Jesus the Missionary and the Harvest Fields

The Fields Are White For the Harvest
Jesus the Missionary and the Harvest Fields
John 3:22-4:44

Introduction:
Today I am beginning a new series from John 3:22 to the end of 4:44 which I have titled: “The Fields are White For the Harvest”. This section gives us an opportunity to look at Jesus as a model missionary.

In this passage of scripture, Jesus not only traverses geographic boundaries, but he also crosses racial, cultural and social boundaries. Jesus is truly a Lord and Saviour for all peoples.

Look at how he goes from a private meeting with Nichodemus, a Pharisee who occupied one of the highest positions on the Jewish social ladder, to the unnamed Samaritan woman, who was lower then the lowest person on the Jewish social ladder (first- she was a Samaritan and second, she was a Samaritan of ill repute even among the Samaritans).

Jesus was both an indigenous missionary and a cross-cultural missionary. In fact, Jesus is the ultimate example of cross-cultural missions because he left the culture of the angels and entered the culture of men; he gave up the riches of heaven to become a humble servant and his willingness to associate with the lowest of the low.

Spurgeon once said, “If God calls you to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king.” Don’t stoop to be great in this world’s eyes- He’s called you to something greater.

There is nothing worse then a missionary who lives beyond the means of the local people. And this happens quite a lot.

Missionary means servant- Jesus said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve.” He also said if anyone was to be great in the Kingdom, He should serve the least in the Kingdom.” We need the attitude of Hudson Taylor who said, “If I had 1,000 lives, I'd give them all for China.”

Read 3:22 to 4:4

So the disciples of John came to him and protest that Jesus, the young unknown about whom John even testified, was beginning to make more disciples then John. Look they said, “his church is growing and ours is shrinking.”

They fell into the trap that many church workers and pastors and missionaries fall into of comparing their success to the success of others. They were more concerned about their kingdom then they were about the Kingdom of God. Obviously they heard John’s testimony about Jesus, but their ambition to have the biggest ministry in the kingdom was clouding their ability to see the Kingdom.

The disciples weren’t much better; in fact, they took their ambition a step further: Once when they found a man casting out demons and healing in Jesus name, they actually forbade him.
Jesus must have been disappointed to say the least. He answered his disciples saying, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is on our side.”

If another church or missionary or denomination is having more success then us, praise God- even if they’re not Baptist- if they are not against us, then they are with us.

I. That Joy is mine
I like how John reacted to this appeal to his vanity. Look at v. 29:
He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom (that’s John)… [he] rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice [because of his success]. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.

Francis Xavier, the missionary to the Philippines once wrote to his professors in Europe and said, “Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ.” Imagine if some missionary sent us a letter and said that? “Give up your ambitions, forget your mortgages and your careers and come to India… come to the Philippines… come to North Korea…. Come to Africa.

Of course we are not all called to the mission field. Someone has to stay behind and bankroll them- they must increase and we must decrease is our motivation for giving to missions.

Isn’t John a model of Christian maturity? Shouldn’t our attitude in the church be like his: “if that blesses you brother, then it blesses me?” Rather then, “if I don’t get what I want then I’m going to upset everyone.”

When we see another member of our church advancing in his or her career, or growing a successful ministry in the church, or hosting the bigger Bible Study, or having the more handsome or beautiful spouse, or maybe their children are getting the better grades- shouldn’t our attitude be like that of John the Baptist who rejoiced at the success of his younger cousin rather then bemoaned his own dwindling ministry and impending imprisonment?

Oh that we could say of our brother or sister “they must become greater; I must become less.” If we can say that of our brother, how much easier it will be for us to say, “Christ must increase and I must decrease!” How can a man say he loves God if he does not love His brother and seek the best for his fellow believer?

John says that his joy is complete in his diminishing status. Complete does not mean that his joy is full- it means that his Joy is perfected. Imagine perfect Joy. That appeals to us; to our “here we are, entertain us” attitude, doesn’t it? But the paradox is that the joy comes from emptying ourselves, not filling ourselves.

