Do You Really Know Jesus? #4: New Vision
Text: John 4:31-38
Introduction: Shoe Salesman In Africa
Perhaps you
heard about the Yankee shoe salesman who went to Africa and wired his
manufacturer,
“I want to come home. Nobody wears shoes in this part of Africa.”
So they brought him home and sent another salesman who shipped back order after
order. He wrote the home office, “Everybody here needs shoes!”
Sometimes everything changes when you see thing through different eyes. This is especially true when we are talking about the Lord's work.
Lacking Spiritual Vision
John 4:31-34
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, Hath 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.
The Disciples Didn’t See as Jesus saw.
Disciples unable to see because of their cultural and
historical background. They couldn’t wee why Jesus must go through Samaria. The Samaritans were a people of mixed blood
and had rebelled against the Kings of Judah, they worshipped idols and did not
honor the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
They sure couldn’t see why Jesus was talking to a Samaritan
woman who was obviously an outcast from her village.
They couldn’t see the spiritual springs of water anymore
than the woman at the well, nor could they see the fulfillment of Christ’s
mission on earth.
They did not understand when why he no longer needed
physical food because he had feasted on the spiritual food of doing God’s will.
His deepest hunger was filled by winning a soul unto eternal life. They could
not see with the eyes of Christ.
Do we See As Jesus Saw?
Does our culture or background prevent us from talking to
and reaching out to those who are in need of Christ?
How will we explain to Jesus one day that we wouldn’t talk
to that alcoholic at work with, or that girl I go to college with that dances
at the so called Gentleman’s club, or to that teenager who is usually strung
out on drugs. If the Lord put me face to face with one of those “Samaritans”
would I speak with them or ignore them.
I know that usually none of these are asking to hear about
Jesus, neither was the woman at the well. Jesus took the initiative because
Jesus saw with eyes that saw people’s souls as well as their bodies.
How long has it been since you tasted the food of heaven?
To experience the fulfillment of doing God’s will by seeing
those that are lost around us and bring them to Christ.
To know this feeling is to find a satisfaction of the soul that
will overcome the other needs and wants in your life. You will have no need for
what the world offers when you taste the meat of doing God’s will.
Just like the disciples, we need to see with the eyes of
Christ. We need spiritual vision that sees the soul as well as the body.
Wouldn’t it change our worldview if we could see both the
physical and the spiritual parts of life. They are both there just as the body
and mind are both there. I can see one but not the other, yet I am aware of
both. So must it be with our vision of the spiritual and the physical. We see
the physical but we must never forget the spiritual is just as real. Remember
the story of Elisha praying for the vision of his servant when they were
surrounded by an invading kings army?
Elisha prays for his servant to see
2 Kings 6:15 And when
the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host
compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto
him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that
be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said,
LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes
of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and
chariots of fire round about Elisha.
Transition: Jesus was trying to do with a lesson what Elisha did with a
miracle, give the disciple the ability to see with spiritual vision. He
continues that lesson in vs. 35
Looking For Spiritual Vision John 4:35
Say not ye, There are 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.
Jesus Teaches The Disciples To See Souls
He looks out on a green field, that at this time of the year
was months away from harvest, but then tells them, “Lift up your eyes and look
on the fields for they are white already to harvest.”
At that point the disciples had to realize Jesus was seeing
something they weren’t. He was telling them
to look not on a field of grain, but upon a field of souls. Souls that were
ready for a harvest of eternal life.
Jesus knew that the woman of Sychar had gone back to the
village and was even now telling the men of that village about the Messiah. He
knew that in a short time the entire village would come to see the One she was
talking about. And most importantly he knew that if his disciples remained
blind to their lost souls, many would walk away offended, alienated and still
lost.
Seeing The World with Spiritual Vision
Does Jesus still tell us to lift up our eyes, to look up,
and see the fields of souls ready for harvest? Is he still telling us to see
with His eyes instead of ours? Does he still show us impossible things, while
trying to get us to see lost souls.
