22

John 4:35-42  SOWING THE SEED & REAPING THE HARVEST

 

Introduction:

 

    In our previous texts a Samaritan woman came to Jesus as

He was resting on the curbing of a well near the Samaritan

city of Sychar.  Jesus asked water of the woman and that

opened up a conversation which led to the woman being saved.

She went back into Sychar and told the people that she had

found the Christ and that they should go out to see Him.  As

a result, many of the men of the city immediately started

out to the well to see Jesus.

    However, before they arrived at the well, our Lord's

disciples tried to get Jesus to eat and He refused to eat.

He said that He had meat to eat that they knew nothing

about.  He was talking about the joy He has experienced in

winning this woman to salvation, thus, carrying on the work

that God the Father had sent Him to do.

    In our text today before the men of the city arrive,

Jesus speaks about the great need of winning souls to

salvation.

 

I.  The fields white already unto harvest

 

    V. 35, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then

cometh harvest?  behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes,

and look on the fields; for they are white already to

harvest."  Judging from this statement the grain harvest in

Samaria was about four months away.  This means that the

planting season was probably over and the new plants had

already sprung up out of the ground.  No doubt, Jesus and

His disciples had seen many of the fields along beside the

roadway as they made their journey northward from Judea into

Samaria.  It is very likely that such fields were visible to

them right there at Jacob's well.  If so, the fields would

appear green to them from the new plants sticking up out of

the ground.

    Jesus was using those fields to teach His disciples a

lesson concerning soul-winning.  The disciples had very

likely taken notice of how pretty the green fields were and,

perhaps, had remarked that in about four months there would

likely be a great harvest from those fields.  It was very

common for the people to make such a remark at this time of

the year.  In another four months and harvest time would

arrive.

    Jesus told His disciples, "Do not say that in four

months harvest time will be here."  Jesus said, "Harvest

time is here already."  However, Jesus was not talking about

a harvest of grain.  He was talking about a harvest of

souls.  He said, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields;

for they are white already to harvest."  If they lifted up

their eyes and looked out on the literal fields, they would

see no fields white unto harvest.  Rather they would see

green fields which were filled with young tender green

plants.  It would be another four months until harvest.

    But if they would lift up their eyes from the spiritual

point of view, they would see many lost souls who were

greatly in need of the gospel message.  They would see

fields which were already filled with ripe grain and ready

for the harvest.  The light yellow colored heads of mature

grain would take on a white appearance in bright sunlight

and would cause all the field to look white.

    What Jesus was talking about was that right there in the

nearby city of Sychar were many people who were in need of

the gospel message and who were ready to believe it with

their hearts.  This would soon become evident when the men

of the city would come rushing out to the well to see and

hear Jesus.  There were also other like cities and villages

there in Samaria where the gospel message would be just as

eagerly received.  Within those few short years the

disciples would be told to go out to all the world, because

the fields of all the world were white unto harvest.

    The message that Jesus was trying to get through to His

disciples was that time is of great importance.  When the

grain in a field is ripe and ready to harvest, you cannot

afford to wait four months and then start trying to harvest

it.  It will all be ruined by that time.  Most of the grain

would be beaten to the ground by the wind and the rain.

What is left on the stalks would be moulded and ruined.  One

simply cannot effort to wait four months to start the

harvest.  The grain harvest truly was four months away, but

the spiritual harvest of souls was ready to be reaped.

 

II.  A motivating factor:  Payday and rejoicing

 

    V. 36, "And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and

gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth

and he that reapeth may rejoice together."  In the work

forces of the land, those who labored in the fields received

wages.  Those who plowed the fields and got them ready for

planting received wages for their labor.  Those who sowed

the seed in the plowed ground received wages for their

labor.  Those who harvested the crop and put it in the barns

would also receive wages for their labor.  The Greek word

here that is translated "wages" means "pay, wages, or

reward."

    What Jesus was talking about was that the laborers in

God's work force would, likewise, receive pay, wages or

reward.  Now Jesus was not talking about the wages that

churches would pay their pastors.  Jesus was talking about

the wages that God Himself pays to all the workers in His

cause.  He is talking about the pay, wages or reward that

each and every Christian will receive for service rendered

to the Lord.  He is not talking about earthy salaries.  He

was talking about heavenly rewards.

