John 4:31-42 | "Evangelize with Excitement, Expectancy, and Expediency"

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Some time ago I told you the story about the encyclopedia salesman from Estonia.

Do you remember that?

Did I tell you the story about the gangster on Swift Street?

Have I not told you that story?

Well, let me tell you that story before we start.

So the church that I served in in California was on Swift Street in Orland, California.

And as usual, I would park my car just diagonally across from the gangster house.

There was a house on the corner, right across from the church, that had what my mom would call undesirables.

These are undesirables.

Some rough folk there, and for sure there were so many gang members in that house.

One morning I come to my office and I make a beeline for the door because in the corner of my eye I see this young gentleman covered with tattoos from his chin all the way to his knuckles.

And his pants was like halfway down.

And I'm like, wow, this is a dangerous guy.

I'm gonna avoid eye contact.

And as I touch that doorknob to go into the uh safety of my office to study the word of God, something stops me.

You're not gonna evangelize this guy.

Nope.

Later.

And then I just made, for some bizarre reason, an about turn and I walked over.

And as I crossed Swift Street to walk over to his house, I say to myself, you don't need to do it now.

You can do it later.

Do it later, Anton.

By the way, this guy probably carries the switchblade and he's gonna stab you.

Didn't you watch the movie, The Cross and the Switchblade?

One guy got stabbed, right?

Uh some of you won't remember that movie, right, Scott?

You remember that?

Yeah.

So uh I walk over and I say to myself, this is gonna be an utter waste of time.

This is not gonna work.

Uh, all the things he's not gonna hear the gospel, he's not interested in your Bible and your God.

And uh, say, Hi, I'm Anton.

I'm the pastor here at the church.

And he says, Yeah, my name is Jesus.

I'm like, well, this is gonna get interesting.

Uh Jesus from Swift Street is gonna hear about Jesus from Nazareth.

And so uh here I start engaging him, and he is captivated.

He's interested, he's asking questions, his girlfriend is chiming in.

And the conversation goes for about an hour, and eventually I'm like, look, I gotta prepare for my sermon on Sunday.

I'm preaching about evangelism, so I guess I gotta get to it.

And I say to Yesus and his girlfriend, I say, Look, if you guys want to know more about the creator God who created the heavens and the earth, and this God who sent his only begotten son who died for you on a cross to pay for your sins, if you want to know more and how it all ends, come to me.

I'll give you a Bible.

I'll tell you the rest of the story if you stay awake through the rest of my sermon.

You see, the thing with Jesus and his girlfriend went better than expected.

I had such low expectations that I was constantly telling myself, not now but later.

And in fact, in all honesty, I was not excited about speaking to him about the gospel.

I dragged my feet, I was not expedient in going over there with the good news of the gospel, and uh like I said, I had very, very low expectations.

It was more a matter of drudgery than delight.

And I wonder if that is not what hampers our evangelism.

You see, we have such low expectations that we tell ourselves, not now, but later.

We always say, it's not that I'm not gonna do this, I'm just gonna do it later.

And later becomes never.

We get so caught up in the 99% of people who reject the gospel that we forget that there is maybe a 1% who actually received the gospel.

And statistics prove it here today.

You are part of the 1%.

Right?

100% of people who are born again have been evangelized.

You are here because someone introduced you to Jesus Christ.

Might have been even from childhood, so your parents were the evangelists.

But think about it, 100% of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have been evangelized prior to receiving Christ.

Now, ever statistics can be made to say anything, right?

But the Bible says, how then will they call on him whom they have not believed?

How will they believe in him whom they have not heard?

And how will they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10, 14.

From a divine perspective, we must evangelize the lost with excitement, with expectancy, and with expediency.

However, from our perspective, we have come accustomed to say not now, but later.

The title of my message here today is Evangelized but excitement, expediency and expectancy, and I'm gonna give you some reasons for that.

I'm gonna give you reasons to not say not now, but later.

If you turn to John chapter 4, you are all familiar with that passage where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, and there's conversations and dialogue about worship, and Christ expresses the Father's desire to see worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

John 4 · chapter mention

And I'm gonna read here from verse 31 because there's two things happening here.

First, Jesus evangelizing the woman at the well and talking about worship and expressing the Father's desire to see worshipers.

But on the other hand, you have the disciples who are almost myopic about food.

