[0:00] Father, give us fresh eyes to see your text today. Give us hearts to receive your word.
[0:12] Help me to think clearly through this text as I walk us through understanding what John is trying to tell us today.
[0:23] Just as he was trying to tell the original audience of this passage. Father, equip this church for missional labor today.
[0:36] Impress upon us deep convictions for the lost. And we pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Amen. Last week we observed a meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar.
[0:55] That's part one of the message. And we learned that Jesus and the woman were able to have this private conversation because the disciples went into the city to get food.
[1:07] They were hungry. It was noontime. And today the narrative continues as the passage tells us that after Jesus revealed his messianic identity to the Samaritan woman, the disciples returned and found Jesus talking with her.
[1:27] Now, this was in fact a marveling situation unfolding in front of their eyes as many rabbis had low esteem for women in this culture, in this day and age, especially in the first century.
[1:41] Even wives of other rabbis were considered, if you are another rabbi, you would think that it's a waste of time to speak to the wife of the other rabbi.
[1:52] You would speak directly to the rabbi. Women were sort of pushed to the side. And some even thought it was wrong to teach the woman the Torah or the law of God.
[2:03] Yet Jesus is unlike any other rabbi in this passage, isn't he? He believed that this woman had the right to learn Scripture.
[2:16] He believed that she had a right to engage in a theological conversation just as men do. And as you can imagine, this changed this woman.
[2:30] We talked last week of that pulsing heart as you feel the conviction and the light of the gospel coming to light in your own life. And immediately after he says, I am he, basically saying I am in that passage last week, it changed her.
[2:51] It changed her so much we see that she leaves that well completely transformed inside and out, leaving all of her belongings behind. And she now has bold confidence to go into the city where she as a woman is outcasted in Samaria.
[3:11] She has the boldness and the confidence. It changed her from the inside out. It wasn't anything that she could bring to the table. It was all equipped to her and given to her by Jesus alone.
[3:22] A new status with only one goal in mind. A testimony to all of Samaria. Come and see. Quite an interaction last week.
[3:36] And so that's the context that we're entering into. The disciples were gone. It was just Jesus and this private conversation with the Samaritan woman. And I'm going to break the passage today up into probably like four different sections.
[3:48] And I'm going to expound thoroughly on three of them. In the first section, I want to see the difference in dispositions. Okay? And that's in verse 27 through 30.
[4:01] The difference in dispositions. In verse 27, we see the disciples' disposition. Just then, Jesus and the woman were in this private conversation.
[4:15] Just then, after he revealed his identity, they marveled that he was talking with a woman. But no one said, what do you seek?
[4:27] Or why are you talking with her? And look at the woman's disposition in this passage. In verse 28. So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, Come see a man who told me all that I ever did.
[4:45] Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to him. You see a sort of difference in dispositions, don't you?
[4:56] Between the woman. The woman was basically on mission. She was like a wild banshee going back into the city. The disciples didn't care what she was doing there.
[5:09] They didn't care about what Jesus' motives were. But they marveled. What was the source of their marveling in here? They had disregard for the woman's presence. And they had disregard for Jesus' motives.
[5:22] Truly, they were blind. Even in the midst of their marveling of this cross-cultural interaction. They were probably thinking something along the lines like, Man, Jesus really needs some water. He's talking to a woman.
[5:34] Not to mention a Samaritan woman. Does he know that she's from Samaria? Jesus, you need a drink of water, brother. It's getting a little scary here.
[5:44] What are you doing? And they marveled at that. Which brings, within two verses, it brings something vital of importance to us today.
[5:55] Because when we disregard those that the gospel calls us to, we in turn equally disregard Jesus Christ. Our faith sort of reveals as phony.
[6:10] And we become a fraud to our own embarrassment at the cost of our discipleship. There's a difference between having a regard for the lost. Like, yeah, we need to evangelize the lost.
[6:23] Versus having a genuine interest in the lost. The mission of the gospel is united with a genuine interest in other people.
[6:33] That is gospel interest. That is at the center of the mission of the gospel. And the disciples were missing it. Are you curious as to what people are seeking when you go and speak with them?
