Turning Religious Reluctance-13

TURNING RELIGIOUS RELUCTANCE-XIII—John 4:1-42(:21-27, 31-38)

Turning the Religious Lost

Attention:

One of my uncles confessed to me that when he was a much younger man, he once tried to see how much oil was in his oil can by striking a match & holding it just inside the spout of the can so it would give light to the inside! The result would have been much worse had he taken that lit match to gasoline or to some other more volatile substance.

He told me that story when I was a child because he did not want me to end up doing something foolish...something that would endanger my life! My uncle loved me & knew that my awareness of the truth & my choosing to follow it would make all the difference in sparing my young life from needless & preventable sorrow.

Think twice before continuing down your current path!

The Church exists to turn the world away from it’s errant way, so they will avoid a needlessly spent eternity in hell!

Everybody lives by a ‘religion’—a set of spiritual & secular values that they hold to. These may be right or wrong.

Everybody has a belief system to which they subscribe—right or wrong.

Even atheists live by their atheism! Thus they are a religious people too.

All of these may be ‘reluctant’ to turn, But by the power of God, they are turnable nonetheless!

*We are all called as God’s witnesses to turn those who headed for disaster...“Go therefore & make disciples of ALL the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit, teaching THEM to observe all things that I have commanded you; & lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”!(Matthew 28:19-20)...

Jesus divulged/bore witness of/ His Messianic identity to a reluctant/hesitant but religious woman.

God’s people bear witness of Messiah’s/Jesus’ identity to reluctant religious people.

How/When will God’s people turn the reluctancy of the religious upon Almighty God?

OR--What will turn that religious reluctancy around?

Some insights toward turning religious reluctance to God.

Previously as we looked in these verses we found that,

Turning religious reluctance to God requires...

1. SERVICE Insight(:1-3)

2. CONSEQUENTIAL Insight(:4-6)

3. COMPASSIONED Insight(:7-8)

4. BLIND/UNHINDERED Insight(:9)

5. POSSESSIVE Insight(:10)

6. TRUTHFUL Insight(:11-14)

7. LIFESTYLE Insight(:15-18)

8. PLACE Insight(:19-20)

9. DECISIVE Insight(:21-24)

10. IDENTITY Insight(:25-26)

11. INTERRUPTIVE Insight(:27)

12. Turning religious reluctance to God requires ?the INTERRUPTIVE Insight of...?a.--SUSTENANCE(:31-34)

13—Turning religious reluctance to God also requires ?the INTERRUPTIVE Insight of...?b.--HARVEST(:35-38)

Explanation:(:35-38)

:35—““Do you not say, ‘There are still four months & then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes & look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”

Jesus chides His disciples for their obtuseness—their insensitivity & inability to grasp the significance of the need—not recognizing the need to proclaim the truth to others(evangelize). He likened an awareness for the need to evangelize, to a common awareness of a need to prepare for bringing in “the harvest.”

“Do you not say, ‘There are still four months & then comes the harvest’ ”

Jesus is bringing a ‘spiritual’ picture into focus for His disciples who lived in & would be most familiar with an agrarian or farming culture.

The timeframe here ‘may’ represent “the time between sowing & the earliest point of harvest.”—NAC However, the usual time between sowing seed & the crop’s harvest would have been closer to six months.—MNTC But let’s not undercut Jesus’ intent with extraneous details.

*“The saying, “Four more months & then comes the harvest” appears to have been a common proverb”, “though there is no independent evidence for its existence.”—BECNT

“Barley was harvested in March” & “Wheat” was harvested “from mid-April until the end of May.”—BECNT

Thru calling attention to this proverb, Jesus encouraged/urged them to do spiritually as farmers would necessarily do physically.

•Thus most probably it merely represents a standing awareness by any farmer, of his crop’s closeness to “harvest.” The “harvest” is the goal of any planting/sowing.

For the Christian, there must be a concern for the significance of the harvest!

“You/Ye”2X—umeiv—

“Not”(See :2, 18, 32; :14, 15—mh)—ou, ouk, or ouc—Particle—1) No, not; in direct questions expecting an affirmative answer. Strong—a primary word; the absolute negative [compare mh] adverb; No or not.

“Say”2X(See :7, 10, 28, 33; :5, 25—“called”)—legw—Verb—1) To say, to speak—1a) Affirm over, maintain, 1b) To teach, 1c) To exhort, advise, to command, direct, 1d) To point out with words, intend, mean, mean to say, 1e) To call by name, to call, name, 1f) To speak out, speak of, mention. Strong—a primary verb; properly--To "lay" forth, i.e. figuratively--Relate (in words [usually of systematic or set discourse; whereas epw & fhmi generally refer to an individual expression or speech respectively; while rew is properly, to break silence merely, & lalew means an extended or random harangue]); by implication--To mean.