They are hungry.

And the conversation is much about food.

Listen to this, verse 31 of John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

He says that meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi eat.

They just came from the Samaritan town, the little city, and they brought some food.

Because food's on their mind, food must be on the mind of Jesus.

Let's eat before we all get hangry.

But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about.

So the disciples were saying to one another, No one brought him any food to eat.

Did they?

Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and hang on to that word, sent me, and to accomplish his work.

Do you not say there are yet four months, and then comes the harvest?

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.

Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

For in this case, the saying is true: one sows, another reaps.

I sent you to reap.

Hang on to that phrase.

I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.

Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.

From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified.

He told me all the things that I have done.

So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

Verse 41.

Many more believed because of the word.

Hang on to those words, many.

Today's passage should really stir us up to evangelize with excitement, with expediency and of course, with expectations.

Excitement.

Because Jesus was excited about evangelism.

Expediency?

Because God has prepared a harvest.

And He is expedient in preparing the hearts.

And then lasting, lastly, expectancy.

God sends us to reap, and we must be expectant of a great harvest.

I'll explain that and I'll walk us through the passage to show you how we get there.

You see, here's a comparison and a contrast to your Jesus is narrowly focused on his mission.

The disciples are narrowly focused on their mission.

Their mission was to get food for the stomach.

Jesus' focus was to give food to a lost soul.

You see, ultimately, Jesus' mission becomes the disciples' mission.

And the disciples' mission becomes our mission.

But let's take a look and get a glimpse of Jesus' passion and excitement for evangelism.

Number one, let's look at how Jesus evangelized the lost.

What do we see here?

We firstly see the man Jesus, who was wearied out and tired and hungry after a long journey.

He had a physical thirst, he had a physical hunger, and yet he exchanged that hunger and that thirst to first minister to a Samaritan woman's soul.

By the end of a long day's travel and working hard, we tend to think about food a lot, don't we?

I know after a long day's work, I come home very hungry and I'm hyper-focused on food.

I couldn't care less about anything other than what is for supper.

My wife is obviously very excited to prepare a meal for me, but she's even more delighted if I'm excited to eat the meal she prepared for me.

Jesus here portrays a similar picture.

Jesus is excited.

He is hungry, he is eager and passionate to give the words of eternal life to a lost soul.

That was the mission for which the Father sent him.

Look at verse 34.

My food, my food, my satisfaction is to do the will of the Father who sent me and to accomplish his work.

What was his work and his passion?

To seek and save the lost.

It was not only the priority and the passion of Jesus, but Jesus was focused on accomplishing the task, the mission for which the Father had sent him, which was to preach the gospel.

The greatest evangelist who has walked this planet was none other than Jesus Christ.

Mark 1.

Verses 14 and 15 shows how Jesus was focused on preaching the gospel.

But now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel.

Jesus indeed very eager and very excited to evangelize the souls of lost people in accomplishing the work for which the Father had sent him in Mark 1.38.

Jesus says, Let's set aside doing signs and wonders and healing people, because their physical well-being is not as important as their spiritual well-being.

And he says the following in Mark 1.38.

For that is what I came for.

That's enlightening.

That's enlightening.

We think often, well, Jesus came to heal the sick and do signs and wonders, and obviously to fulfill the gospel by dying on the cross for the sins of humanity.

But more important than food and water for Jesus was the proclamation of the gospel.

I don't hear Jesus saying, not now but later.

Not now, but later.

No, now, not later, for that is what I was sent.

If we percentage-wise prioritize the sharing of the gospel and satisfying our own needs and desire, how would that pie chart look like?

What would be the percentage there, dear brothers and sisters?

Just think a percentage of all your efforts and all your time you set aside to speak the gospel to the lost.

Statistics will prove it, right?

Barnard researchers, and Barnard is never wrong, I believe, they say 47% of millennials, 27% of Gen X, and 20% of Christian boomers are more concerned about offending people than they are about the eternal destinies of lost souls.

So like half of people who probably sit in this church, we just go on pure statistics, half of them who are millennials.

Are you a millennial web?

What are you?

You are millennial.

Okay, so half of your people say, well, we gotta be more concerned about offending people and not offending people than decide where they might spend eternity.

So statistics show we we we say, not now, but later.

What accounts for the empty pews here today?