[6:46] Are you curious to why others in the church might be so passionate about hitting the streets and proclaiming the message of the gospel? As we wrap our heads around the command of the church, which is to go.
[7:00] It's not to stay. It ought to bring to us a curiosity for the lost. To figure out who they are. What makes them who they are.
[7:11] A genuine interest in their lives. How disgusting it would be to go. With only in mind that these people are our mission project. It kind of reminds me of those movies back in the 90s of where they kind of like dress up somebody and there's a dare involved.
[7:28] Like, I dare you to date this person. So they redo this person so they're dateable. And then upon revealing that this person was all the time a bet in the first place.
[7:40] That they really had no care for them. It basically created this big tension. You know, obviously, all these movies, they have a happy ending. You know, they came together at the end. But when we realize that the people outside of our walls are mission project.
[7:57] How disgusting that could be. When we show no genuine interest in them. And just recently I was speaking with a brother. He was an African-American friend. Now, he was waiting for a bus to come back from his girlfriend and two kids getting off.
[8:13] And I think I was doing something in the church and saw him out there. So just out of curiosity, I went out and started talking with him. And this was like the day after the riots sort of happening and started happening nationwide.
[8:25] So I didn't know if I was going to get pounded. I didn't know if I was going to enter into a really tense conversation. All I knew is that this guy is just standing on the corner. And it's an opportunity.
[8:37] And, you know, the conversation went really well. He claimed to have some spiritual gifts that I had genuine interest in. He claimed that he had a third eye. And things like that of, you know, mysticism.
[8:51] And sort of new world ageism. And things like that. But, you know, that's fine. And I'm going to tell you what maybe you're misinterpreting as your third eye and things like that.
[9:01] It came from genuine interest. And he felt that the more I engaged in a conversation with this brother out on the corner. You know, many have preached this message in ways that draw upon the importance of taking a rest.
[9:16] Or taking a time in ministry to eat. And taking care of yourself. Yeah, the disciples weren't doing anything wrong. They were just taking care of their practical needs. Well, okay. Using the illustration, maybe you've heard messages preached in ways where you have that deadly flight.
[9:32] Right? And the only way that you can help the other person next to you is if you put the mask on first. And then once you've taken care of yourself, you help others. Yeah, you can sort of see that.
[9:43] But there's different passages in Scripture that actually teach that. You can't leverage that much in the text. Because in context, it is actually a time when those who are on mission for Christ are selfishly taking a lunch break.
[9:59] The mission of God has entered into Samaria. It has broken cultural lines. And these disciples are over at Cracker Barrel. In so doing, they compromise the mission of the gospel.
[10:14] It's sort of like reading this passage. It's like the championship football game. It's the fourth quarter. It's fourth down. The ball is on like the half-yard line.
[10:25] And all you've got to do is go there and the whole team just walks to the locker room and takes a break.
[10:36] Just abandoning the mission. They were so close. Right? Look at the difference in this passage between the disciples and the woman. Look in the text.
[10:47] The disciples come back essentially with an armful of food. But no interest for the woman or Jesus' motives.
[10:57] I'm talking with her. The woman leaves completely opposite. They come back with arms full of food. This big thing. The woman leaves her jar.
[11:08] The woman leaves everything behind. And pursued the mission of Christ regardless of her thirst. Because nowhere in this passage said that she took a drink from that well. She was thirsty.
[11:21] But her flesh. She had no concern for her flesh. Once she grasped the mission of the gospel. Might we two share in the same failures of the disciples at times?
[11:36] We are the ones who bear the hope of the gospel. The light. A beacon shining over a dark ocean.
[11:47] Pointing people to true, absolute hope. And how often we are out to lunch. Concerned about ourselves rather than the mission of the gospel.
[11:59] Which is exhausting at times. It is. Might we be too often used to making hunger an excuse to get out of our mission in some way or another.
[12:13] Maybe feeling unqualified for the task of speaking. Maybe we don't know enough. Maybe we're new Christians. Maybe we're uncultured. I don't know this other culture.