But how can Joy become perfect in the affliction and suffering to which the Gospel calls us? After all, Jesus said, “if anyone would follow him, they must take up their crosses” indicating the shame and suffering that must accompany discipleship.

How can shame and suffering in mission perfect our Joy? For one thing, it causes us to release our grip on this world, the thing which causes us so much grief. For another thing, it brings us into fellowship with the Son who suffered on our account.

Suffering for the gospel and perfecting our joy involves decreasing- becoming a living sacrifice. Paul wrote, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

Perfecting our joy means becoming a living sacrifice- decreasing so that God can increase. That’s what missionaries do best.

II. Motive to Go
When Jesus was aware of the mounting treachery of the Pharisees he left and went to Galilee passing through Samaria (4:1). Yes, Jesus’ suffering was ordained, but this was not the time that the Father had chosen for Jesus to suffer (The father loves the son and has placed everything in his hands- especially suffering)

Instead, God had in mind for His Son, an encounter with a Samaritan woman. An encounter which he had planned before the foundations of the world. “What kind of Jewish Messiah goes to Samaritans?” the Pharisees would ask.

A couple of years ago some children were playing in a mine field in Bosnia when they set off one of the mines. All three of them died.
But not right away… the people heard the little girl calling for help for hours before she succumbed to her injuries, but no one would go help.

Would you go? Would I go? Robert Moffat, that great Presbyterian missionary to Korea in the early 1900’s wrote of Korea saying, “In the vast plain to the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been.” He heard their cries.

Sometimes God will call you to His mission, sometimes He will push you into the mission and sometimes He will drag you kicking and screaming into his mission and when you finally submit to it, you will experience joy no matter what the affliction and hardship- even if you are martyred.

Notice that Jesus could have stayed with his successful ministry in the Judean suburbs and planted a mega church and had all the comforts of life. I mean, the Pharisees were only a threat in as much as Jesus allowed them to be. After all, Jesus is God- no one can oppose him.

C.T. Studd, the English missionary to China, India and Africa whose motto was, “If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” Studd once wrote, “Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.”

So Jesus missionary approach here is to speak to the Samaritan women and makes himself vulnerable to her. Someone once advised that there are two ways to earn someone’s trust, help them, or ask them to help you. Jesus chose the latter.

This is a very intentional missionary strategy of Jesus. The worst thing a missionary can do is to not make himself vulnerable, even a burden to some degree, to the host culture.

I know of one Missionary to Canada from Korea, Israel Cho, who applied this principle when he arrived in Canada. Israel did not speak much English, so when he arrived here, he felt God calling him to minister to homeless people. What do you think he did? He got the street people to teach him English.

Israel so endeared himself to those people that many of them helped him to set up his inner city mission, they donated their few possessions and their time and talent and many of them became Christians.

Here’s the amazing thing about Jesus’ mission to the Samaritans, he really did very little, but it was his first convert, the Samaritan women, whose testimony resulted in a probably one of the largest revivals the Samaritans have ever seen. Read 4:35-44

Jesus left one mega-church in Judea and before lunch he was already establishing another one.

His disciples missed it. They were off taking care of their bellies and when they returned they couldn’t understand what Jesus was doing. God is going to accomplish the Great Commission with, or without us. Don’t you prefer to be there rather then to miss out on the wonderful opportunity to tell people the good news?

Conclusion:
Jesus food is to do the will of the Father and to accomplish His work. What’s your food?

Is your food doing God’s will and accomplishing His work? How about it? Do you want to experience joy like you’ve never felt it? Do you want to go willingly or be dragged kicking and screaming? Is God calling you?

Listen to What John Piper says about Missions calling:

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful
worshippers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He
has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations.
Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of
His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global
purpose."

All of this is with an aim to the Harvest; the fields are white for harvest. The next couple of weeks I want to camp out here in the Judean countryside and on the hills of Samaria to unpack more of what God has to say to us regarding the Harvest.