What accounts for the empty pews here today?

It's not summer, not going to the lake, but a lack of evangelism.

Just think about the urgency, the frequency, and the effort you and I put into talking intentionally to people about God and his kingdom.

Just think about it.

Think the last time you said to someone, you must repent and believe the gospel.

When last did you do that?

When last did you use that vernacular?

Repent and believe the gospel, because the kingdom of God is near.

No, we tend to delay, we put it off to tomorrow.

Proclaiming the gospel is something in addition to everything else in life.

Now is not a good time.

Later will be better.

I'm fearful, I might offend.

To the contrary, verse 35, here in John chapter 4, Jesus says, Do you not say?

John 4 · chapter mention

This is what we say.

There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest.

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the field that there are white for harvest.

Very near close to my house, there is a uh field there with wheat.

And I've been prognosticating when the farmer would actually harvest.

Don't we do that?

In agriculture, there's a lot of prognostication where we kind of say, well, the harvest will be ready on that and that date.

Right?

The fields will be ready on that day.

But it's all prognostication, it's all just speculative.

You only really know when the harvest is ready, is when you see it's ready, right?

I don't know much about farming, so tell me what it if I'm wrong here, but I know.

I've known some farmers here, whether it's potatoes or wheat or soybeans, whatever you do, there's a point in time when the farmer becomes robotic.

Harvest, harvest, harvest.

Uh, can you come to my Sunday school class?

Harvest, harvest.

Especially like the beet harvest.

I mean, this place gets mad.

I mean, it's like people get possessed.

It's like the Stipford wise, right?

People are like zombies.

Because the farmer knows if he does not reap, the harvest will rot.

There's a lot of rotting happening in evangelism because we say, not now, not now.

You say, yet four months.

You see, what Jesus is saying here is that we prognosticate.

We we try to figure out when the person is ready.

I hear it all the time.

People would say, well, he's not quite ready to receive Jesus.

Oh, really?

What is that?

How do you know that?

All right?

Or people would say, he's that far.

He's so close to receiving Jesus.

Come on.

Do you really know?

Do you really know the heart?

Well, let me explain something here about expediency.

You see, expediency is to share the gospel is not based on anything other than God doing the work and the hearts of men and women.

You don't know what God is doing.

You don't know what God has done.

You don't know what God will do.

Stop prognosticating, stop speculating on whether a person is right.

Riper ready.

Because Jesus says there.

Lift up your eyes.

It's ready.

It's ready.

No, it's not ready, Jesus.

Come on.

This is not our time frame here.

It's ready.

Well, Jesus, how do you know it's ready?

Because I sowed.

Well, Jesus, there's four months from sowing to reaping.

Not in my big kingdom.

We can sow now, and ten minutes later we can reap.

What do you farmers say to me often?

I cannot commit to this or that because we might be harvesting.

Right, Casey?

I'm just picking on Casey.

And that is okay.

You got your work cut out for you, but I wish we would have the same harvest mindset and evangelism.

I mean, you you know the season is short here for harvesting.

That beat needs to get off the field and get wherever they take beet.

And those potatoes need to get off the field and go into the Folsom's chambers.

Let's see.

I always ask Brian, when are you harvesting?

I don't know.

We're looking, we're looking.

We got our eyes on the crowd.

When are you harvesting?

I don't know, but we we looking, we looking, and then bada bing, we harvest.

Right?

If only we'd have the same harvest mindset.

You see, from our perspective, it's often, not now, later, four months down the line, we will be ready.

But from God's perspective, the soil of the heart is ready, prepared, and ready.

We must go to harvest.

And guess what?

If there's nothing to harvest, you have sowed.

And that's not bad, is it?

If you don't harvest, my friend, you are sowing.

And if you're sowing, you might be harvesting.

And that is okay.

But you and I need to stop saying, not now, but later, because the time is right now.

Second Corinthians 6, 2.

At the acceptable time, I listened to you.

And on the day of salvation, I helped you.

Behold, next year is the time.

Not now.

No, behold, now is the acceptable time.

Behold, now is the day of salvation.

When is the best time to speak to somebody about the gospel?

Good.

That side was a little more passionate.

Let's try.

Behold, now is the acceptable time.

Behold, now is the day of salvation.

