“Kingdom of God: Divine Mind/Sowing-Reaping Process”

We continue to look at the passage found in Jn 4.

We started it a few weeks ago, and, tonight, we will concentrate on vs 35-38.

Turn in your Bibles and read along with me: Jn 4:35-38.

Jesus spoke of the spiritual harvest being ready to garner and then went on, saying: ‘And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto eternal life: 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 labor: other men labored and ye are entered into their labor.’  

In this entire passage, Jesus sought to bring the disciples into the higher thought of ‘doing the will of God’.  

He is presenting something brand new to these men.

They were skirting the doing of the will of God in their attitudes toward others and about circumstances.

In our text for tonight, He approached the third possible defect that naturally goes along with these first two.

It is implied in the passage, although Jesus spoke positively about it. 

And that defect is in the form of jealousies, strife, of partisanship, of worldly-mindedness, in general. 

I have put them into one all-inclusive thought of ‘competitiveness in the service of God’.

There must be changes within His servants about these matters if they are to work in His Kingdom.

They must overcome their tendencies toward nursing these defects within themselves.

Christ’s work is to be carried out on the basis of the universal extension of His Gospel.

Absolutely necessary are attitudes of uprightness in that service.

There can be no wavering here on the ‘the doing of the will of God’ in this matter, nor giving up in midstream!

That is not the ‘good, spiritual food’ Jesus taught His disciples to eat.

So He started out, by first telling His disciples: ‘Already the reaper receives wages and gathers fruit for everlasting life.’

Why would He say this?

Sowing and reaping had taken place in His ministry to the Samaritan woman.

It was ‘meat’ to Him.

Now - He is expanding and explaining what He meant, by going on in using the imagery of agricultural life.

The disciples would well understand this language of sowing and reaping as Jesus defined it in terms of the ‘doing of the will of God’.

Through Jesus’ explanation, the divine arrangement of a servant’s ministry in His kingdom is being revealed to them.

He is announcing His mind about the sowing and reaping process in it. 

The reality of God’s presence in Jesus re-defined everything that came before, things the disciples did not think of nor expect.

They would see how salvation is going to be offered only on God’s own terms.

They would quickly learn that the mind of Christ does not conform to human expectations!

They would see how the working of the divine order and orchestration is all-important.

God sends the sower and God sends the reaper and God gives the increase of the harvest!

Under God’s design, the prophets and men of old had sown the word about the coming Messiah and His work among men.

These hated Samaritans knew about it, they were knowledgeable about His coming, and they received Him openly.

This certainly was not the disciples’ expectations of how things ought to be!

But - under the influence of Jesus - the harvest of the seed the prophets had sown was gathered in when the woman accepted the Good News of salvation and passed it on to others.

Those who had sown the Word and the woman who reaped
have the ‘meat’, the fruit of eternal rejoicing!    

But that is not the end of it all!

The divine arrangement would go on.

For - there will always be a ‘field’ to look upon that needs planting, or watering, and finally, harvesting.

Each field is distinct where the sower and reaper will always be needed and where their roles will also be definite and clear.

This may have been difficult for the disciples to grasp.

For what did it mean to them?

Each sower and each reaper would be of equal importance toward working to a final end. 

And the disciples would be among those who are sowers and reapers: they would not be alone in garnering in the harvest. 

The immediate context suggests the Samaritan woman as one of the others who was included in the divine process.

And the disciples would benefit from the work she sowed.

And - they would need to work among those hated Samaritans in the days to come to bring in the harvest that started with this woman’s sowing.

And - they would not be able to take one ounce of credit for it.

Both they and the woman would rejoice together for the new names written in heaven that they garnered together.

In the passage, you also notice that many Samaritans came to learn more about Jesus.

That indicated that the knowledge of God’s way of salvation was already spreading.

That was positive proof that there was much sowing and reaping that yet needed to be done by the disciples and by these many others, as well.

The disciples would have to work in the ‘fields’ with them toward the same end, share equally with them, and do it in harmony, always bending to that divine arrangement.

In this immediate ‘field’, hatred was to be turned into joy and rejoicing together!

Do you know what that meant?

It meant that the mind of Christ had been revealed to them - and, believe me, that was no small thing!

It meant a complete change of their minds and hearts, a place of always bending to the revealed mind of Christ!

Knowing of the equal footing with the Samaritans in serving Christ together put these disciples into a new position!

Can we see what a mighty change would be required of them?

I believe Jesus, knowing the natural man’s inclination, was giving them a kind warning about the spiritual danger lying ahead if the natural man remains in charge!

