THE MOST ESSENTIAL FOOD
John 4:27-38 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
Intro: A couple of weeks ago we started in John 4 and talked about living water – the gift of God that keeps on giving. Then we looked at the profile of Genuine Worshipers – they know who they worship, and they worship God on a spiritual level and with nothing to hide. Today we’re going to talk about food. However, as good as food can be, this is not ordinary food. When Jesus said He had food that the disciples knew nothing about, that did not mean that He had a secret stash of food in His robe. The Lord’s food that He spoke about had to do with harvest. Some of you may have harvested some good crops over the years from your gardens and trees Harvest is a wonderful time, as we are able to enjoy the fruit of our labors. It is a wonderful time to share. One thing about harvest, however, is that it is only for a limited time. You only have so long to get everything out of the field or garden. Sometimes it involves a delicate balance. Leave it in the field too long and it may rot or freeze. Harvest it too soon and it won’t be ripe or ready to eat.
-Well, like many of you, Jesus is into sharing His food, and there is something greater than physical food that gives us sustenance and satisfies a hunger within us.
Prop: The main idea today is this: God wants to share essential food with us by including us in what He is doing in this world.
Interrogative: What is the essential food we’re talking about today?
TS: Let’s look at three thoughts that Jesus gave while sharing food with His disciples.
I. The Most Essential Food Includes Committing Oneself to the Father’s Will (34)
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me….”
-We cannot separate God’s will for our lives from mission. What do I mean by mission? Mission is what we are here on planet Earth to accomplish for the Lord. It may be God’s will for you to live well, have a good job, nice home, and friends to share it all with. However, we must ask ourselves a deeper question than the average American does. Is this all there is? If you are a Christian and have read your Bible much at all, you know the answer to that. However, the next question goes like this: Since there is more to this life than just working, accumulating, and dying, how much of my life am I devoting to each area? If we labeled our activities as being related to what is [E]ternal or what is [T]emporary, how many E’s would we come up with each day?
-My point is this. There are many important opportunities that we may miss in life, if we simply go on about our business. One reason prayer is so essential to our spiritual lives is that it helps us know what the Lord is saying to us. What if the Lord set up a divine appointment for you to share the good news of His love and forgiveness with someone, but you hadn’t checked in with Him and were not in the listening mode? Is knowing God’s will for your life as important to you as daily food? Are we anywhere close to being able to say, “My food is to do the will of the Lord”? Our food must be more than buying groceries and things and trying to live a comfortable life. What else is God asking us to do during our time here?
-Now, when I was studying this passage, I had to ask myself, “Why did Jesus say this to His disciples?” What was His point, and why did He refer to having food that they knew nothing about? I really think that Jesus saw an opportunity to show the disciples the priority of doing the will of the Father. To Jesus, it really was more important than eating – although He did eat. Doing what His Father wanted was more important to Him than sleep – although He did sleep… sometimes.
-Jesus had sent His disciples on into town to buy food while He stayed alone at the well. Apparently, the disciples had taken the common water bucket on into town that they would have been carrying with them. Jesus was tired from the journey, so he stayed to rest at the well. However, it is likely that He knew He had an appointment to keep with this woman. Before even entering their town Himself, Christ sparked a revival in this place. We don’t really get a sense that the disciples failed in this setting, but their impact on this town was minimal. It was a shopping trip. Jesus, while apparently on the outskirts of the town, shook it to its core. One lesson we can learn from this is be sure that you take Jesus to town with you. By ourselves we will not make any significant difference. However, with Jesus along, we will see lives changed and people set free from their sins.
-Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me….” This sounds a little like Jesus’ response to the devil when He was tempted by Him to turn stones into bread. Jesus quoted from Deut. 8:3: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” God’s will. What God wants and what He has spoken to us in the Bible. That is the food Jesus wants to share with us!
-Are you willing to share in the food that Jesus has for you? Are you willing to commit yourself to doing whatever God asks you to do – even if it moves you out of your comfort zone? I want to be willing. Don’t you? “Lord, whatever You ask of me, I know You will enable me to do. Help me to be willing to obey You.”
TS: What else did Jesus mean when He referred to having food that they knew not of?
II. The Most Essential Food Includes Working for Him Until the Job is Done (34)
-Jesus said, "My food is to… finish My Father’s work.”
-It is God’s work! We must keep at it, not stopping short of the goal. What is the goal? The goal is bringing in the harvest. What does that mean to us today? The goal for the disciples was to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything Christ had commanded (Mt. 28:19-20). Is that job done? Is everybody saved who is going to be saved? I sure hope not!
