Fields White for Harvest

[Read John 4:27-42]

I remember an assignment I was given early on in my ministry. We had just been taught a new method of sharing the gospel with people. The assignment was that we would share the gospel with a non-believer in the next week, then report back on it. I remember the immediate feeling of fear and dread that rose within me. A million questions and excuses began to flood my mind. In the midst of this, the Lord did lay someone’s name on my heart. So, I spent the next week worried about how I would interact with this person and share the gospel with them. 

Eventually, I ran into them on the street and invited them out for a cup of coffee. As we talked in the coffee shop, I had a hard time focusing on the conversation because I was constantly thinking about how I could turn the conversation into a “gospel conversation.” Eventually, he was about to leave and I hadn’t shared the gospel with him. I panicked and just threw it out there. I asked him the questions I was supposed to ask him, shared the bible passages I was supposed to share, and answered some of his questions. Then he went home—both of us relieved to be done with that meeting. 

I’ve often thought about that encounter over the years. What was it about that situation that caused so much dread and anxiety in me? What about it made everything so awkward and weird and tense? Yes, part of the awkwardness was my anxiety, but something else about the encounter was off. Even if I would have been calm and relaxed things would have been weird—forced. 

It’s no wonder that so many people are afraid to share the gospel with people, right? I mean, if I were to stand up here and assign each of you the task of sharing the gospel with someone before next Sunday, how would you feel about that? I can see some of you getting anxious at just the thought of that. Why? Why are we so tense or anxious or fearful of sharing the gospel? 

I know some people who are worried they aren’t prepared enough or don’t know enough to share the gospel with others. They’re afraid of saying the wrong things or encountering someone who is smarter than them and has better answers than them. I know some people are worried about messing it all up. What if you say the wrong things about what it means to be saved? What if you try to lead someone to salvation, but end up leading them astray? That’s a real fear that I’ve seen in some people. I think many people are worried about angering or offending people by sharing the gospel. What if I encounter someone and they start yelling at me or something like that?

I’ve even heard some people make this accusation: If you really loved Jesus you would talk about him more to other people. Therefore, since you don’t talk about Jesus to other people, you must not love him very much. Now, that logically makes sense, and may even be true at times, but I can say this: When I had that conversation with that young man about Jesus, I LOVED Jesus. I was as passionate as I’ve ever been in my faith. And I know a TON of other people who are very passionate about their faith, and deeply in love with Jesus, who still struggle to share the gospel with people.

So, what’s the problem? I think we’ve made sharing the gospel way too complicated. I think we’ve tried to turn marketing and business principles into gospel sharing principles—telling people to hit the streets and go door to door with the gospel, when I can’t think of an instance where that actually happens in the Bible. 

I also think we’re trying to force conversations in ways that are very unnatural to the way we have conversations. Nobody wants to be manipulated—that’s why people hate salesmen (trust me, I know, I was a salesman for a couple months). And the minute someone feels like you’re trying to manipulate a conversation, they no longer trust you and they no longer trust what’s going to come out of your mouth. So, I think we need to uncomplicated things, take all of the anxiety out of it, take all of the manipulations out of it, and learn how to do this in the course of normal, everyday conversations…and I think the Gospel of John is written to help us understand that point very clearly. 

Just look at our passage for today. I think it’s one of the greatest examples of what it means to be a witness in a lost world. Remember where we left off last week, Jesus was talking with the woman at the well, telling her that it wasn’t about the well and it wasn’t about the mountain, it was about Jesus. He is the Messiah. Then we read this, “Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town…” (John 4:27–28, ESV). The disciples get back from their grocery run into town and interrupt the conversation, but they decide not to ask any questions about this interesting situation they just stumbled upon. And since the conversation has been interrupted, and Jesus has just told the woman he is the Messiah, she takes the opportunity to leave the well and head into town. 

And what I love about the way John tells this story is that he gives us this little glimpse into the woman’s heart when he says, “So the woman left her water jar…” (John 4:28, ESV). This is beautiful because it shows that the woman is no longer worried about the water coming from the well. Now she is focused on the living water that Jesus has just offered her. She’s found something better than the water at the well and leaves her water jar and heads into town. 

And when she heads into town she starts talking to people saying, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29, ESV). This is pretty incredible. On the one hand, something has definitely changed inside the woman. Most likely she was going to the well at midday so that she could avoid the people in town. Now, she’s running back into town, eagerly talking to the very people she had been trying to avoid.