Look with me to Matthew 28:18-29
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
What a vision not just one Samaritan town but all the towns,
in all the nations of the world. This is
the great commission, this is our marching orders until Jesus comes back. Talk
about an impossible sight. We are to disciple, baptize and teach all things
Jesus has taught us. We are to do this here in Athens, Texas but also in all
the world. We are to cross physical border, language barriers, and cultural
obstacles with the Gospel and start churches and we are to all do this until
Jesus comes back! How can that even be possible? It can’t be possible until we see
with spiritual opened eyes.
I want to share with you our Mission Statement. Now you may
say I didn’t know we had a mission statement, well we do because it is the one Jesus gave us in
Matthew 28. But let me expand upon it this morning so that it will truly belong
to Calvary Baptist Church.
Mission Statement from the Great Commission Matthew 28:19-20
We the members of Calvary Baptist Church, will all strive to
fulfill the Great Commission left to us by our founder, Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. We will through our love,
sacrifice and witness make His presence known in our community, to our friends
and families and around the world. We
will earnestly tell them of their need of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. When they have accepted Him, we will bring
them to God's house and baptize them in the name of the Triune God. We will then instruct them in all aspects of
the Christian life and exhort them in their Christian growth and nurture them
in Christian love.
This mission we will carry out no matter what the cost in
time, money, effort or pride. We will
refuse to be stopped by Satan, the world, our own nature or frailties. We vow to press toward the mark that we may
obtain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Then one day to lay that hard-fought prize as
a crown at His feet.
This is our mission, everything we do here should be secondary
to this task. Do we believe that? Do we accept that? Passively we “say yeah sure, amen or preach
it brother.” But let me ask it in
another way?
Do you attend church like that? Do you give like that? Do you forgive others like that? Do you raise your kids like that? Are you really living and working in the
church as if you truly know you are on a mission from God Himself?
One day you’ll stand in eternity and look back and say I
wish I had tried for even a week or a month to live as though I really believed
God was calling me. I wish I had tithed for
just one month, I wish I had witnessed, I wished I had forgiven, I wish I had
sacrificed for just one month to see how God was true to his promises.
I challenge you , if you’ll do it for one month you can do
it for a year. If you can do it for a
year, you can do it for 10, and if you can do it for 10 years then you can do
it for a lifetime and if you do it for a lifetime then one day you’ll stand
before Jesus your Master and hear him say, “Matthew 25:23 Well done, good and faithful servant; thou
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:
enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
Do you have the vision, the spiritual sight to see yourself
standing before God one day and hearing that verdict?
Let me tell you about one person who saw the vision of
Jesus’ white fields.
William Carey
In England
in the 1700’s, there was a pastor. He was a cobbler by trade and practically
illiterate. As he worked on repairing peoples shows, he kept a map of the world
on a wall of his workshop so that he could glance up and pray for the nations
of the world that were without a Christian witness. He became so burdened for an international missionary
outreach that he decided to share his burden at a meeting of his fellow Baptist
ministers. When he finished, he was told by one of the senior men of God:
“Young man, sit down. When God wants to convert the heathen, He will do it
without your help or mine.”
But William
Carey did not sit down or give up. He could not get the vision of a lost world
off his heart. He felt he had to do
something, so he learned to read and write in his native tongue, then learned
Hebrew, Greek and Latin all it self-taught as he cobbled on shoes. He then took his family and went to Burma and
India with the gospel. There this once illiterate cobbler, translated the Bible
into more than 20 Indian dialects and languages, established the first
university in India and influenced tens of thousands around the world to come
to Christ and serve Him.
Carey’s
most famous saying was spoken in a meeting in which he was trying to get others
to take the Gospel around the world. This is what he said, “Expect great things
from God; Attempt great things for God.” He saw with the eyes of Christ and he
believed, truly believed, he was on a mission from God.
