes and set them one point higher. Just look at this world as a harvest field. People, Jesus said at another time, they're like sheep without a shepherd. Here they are souls destined to either heaven or hell. You've got to see the world as God sees it, as a harvest field.

One day a blind man came to Jesus and Jesus touched him and said, can you see? The man said, all I can see is trees walking. Jesus touched him again and now he could see human beings. You know I fear that we as Christians we need another touch from God, because we look at our world not as God sees it. It's just a world in which we find ourselves enmeshed and involved, and they're just people and they're a part of whatever we do in life. No, God says, no, no, no. They're not just walking trees; they're souls heading for eternity. Do you see the message that He's trying to give to those disciples? Disciples, let's forget the food, I want to talk about something that feeds the soul -- doing what God wants us to do. I want to talk about finishing the task He's assigned us, and I want you to see your world as souls for a harvest. What a lesson.

Father, it's easy for us just like the disciples to get so involved with the things of time we miss the great eternal truths, but You used this occasion with the disciples to teach them some of the great priorities of life. Some of us allow ourselves to be so absorbed in the life around us and the world around us that we even at times look to it as our source of sustenance, and strength, and purpose, and reason for being. Would You forgive us for that? Help us to find our joy, our life, our dynamic for being in a commitment to You almighty God where we give everything we have to do Your will. For in doing that, we shall then learn the joy for living. And some of us need You to touch our spiritual eyes because the people around us we do not see them as You see them. They're just people -- they're trees walking. Help us to see men and women as people with souls that are going to spend eternity somewhere; either in heaven or in hell, and help us to see our world through Your eyes, oh God, and help us to be the reapers that help bringing in the harvest. Thank you dear Jesus and I thank you for this wonderful group of people who so respectfully and so openly respond each day. And my prayer is that this moment becomes a life transforming moment for every person here. Help us this week to see our world as You see it. That's my prayer. Everybody said, amen.