For this reason and this reason alone, we need to evangelize the lost with eagerness and with expediency.

Stop prognosticating about the readiness and the preparedness of the heart.

That is not your business.

And I'll explain to you why it is not our business.

We are not the people who take soil samples.

We are not the one who says, I'm gonna test the soil first.

We must sow and we must expect to reap a harvest.

And that's my third point here today.

This expectancy.

I'm honest with you, I'm often a little skeptical about the outcome.

He heard the gospel, but I don't think that's gonna go anywhere.

Oh, what are you doing here today?

Wow, I just want to hear more about Jesus.

Well, okay, I guess I'm proven wrong here.

You see, we have these low expectations.

But Jesus says there in verse 36 and verse 37 and verse 38 that we need to expect something.

Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the one, he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

For in this case, the saying is true, one sows and another reaps.

Verse 38, I sent you dot dot dot.

I sent you to reap.

You see, Jesus is not making empty promises here.

He's giving us something to do.

I think this is a very encouraging passage because it carries a promise.

It carries a promise with it.

Firstly, it says that the sower and the reaper are on equal ground.

It doesn't matter.

Whether you sow or reap doesn't matter.

If you're not reaping, you're sowing.

And you might be sowing, and then another person comes along and reaps.

And this makes sense because ultimately the growth is God's.

There's a supernatural work that happens in the heart that we cannot explain, but somehow the seed that is sown sprouts.

It's miraculous.

And it grows, and then there's a harvest.

You see, because God is sovereign in evangelism and the salvation of a human being, sowing and reaping is of equal importance, resting on the fact that God has prepared the heart.

This is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 6 and 7.

1 Corinthians 3:6

He says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

If God was not causing the growth, statistics will be different.

And then I might be inclined to say, not now, but later.

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

We generally do not know the right time when someone might receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

You see, we wait for a green light.

We want to see a sign from heaven.

We want to see a glowing halo before we engage in gospel evangelism.

But Jesus is saying, if you wait and you put it off, here's one thing.

You got to remember, verse 36, you are going to miss out on wages.

You are going to miss out on rewards.

Jesus rewards evangelism.

And number two, they will be gathering dividends for eternal life.

You see, you want to make investments into eternity?

Start saying, now is the acceptable time to evangelize the lost.

I find uh Acts 13, 48 an absolutely fascinating verse.

Because here goes Jewish missionaries to Gentiles.

I can already sense some tension here, but they do it because they were commissioned.

And when the Gentiles heard this, that is the gospel, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord.

And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Wow.

Why did they believe?

Why did they believe?

God prepared the heart.

People shared the gospel.

They are in perfect harmony.

If God does not prepare the heart, evangelism is fruitless.

But the Bible says God prepares the heart.

He causes the growth.

And guess what?

You and I must evangelize the Gentile.

I wonder how prepared the apostles were for this abundant fruit and harvest.

A bumper harvest.

Hundred percent of those who are appointed to eternal life will believe the gospel.

Hundred percent of those appointed to eternal life will hear the gospel communicated to them.

God will never circumvent the evangelist.

I don't care what is happening in circles all around us where people say angels are appearing to people and sharing the gospel with them.

I find it absolutely contrary to scripture.

If angels are going to do the job, go to culverse after church and go eat out and have a jolly good old time.

But Jesus says, now is the time for reaping.

Whether you sow and you never reap doesn't matter.

But statistics show that God at some point ripens the seed in some.

How many of you heard the gospel and then some time elapsed and then bada ben?

I believe.

Yes, Ben, thank you for the hand there.

Do I have more hands here?

It doesn't really matter as long as you sow.

As long as you are ready to harvest, you will be rewarded.

You will be rewarded and you will receive your wages from your king, who will say, Good and faithful servant, enter into my rest.

You will have many friends in heaven, if indeed you have a harvest mindset.

This is what Charles Spurgeon said.

He said, Grind your sickles.

You must go to work with such cutting truths as justification by faith, as the total ruin of mankind, as the hope that is laid up in the cross, as the energy of the Holy Spirit.

And when you know these truths and you know how to use them, you shall then be made great reapers in the master's harvest.

Verse 38, I sent you to reap.

Now I've got a limited grasp on the English language, but let me say this to you.

You don't even need to know the Greek.

I sent you to reap.

Jesus is speaking of the disciples.