Transition: That’s what spiritual vision can do. Now look how Jesus continues to teach the
disciples and us about that vision and its results.
Laboring In Spiritual Vision John 4:36 –38
And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth 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 labour: other men laboured, and ye
are entered into their labours.
Jesus Tells His Disciples Get To Work
With the new, spiritual vision that Jesus has taught His
disciples, He now tells them to get to work, to labor in those fields their new
eyes can now see.
This is the work of souls and it must be done with spiritual
vision, with eyes that can only see what Jesus has taught us to see, and it can
be the hard labor but it is the most rewarding work ever given to mankind.
Notice that Jesus tells them the labor consists of two
things, sowing and reaping. He also tells them that all those who see this
field and enter into it are all working together. You may reap where others
have sown, others may reap where you have sown.
This is God’s plan and we are simple told to get to the work.
Time For Us To Get To Work
Are we see the field today, are we willing to work for the
Lord?
When was the last time I sowed the gospel in the field of a
human heart?
When was the last time I reaped “fruit unto eternal life?”
If we’re not working for Jesus, then what are we doing? Why are we here? If the call and commission of God is not
enough to move us to begin the work then how terribly blind we have become!
The Lighthouse and the Life Saving Club
Once on a rocky coastline there stood a lighthouse and it’s
brave crew. Never were the more
courageous men who loved their work.
They often launched their small open boats into the roughest seas to
rescue ships that had gone aground on the rocks near their lighthouse. The men of the rescue crew were much admired
and soon many people began to join the life-saving station. Those who could not row the boats minded the
lights. Those who could not mind the
lights cooked food or maintained the grounds.
After every rescue there would be hot food and warm blankets for the
rescued and the rescuers as well. Before
long the popularity of the station called for some changes. They need a president and a treasure to
oversee the money that was being donated, this seemed like a good idea and so
they elected a president and a treasurer.
One day during a business meeting someone said, “Our station is getting
too small and our rescue crew deserves better quarters let’s build a new
lighthouse.” Someone else stood up and
said, “You know I don’t think we should call it a lighthouse anymore
either. That’s a little old
fashioned. Let’s call it a life-saving
club. We are bound to get more members
that way.”
Everyone agreed and a new lighthouse, I mean, life-saving
club was built. It was beautiful with
gorgeous carpet and a big gym for recreation.
It was built right on the coastline and they even opened up a restaurant
in the top floor of the lighthouse, I mean life-saving club. One day there was a terrible ship wreck and
the rescue crew jumped into their boats and rowed out to the ship. They pulled scores of people from the water
and off the rocks. Bruised and bleeding
they were brought back to the life-saving club.
After the rescue at the next business meeting there were several
complaints about the last rescue. “They
tracked mud all through the foyer”, complained one worker. “They got blood on the gym floor and we had
to stop in the middle of a basketball game to make room for all those wretches,
“complained another. “Well, no one paid
for any of the food they ate either, complained the manager of the
restaurant. A huge fight broke our over
whether the facilities should be used for actual rescues or if that should be
done some where out of sight. Finally,
they split. Those who wanted to actually
rescue people moved back to the old lighthouse, while those who wanted to enjoy
each others company in a nice family atmosphere down by the sea stayed in the
club.
Today if you drive down the coastline, you will see every
few miles another new and popular life-saving club. They are great places for entertainment and
good food. But the lighthouses are hard
to find, they tend to call for too much sacrifice and giving to be very
popular. And every now and then on a
night filled with nature’s stormy fury a ship will crash on the rocks along the
coast and the souls in that wreck, praying for help, pleading for rescue simply
drown. You see in the life-saving clubs
they’re too busy planning, building and visiting to bother to look for people
to actually save.
Conclusion
Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for
they are white already to harvest.”
What He said to them, He says to us, indeed the fields are
even broader, deeper and whiter than ever. We must see with His eyes and we
must work with His power to sow and reap in the fields of souls all around us.
“That both he that soweth and He that reapeth may rejoice
together.”
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