-Just think about our community. If everybody in this area suddenly saw a need to be in Church next Sunday, what would happen? There might be seating for 500-600 in Elgin, less than that in Imbler or Summerville. From what I can figure, more than 2/3 of our community still needs to be reached with the gospel. Our job is far from done! In fact, even if all of our community received Christ, then our work would just be starting, because there is a whole world out there that needs Jesus. This is why I believe in supporting missionaries who go to foreign countries. We may never get there, but we can pray for them and help finance their ministry efforts. Maybe God will raise up missionaries within our own church, whom we can send out.
-Jesus said, "My food is to… finish the Father’s work.” There is a lot left for us to do. This is not a time to settle for status quo and sit back and let somebody else take care of the harvest. You have a place in the harvest. God has gifted you in such a way as to help finish His work. You are needed! Are you willing?
-There’s something else that goes along with this thought. Yes, you are needed in the work of the harvest. But, equally, the work of the harvest is needed by you! What am I saying? Simply that we were designed and equipped to serve. I don’t want you just to fill a job in the church b/c nobody else will. I want you to begin to recognize how God has gifted you and then begin to use that gift for Him! It is essential to your spiritual growth that you serve! Perhaps we’ve emphasized the work of the kingdom to the neglect of the workers! We are all workers in God’s family, and if we are to enjoy any sense of fulfilling our purpose, then we need to be involved in what God is doing! Everybody can serve! Everybody can do something that they are gifted for! If you’re not sure what you’re gifted for, then try some new things and see how it goes!
-God created us for good works. And when we all engage in doing what He has called us to do, we will see the job through, by the grace of God that is working in us!
TS: Finally, along with knowing that our job is not yet done, we must know where we are in the growing season.
III. The Most Essential Food Includes Recognizing the Season of Harvest (35-38)
-As Jesus was speaking to His disciples about having food they didn’t know about and about harvest, something else was going on in town. Remember the Samaritan woman whom Jesus had been speaking to earlier? Why did she come to the well? She came to get some water to take back home with her. Why, then, does v. 28 say that she left her water jar? I believe this shows us that the living water that Jesus spoke of has suddenly become more important to her than the water from Jacob’s well. And what does she do with the living water? She spills it on everyone she can find in town. Look at it in v. 28: 28 ”Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.”
-Now as these people started heading out of town through the fields toward Jacob’s Well to see who this Jesus was, guess what Jesus was saying to His disciples? 35 ”Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” As the disciples wondered what Jesus was talking about, they looked up at the fields to see if the grain really was ripe. What they saw was not ripe grain, but crowds of people walking towards them, ready to meet the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
-Now is the time for the harvest – look around you – people are more ready than we give them credit for, but much of the harvest may be lost if we don’t stay at the task. We need more laborers in the field, and we need to be out there in the field ourselves.
-Too often, we are so convinced that the people we work with and interact with would never want to hear about Jesus. Why do we allow ourselves to think that way? Maybe we have faced rejection in the past when attempting to share the love of Jesus, but that does not change the importance of the message, nor does it change the readiness of many other people to receive Christ. The very person you are so sure would laugh in your face if you talked about Jesus may be the very person who has tried just about everything else and is running out of options. People want real answers for real problems, and the world is not giving the right answers! We have the right answer – Jesus – but we often seem to avoid talking about Him. There may be a number of reasons we don’t talk about Jesus to lost people (fear, insecurity, rejection, feeling inadequate, embarrassment, etc.). However, each of these things can and must be overcome! Most of us are aware that it begins with how we live. However, there is a time to speak, and when it comes, be ready. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach Christ. If necessary, use words." Let’s live it and talk about it when we get the chance!
-If you don’t think you can make a difference in someone else’s life, listen to this story about how one teacher made a difference simply through love and caring. [http://www.makeadifferencemovie.com/]
Conclusion: As we close this morning, are you willing to share in what Christ has for you? Are you willing to share Him with others, like the woman at the well did? The Most Essential Food means committing ourselves to the Father’s will. It means staying with the job until it is finished. It also means knowing that the harvest is ready now. There are people around you just waiting to hear a clear, relevant presentation of who Jesus is and what difference He can make in their lives.
-Today, if Christ has not made that difference in your life, He can and will – if you ask Him. He wants to be your forgiver and leader. He wants to change your heart and give you hope and a reason to live. I invite you to speak with me after we pray if you are interested in receiving God’s forgiveness and asking Him to change your life.
-Now, to every believer here, I want to leave you with one last challenge: Get into the harvest! It is ready. Live your life on purpose, not on autopilot. Don’t get trapped in the routines of life so much so that you miss the promptings of the Lord to share His love with someone. Let’s commit ourselves to doing God’s will, keeping at His work, and not waiting until we think the harvest is ready. People need Jesus now. Let’s share Him with each one until everyone knows who He is and how He can change their lives.