That phrase is in past tense, meaning I already sent you to reap.

That's puzzling.

He's not saying I will send you to, or I am going to send you to reap.

I already sent you.

And you go, well, what happened before this?

They went to the Samaritan village to buy food.

They were on a mission to buy food.

No, they were on a mission to reap a harvest.

You see, this is very convicting because in a busy day, I become very narrowly focused on the work of the day.

I become myopic about the mission.

Whether it's to do something in my office, some planning, preparation, or it could be to buy groceries or service my car or even pay a few bills somewhere.

But that is not the mission.

The mission is I sent you to reap.

I send you to reap.

And the only way that you will know whether there is a harvest ready to reap is when we start speaking gospel truths.

And Jesus, there's an implicit promise there.

There's implicit promise when he says, I sent you to reap.

What happened is he sent them into the Samaritan village to reap.

But then all they could think about was food and they missed the opportunity.

But that very phrase, I sent you to reap implies that there is a harvest out there.

Jesus is not saying, I sent you to rake up a dirt field that is barren.

That's what we think.

Jesus, you sending me into this desert, and now I'm just raking up dirt.

No, he's sending us to reap.

Next time you go into Hugos, get ready to reap.

Next time you service your car and they mess up things, be ready to reap.

Next time you come to church, be ready to reap.

Church is a fruitful mission fields.

Do it for the reward if you do it for no other reason.

Jesus says already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life.

Jesus is gonna reward you for all your evangelistic efforts.

Doesn't matter if not a single person comes to faith, right?

Is Jesus gonna reward us dollar for dollar or soul for soul?

No, he's just are you faithful?

Are you doing it?

But Jesus, I I feel so ill-equipped.

Well, go to Anton's evangelism class.

No, uh it says there already he reaps is receiving wages and is, not will and is, praise intense.

As you sow and reap, as you share the gospel with people, you are being rewarded and you you you are gathering up dividends for eternal life.

I love how this ended.

Verse 39.

From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the woman, the word of the woman who testified.

Verse 41, many more believed the word.

It's not a minute harvest, it's not a miserly harvest.

Many, many, many believed.

And many believed because of what?

Because someone couldn't keep their mouth shut.

This Samaritan woman was like blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

And people like, what?

We gotta go check out this.

I think she was excited.

She was excited.

She was expedient.

She didn't go, oh, I'm gonna just cook a dinner first and I'll do it later.

She was expedient.

She went there and she's not talking about Jesus.

I wonder if she was expectant, not expecting, but expectant of people responding favorably.

I think that's where our problem is.

We don't expect anybody.

I don't think we expect many will come to faith.

We've got a lot of room here.

Right, Jason?

We've got a lot of room.

We'll squeeze you a hand.

Don't be afraid if there's a bumper crop that we harvest.

God will take care of it.

Okay, let's wrap up.

But do we have a minute to tell you how the story ended with the gangster on Swift Street?

Okay.

I get a yes there.

And so here, Jesus, who lives 150 feet from the doors of an evangelical free church, 100 feet away from the Church of Christ, and about 50 feet away from the first Christian church.

And yet, that man had no idea what a Bible was.

Because everybody rushes to church and says, later, not now.

They go out of church, later, not now.

Who wants to deal with gangsters on Sunday mornings?

Even the pastor goes, buries himself in all his preparation and preaching on evangelism that he has no interaction with the lost.

Do the work of evangelists.

Timothy.

How did this turn out?

Well, one evening we had a service, summer church service.

One of the deacons came to me, gasping, flustered, in a panic.

What?

Here's a rough-looking gentleman.

And he said, You promised him something.

Okay, this could be bad.

I go into the foyer.

Hey, Pastor! Jesus! Well, yeah.

Well, Pastor, remember that Bible?

Can I have one?

Well.

Can I have a Bible, Pastor?

Somebody find a Bible.

Not now, later, right?

Not now, later.

Or shall we say, not later, but now.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, let us be excited about reaching the lost and not losing the reached.

Let us sow and sow and sow until we reap.

May we never say, not now, but later.

Give us peace and comfort.

Not do this because of guilt, but do this as a delight.

Let us delight in this wonderful work for which we will be rewarded, for which we will receive wages.

May we not remain silent, but be vocal like the Samaritan woman.

I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.