Have you discovered your purpose? Do you know your “why”? Many American Christians fall into the trap that exists only to make money or to be happy. Do you know why God has placed you here on earth? Do you know your “why”?
Invitation
At the conclusion of today’s message, you will be invited to respond to Jesus’ offer of a clean, fresh start. You can respond by going to the Encourager’s Room, a virtual room, or the altar.
Today’s Scripture
“Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 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. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 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.”
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 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.’
After the two days he departed for Galilee. (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast” (John 4:31-45).
Jesus changed the life of a woman; history knows her as the Woman at the Well at the beginning of John 4. This is the rest of the story. The disciples had purchased food and were surprised Jesus was speaking to a woman. When the woman leaves, we get the rest of the story.
1. Jesus’ Hunger
“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work’” (John 4:34). The words “My food” are given a place emphasis in the original Greek of verse 34. It’s as if the disciples say to Jesus, “Are you hungry? Can we get you something to eat?” Jesus responds, “My food is to do the will of the Father.”
1.1 Jesus’ Meal
Jesus is so focused on doing the Father’s will that even food is secondary. Jesus did eat. But Jesus is making a point here: Jesus’ food, His very life, was to fulfill the Father’s will. Many of you may remember when Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. He had had no food of any kind. He could have turned rocks into fresh hot bread baked in heaven’s oven. Jesus tells us what His favorite meal is. He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). You could say that Jesus’ appetizer was the Word of God. It’s what sustained Him. Jesus hungered for the Word of God. I say this was His appetizer because Jesus’ main course is to do the Will of God.1
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34).
1.2 Jesus’ “Why”
Jesus’ “why” in life is doing the Father’s will. Again, His “why” is doing His Father’s will. Later, Jesus will say, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30). And again, He says, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). Throughout his life, Jesus made it crystal clear that He did nothing but the will of the Father. Even near the end of His life, Jesus said at the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus consistently did the will of the Father in every breath, every step, and every waking moment of His life. Again, His “why” is doing His Father’s will.
1.3 Finish His Will
“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work’” (John 4:34). Circle the word “accomplish” at the end of verse 34, will you? The word literally means to “bring an activity to a successful finish— ‘to complete, to finish, to end, to accomplish.’”2 If Jesus’ appetizer was the Word of God, and His main course is the Will of God, then the desert was to finish the will of God in His life. Jesus didn’t just start out doing God’s will, but He finished God’s will. Jesus is overheard, praying later on, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). Jesus says doing the will of the One who sent Me and finishing His work is My food. From Bethlehem to Calvary to Jesus’ ascension on the Mount of Olives, Jesus completed the will of God for His life. He was like no other human being who ever lived. Nobody else can say that. Nobody else can say, “My entire life was devoted to doing exactly what the Father wanted me to do.”
1.4 Nothing On His Own Accord
The will of the Father is so vital and so central to Jesus life that Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). If Jesus had an office like a coach or teacher, He would put the big bold letters across the room, “the Son can do nothing of his own accord.” Jesus says, “I only do what I see the Father doing.” “I only resurrect people that my Father first resurrects” (John 5:21). “I only judge when my Father tells me to” (John 5:22). As smart as Jesus is, Jesus says I still don’t do anything but what I first see the Father doing. As capable as Jesus is, Jesus says I still don’t do anything but what I first see the Father doing. And as powerful as Jesus is, Jesus says I still don’t do anything but what I first see the Father doing. Yes, the Bible calls Jesus God (John 20:28). Yes, Jesus tells us that He has rights that only belong to God (John 5:17). Yet, Jesus is always submissive to the will of the Father. Not only does the Son always do what pleases the Father (John 8:29), but He can do only what he sees His Father doing. It’s remarkable and mind-blowing!
1.5 Jesus’ Meal, Continued
The will of the Father wasn’t an optional thing for Jesus, it was an essential thing. It wasn’t a cul-de-sac, but it was His main thoroughfare. Just as you were to finish a big porterhouse steak, Jesus is satisfied by doing the Father’s will. It was His source of life.
Doing the will of the Father fulfilled His greatest need. He craves to do the will and to complete the will of the Father. If you were to ask Jesus, “What makes you happy,” He wouldn’t say, “Whatever makes you happy.” He wouldn’t say, “Watching the Cowboys play on Sunday afternoon and taking a nap.” Jesus was happy only when He was doing the Father’s will.3 His greatest excitement in life was doing what His Father wanted Him to do. His greatest fun was following in His Father’s footsteps.
1. Jesus’ Hunger
2. Your Hunger
“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work’” (John 4:34).
3.1 What’s Your Food?
If Jesus’ food was to do the will of the Father, what’s your food? Jesus commands us: “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). Can you make a meal out of doing the Father’s will in your life? Can you say, “I’m excited about doing the Father’s will?” Do you regret the parts of your life where you ignored doing God’s will?
3.2 What If?
What if, for 24 hours, Jesus wakes up in your bed, walks in your shoes, lives in your house, and assumes your schedule? Your boss becomes His boss, your mother becomes His mother, your pains become His pains? With one exception, nothing about your life changes. Your health doesn’t change. Your circumstances don’t change. Your schedule isn’t altered. Your problems aren’t solved. Again, only one change occurs. What if, for one day, and one night, Jesus lives your life with His heart? Your heart gets a day off, and your life is led by the heart of Jesus Christ Himself.