And when she talks to them, what does she say? Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. That’s just a statement about what she’s seen and heard from Jesus. That’s it. There’s nothing complicated about it. And the reality is, it couldn’t be more complicated than that because she doesn’t know anything more about Jesus. So she does the best she can with what she has, she goes around town telling everyone about her encounter with Jesus Christ. And asking the question, “Can this be the Christ?” 

This is what I’m talking about when I say that we need to uncomplicate sharing the gospel. Everyone in this room can do this. We can easily talk to people about what we’ve seen and heard Jesus do in our lives. We can say to people: Come and listen to a man who has taught me how to truly live in freedom. Come and see a man who has given me strength to endure all sorts of trials and difficulties. Come and see a man who helped me overcome significant addictions. Come and see a man who delivered me from anger or anxiety or fear or… Everyone in this room, if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, can tell some story about how Jesus has delivered you from sin, strengthened you in weakness, cleansed you from guilt and shame, walked with you through the valley of the shadow of death, led you to green pastures or beside quiet waters. That has happened to you at some point in your life. You’ve encountered Jesus and he’s done something. All you have to do is tell people about what he’s done and point them to Jesus. 

That’s what it means to be a witness. As we encounter people in our lives, we can point them to Jesus by telling them about what He’s done in our lives. We don’t have to try to manipulate the conversation. We don’t have to try a sales pitch. We don’t have to market Jesus properly. We just point people to Jesus by telling them about what he’s done in our lives and say, “You should check him out, too.” 

And you can do that in very normal conversations with people. People don’t always understand why Christians make such a big deal about attending worship every Sunday. When they ask you about it, you don’t have to convince them, all you have to do is tell them why it’s so important to you. Especially when people are in the midst of suffering and trial, they are looking for answers and it’s a great opportunity to share how you’ve made it through similar trials because of Jesus Christ. Come and see a man who helped me through something similar. And in those moments, it’s not weird or awkward or stressful or tense. It’s very natural and normal. People don’t feel like you’re trying to manipulate them or sell them something, they realize you’re just there offering them help. 

What’s powerful about this is that after the woman goes through town telling people to come and see Jesus, we read, “They went out of the town and were coming to him.” (John 4:30, ESV). Her simple witness caused a bunch of people to go check out Jesus. They heard her experience with Jesus and wanted to see what he was all about. So, they went out to find him and hear what he had to say. 

In the midst of this, the disciples are messing up again. Does that give any of you comfort, like it does me? Watching the disciples mess up over and over and over again, but still knowing how God powerfully used them? That gives me comfort. The disciples went into town to get some food for Jesus. So, naturally, they were wanting Jesus to eat the food they picked up for him. They wanted to make sure Jesus had the food and water that he needed. But Jesus didn’t want to eat at that moment. He basically tells them that there’s more important things going on right now. That’s why he says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:34, ESV). He’s basically telling the disciples that he’s got bigger fish to fry than eating at the moment. 

That’s also why Jesus rebukes the disciples. He says, “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.” (John 4:35, ESV). His rebuke goes something like this: You guys are really good at knowing when it’s time to harvest your grain. You pay attention to the calendar and the crop and you make sure you don’t miss it. Why are you missing what is happening right now? Lift up your eyes. Pay attention. The fields of people are ready to harvest. 

And most likely, the people were coming out of the town to meet Jesus as this was going on. The disciples were so focused on feeding Jesus that they didn’t notice what was happening. They were oblivious. So, most likely, Jesus was literally telling his disciples to lift up their eyes so that they could see the crowds of people coming to Jesus to hear what He has to say—the crowds of people coming because of the woman’s witness. And he was telling his disciples that THIS was more important than bread at the moment. THIS was what the Father had given him to do. 

And you’re going to notice this as a theme throughout the Gospel of John. Often we’ll see the disciples so busied by trying to care for Jesus—trying to serve Jesus—that they ignore the crowds around them. I think this happens to us a lot as well. We get caught up in so many things that we don’t even notice the fields around us—we don’t notice that people are coming to hear Jesus. Sometimes we’re so focused on ourselves that we don’t lift our eyes to see the needs around us. Sometimes we’re so focused on trying to “serve Jesus” that we don’t even see the crowds coming to Jesus. I’ve watched many churches become so busy trying to “do the work of the church” and run a ton of programs—trying to serve Jesus—that they miss the harvest right in front of them. 

