The Right Focus
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Background to Text:
Last week we looked at one of the great stories of this book, Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well. We saw the urgency that Jesus had in going through Samaria for the purpose of meeting this woman.
This woman was searching, longing, and craving, but had no hope from what the world offered her. She was as empty as the pots she brought to fill. In the course of their conversation, Jesus makes her aware of her need to salvation.
She recognizes who He is, what He has to offer, her sin that caused this need, and receiving this gift personally. When she realized who Jesus was, everything Jesus had said made complete sense, and she got saved.
We left off last week with seeing the impact of her conversion. Immediately after her salvation, she went and told everyone about the man who knew everything about her. Now, we see the IMPACT of her witness in the following verses as we look at our message tonight entitled: “The Right Focus;”
PRAY
-“When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,” tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. “He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil.
-I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, ‘Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’ “‘Luciano,’ my father replied, ‘if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them.
-For life, you must choose one chair.’ “I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera.
-And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book—whatever we choose—we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”
There has to be a right focus. In our passage tonight we find a focus specifically on sharing the gospel with others. If there is something we should be committed to and focused on it should be the salvation of the lost.
In these verses we see the priority that Jesus places on lost souls coming to Him. It was a focus He had, and a focus He wanted His disciples to have as well.
Transition:
Tonight I want us to look at Three Items Jesus points out that we should focus on as we consider our own personal witness.
There Must Be A Focus on the Spiritual (v. 31)
There Must Be A Focus on the Spiritual (v. 31)
Now, if you’ll remember, Jesus had just got done having his disciples baptize people in Judaea at the end of chapter 3.
Then they make the journey to Galilee and stop in Samaria along the way. This would have been roughly around 42 miles that they travelled on foot. This would be like walking from Greencastle all the way to the Indianapolis airport.
This wouldn’t have been easy terrain either, they would have crossed a mountain range and had some difficult hiking. So you could imagine after travelling all that way, that they were probably hungry and tired.
So at the beginning of John 4 Jesus tells His disciples to go and find some food while He talks to this woman from Sychar. She gets saved, the disciples get back, and they have a load of food in their hands.
Tired, worn out, hungry Jesus still hasn’t eaten anything after His long journey. But I want you to see what Jesus says in response to the disciples’ request for Jesus to eat food:
But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Whenever I see this verse I try to imagine what was going through the disciples’ minds at this point. For some reason I always think that maybe they thought, “Man, Jesus is holding out on us. Does He have some pita chips in His pocket or what?”
“What do you mean you have food that we don’t know about?” So they start asking each other if anyone had given Him food:
Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
But Jesus takes this opportunity to teach the disciples about a spiritual truth.
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
His meat, His food, was to do God’s will. To seek and to save the lost.
-No doubt you’ve been hungry before. Your stomach’s growling and you’re getting a little cranky. What happens when you eat that food?
-Your belly becomes satisfied. Your body gets refueled. You are happy. You are joyous. You can function. All of those things happen when you eat when you’re hungry.
Now, think about this in the context in which Jesus is speaking. He is saying that to do God’s will is just like eating a nice juicy steak with a baked potato. It’s satisfying. It’s joyous. It’s exciting. It fuels us to want to do more.
Just as there is the physical body and a need to feed it, we have a spiritual side as well. It is just as important for us to feed that spiritual man. One way in which we feed our spiritual side is by accomplishing God’s will for our lives.
To serve the Lord. To reach others with the Gospel!
-If you’ve been saved for any length of time, you’ve probably experienced what I’m talking about.
-I automatically think of something like VBS. You plan and prepare for months. You invite like crazy. You get everything decorated, everyone in their place, and do that for the next five days.
-At the end of the week, you’re tired, worn out, but have this overwhelming joy and this great satisfaction because you reflect on all that God accomplished in those kids’ lives. You think of those who were saved. Those who surrendered their lives to the Lord. Through serving Jesus, it’s like eating a big 5 course meal.