Again, what if, for 24 hours, Jesus wakes up in your bed, walks in your shoes, lives in your house, and assumes your schedule?4 If that were true, here is what your number one priority would be for those 24 hours: the will of the Father. You would be consumed with one question, “What does my Father want to do before work? What does my Father want from me as I work my 10-hour shift? What is the Father’s will for my 8 hours at school today? And what does my Father want me to do with my family this evening?” If you had God’s heart for 24 hours, you would exclusively be focused on one thing: the will of the Father.
3.3 Say One Thing and Do Another
Be careful now as you talk to the Lord this morning.
Jesus warns us about religious types. Jesus tells a story involving a father and his two sons (Matthew 21:28-32). The father owns a vineyard. He comes to the first son and says, “Son, go work today in my vineyard.” The son says, “No, I won’t.” But afterward, Jesus reports, the son repents and does what His Father wanted Him to do. The father comes to the second son and gives him identical instructions. This son said, “Yes, I’ll work in the vineyard.” But then he fails to do it. Jesus asks those who were listening to him, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you’” (Matthew 21:31b). Jesus warns us against sitting in church, promising to do the will of the Father, and then doing nothing. Have you found your “why?”
1. Jesus’ Hunger
2. Your Hunger
3. Jesus’ Eyes
“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). Jesus uses an analogy from farming to teach us about our purpose in life. Today, less than 1 percent of the US population works the soil in order to feed the rest of us. Still, we can understand what Jesus is telling us.
3.1 Seeing What Jesus Sees
Jesus sees fields that are yet to be harvested as already harvested. Jesus sees the unseen. He wants you to see what is unseen. He commands us to “Look” and “lift up [our] eyes.” It’s as if Jesus is saying to us, “Do you see what I see?” As Jesus was speaking to the Disciples, a town full of Samaritans were headed His way: “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word” (John 4:39-41).
When Jesus says “that the fields are white for harvest,” He means people are ready to hear about the gospel. People are the fields, and they want to know how to have eternal life. Jesus is speaking to His disciples about evangelism. Evangelism is the compassionate sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to lost people with the intent of seeing them embrace Christ as their Lord and Savior. Jesus says people are ready to hear. Jesus says, “Look” and “lift up [our] eyes.” People are hungry for the love of Christ. People are hungry to know how to have their sins forgiven.
1. Jesus’ Hunger
2. Your Hunger
3. Jesus’ Eyes
4. Your Eyes
“Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps’” (John 4:36-37).
4.1 Sowing and Reaping
Believers, we work in cooperation with one another. One of you will sow where another reaps. One of you will reap where another sows. Even this woman got in on the act: “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 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 4:39-42).
The Gospel of John is filled with stories where Jesus leads individuals to Himself. Now, Jesus turns to the disciples and releases them to do the same work He is doing. Every believer should be motivated to share the mercy they experience with other sinners. Every believer should be able to tell the story of their conversion briefly and boldly.
4.2 Only Good People Get In
So many people object to doing evangelism. Well-meaning people say this to me relatively often: “I just don’t think you have to believe in Jesus to be saved. I believe all good people can find God.” When you say, “Oh, I don’t believe Jesus is the only way. I believe all good people can come,” what you’re really saying is, “The good people find God, and the bad people do not.” In your effort to be more inclusive by saying all good people can find God, you’ve just left me out, because I am a moral failure.
4.3 What Do You See?
Mr. Airport Worker, how do you see your friends, your coworkers? Do you see a field white for harvest? Mrs. School Teacher, do you see only students in your classroom, or do you see white unto harvest fields? Mr. Businessman, in your work-from-home office, do you see only sales calls, or do you see fields that are white unto harvest? Mr. Doctor. in your office, do you see only patients, or do you see fields that are white for
harvest? Mr. Coach, in your gym, do you see only athletes, or do you see fields that are white for harvest? Miss Student, in your school, do you see only classmates, or do you see fields that are white unto harvest? What do you see around you?
4.4 Your “Why” in Life
A first-grade teacher asked her class the question: “What do you do to help at home?” One by one, the answers came back. One little girl said, “I dry the dishes.” One little boy said, “I feed the dog.” Another child said, “I sweep the floor.” Everybody gave an answer, but one little boy was sitting in the back. He didn’t say anything. The teacher looked at him and said, “Johnny, what do you do to help out at home?” He said, “I stay out of the way.” Don’t be like Johnny.
You have a purpose and a “why” in life. The gospel is far too important to be kept to ourselves.
EndNotes
1 This concept is from James Merrit’s sermon, “The Love of the Harvest.” https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/20821/the-love-of-the-harvest-2-of-4/#; accessed May 29, 2024.
2 Johannes P. Louw, and Eugene Albert Nida, “ te???a; ??te???; ?p?te???; ?p?te???a; s??te???a; te?e???,” Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), : 68.22.
3 Herman N. Ridderbos, The Gospel according to John: A Theological Commentary, translated by John Vriend (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 167-168.
4 I owe this illustration to Chuck Swindoll. https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/an-interview-with-god-charles-r-swindoll-sermon-on-fulfillment-94815; accessed December 4, 2022.