    Jesus said that the one who sows the seed and the one

who reaps the harvest will rejoice together.  They will both

receive wages from the Lord and they will both receive

rejoicing from the Lord.  One man may sow the gospel seed

and never be able to lead the prospect to salvation.  But he

receives wages for his labor never-the-less.  Another may be

able to lead that same individual to the Lord for salvation

even though somebody else sowed the seed.  He will receive

his reward for reaping the harvest even though he did not

sow the seed.  Both he that soweth and he that reapeth will

rejoice together because they both will receive their

reward.

 

III.  One sowing and another reaping

 

    V. 37-38, "And herein is that saying true, One soweth,

and another reapeth.  I sent you to reap that whereon ye

bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered

into their labours."  Jesus now gets right down to the work

of those disciples.  He said that here is a good example of

the truthfulness of an old saying.  The old saying was, "One

soweth and another reapeth."  This was often true because

workers were sometimes migrant workers and after sowing the

fields they would not wait around the four months until the

harvest.  They would move on and another crew would harvest

the crop.  Another thing that accounted for the truthfulness

of this saying was that sometimes one planted the fields and

then died before the crop was harvested.

    Never-the-less the work of these disciples who now

labored with Jesus was a good example of the truthfulness of

that saying.  The prophets of old had sown the seed.  They

had declared the word of the Lord.  The disciples would reap

a harvest from the seed that the prophets had sown.  John

the Baptist had also sown the gospel seed.  He had begun his

ministry sometime earlier and had sown the gospel seed from

which the disciples would reap a harvest.  Even the

Samaritan woman who had gotten saved this very day had gone

into the city of Sychar and sown the gospel seed.  Now the

men of the city would soon arrive and Jesus and His

disciples would reap a harvest from the seed that she had

sown.

    But listen, before any harvest can be reaped the gospel

seem must be seed sown.  This principle is true in the

natural harvest of grain and it is true in the spiritual

harvest.  The gospel message must be presented to the

unsaved if anybody is going to get saved.  I will want to

come back to that thought later.

    Verse 39 informs us that many of the Samaritan people

believed the testimony of the woman even before they arrived

and talked with Jesus.  V. 39, "And many of the Samaritans

of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman,

which testified, He told me all that ever I did."

    Evidently they were expecting the Christ to come on the

scene very soon.  They had evidently heard John the Baptist

say that he was sent to prepare the way for the coming of

the Christ and that the Christ would soon come on the scene.

They were ready to be harvested and when the woman told them

about Jesus they believed what she said and accepted Jesus

as the Christ even before they laid eyes on Him.

 

IV.  A great harvest at Sychar

 

    V. 40-42, "So when the Samaritans were come unto him,

they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he

abode there two days.  And many more believed because of his

own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not

because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and

know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the

world."  After coming out to see and hear Jesus the people

of Sychar pled with Jesus to stay with them and preach to

them.

    Jesus agreed to do so and stayed in their city for two

days.  John does not describe the events of those two days,

but I can imagine that almost all of the regular activities

were shut down and the people gathered to hear Jesus preach.

During that time there was a great harvest.  Many more

people believed.

    John says nothing about Jesus working any miracles

there.  But a lot of people were saved.  The seed had

already been sown and they were ripe unto harvest.  When

they had the opportunity to see and hear Jesus in person

they recognized that He is indeed the Christ.  They said,

"...for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is

indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."  That goes even

beyond what even the believing Jews of Judea and Galilee

would have said about Him.  The believing Jews would

acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the

Savior, but they would have most likely acknowledged Him

only as the Savior of Israel.  The Samaritans recognized

Jesus as the Savior of the world.

 

V.  Some points for emphasis

 

    But now I want to come back to some of the things that

have already been said and place emphasis upon them.  First,

I want to emphasize that the seed must be sown if souls are

going to be saved.  I am glad that in every generation God

reaches down and calls men to preach the gospel.  As a

church we have been honored that God would reach down to our

own church congregation and call men to preach.  Some whom

God has called from Pleasant Hill are Luther Crawford, W. S.