[12:24] You expect me to evangelize a Mexican culture. I know nothing about their culture. Maybe we're little Nemo swimming in lost in deep waters.
[12:35] As we feel sometimes. That we use an excuse to trade in the mission of the gospel. I think everybody knows here that I love them.
[12:46] And care deeply for them. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you. But I want to say this in love. Whether you are resting when you ought to be sowing seeds. Or maybe you're withdrawing from your duty as a Christian to evangelize the lost in these conversations.
[13:06] Both are forms of disobedience and you have to repent of that. You have to change your mindset. Complete 180 from that. Remember a disregard for evangelizing the lost is a disregard for Jesus Christ.
[13:22] We saw that within verse 27 and 28. And the mission that he's given to us. Regardless of our excuses. The lost are not to be seen as your mission project.
[13:33] But rather we should see the lost souls. And have a genuine interest in them. In their lives. Jesus perfectly models through this conversation.
[13:45] A simple conversation. This actual Samaritan woman passage is used often as an evangelistic sort of exposition. Of how to go through getting to the heart of people.
[13:58] By preaching to the conscience. And just entering into a simple conversation. Of asking questions and listening. Which is hard for us today.
[14:09] Sometimes we listen only to respond with an answer to get to the heart. And we try to pull them in these directions. But listening with an intention of actual interest in the conversation.
[14:21] If it goes into deep waters. It's up to the Lord to decide. God will accomplish his mission through you. Not because of anything that you have to offer or bring to the table.
[14:33] Can you trust him in taking steps of faith as a church? If we struggle like the disciples do. Making excuses of why we shouldn't go out together as a church.
[14:44] And trust him to accomplish great things through our lives. Now, as I was studying this, I'm like, I know what they're probably going to be thinking. They're probably going to be thinking, Brent, rest is actually a biblical command.
[14:56] You know, and just, you know, sever my head and throw me out to the wolves. Yes, it is a biblical command. And there's other passages that talk about that.
[15:09] But this passage, Jesus makes abundantly clear something is wrong with what the disciples were doing. In verses 31 through 39, they are too focused upon themselves.
[15:22] They're missing the unseen elements of the mission field. The unseen element of the food that brings sustenance to Jesus. The unseen harvest that they can't believe that anything would be good to come out of Samaria.
[15:38] And they're also not seeing the previous sower's efforts in Samaria. The disciples were convinced that they were being obedient to their calling by resting.
[15:52] But they were corrected in their disobedience to the mission of God. Let's look in section two as we continue here. As we see gospel investments in return. In verse 31 and 38.
[16:05] And yeah, gospel investments in return. Keep your wallets in your pockets. It's not that type of message today. Verse 31 continues. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him.
[16:17] Saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat?
[16:29] Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me. And to accomplish his work. Do you not say there are yet four months? Do you not say there are yet four months?
[16:41] Then comes the harvest. Look, I tell you. Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Isn't that interesting?
[16:54] Nowhere in this passage does it state that Jesus accepted anything the disciples brought to him. Truly they were laboring for themselves. And shame on them. We see unseen sustenance in verse 34.
[17:11] Jesus reveals the hidden sustenance of the mission of God, which clearly is dedication to God's will. That fulfilled him more than any hunger, more than any thirst. It superseded any physical ailment.
[17:23] It superseded any sort of comfortability that he could ever experience. This is regardless of physical fatigue and the labor involved or any tiredness.
[17:35] Jesus was an opportunist to draw spiritual realities from the physical needs. For the woman, it was living water. Drawing that physical reality or spiritual reality out of that physical need.
[17:47] And for the disciples, it was sustenance. This kind of echoes Deuteronomy 8, where we know that man cannot live by bread alone. Actually, Jesus quoted this when he was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days.
[18:00] To the devil who was tempting him. So there's an unseen sustenance the disciples can't see. They're focused on their physical needs and their food and their rest and cracker barrel.
[18:11] And just coming back and having this feast. They're not seeing sustenance. And in verse 35, we see that they don't even see the harvest as well.
