Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Sow and Reap - preached on January 3, 2010 (GGC)

SOW AND REAP

John 4:35 - 36

Introduction:

First and foremost, I would like to greet everyone a very Happy New Year. My wish for everyone this New Year is that you will prosper in every area of your life, but more importantly, I pray that your relationship with God will go to greater heights this year and for every New Year that comes your way.

I believe I have shared with you a few years back about an experience that I had in high school. Back in first year high school, we did vegetable gardening as part of our Practical Arts subject. Admittedly, I did not possess a green thumb and I barely passed this subject because I had a hard time making my vegetables grow. However, as I look back on that experience, I realized that gardening or farming for that matter is hard work. I remember that we spent the first few days just breaking up the soil. It was only after we had done this could we then sow the seeds. After sowing the seeds, we didn't just sit back and do nothing. We also had to visit the field everyday and water it as well as to remove unwanted weeds and we did this for a period of time, depending on what was planted. Planting was never easy but you could sense our excitement when we see the sprouts coming out and we become more excited when we see the plant grow taller or bigger everyday. Finally, the most exciting day for us was the day of harvest, when we would pick our produce and show it to our teacher for our grades. It was hard work but it was quite rewarding when you see your effort bearing fruit, be it pechay, corn or mongo.

Interestingly, the growth of God's kingdom is compared to farming. From today's passage, we see that the principles of sowing and reaping exist within the Kingdom of God. Of course, along with the sowing comes hard work or effort that needs to be poured in. These tasks – sowing and reaping – are not the exclusive domain of pastors, missionaries, church workers and leaders; these are responsibilities we are all called to participate in. Let us make that point clear. Even if you were to forget everything I will say after this, remember that the tasks of sowing and reaping – the task of sharing the gospel and helping bring people to faith in Christ – is the responsibility of every person here this morning.

All of us are called to be part of the work of the kingdom, of sowing the message of the gospel and reaping the harvest of souls. While reaping means we lead people to the make a decision or a commitment to faith in Jesus Christ, sowing means we prepare people to hear the Word and we plant the Word in their hearts. This morning, I would like for us to see how Jesus demonstrated the work of sowing to his disciples through our study of a familiar passage in the Gospel of John – the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman by the well at Sychar – and learn important principles when we sow God's Word.

Context:

In the interest of time, I have chosen for us not to read the entire passage during our Scripture reading, however, our message does revolve virtually the whole of chapter four.

At the start of Chapter four, we find Jesus was gaining a significant following and his disciples were baptizing them. This aroused the attention of the Pharisees who felt threatened by the ministry of Jesus. According to a Bible commentator, the Pharisees tolerated John the Baptist but Jesus was definitely viewed as a threat to the religious institution of his time, and, with what had happened earlier (in chapter 2) when he cleansed the temple, the Pharisees were definitely alarmed and disturbed by the ministry of Jesus.

Knowing the negative sentiment of the Pharisees, Jesus left Judea and went back to Galilee. Was Jesus afraid for his life? I don't think so, but Jesus probably did not want to have any premature confrontations with the Pharisees. Furthermore, Jesus knew that he had an important mission that he had to fulfill, which necessitated his leaving Judea and travel to Samaria. This leads us to our first principle about sowing the Word.

I. Don't Just Stand There, Get Going!

I would like for us to pay attention to the word “go”. In our passage this morning, we find that Jesus “had to go” to Samaria. He felt compelled to go and reach out to someone in Samaria, in particular, in the town of Sychar. Jesus did not wait for this woman to come to him in either Judea or in Galilee. He went out to her because he knew this woman would never step foot in his town or in his country.

The same is true for us. If we are expecting a non-believer to step inside a church and listen to the gospel, we are deluding ourselves. This is an extremely rare occurrence, like when a person is so desperate he is beginning to seek for God. Other than that, a person under normal circumstances would never step inside a church unless invited by you. Thus, it is necessary that each believer shouldn't just sit down and wait for someone to be saved but that he should go out and look for the lost.

