“Kingdom of God: Doing God’s Will To Shape The Eternal”  

We are looking at Jesus’ remark to the disciples as it is recorded in Jn 4:31-35.

I want to review briefly so that we catch the connection of what follows by looking at this a little more closely.

Last week, we saw that Jesus was ‘one in service’ with His Father. 

He demonstrated this in how He dealt with the Samaritan woman.

Knowing the reason for their ‘marveling’ when the disciples saw Jesus speaking to her, Jesus took this opportunity to show them how they were to ‘become’ one in service with Him.

They were to see that ‘doing the will of God’ is to ‘become’ aligned or ‘shaped’ for service in God’s Kingdom. 

Did not Jesus do the same? Did He not ‘do the Father’s will’ by taking on the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of man?

So - for the disciples, that also meant a change in them - in this case, specifically in their attitudes about others and about their circumstances.

For Jesus, to do the will of His Father, it meant preparing the way for the revelation of His salvation to all peoples.

And God’s will for Him included this present moment in which the reality of God’s presence was being seen in Jesus by this woman.

How this woman received His revelation about Himself was ‘meat’ to Jesus, as He saw her growing faith even while He spoke and as she so fully accepted the present reality of God fulfilling His Word in Jesus.

The proof of that reality taking hold in her heart was in her immediate witness to the truth of His Word to her countrymen.

He had talked to her with the attitude that was exactly the opposite of how the disciples would have handled the opportunity - not in condemnation, as they would have treated her, but only in love.

So Jesus sought to bring His disciples into that higher thought of the ‘doing of the will of God’. 

He let them know that their thoughts and ways do NOT reflect the ‘doing of the will of God.’

He communicated by His own conduct toward this woman that other peoples are NOT despised enemies of God.

Had he not just recently, in Jn 3, told Nicodemus: ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever - WHOSOEVER - believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life?’

And had He not gone on to say: ‘For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved?’

And, on another occasion, had He not said: ‘...it is not the will of your Father Who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish?’

In this setting of John 4, then, Jesus, by His own example,  showed how ‘whosoever will’ is worthy to receive the grace of God in Himself fully.

Thus, when He told His disciples ‘I have food that you know nothing about’, it was as if He was telling them: ‘Your hearts are not properly poised - not on an even keel - to accurately serve in My kingdom.  

Your society has constructed walls between yourselves and these people and you are adding more cement to the structure.

I am here to break down those walls! ‘Whosoever will’ may come unto Me - and there are no strings attached! 

You must accept that fact as you serve Me.

Whosoever will may come unto Me - and, as you see them come to Me, you yourselves will eat meat to your own souls.’ 

That may have been hard for the disciples to see and to swallow at this time!

It is hard for some of us, even to this day!

But Jesus did not stop there!

The conversation continued in v 35 where He went on by saying: ‘Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?’

The Scripture does not make clear why such a remark was used as preparation toward Jesus’ next remark.

He went on to say: ‘...behold ...Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; they are white already to harvest.’

Some think Jesus was quoting a well-known proverb used by farmers in that day.

But it also could well be that the disciples had engaged in a conversation about harvest time that was still four months away.

In either case, whether this was a proverb He was quoting or whether the disciples were whining about the outlook of the next four months, Jesus was urging them to lay themselves aside to become willing and faithful workers with Him in gathering in the spiritual harvest.

If you follow the context, He did go on to talk about ‘sowing and reaping’ in the next verses.

And, for that reason, I am taking the liberty to connect this verse 35 to the thought of weariness and murmuring rather than this simply being a quote. 

For, when you stop to think about it, the one defect hindering spiritual development follows the other defect.

We all well know how criticizing and grousing go hand in hand, I am sure!

First comes the faultfinding, the nitpicking, the exclusion.

Then comes the grumbling and the complaining.

That is the pattern shown here of the natural man, if this is taken as the disciples murmuring.

And, when we go on in vs 36-38, Lord willing, we will see the third defect that goes along naturally with these two that Jesus brings out.

But, going on here, it is prudent to say that Jesus was continuing onward in lifting their thoughts above the earthly conditions on to a higher level toward spiritual well-being.

After all - there was much yet ahead for them to face, to adjust to, to overcome!

Thus He used the metaphor of the physical harvest to apply it to the spiritual, by saying: ‘The harvest is already here.’

He knew about the present ‘harvest’ when He saw the group of Samaritans - to whom the woman had already witnessed - coming across the fields in a distance.

With that scene in view, Jesus used that picture to point out how the time for others to accept His Messiahship is even now.

This Samaritan woman accepted the fact of His Messiahship.

She went right out to witness about it to her countrymen.

They wanted to know more and were coming to inquire.

It all showed how ready those people were for His saving work among them.

It showed the harvest is ready to bring in!

Therefore, now is the time for His disciples to give themselves fully to that new realization without whining about anything! 