[18:22] Using an illustration of the season of laboring leading up to a time of harvest that a farmer experiences. Jesus makes it clear that the disciples obeyed not only their flesh by resting when they ought to be sowing.
[18:39] But they were failing to see that this mission field, Samaria, was indeed ripe for harvest. Man, how could this filthy?
[18:52] A little city called Samaria. People who haven't upheld the Jewish laws. That disregarded any of the cleanliness. Rituals. That made their own Jerusalem temple.
[19:07] Gerizim. That are sort of outcast. The lowest of lows. How could this filthy religious land, disobedient people, have anything close to be ready to receive the gospel?
[19:21] Where from our eyes, they're the furthest thing from it. Church, it's often unknown what God is doing within the hearts of people. All in the world. Especially the world of which Jesus loves.
[19:35] For God so loved the world. When we maybe see the outward appearances or the little time that we've spent evangelizing.
[19:47] I mean, you could imagine the disciples' thoughts like this. They don't even know who I am. They've got to get time to know me and things like that. We need some more time to evangelize these people and proclaim the gospel.
[19:59] We often also get discouraged and overwhelmed. To maybe even quit at times. Just stay home and, you know, whatever. Brent's in your Bible and making me go out and go into the unknown.
[20:15] In Samaria, God was obviously stirring the hearts of these people. Regardless of their outward condition or their outward status. And the harvest wasn't only coming.
[20:26] It was ripe. It was white for harvest. We know little to nothing about maybe who is to be attributed to that harvest.
[20:39] But what we do know is that God has been preparing Samaria for this exact moment. Which maybe, remember last week, Jesus had to go into Samaria in verse 4 we read.
[20:52] Maybe this is why he had to breach cultural divides. Because there was a harvest that was white. So not only did the mission of the gospel looking at last week lead to Jesus breaking through, breaching cultural, social, economic, sinful, and social status boundaries.
[21:15] It doesn't matter what you know or don't know. The gospel is for all people. But we know that the mission of the gospel led Jesus to an unseen harvest. A people group who are seen as the lowest of low.
[21:28] What man sees as a deficiency, the Lord sees as opportunity. He sees the heart of man. And guess what? He can serve the heart of man regardless of man's deficiencies.
[21:43] And harvest time is a crucial time to capitalize upon. If you're a farmer, I don't know if we have any farmers. We have one farmer, I guess. Newly, you know, farmer from the south.
[21:55] That's a special type of farming down there. But there's a certain season where you capitalize upon the harvest. It's crucial.
[22:06] The farmer knows when his fields are perfect. That day where it's not yet ready. That he can see clearly that it's not ready yet. And then, likewise, thinking about that illustration in God's eyes.
[22:23] That he sees your heart. He sees your heart. He sees your heart. He sees the heart of that African-American gentleman outside on the corner. He sees the heart of all that we can't see.
[22:37] And he's saying, they are ripe for harvest. He sees the heart of the world of which he so dearly loves.
[22:50] And as it is clear that the harvest is often unseen, the mission of the gospel is an internal affair of the heart. We see that not every time we are on gospel mission that we're starting from scratch.
[23:02] We can't imagine that it's all contingent upon us how narrow-minded we can be. We don't know what other conversations these people have had throughout the week. What the Lord's been speaking to them individually through the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
[23:18] There's often a lot of hard work that takes place beforehand. For the disciples, they were missing it. They were looking at what was seen. Samaria. It's a terrible culture.
[23:29] Here? Really, Lord? Look at what he says in verse 36 to the disciples as he continues. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life.
[23:41] So that the sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true. One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that which you did not labor.
[23:52] Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. Church. There is a cooperative model in the gospel. The mission of the gospel.
[24:04] Our mission here at this church that we are a part of. All are called to evangelize the lost and to proclaim to the lost hope. And some may not have the luxury of experiencing that great harvest.
[24:18] Yeah. And what this passage should indicate to us is that not all are called to experience that great harvest. So we can understand that when we're laboring for the Lord, we are not laboring for a return.