I think—contrary to many people’s opinions—that the fields are ripe for the harvest in the United States right now. I know that churches are shrinking all over the place. I know that people are turning away from religion completely. I know that people are not only walking away from God, but running away from Him. I know all these things. I also know that many of these people feel lost and helpless and anxious and meaningless and full of shame and guilt. I encounter people on a daily basis who are literally wandering through life lost, with no direction or purpose or meaning. The fields are ripe for harvest. Will we lift our eyes to see it? Or will we continue to busy ourselves with our heads down? Take time this week to look around with your eyes open. When you go to the grocery store, walk around with your eyes open, looking for the harvest. When you go to Walmart or Menards or Fleet Farm, go with your eyes open, looking for the harvest. When you go to work and interact with your co-workers, go with your eyes open, looking for the harvest. I can almost guarantee that you will begin to see it once you start looking for it. It’s right there in front of our eyes. Will we lift our heads to see it?

In the midst of this we need to keep one thing in mind. Jesus tells his disciples, “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.”” (John 4:37–38, ESV). This can be taken in a couple ways. On the one hand, there are different types of people. There are those that plant and those that harvest. We need both. I also think this is referring to times and seasons. There are seasons of planting and seasons of harvesting. The disciples were in a season of harvesting, and they were benefiting from the hard work of those who had been planting for years. 

We don’t always know what season we’re in, but knowing that there are different seasons provides us with comfort and humility. On the one hand,  we can receive comfort when we’re not seeing the fruit of our labors. We may be witnessing to people like crazy, constantly pointing people to Jesus over and over and over again, but not seeing anyone believe in Jesus. We can still have comfort, knowing that we may never see the fruit of our planting, but someday someone will come and harvest what we’ve planted. So, we can keep on planting. 

On the other hand, we need to be humbled if we enter into a season of harvest. We may enter into seasons where people are coming to faith all around us. It may seem like every time we point people to Jesus they believe and follow him. When this happens, we need to be humbled realizing that we’re simply harvesting something that others have planted. We didn’t do all of the work. 

This applies very directly to our congregation. Of course we would love for this church to have people coming to know Jesus Christ like crazy and see it filled with people. But we also need to know that if that happens, we’re only harvesting what others have planted for a long time in different places. We must not think that we’re anything special, but we can thank God for the opportunity to reap the harvest. On the other hand, if this doesn’t happen, and we go out into the community and continually point people to Jesus, and we don’t see much fruit from all that work, we must not be discouraged. We may be in a season of planting and someone else may eventually harvest what we’ve planted. So, we must keep on faithfully doing the work that God has called us to do. Keep on planting and keep on witnessing—pointing people to Jesus Christ. And we can rejoice no matter which one we are because the “sower and reaper may rejoice together.” (John 4:36, ESV) and both are accomplishing the work of God. 

I love the way this passage ends because it shows us the power of someone’s simple, but faithful witness. We read, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”” (John 4:39, ESV). The woman at the well has a very simple witness—testimony. It wasn’t complicated and it wasn’t calculated. She just told people about her encounter with Jesus. And many people believed because of her testimony. I pray that gives you hope and confidence. It is possible that many people can believe from our simple testimony about our encounters with Jesus Christ.

We also need to pay attention to the very last words of this passage. We read, “And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”” (John 4:41–42, ESV). I think this is really powerful. Why did the people believe in Jesus? Was it because of the woman’s testimony? Yes, kinda, but it was about more than that. They believed because the woman brought them to Jesus and they heard him speak. When they heard Jesus—when they encountered Him—then they believed. 

This is important because it takes a lot of the pressure off of us. Our job is to bring people to Jesus so they can hear him speak through His Word. That’s our job. Our job isn’t to convince or manipulate or sell Jesus. Our job isn’t to help people put their trust in our witness or testimony. Our goal is to bring people to Jesus so they can hear him and trust Him and believe that he is the Savior of the world. 

I want to end by reminding everyone that we don’t need to make this so complicated. We don’t even need to overthink it. We just need to do it. It begins by opening our eyes to the harvest around us—truly seeing the people who are lost and longing for salvation. Then we enter into the world and into the harvest. We begin to live and speak like Christians in the world. We begin to talk to people about what we’ve seen and heard from Jesus in our lives and from his word—we point people to Jesus in natural conversations and interactions. We keep reading our bibles, so we can share Jesus’ words with them, which is how they will believe. Then we rest in God’s will and be satisfied to do his will—just like Jesus. We may be a Planter or we may be a Harvester. We may be in a season of Planting or in a season of Harvesting. Be fine either way. Rejoice either way. Do the work that God has called you to do and trust Him because he is the Lord of the Harvest.