Lift up your Eyes

Lift Up Your Eyes

Text: John 4:27–36 KJV Key Verse: John 4:35

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”

Theme: Seeing the harvest through the eyes of Christ.

Introduction — A Harvest They Couldn't See

John 4 is one of the great soul-winning chapters of the Bible.

Jesus has deliberately traveled through Samaria. John 4:4 “And he must needs go through Samaria.”

That “must needs” was more than geography.

There was one soul, a woman in Samaria who needed the Saviour.

Jesus sits down at Jacob's well.

A Samaritan woman comes to draw water, and what begins as a conversation about physical water becomes a conversion through the living water.

By the time we arrive at verse 27, something remarkable has happened.

The woman who came to the well carrying a burden, is leaving the well carrying a message.

She runs into the city saying: “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” — v. 29

And while she is running toward the city, the disciples are returning from the city.

Don't miss that.

The woman is going into the city talking about Jesus.

The disciples have just come out of the city carrying food.

They had walked through the same streets.

They had seen the same people.

They had encountered the same need.

But apparently, they didn't see the harvest.

That is what makes Christ's words in verse 35 so powerful: “Lift up your eyes…”

The problem wasn't that there wasn't a harvest.

The problem was that they weren't looking at it.

And perhaps one of the greatest dangers facing the church is knowing there is a need without seeing the field.

We know that missionaries should go.

We know that the Gospel should be preached in all the highways and hedges.

We know that souls need to be saved.

We know that the Great Commission is just as relevant today as it was when Christ gave it.

But, we dont see the fields.

We can become so pre-occupied with our lives, our needs, our schedules, our problems, and even our church, that we stop seeing the people all around us who desperately need Christ.

So Jesus tells His disciples and us:

“Lift up your eyes.”

Because: When we see the harvest as Christ sees it, reaching the lost becomes more than a program of the church—it becomes the passion of our lives.

I. The Distraction of the Disciples

John 4:27–33

Verse 27 says:

“And upon this came his disciples…”

They return from the city and find Jesus talking with this Samaritan woman.

it says, They “marvelled.”

There were cultural barriers here.

She was a Samaritan.

She was a woman.

And from what we learn earlier in the chapter, she was a woman with a broken and sinful past.

But Jesus saw beyond everything that would have caused others to pass her by.

He saw a soul in need of a Savior.

But…

A. They Saw a Woman, but Missed the Need

The disciples saw what Jesus was doing, but they didn't understand why He was doing it.

That is a danger for us.

We can see people without really seeing people.

We see:

the cashier

the coworker

the neighbor

the waitress

the mechanic

the person sitting beside us

the family across the street

We just see people

But, Jesus sees souls.

Missions begins when we stop seeing people as scenery and start seeing them as souls in need of a Savior

A. They Saw a Woman, but Missed the Need

B. They Saw the Food, but Missed the Harvest

Verse 31: “Master, eat.”

Understand, there was nothing wrong with what they were doing

They had gone into town specifically to buy food just as Jesus had told them

But, the disciples were concerned with more with the physical then with the spiritual

Jesus responds: “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.”

And immediately they misunderstand Him: “Hath any man brought him ought to eat?”

They're still thinking about lunch.

But, Jesus is thinking about a lost and dying world.

There's a lesson here for us.

Good things can distract us from the greatest things.

The disciples weren't involved in sin.

They were just to focoused on their need.

it is possible to become so consumed with the necessities of everyday life that we lose sight of eternal realities.

We have:

jobs to work, families to raise, bills to pay, houses to maintain, appointments to keep, responsibilities to fulfill.

And none of those things are wrong in and of themselves,

But I wonder if somewhere in the middle of all of it, Jesus has said to you and I:

“Lift up your eyes.” There is a world around you that needs the Gospel.

II. The Devotion of the Saviour

John 4:34

Jesus explains: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”

Here we discover what drove Christ.

The disciples said, “You need to eat.”

Jesus essentially said, “There is something that satisfies Me more than food.”

He tells us two things that He was devoted to:

A. He Was Devoted to the Will of the Father

“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me…”

Jesus lived with a divine purpose.

He wasn't wandering aimlessly through Samaria.

He was carrying out the Father's will.

And ultimately that will would take Him all the way to Calvary.

John 6:38: “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”

Missions began in the heart of God.

Let us create man in our own image

Missions was displayed in the actions of the Father

For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son.