[24:34] We're not laboring because this book said if I do this, then this is going to happen. As if God is working within the confines of this little ten-step book of how to effectively evangelize the lost.
[24:49] Don't be foolish. We are not laboring for a return. But our laboring is an outward expression of our devotion and our obedience to God.
[25:03] It doesn't matter about the returns. It doesn't matter what this book says about this ten-step book. The mission of the gospel is vast in scope. Remember, we spoke on that. And great in complexity.
[25:15] And there's a lot more involved than just our mere conversation with individuals. So for those who partake in the mission are laboring not for the reaping, but laboring out of devotion, out of obedience to the word of God, as the God calls us through his word.
[25:33] Laboring only for devotion and obedience. The most vital component of the gospel mission is not only devotion, as we see in verse 27 through 30, but obedience to it.
[25:46] Verse 31 and 38. Church, the gospel mission is not a return on investment system. God has created for us a system of solely investment.
[25:59] And if he allows you to experience that return, praise the Lord, right? The church is the primary means through which Jesus plants the seeds of the gospel.
[26:12] He literally gives the church the bag of seed and says to go. Right? We observe this in Matthew 28, in the Great Commission, where he says to his disciples, Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
[26:35] And behold, I am with you always to the ends of the age. It's the means of preaching and teaching the word to others, the gospel message, sowing and reaping, as people are called to repent and believe, to him alone for salvation.
[26:53] If the Lord wills for us to experience his great harvest, his great revival from our laboring, praise God. Yeah. If the Lord wills for us to labor and toil, strenuously, exhaustingly, where we're like, man, I gotta rest here, all for the harvest of another, praise God.
[27:19] When's the last time we ever prayed for another church, that revival would happen in other churches? This is a cooperative gospel mission.
[27:29] Our devotion is to the Lord. Our obedience is to the Lord. And the greatest reality is that the harvest is his and determined by him alone. Yeah, I want to see a harvest.
[27:41] But man, that's not contingent upon anything that I do from this pulpit or outside of these walls. And it shouldn't be for you either. Matthew Henry commented on this, saying, both they who sowed and they that reaped shall rejoice together, and the great Lord of the harvest shall have the glory of it all.
[28:01] So after a mild correction to his disciples here, John sort of pans a camera back to the Samaritan woman of what she's up to at this time, heralding this testimony of come and see.
[28:16] And we see in section three, the harvest begins in Samaria. The harvest begins in Samaria. Verse 39 continues in this passage.
[28:27] Look with me and read for yourself to verse 42. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.
[28:39] And this was her testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there for two days.
[28:52] And many more believed because of his word. He said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.
[29:07] The harvest of these Samaritans was so ripe, and they were ready for this encounter with Jesus. They didn't need any signs and wonders like the Jewish community and the Jewish culture needed to verify who he was.
[29:30] These Samaritans just needed to talk to him. They simply needed the words of Jesus, of what he told the Samaritan, but also believing because of his word.
[29:47] In verse 39, the woman's testimony of her experience with Jesus Christ sort of became secondary in this narrative. Yeah, it's good in all, but we have heard for ourselves, and we believe that this is the Savior of the world.
[30:05] The Samaritans were directed not on the woman's testimony. However, her testimony was pointing to the source of salvation.
[30:17] How often we kind of get that backwards and sort of rest upon our testimonies of what God has done in our lives, thinking other people are going to be saved. No, you are saved through the word of the Lord. Salvation only comes through the word of Christ, but rather the one who the testimony revolves upon.
[30:37] Likewise, let our sowing equally be an effort which points not to ourselves, not our own worthiness, not our own intellect, not our own charm, but rather Jesus Christ through word and deed.
[30:52] Consider in this passage the difference between the words and the deeds of the disciples in contrast with the Samaritan woman. Think about the words and the deeds here. Lay them out on the table and look at them.
[31:03] The contrast. The disciples' deeds were selfish. They were self-focused. They left the harvest for an opportune time to satisfy their flesh.
[31:16] In contrast with the Samaritan woman's selfless deeds. She left satisfying her flesh for the harvest. Complete opposite.