Who are the lost? They are the people who don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They can be your friends, your family, your classmates, your business clients and customers. The lost can be anyone whom you encounter regularly in the course of doing business or studying or working. They all need the gospel and the best person who can reach them is none other than you because you have contact with them. As I have said, don't expect them to just come to church and hear the gospel and be saved without human participation. That is why, you need to go to them, you need to be among them. While the Bible does command us not to love the world or to be of the world, it does however say that we are in the world and that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

What is unfortunate for many Christians is that, once they become saved, they tend to gain a lot of Christian friends to the point that they have lesser contact with non-Christians. Another unfortunate thing is that some Christians feel inadequate about sharing the gospel and they expect the paid professionals – the ministers, the pastors, the church workers – to do the work. You need to understand this: You have been placed in your office, your school, your business establishment in order to be a witness for the Lord through your words and deeds. The “paid professionals” cannot do what God wants for you to do.

So, I want to encourage you as you are in your respective spheres of influence, don't isolate yourselves but interact with people, befriend them without compromising your faith and conviction. In so doing, you will eventually be able to win a hearing for the gospel.

II. Cross the Cultural Barrier

The second principle is a sensitive one, especially for us who are Chinese-Filipinos. I am talking about crossing the cultural barrier. Now, I am not necessarily saying you should become a cross-cultural missionary unless God did call you to be one, but I am saying that we all need to remove our blinders and see that everyone needs the gospel, regardless of color or race.

When Jesus went into Samaria, he was crossing a cultural barrier. You see, the Samaritans were nothing like the Jews. In fact, they were hated by the Jews because their ancestors had betrayed their heritage as Israelites when they intermarried with the pagans or gentiles. Thus, the Jews wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans; Jesus, however, knew that the Samaritans also needed the good news and thus, he willingly entered into Samaria in order to proclaim the gospel to the Samaritans.

While we may not be called by God to enter into a different country and to immerse in her culture, we do live in a multi-cultural society. We come in contact with people from different races in our offices and in our schools. We should not shy away from befriending them and letting them hear the gospel because they also need the Lord. The gospel is not just for the Chinese-Filipinos or for the Chinese race, it is for everyone. Regardless of who we come in contact with, we must be willing to cross the cultural barrier and bring the gospel to them. Jesus did just that when he entered Samaria in order to reach out to a Samaritan woman by the well. We can do the same without having to cross over to another country.

III. Engage With the Lost

Jesus did not only go to meet a lost person nor did he just cross a cultural divide, but he also engaged with the Samaritan woman in conversation that led to spiritual things and eventually, to the revelation of himself as the Messiah. Just being there, just showing up isn't enough. We have made a huge case for living out the Christian life by our honesty and integrity, by our excellence and diligence, and these are important in maintaining a good testimony; however, if we're not going to engage the people around us in conversation, then we cannot build a relationship with them and we will not be able to share the gospel to them when the right opportunity comes along. Jesus could have just sit there by the well, smiled at the Samaritan woman, acknowledged her presence, and even help her draw water; this would have made the woman appreciate him but she would still be lost because she didn't get to hear the life-changing message of the gospel. I think we're often guilty of that. We behave very well in school or in the office. We're model employees, employers or students but we are poor witnesses of Christ, simply because we do not engage people in conversation.

Now, when I am talking about conversation, I am not saying that we always have to be talking about the gospel because that would make us obnoxious to a lot of people and they'll think that our only motive for talking to them is because we want to talk about becoming a Christian. We don't need to pound the gospel on people's heads all the time. Sometimes, we can talk about how God helps us when we have problems at work or in school, or we can talk about what God means to us. We can even offer to pray for people who have needs – they will be more than happy to hear that we're praying for them. These will get people interested in the Lord Jesus whom we worship and follow. At times, even if we're not talking about religious things but when we're talking about sports or common interests and hobbies, these can serve as a bridge to strengthen our relationship with people and, hopefully, make them open to hear the gospel.

Conversation builds friendship and friendship makes it easier for us to convey the gospel message when the right time comes, when the person seems ripe for the gospel. Without friendship, it would be hard, although not impossible, to tell a stranger or a mere acquaintance about the gospel. So, don't be shy to engage with people in good conversation. Who knows? Those conversations may one day lead you to sharing the gospel to others.

