Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today and tomorrow, we're featuring a sermon preached at the Bob Jones University 2024 Bible Conference where the theme was missions. Dr. Alan Benson would be preaching a message titled, Cultivating a Heart for the Harvest.
Open your Bibles, if you would, tonight to the Gospel of John in the fourth chapter, John chapter four. I love Bible Conference. It was back in 1986. I was in the 10th grade in Nova Scotia, Canada and got in a van with 15 other people and we drove from Nova Scotia to Greenville, South Carolina for Bible Conference.
I remember pulling on campus, getting out. It was the first time I'd ever been to Bob Jones. Coming into this building and listening to the services and being moved by God in such a great way. I remember then the very first time I was asked upon returning to work here at the university to speak at Bible Conference and being so nervous. And tonight, here I am hosting Bible Conference and I'm nervous all over again. These are special days. Days that I have been praying for, days in which I am longing to see God work in our hearts together.
And I hope you are too. I love the Gospel of John. I love the Gospel. I love the Gospels. But in particular, my favorite of the Gospels is the Gospel of John and it's because of some of the unique characteristics that we find in this Gospel. I'll point out some of them tonight as we explore a little bit of our theme.
What do I mean? What do I think God means by this idea of cultivating a heart for the harvest? And in particular, then we'll look at a passage in John chapter 4.
I want to start by reading some there. So turning there, John chapter 4, you follow along as I read, beginning in verse 27. And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, What seekest thou?
Or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? And they went out of the city and came unto him. In the meantime, or in the mean, while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Have any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say, Not ye there 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. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors. 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. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him, and he would tarry with them.
And he abode there two days. Tonight I want us to see that we must have Jesus heart for the harvest, or if you will, we must see the harvest through Jesus eyes. As I mentioned, John's gospel is unique.
It's unique in a number of ways. I wanted you to consider just a few things because it's here that I want us to understand a little bit about cultivating a heart or cultivating a heart for the harvest. John begins his gospel with these words. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. It was life, and the life was the light of men. And he continues on, and then in verse 14 he says this, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.
The glory as of the only begotten to the Father, full of grace and truth. And John identifies himself and others as witnesses of this one who was the word in the beginning, and who was the life. John writes this in John chapter 20 verses 30 and 31, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. In John 21 25 he writes this, and there are also many other things which Jesus did, the witch, if they should be written every one.
I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. John's gospel is unique in this sense. It is unique in that it has purposely selected material in order to convey a particular message. That message is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. The book contains seven selected miracles that clearly demonstrate with clarifying intensity that Jesus is the Messiah. John refers to these miracles by the Greek word semayon, semayon, or signs. These were miracles done and selected by John that demonstrate clearly that Jesus is the Son of God. Interspersed throughout these miracles are narratives. They're didactic sections where Jesus is teaching. These teaching sections further demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah, and they corroborate the message of the miracles, all of the material being purposefully selected. But there's an additional feature that you find in John's gospel. It's a feature that's not necessarily unique to John, but it's much more pronounced in his account of the life of Christ. I believe it is intentionally a part of the material that he selected to include, and that material is this. It is the accounts of Jesus' very personal interactions with the disciples.
Let me give you some examples. After the miracle at the wedding of Cana in Galilee where he changed water to wine, John records this in chapter 2 and verse 11. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory. And then he adds this, and his disciples believed on him. John is the only writer that includes that last little line where he references the disciples. Throughout John's gospel there's a pronounced mentioning of the disciples. John 2 2 and his disciples. John 2 17, his disciples remembered that it was written. John 4 8 notes, for his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.
John more emphatically records the details of private conversations that the disciples had among themselves. John 4 33 says this, therefore said the disciples one to another have any man brought him ought to eat. John chapter 6 records for us the account of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, and it gives us another unique insight into this private dynamic between Jesus and his disciples. John chapter 6 and verse 1 says this, after these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberius, and a great multitude followed him because they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were diseased. When Jesus went up into the mountain and there he sat with his disciples, and the Passover a feast of the Jews was nigh. When Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, when shall we buy bread that these may eat? Verse 6 says this, and this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. John is the only gospel writer that includes that. You may not have been aware that it wasn't the disciples that came to Jesus and said, Matt are you going to send these people home? We don't have anything to feed them. Before they ever gathered, Jesus said to Philip, hey I want you to be thinking about something.
I want you to be thinking about how we're going to feed these people. And he did it, John tells us, to test them. Throughout John's gospel we see this dynamic of interaction between Jesus and his disciples in private settings and in heightened ways. And so we come to our passage in John 4. The way that John tells this story about the woman at the well is really intriguing. In fact, you could almost read it in such a way that it may be that the heart of this story isn't about the woman at all.
Now her coming to faith in Christ obviously is, but there's something else going on. You see he deals with this woman in two parts at the beginning and the end of this text and in the middle between those two parts he gives us the words of Jesus to his disciples. There is this unique and intentional interplay provided for us between Jesus and his followers and I believe that this is a clear and intentional point of emphasis in John's writing. John is going to show us what is happening in the hearts and minds of the disciples and what Jesus is doing to instruct them and to shape their thinking.