[31:28] And the disciples, out of their self-interest and their deeds, they went into the city to satisfy themselves. In verse 8, and we see the Samaritan woman was selfless in her deeds.
[31:41] She went into the town not for her own satisfaction, but for the satisfaction of others. And look at their words here. The disciples' selfish words. They had blatant disregard for the lost and Jesus Christ.
[31:55] They didn't care why that woman was sitting there. They didn't care why Jesus was sitting. But they marveled. The object of their words was only concerned about fleshly things.
[32:07] Things that are seen. And the Samaritan's words were selfless words. She had a disregard for her flesh and pointed to Jesus Christ. She could have went back in to Samaria and took all the glory.
[32:20] All the fame. Look at me. But all she did was point people in the right direction by her testimony. The source of Jesus Christ. His words.
[32:32] Not me, but him. It resounds that message in that last song that we sing. Not yet I. Yet not I, but Christ and me. How is it that those who are closest to Jesus fail to see the purpose of being commissioned by God?
[32:48] How is it that the church vainly thinks that it's sometimes all about us? Or return upon some sort of our investment?
[33:00] Those closest to Jesus were truly blind. And we're actually going to see this in Galilee as the narrative continues in the next part of this series. But might we be blind at times as well?
[33:12] God save us from our disobedience. And as we get to the last section, it sort of sets up a new scene in verse 43 through 46 in the last section, section 4.
[33:31] It says, After the two disciples, he departed for Galilee. For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown. For when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him.
[33:42] Having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem, he had the feast. For they had too gone to the feast. And so the narrative will continue next week before we take a little break in this series.
[34:00] I want us to, I just want to preach a little bit today and talk a little bit candidly and openly with you today about this text.
[34:14] I want us to think practically here. Church, can I have your attention today? I want us to think practically about this passage and the implications it has.
[34:26] What does the gospel mission look like for us on the north side of Youngstown? What does the gospel mission look like for us?
[34:41] Is it merely maybe a drive-thru car wash? You just bring them on in and hope that something through, that they'll experience kindness. Is it merely a community cookout?
[34:57] Is it merely canvassing all these neighborhoods with door hangers and church invitations and things like that? Is it merely a handful, a single handful of efforts of intentionality with this community?
[35:14] Is it merely one to two years maybe of consistent intentionality with the community in Youngstown? No.
[35:28] It is not merely any of those. Our mission here and now is to go and to send. We are not investing.
[35:41] We don't have mere car washes just to get people in this building. We don't go hang door tags for the sake of bringing people into these chairs.
[35:53] You as church members herald a message of hope that I hoot and holler each and every week to equip us to go and to send.
[36:05] This is intentionality. Hear me this morning. If it takes the next ten years church of consistent intentionality and we don't experience a single bit of the harvest harvest.
[36:25] Great. Okay? Because where is our focus? Is it on our devotion to God through His Word?
[36:35] Is it out of our devotion and obedience to His Word? Our focus needs only to be that devotion and obedience to the mission of the gospel, especially through genuine interest.
[36:50] This mission isn't about growing our church building at all. It's not about pragmatism. Pragmatism is just a weird word for if you do ABC, then XYZ is going to result from doing ABC.
[37:06] It's a set sure sign of it's like doing mathematics. If I do all these things, I'm going to get that answer. God doesn't operate through pragmatic means the least bit. it's actually hurting the church today because you have a lot of people interested and entertained within churches to keep people and draw people.
[37:28] But do people know Jesus Christ? Genuine interest is expressed when we meet true physical needs in the community.
[37:41] When we have this genuine interest that they experience through meeting physical needs. Isn't it interesting how mankind is sort of wired to not really respect you at all or not even have an open ear to even your message until they realize how much that you care about them.
[38:02] Are you that used car salesman just interested in getting a commission boost? Just getting our church numbers up? Just getting another person in a chair? How filthy that kind of mission would be?