Now was the time to think about others - to keep others at the heart of service unto Christ.

This was no longer the time to hold on to prejudgments and criticisms about them. 

This was not the time to be lax, to be negligent, to be  focusing on life’s unpleasantries!

These are hindrances of prejudices and self-absorption that were not the ‘doing of the will of God’!

Those things arrest the work of His Kingdom!

‘The Kingdom of God does not concede to these spiritual defects’, Jesus seemed to be saying to His disciples.

It was not the kind of ‘spiritual food’ He was teaching them to ‘feed upon’.

He made the obligation to live the Christian life abundantly clear in emphasizing the awesome importance of using every opportunity to look toward the harvest of shaping the eternal.

The ‘eternal’ out from a heart of pure love that places others above one’s self - that prepares the way for the ministering of salvation - must be the prime focus of service in Christ’s kingdom. 

This is a significant part of this passage - for there is an urgency in the Christian’s life to be faithful unto Christ in every circumstance and, so, ‘become’ one with Him.

This is the ‘doing of the will of God’ that every Christian is called to accept.

It is Paul who admonished servants to have a single heart, as unto Christ, and be ‘...the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart...’.

And Paul followed the same pattern of explanation that Jesus did in His admonition to His disciples.

He continued, by saying they were to serve ‘with good will, service as to the Lord... knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall receive of the Lord...’.

Is this not what Jesus did with this Samaritan woman?

He drew her into the Kingdom of God, into the revelation of His Messiahship, just as naturally as breathing a breath.

He, too, was weary. That is why He stayed behind while the disciples went to the city.

But, at the opportune time, He talked to the Samaritan woman and, as He did, He did it with eternal issues in His heart.

His focus came from a heart of pure love that was to shape her eternal being.

The story goes of an old Scottish blacksmith who once said of a Christian saint who often came to his shop: ‘He never came into my shop without talking to me as if he had been a blacksmith all his life.

But he never went away without leaving Christ in my heart!’

And neither did this Samaritan woman leave the presence of Jesus without Christ in her heart!

I sometimes wonder why we Christians seem to squander precious moments of life so consistently and constantly in dissecting others, writing them off.

I sometimes wonder if we really understand the eternal significance of not being ‘weary in well-doing’, of the importance of ‘keeping on’ for the sake of Christ.

Are we sometimes prone to be lax, to waste energy, time and breath complaining and whining about our circumstances, and - all the while - those seeing us and hearing us are being kept deaf and blind about the reality of Christ within us?

What a waste of opportunity to ‘grow’ in the love of Christ toward others!

What a waste of opportunity to shape the eternal, both in others and in ourselves!

Should we not consider this to be a very significant responsibility as the Lord’s people?

We ought to! We ought to be very concerned about where our spiritual focus is - so that others are drawn into the knowledge of Christ within us!   

If we continue on - day after day, hour after hour - slack and careless about behavior and demeanor that dishonors Christ - it is clear we are NOT spiritually concerned from the very depth of our being.

The Psalmist said of such: ‘Fools, because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. 

Their soul loathed all manner of meat so that they were near the gates of death...’.

The disciples were to see that same pattern here. They were to see what Jesus was saying to them to avert it in themselves, if they were to serve in His Kingdom aright!

The spiritual harvest among their enemies was ready for garnering so they must put aside their objections, their criticisms, their laments and, instead, be faithful in ‘gathering fruit unto life eternal.’ 

They were to be concerned about the eternal issues at stake for all peoples, under every circumstance!

Can we see yet how important it is to learn to ‘do the will of God’ as Jesus had in mind in this passage?   

Perhaps you read recently of Joe Ehrmann, the former NFL star who is now coaching a high school team.

The newspaper article stated that his aim in teaching is not to just put together a winning team.

His objective is to teach young boys how to truly become men in the deepest sense of values - to shape their characters.

And one of his main points centers in learning the importance of serving others, to base their thoughts and actions on ‘What can I do for you?’, NOT on ‘What can I get out of this?’ or even ‘How can I get out of this?’

In other words, he is sending them through a training process where he hopes they ‘become’ fit in character to actually do that.

In this Jn 4 passage, Jesus took this all much higher.

He centered the attitudes - of looking upon others and of looking upon circumstances - toward the heart’s pure motive of shaping the eternal which comes only by the ‘doing of the will of God’. 

Thus, the Christian who lives such a life that the one who is not a believer becomes one through the Christian’s  influence and life, is altogether blessed with the meat of garnering the harvest unto Christ.

We need to encourage one another to live such a life - in thoughts, habits, and attitudes - that it ‘becomes’ an investment in the harvest of shaping the eternal!

Let me encourage all of us to prayerfully look at these things as Jesus portrayed them to His disciples and let the Holy Spirit continue doing His work in regard to these matters.

I leave you tonight with these thoughts to ponder. May the Lord bless you beyond measure this week, as you do! 

Amen.

Let us pray.