IV. Love, Don't Judge

Finally, when we engage people in conversation and when we share the gospel, be sure to do it in a manner that is not judgmental. When Jesus was in conversation with the Samaritan woman, he knew that she was living in with someone who wasn't her husband, that she had already been in five marriages and all of them ended in divorce, yet how did Jesus react to this truth? He never condemned the woman, although he did let her know that he knew the details. He never pressed on the issue any further after that, but rather, he showed love and acceptance to this woman who desperately needed it in her life.

When we meet someone like that, do we shudder at the thought that here is a terrible sinner and we should shun her, or do we see a terrible sinner who needs our love and compassion, someone who needs to hear that we care for them and God cares for them?

So often, Christians are guilty of being judgmental, of being “holier than thou” and we often unleash this on the sinner and make them feel worse or defensive or both. We make them feel as if their sin is the worst of all but we fail to see that we are just as sinful as they are. We're all aware of the statement, “hate the sin, love the sinner”, but unfortunately, we have not distinguished the two and we end up hating both sin and sinner.

Last November, the leaders of the church had a seminar on disciple making and the question was asked as to what was the impression of the typical American regarding a Christian and there were three impressions mentioned – Christians are hypocrites, judgmental and hates homosexuals. Sadly, I believe this is true for American Christians and even for Christians here in the Philippines. We say one thing and behave in another way; we judge people as if we're always right and others are always wrong; and we hate homosexuals. But then its not only the homosexuals that we dislike, but we dislike anyone whom we classify as a “sinner”.

I will never forget an incident that happened to me sometime late 2008. I was going to meet with my wife for dinner with someone and I had to take the LRT (light rail transit) from Sta. Mesa to Recto terminal. From Recto terminal, I decided to walk all the way to my wife's office since I felt the distance was way too short for me to spend seven pesos for a jeepney ride. The short cut was to walk along Rizal Avenue (aka Avenida) and enter into Gonzalo Puyat St. (aka Raon). As I walked along Rizal Avenue, I suddenly felt a hand holding my arm. I then saw a woman looking at me and muttering some words that I couldn't decipher. Immediately I reacted by pulling my hands away and I made a sound that startled people usually make and I walked away as quickly as possible. As this was happening, I made the assumption that this woman was a street prostitute and she was probably asking if I wanted to be with her. When I pulled my hands away from her, I reacted as if I had been touched by somewhat who had leprosy. As I looked back on that incident, I felt that maybe I shouldn't have reacted so negatively towards her because in so doing, I had judged her and had given her the guilty verdict.

What ever happened to the impression that Christians are loving and gracious? I think we need to recover these two impressions and we can do this in how we treat the people we meet and engage with. We must not judge them or make them feel worse for their sins – that's the Holy Spirit's work. Our job is to tell them God's love as well as the need for repentance but not to make them feel guilty or that what they're practicing is the worse of all sins. Remember, in God's sight, sin is sin. Whether a person cheats in school or he is a homosexual, both fall under God's judgment, thus we are in no position to judge a homosexual, an adulterer, or a murderer, because what we've committed against God would merit the same punishment.

Jesus never judged the woman but showed grace to her and this led her to eventually become a believer in Jesus as well as a leader in bringing others to Jesus. It was because she felt accepted and love that she wanted others to have the same thing, too.

Conclusion:

This morning, we've learned four important principles when sowing the Word of God. First of all, we cannot wait for people to come to church to hear the gospel, instead we must go to them. Second, we must be willing to cross the barrier of culture. We cannot stay only with people who are like us but we must reach out even to those who are different from us because they also need the gospel. Third, we must engage the lost with meaningful conversation that would pave the way for our presenting the gospel in its proper time. Finally, we must be loving and not judgmental towards people who have sinned heavily. Only God can judge them; our role is to let them know who God is, that God loves them and desires for them to be made right with him.

Before I close, I would like to make a challenge to you all. Our theme for this year is, “A Willing Church for A Waiting World”. Brothers and sisters, the church is not a building but it is you and I, men and women who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ who make up the church. Our calling as the church is to go into the world and proclaim Jesus. We also have for our goal an attendance in our worship service of 600 people. This cannot be accomplished unless each of you will do your part in sowing the seeds and reaping the harvest. Will you take part in sowing the seeds of the gospel? You are all needed for this task. I hope you will all be up to the challenge of sowing the Word of God and reaping the harvest.