[38:16] There's a saying out there a brother a good friend of mine David Cahoot has in his talk is cheap ministry goes around to high schools and kind of just beats high schoolers up I guess mentally and emotionally kicks them in the butt gets them every his saying is you know greatness that you know people are have greatness within them and they just need to be revealed.
[38:39] He has a saying people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care and that's so true with with mankind with humanity. If we aren't serving the needs of Youngstown who would we think that we are?
[38:53] To think that they would take anything that we have to offer. Think about that. How can we approach mission in this city with open ears and hearts to receive because they see our genuine care and interest for them through our consistent intentionality.
[39:20] Youngstown residents don't need tenants here at Youngstown Metro Church. They don't need mere tenants at 801 Wick Avenue. They need residents. They need people who care about this community.
[39:33] They need people who take care of what we have and that we take diligent care with using what we have for the hope of those around.
[39:44] We have a great hope in this church and a message to shine. Youngstown doesn't need tenants here. They need residents. Unfortunately for us, we have a long-standing church member just recently on her own will gave us a long printed sheet of how we can meet intentionality in Youngstown as a community.
[40:10] And man, it got me really excited because I didn't have to twist her arm. You might think I had to. I didn't have to twist her arm to do it. A sheet full of mission projects on her own will.
[40:24] This is gospel mission. So I want to make four exhortations, four encouragements to you today. And I kind of am running a little bit long.
[40:39] But I really want to kind of focus and I'm not speaking to anybody individually here. This is all through prayer and what the Lord has laid on my heart throughout this week of studying this passage and looking at the disciples and looking at the Samaritan.
[40:55] I have four exhortations to us today in response to the passage. The first, I want to address, the lazy Christian.
[41:10] We live in a challenging society. We are surrounded in living in a lazy culture, essentially. A self-centered society.
[41:22] Often we unknowingly fall victim to obeying our flesh without question. We become accustomed to the laziness things because it's ingrained into us because of what the culture has done to our convictions.
[41:44] At the slightest hint, you know, you have to know people in your life at some point or another, those lazy Christians, at the slightest hint of thirst or hunger, man, I gotta go eat.
[41:59] I'm really hungry. Really? You're really hungry? Or, at the slightest bit of the urgency of going to the bathroom, it's another excuse to get out of the mission, to take a break, but it's all using our physical needs as a mask to our laziness.
[42:23] Consider the hypothetical scenarios of us as a church spending an intentional afternoon. I'm spending at Wick Park just down the road, just a block or two away, and just talking with people.
[42:36] How often we would see, how often do we see through our flesh and decide if this is truly a time of needing to take a break or not?
[42:48] Are you really dire and thirsty? You really can't just stick it out another 15 minutes. You gotta go home. The Browns are coming on. Really? You're gonna waste your time watching the Browns? That's a different topic.
[43:01] I love the Browns. The lazy Christians who are looking for excuses to exempt them from entering into the mission field. Or maybe the second exhortation is to the tired Christian, to the people who are just exhausted.
[43:21] Because the gospel work is exhausting. If you want to talk to anybody who knows it, talk to me. Ministry is exhausting. Spiritually, physically, it drains you.
[43:35] But there's an encouragement I want to actually read from Oswald Chambers in his utmost for his highest. It happens in February 9th if you want to take a look at it and see it for yourself. It says Isaiah 40 28, the everlasting God neither faints nor is weary.
[43:51] And I want to read this to you. I'm just going to read the whole thing. Because I don't know what to pick and choose out of this that's going to minister to your soul if you are tired. I'm going to trust that something in here will make sense to you.
[44:02] It says exhaustion means that our vital energies are completely worn out and spent. Spiritual exhaustion is never the result of sin but of service.
[44:18] Spiritual exhaustion. Whether or not you experience exhaustion will depend where you get your supplies from. So whether or not you experience exhaustion is depending on how you're resourcing yourself to recharge.
[44:34] Okay? Jesus said to Peter feed my sheep but he gave him nothing with which to feed his sheep in John 21. The process of being broken bread and poured out wine for others means that you have to be the nourishment for other people's souls until they learn to feed on God.