Let us examine this just for a moment.

On another occasion, why did the disciples argue among themselves in Mk 9:34?

Was it not about who should be the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? 

It was their tendency to be contentious and compete for top place, to exalt their own selves in ambitious schemes.

We will not turn to this passage now, but look at Mk 10:35-45 when you get home and see what aspirations James and John had for themselves.
 
It is the natural man’s tendency to elevate himself above all others even at the expense of wounding others.

We note this very clearly in Paul’s letter to Corinth.

He could not even address the Corinthian church as ‘spiritual men’ in this regard.

He had to address them as ‘babes’.

Why? 

It was because there were divisions and contentions, there was jealousy, strife, partisanship.

There was a competitiveness among them that tore them apart.

It made them behave like worldly-minded people rather than people of God.

Some thought Apollos was tops, some thought Peter was. Some thought Paul was. Some said Christ was.

But Paul reminded them that in the service and life in the Kingdom of God, there can no longer be those inclinations to carnal and spiritual immature thinking.

That arrests the work within their own beings of God’s Kingdom! This is the natural man in charge!

So Paul brought this to their attention to show how their childish behavior was blocking out the mind of Christ that should have been paramount among them.

They were to have a united testimony, to have an ‘inward harmony of mind and confession about Christ’.   

One may sow, and one may reap, and each one is of equal importance.

And it is God only Who gives the increase - Who orchestrates everything about the field’s growth and produce.

That is the important part, not the part the workers play in the sowing and reaping process. 

Let me ask you: Can we see why Jesus, knowing this tendency of the natural man, would gently give these disciples the antidote to this defect of competitiveness in His Kingdom?

He did not want them to fall prey to this natural tendency while serving Him. 

They could not afford to have any false conceptions about their service in God’s Kingdom.

They could not miss this concept as Jesus revealed it to them in agricultural terms.

The spiritual defect of indulging in competitive nonsense has no place here!

It is the mind of Christ that orchestrates their working together in His fields, one field being as important as the other, the role of each being as important as the other.

And that would reap the harvest in victory and with rejoicing together!

Peter saw it for he opened his mouth one day later and said: ‘Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons!’ 

He saw how, in the course of growth in the Kingdom of God to maturity, the ‘growing in grace’ and the ‘growing in the knowledge of Christ’ works together so that ‘fruit unto eternal life’ comes forth.    

The ‘grace’ and the ‘knowledge of Christ’ changes carnality and self-exaltation into the humility of the mind of Christ.

Appropriating His grace makes it active grace that opens to a new and greater knowledge of Christ!

What changed these disciples in their attitudes?

They were looking directly into the face of Jesus, seeing His grace, as they learned this new way about Him and His program. 

It, no doubt, opened to them, at least partially, His meaning of ‘having meat to eat’ that they had not grasped earlier. 

As they grew in His grace, they would learn to love and work harmoniously with the Samaritans.

I ask you: Was this not a big step for these men, in the face of their intense hatred of the Samaritans?

A big inward change was taking place, a change that blew away their own minds and replaced it with the mind of Christ.

That was the power of Christ changing them! 

Now - let me bring this briefly to us today.

In the ministry of this fellowship, I thank the Lord for His great work in developing this concept among us so that the work of God is not fragmented.

We are all His servants.

We serve with the realization that it is a privilege to be a part of it.

We do not approach service in His kingdom by deciding ourselves that we should be ‘this’ or we should be ‘that’ in the work.

It is God Who decides those areas of work and He sends
into these areas as He pleases! 

Each one is to realize that ‘in the house of God’, it does not matter whether one is a sower or reaper in the form of a ‘doorkeeper’ or a musician or a singer or a teacher or a student or an intercessor, or whatever.

One plants, the other waters, and the main concern must always be that all is done to the glory of God ‘in the face and in the mind of Jesus Christ.’ 

In whatever area and wherever He places each one, it is there where God’s spiritual ‘sowing and reaping’ takes place for it is fully under His orchestration!

It is important that we just move on steadily, quietly, before the Lord Who will lead onward as He determines.

We just remain sowers and reapers and together there will be rejoicing in His eternal reward!  

Lord willing, we will continue on in this passage the next time.
 
In the meantime, ponder these things before the Lord - would you?

Let Him speak clearly to our hearts. 

And, as He does, may we give Him the freedom to change whatever needs changing so that His mind gains footing within.

May the Lord bless this week that lies ahead in this way!

Amen! 

Let us pray.