That’s what Jesus was trying to describe to His disciples in regards to seeing this woman come to Him. He was rejuvenated. He was fueled up and ready to go, by accomplishing God’s will.
There’s something about it, when you start seeing people saved. And people’s lives are being changed by the gospel. And your community is being transformed, and your church is on fire for God that you find great satisfaction in doing the work of God.
I think of the house of Stephanas in I Corinthians 16 that had addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints! They were hooked on serving Jesus! They were passionated about doing the work of the Lord.
May we be passionate about serving the Lord.
It’s easy for us to get so focused on the physical, and forget about the spiritual. These disciples were hungry for their next meal, and rightfully so, but how hungry were they in seeing that city come to Christ?
How much did their souls long for those souls in Sychar to be saved? Do we long for and crave for people to come to Jesus, just like as if we just walked 42 miles and are in need of food? Do you find great enjoyment and fulfillment in serving Jesus and others?
We must focus on the spiritual.
There Must Be A Focus on Souls (v. 35)
There Must Be A Focus on Souls (v. 35)
Jesus presents a great need to the disciples. He tells them to open their eyes to the spiritual need around them. The fields were white, already to harvest.
I’ve been told that a white harvest speaks of an overly ripe harvest. That if it is not picked soon the crop will die. So there is an urgency to get into the field and start harvesting the fields, knowing that the crop will soon die out.
Jesus is speaking of a perpetual harvest. The harvest He is speaking of is lost souls. There are those who need to be saved. We’ll see here in a moment all the souls in Sychar that needed to receive salvation.
They were ripe for the picking, they just needed someone to show them the way of salvation.
Church, let me remind us tonight, there is a white harvest, ready to be picked. There are people tonight who need Jesus. There are those like Nicodemus. Those like the woman at the well. Those like these souls in Sychar.
They are searching for truth. They are looking for answers. And what they need is a spiritual farmer to assume their position in the field and show them that Jesus is the way of salvation! We can be the ones to point them to the truth!
I want you to see the cooperative effort found here in these verses:
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.
What a humbling reminder that this is a joint effort. This is not about becoming the biggest church in town. This is not about seeing who can see the most people saved. This is not about competing with other gospel preaching places.
This is about colaboring with one another. This is about cooperating for the Gospel sake. To see as many people come to Jesus not to build our own kingdom, but instead to build the Kingdom of God.
Evangelism should not be some marketing scheme for your church, it should be the heartbeat that genuinely wants to see people snatched from the grips of hell! We should tell others about Jesus.
Whether we see them saved, or some other church sees them saved, that’s the end goal. That people come to Jesus and learn to follow Him.
May we at Harmony have this laser focus, to reach those who need Jesus. Church, this has to be our heartbeat and desire to collectively want to see people saved. There is an urgency. There are people who need Jesus. We need to tell them about Him TOGETHER!
There Must Be A Focus on the Savior (v. 39)
There Must Be A Focus on the Savior (v. 39)
This woman’s testimony brought many to Jesus. Eight words, that’s all. People saw the powerful, transforming Gospel in her life and were led to Jesus.
So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
People were believing on Jesus because of what He said, not just off of what the woman said. They listened to Jesus and found that what He said was true. They came to the understanding that He was the Messiah.
This woman’s testimony was used as a tool to get others to Jesus. She wasn’t offended in any way that people weren’t being won to her. She was elated that people were going to the source of salvation.
This is a very simple thought, but it’s also very important. Our focus has to be on Jesus. The gospel message has to be about Jesus. Jesus must be the Savior, no one else. Not you, not the church, not some religious act, it has to be Jesus!
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
People will never get saved if we don’t point them to the Savior. May our lives be consumed with Christ. May we have a passion and zeal that overflows with Jesus. May others see our lives, and the change the gospel has made, and listen to our testimony, and be led to run to Jesus for saving grace as a result.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The right focus is important because having the wrong focus means you’ve been living for the wrong thing. One thing we can never be too focused on is seeing people come to Jesus. May we as a church be laser focused on lost souls.