[44:56] People are going to exhaust your energy in the gospel mission. You're going to feel it. But they must drain you completely to the last drop but be careful to replenish your supply or you will quickly be utterly exhausted and useless until others learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus directly they will have to draw on his life through you.
[45:35] So people are going to be dependent upon you thoroughly to the point of you merely being exhausted until they can feast upon the Lord. You must literally be their source of supply until they learn to take their nourishment from God.
[45:50] We owe it to God to be our best for his lambs and sheep as well as for him. And then the last little paragraph here says have you delivered yourself over to exhaustion because of the way you have been serving God?
[46:07] There's a lot of tired Christians. I'm tired. I am. Have you delivered yourself over to exhaustion because of the way you have been serving God?
[46:22] If so, then renew and rekindle your desires and affections. Examine your reasons for service. Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded on the redemption of Jesus Christ?
[46:36] continually look back to the foundation of your love and affection and remember where your source of power lies. You have no right to complain, oh Lord, I am so exhausted.
[46:51] He saved and sanctified you to exhaust you. He sanctified and saved you to exhaust you.
[47:04] So be exhausted for God. But remember that He is your supply. As Psalm 87.7 says, all my springs are in you.
[47:19] The third exhortation today is to the unqualified Christian. The ones who sort of say, this ain't my field, I'll serve the coffee bar or I'll do the computer, I'll hide away from any human interaction.
[47:36] I'm an introvert, that's how God wired me, so I'll just operate within my gifting, it's my spiritual gift. Don't be silly. The gospel takes the introvert, puts you in a very uncomfortable situation where all your resources are dependent upon Him and all of a sudden you magically are equipped to become the extrovert.
[47:56] That should challenge us. Just as we don't live on bread alone, God is the sustenance of His mission and source of equipping us for all we need in this mission.
[48:09] We need to take steps of faith in this life and to trust Him more. The gospel does not discriminate and is the hope for all people. Have the boldness and confidence for God to equip you.
[48:23] Go out, maybe make a relationship with somebody of a different ethnicity than you. It doesn't matter how much you know, God is going to give you all that you need. I challenge you to make those types of friends in your lives.
[48:37] There are an array of callings and giftings represented in the church, yes. Some of them focus on sowing and focus on reaping, but all of us are called to be faithful servants of Jesus Christ and to join in the kingdom labors in some capacity.
[48:55] We are His hands and feet. And the last exhortation that I have for you is for all Christians. This is just a blanket to all, and this is what I'm closing with today.
[49:09] Your role in the mission of the gospel continues regardless of your fatigue. The role in the mission of the gospel continues regardless of your thirst or hunger.
[49:23] The mission of the gospel was never about you in the first place, nor should it be controlled by your outward fatigue, thirst or hunger, nor inward doubt, anxiety, or fear of the unknown.
[49:39] The mission of the gospel has the power to exhaust us, and it should exhaust us. That's a good sign that we're being useful to the Lord. But the sustenance of our attitude recharges us in order to continue in devotion and obedience to Him.
[49:56] So the convictions, we hold fast today, sow the seeds of the gospel tomorrow. What we do today, what we do with our time next week, make lasting impacts, hopefully, in what happens years to come.
[50:14] So you may ask, what will our church look like in a decade or two? 20 years from now, man, I'm going to be, let's see, 53. You might ask what this church is going to look like in a decade or two from now.
[50:32] And it all comes upon how you steward the mission today, right now. Okay? Right here and now. Don't lose focus on the sustenance provided by Christ to satisfy our greatest hunger and inadequacies.
[50:49] So if we're falling in the lazy compartment, it should kick us in the butt out of our laziness and excuse giving. To us being tired, it should kick us in the butt and invigorate us in our tiredness and exhaustion.
[51:04] And to our qualifications, it was never meant to be about us in the first place. Don't lose focus. Don't be caught in taking an early lunch break like these disciples were at the expense of disobeying the Lord.
[51:18] church, lunch break is over. It's time to get busy in this church. There are people who need what we have and the message of hope. Let's pray.
[51:29] Thank you.