Taylor, Keenan Witcher, Ronald Witcher and Paul Clark.

    But I also want to stress that the preachers are not the

only ones who are to sow the gospel seed.  In fact some of

the most effective sowers of the gospel seed are not

preachers at all.  The woman who witnessed for Jesus in the

city of Sychar was mot a preacher.  Yet virtually a whole

city heard the gospel message as a result of that one woman.

She was far more effective in Sychar than any of the

disciples could have been.

    Let me say that every Christian father and mother should

sow the gospel seed.  The father and mother who live in that

home can often be more effective than a preacher from the

outside of the home could be.  Furthermore, they can not

only sow the gospel seed to their own children, but to all

the neighborhood children as they come into the home.

    Every Christian grandparent should be a witness for the

Lord to the grand children.  Grand children usually have a

great deal of love and respect for their grandparents.  The

witness of a grandparent can often do more to win the grand

children to Christ than anyone else.

    Every Christian aunt and uncle should also be a witness

for the Lord to the nieces and nephews.  Young people are

usually influenced a great deal by favorite aunts and

uncles.  Sometimes the Christian aunts and uncles are the

only real Christian influence which the nieces and nephews

have.

    Every Christian family should be a witness for Christ to

the neighbors around them.  Do not take for granted that

just because these people do not go to church that they will

not be receptive to your witness.  The Christian family

should look upon its neighborhood as a mission field and

themselves as missionaries.

    Every Christian who works at a plant or place of

business with unsaved people should be a witness for the

Lord to those unsaved friends.  Those people desperately

need somebody who can get through to them with the gospel.

Otherwise they will spend eternity in hell.

    Every Christian who goes to school with unsaved friends

should be a witness for Jesus to your schoolmates.  They are

at school to learn, and the most important thing for any boy

or girl to learn is that Jesus saves.  Tell them about Jesus

and that Jesus saves.

    Let me remind you also that the Lord's workers will get

paid for their labor for Him.  The Lord is not going to

reward on the basis of how many people you lead to profess

Jesus Christ as Savior.  He will not reward you on the basis

of how much harvest you reap.  Rather, He will reward you on

how faithful you have been to sow the gospel seed.

 

Conclusion:

 

    I want to ask you some rather soul searching questions

right at this point.  I am not going to embarrass you by

asking you to raise your hands or answer these questions out

loud.  But I do want to ask you these questions.

    First of all, do you know that you are saved?  Are you

sure that you have called on the Lord and committed your

destiny into the hands of Jesus for Him to save and keep?

If you have, I want to say, "Thank God.  I'm glad you've got

that settled with God."

    If you cannot say that you are saved, I am going to ask

you to call on Jesus before this service is over and ask Him

to be your Savior.  You do not have to say anything out

loud.  You just talk to Him silently and He will hear you.

    Secondly, I want to ask those of you who are saved if

you can remember ever having witnessed to some unsaved

person about their need of trusting Jesus and being saved.

Have you ever personally talked to some family member or

some fellow worker or some neighbor and pointed out that

what they need to do is to trust Jesus and be saved?

    If not, I am going to ask you to talk to Jesus right now

and ask Him to forgive you for never having witnessed for

Him to the lost.  I am going to also ask that you call on

Jesus and tell Him that you want Him to help you to talk to

someone about his soul.

    Also, if you are saved and you are in need of a church

home, I am going to ask you to talk to Jesus and ask Him

whether or not it would be His will for you to place your

membership here at Pleasant Hill?  Then all I will ask you

to do is to let the Lord have His way.

    There is one more thing.  God may be dealing with

someone here about the call to the ministry.  If you think

that God might be calling you to preach and you would like

to talk to me about it privately you just let me know and I

will talk to you.  If you already know that God has called

you then come now and surrender to the call.

    Let me say to you, whatever it is that you need to do

about spiritual matters, do not put it off too long.  The

harvest is just about over.