I believe that John is recording for us in this passage and throughout his entire gospel the work of Christ in cultivating the heart of his disciples. So what does it mean to cultivate? Well it's an agrarian word. It's a farm term. In fact its root meaning is this, to prepare and use land for crops and gardening.
It has become a relational or a social word. It means to try to acquire or to develop something or someone, a skill, a sentiment, or a person. It's grown to mean to try to win the friendship or favor of someone.
I'm trying to cultivate the relationship. And then most apropos it's come to mean this, to improve or to develop someone or something. To improve, to make better, to refine, to elevate, to polish, to educate, to train, to enlighten, to enrich, to civilize, or to bring about to culture. To cultivate. I believe that there is a work that the Spirit of God does in the heart of his disciples as Christ is building this relationship with them that actually prepares them for their ministry after he leaves.
I believe that there's a work that the Spirit of God does in the heart then of every true believer that moves them toward a passion for evangelism. And I believe that this is a work of cultivating the heart. This is a setting that is filled with agrarian imagery. Obviously he mentions the harvest and all of it is marked by disrupting what would normally be expected. We're going to look at this passage tonight and we're going to see five unexpected things.
When talking to this woman at the well he says to her give me to drink and then he turns around and says to her I am the water of life. When talking to the disciples he says my meat or my food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. When looking at the harvest he says say not ye there yet four months and then cometh harvest look on the fields are white already to harvest. That didn't make any sense. He said this he that soweth and he that harvesteth or reapeth shall rejoice together. That doesn't make any sense.
They don't work together. He says I sent you to reap where you bestowed no labor. Other men labored and you're entered into their labors.
That doesn't make any sense. As we look at John chapter four I want us to see a series of five unexpected things and in doing so I want us to see that there are rationalizations that we make or if you will excuses that we give for why we won't or can't engage in evangelism that I believe this passage speaks to and undoes those excuses. So let's look at the passage together. First of all the first unexpected thing comes in the context.
The first unexpected thing is an unexpected field. Samaria the city of Sychar. It's interesting that Jesus is chapter four beginning at the beginning of it realizing that trouble is coming. It says he knew in verse one of chapter four the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples he left Judea and departed again into Galilee. Verse four says and he must needs go through Samaria. Even just in the reading of that you get the idea that Samaria is not the intended destination. He's going back to Galilee but interestingly enough when you think about what he is doing and where he is going and what he is after it's just really interesting to me. We would think that the right place that he would find a harvest would be Galilee and not in Samaria and yet when we look at the two places we're going to see that there's a harvest in Samaria and in Galilee there are there's this truth that that that a prophet is without honor in his own country. We're actually going to see that those in Sychar when they come to Jesus when they come to Jesus say hey look we came because of your word but now we believe because of his word and when he gets to Galilee he's going to encounter people and he will say to them do you believe because of what you've seen? The expected field actually isn't a harvest field and the unexpected field is a harvest field.
The first unexpected thing is an unexpected field. He leaves Judea and departs for Galilee. He must needs to go through Samaria. I've done a good bit of reading and studying on this I'm not sure I buy into the whole idea that every Jew that traveled this route went around it and took the long way. I actually think there's a lot of history that demonstrates that people went right through Samaria but what we do know is this it wasn't their destination. They would cut through they wouldn't necessarily plan on making stops there they didn't interact a lot there was a difference between them and the people in Samaria. In fact they looked on with great derision the people in Samaria were seen as half-breeds they were actually seen as people who carried out false worship because they didn't come to the temple to worship they were looking for a messiah that had a different name there were differences this wasn't the destination and thus I think we're going to see the response of the disciples and it probably would have been most Jews response and probably would have been our response and so an unexpected field so what then is is the excuse or what would be our excuse for why we're not going to engage in evangelism it's simply this not here. Lord I'll do evangelism but but not here not in this place it has to do with the place this place is too hard these circumstances are too difficult we would never say something like this the gospel can't work here but we might think it or we would rationalize maybe a little more like this I need to give the gospel a better chance for success this is really this is really hard this is putting the gospel to the test but look friends here's our reality the world is a harsh place we learned in chapel today we learned in chapel today that the world will hate us because it hated Jesus and it will persecute us because we have the only antidote to the damning delusion of Satan that keeps men in lostness and blindness and that antidote is the gospel of Jesus Christ you see I see three all too common reactions to the world by Christians and they're more pronounced at different times depending on what is happening in the culture today with the upheaval that's happening in our culture and the way we see things changing the way we see what you and I have considered to be norms are shifting the ethical basis for what we think is reality is shifting marriage is being redefined gender is becoming fluid life is being redefined and those of us who hold to what the bible says as being authoritative look at that and and it repulses us and so one of the first reactions to a world like this is anger how dare you you're messing up my life you're gonna mess up my world for my kids how you expect my grandkids to live in a place like that how dare you mess up the public schools the way you're messing them up with your wokeism how dare you change society do you realize what you are doing and one of the things that happens when we become angry at the world is we come distant from the world and anger replaces our passion for the lost people in that world we think we're righteous and we think we're moral and we think we're justified for being angry at this world but the anger in our heart keeps us from cultivating a heart for the harvest a second would be accommodation we get really comfortable with the world you know there's a reason this same john would implore believers to love not the world these are the things that are in the world for if all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world the world passes away and the lust thereof but he that does the will of the father abideth forever there's a reason he would say to believers don't fall in love with this present evil world because it's all too easy for us to become comfortable and to accommodate the world and friends i assure you this if you love the world in its lostness you'll never love them to christ because you don't see their need to change then there's a third response and it's a response not of anger or of accommodation it's a response of apathy how many of you have played super mario brothers i have two very little but i have so you would be able to relate to this i was playing with my children and there's a part of the game where they really needed me to be alive apparently and so we're going through a phase of the game and i've got my children yelling at me dad bubble bubble bubble i'm like what am i supposed to froth at the mouth or like what does that even mean what does that even mean so then they showed me how to bubble and i realized i could play all night long and bubble well for those of you who aren't super mario bros aficionados bubble is a feature where you can go into a bubble and nothing can kill you you just kind of bubble around it's really not any fun but it keeps you alive you know what friends all too often we as believers live in a world that is without christ and we move into our christian moral bubble and we bounce off the people of this world thinking we're safe all the while they're heading to a christless eternity and we look at the world that we're in and either because of anger or accommodation or even apathy that causes us to bubble we make the excuse not here no no no not here there'll be a right place i'm not sure where it is or how it will happen there'll be a right place and then then i'll tell somebody about jesus then i'll talk to them about their losses then i'll talk to them about their sin but not here no no no no no no not here all the while paul would write to the believers in corinth in first corinthians 15 34 awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of god jesus would say in matthew five you're the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven he said that you are the salt of the earth you see the gospel is light that is intended to shine in a dark place not a light place the gospel is salt that is intended to season that which is otherwise bitter or distasteful it is a preservative that is intended that is intended to be applied to that which is otherwise decaying god calls us to declare the gospel in a hard place but we make the excuse not here you see the first unexpected thing addressing our first excuse is an unexpected field then secondly i want you to see an unexpected message his disciples have been sent away to go get food that was their mission go get us something to eat and they come back verse 33 therefore said the disciples one to another hath anybody brought him ought to eat jesus saith unto them my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work you see the unexpected message to them was this i have meat to eat that you know not of it's unexpected john often moves the narrative of his gospel along through misunderstanding in particular the misunderstanding of his disciples things happen or jesus says something and they're like scratching their heads like did i miss something and we see that this is a process that jesus is going to use to develop them or to cultivate their hearts for ministry and that's what's happening here obviously jesus sent them away to get food and when they return and offer it to him he says i don't need your food i have food that you don't know about so they naturally think that someone has given them something to eat but jesus is sharing with them an unexpected message there is something more important than the temporal jesus in matthew 4 4 and luke 4 4 directly quotes deuteronomy 8 3 when he is tempted by satan to change stones into bread in order to satisfy his own hunger and i believe that he here makes reference to the same truth in giving instruction to his disciples deuteronomy 8 3 says this and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the lord doth man live you see this is a teaching moment this is a moment where jesus is highlighting a difference between the way they are thinking and the way that he is thinking so the excuse that we would make would be this not this first not here now not this this is not our plan we need to get our education we need to establish our career we have other priorities so not this because i have to do this simply for them it was what are you talking to her and what are you talking about a harvest for you sent us to get food and we got to do food but jesus is focused on something else see jesus came to do the father's will and he always by priority did the father's will all of jesus ministry was carried out in submission to the will of his father and that is what consumed him so even when he was tired when there was a crowd to minister to we see him choose to minister when he is hungry we see him choose to to continue to minister to people and in ministering to them we hear him say man i'm not like like on fumes right now because this is what i came to do have you ever asked why did jesus come what was it that is consuming his thinking what is it that is then driving him as he lives out his life in ministry i found 12 things just in the gospels there's more in other places but i want you to listen to them because i want them to you to see how they weave together john 17 4 says this i have glorified thee on the earth i have finished the work which thou gavest me to do then when hanging on the cross as a sin bearer for the sins of the whole world as a vicarious sacrifice and a satisfactory substitute we read these words of john from john 19 after this jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled saith i thirst and then he says when jesus therefore had received the vinegar he said it is finished you see on the cross he could say the ultimate purpose that the father sent me to accomplish it is all done in every detail because i lived it with passion that's what i was focused on all of it where i went what i said what i taught who i interacted with when i healed somebody when i didn't heal somebody all of it was ultimately directed by this passion i want to do what god wants me to do you've been listening to part one of a sermon preached by dr alan benson from bob jones university's 2024 bible conference join us again tomorrow when we'll hear the conclusion of this sermon on The Daily Platform