Missions was Revealed in the Son

The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost

Missions is continued through His Church

Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel.

Christ came to this earth to do the will of His Father

Christ has sent us out to do the will of the Father.

“It is the will of God that all men everywhere, repent.”

A. He Was Devoted to the Will of the Father

B. He Was Devoted to Finish the Work of the Father

Notice the end of verse 34: “and to finish his work.”

Jesus wasn't interested in merely continuing the work.

He intended to finish it.

The road from “I must finish” in John 4 would lead to “It is finished” in John 19.

Christ's commitment to the lost took Him all the way to Calvary.

That's the foundation of missions.

We don't send missionaries merely because people need better lives.

We don't preach the Gospel merely because people need religion.

We go because Christ died for sinners.

We Preach the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.

The message we carry is that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.

We must get the same devotion for the will and work of the Father as Christ had.

III. The Demand of the Harvest

John 4:35

Now Jesus turns their attention to the fields.

Their mentality was:

Not now.

We are eating.

they were hungry.

Not now

we just walked all this way, cant we just get a little R&R

Their bodies needed to rest.

But, Jesus says: Behold, I say unto you

Jesus is demanding that they get a vision be restored and they get some urgency for the harvest

A. There Must be Vision for the Harvest

“Lift up your eyes…”

You cannot have a burden for something you refuse to see.

The disciples were so consumed with their food, they could not see the fruit that needed to be picked.

They were being consumed with their flesh, while the fruit was ripe for the picking.

Sometimes we need to be reminded, to lift our eyes off of us and place them on those around us.

We need to lift our eyes from our phones so we can see produce

But there is a danger, to lift our eyes so high that we cant see what is right in front of us.

Yes, There are people across this world if forgin lands, who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But, there are also people right down the road who have never heard it.

The mission field isn't only across the sea.

The mission field is in our own back yard.

Jesus says Lift up your eyes, becasue the harvest must be seen.

A. There Must be Vision for the Harvest

B. There Must be an Urgency for the Harvest

“Say not, There are yet four months…”

Jesus is removing the excuses.

When things settle down I will go out soul winning with the Church

When we have more money I will give to missions

When we're better prepared I will give someone a gospel tract

When life isn't so busy I will stop and talk to that man on the street

But Jesus removes the excuses:

“They are white already to harvest.”

There is an urgency for missions because people are dying.

There is an urgency to soul-winning because eternity is real.

There is an urgency to give someone a gospel tract because: “it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” — Romans 1:16

The church cannot postpone what Christ says must be done now.

Jesus isn't trying to convince his disciples that someday there might be a harvest.

The harvest already exists.

Imagine the scene.

The Samaritan woman has gone into the city and told everyone she could find

Verse 30 tells us: “Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.”

While Jesus is speaking to His disciples, the people of Sychar were already making their way toward Him.

And Jesus says:

Lift up your eyes.

The harvest isn't theoretical.

It is very practical

It's walking toward you.

The field of Holly Ridge is white for the harvest.

Nevada is white for the harvest.

Your work place is white for the harvest.

is There is an urgency.

Jesus could come back at any moment.

Is There is an urgency

We are not promised tomm.

Is There is an urgency

The harvest season will soon be over

Get your eyes off of yourself and place them on the field for they are white already for the harvest.

IV. The Delight of the Laborer

John 4:36

“And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal…”

Verse 36 gives us three wonderful encouragements:

A. There is a Reward for the Labor

“He that reapeth receiveth wages…”

Christ sees the labor.

The missionary serving where nobody knows his name—Christ sees.

The church faithfully giving month after month—Christ sees.

The soul-winner who witnesses and sees no immediate response—Christ sees.

The pastor that labors week in and week out - Christ sees

No labor done for Christ is wasted labor.

A. There is a Reward for the Labor

B. There is Results from the Labor

“gathereth fruit unto life eternal”

We spend enormous amounts of our lives working for things that won't last.

Houses deteriorate.

Vehicles wear out.

Possessions break.

Money gets spent.

Achievements are forgotten.

But there is something we can invest our lives in that reaches into eternity:

souls.

A. There is a Reward for the Labor

B. There is Results from the Labor

C. There is Rejoicing in the Labor

“that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.”

I love that.

Some sow.

Others reap.

But both rejoice.

Sometimes the missionary sows and somebody else reaps.

Sometimes we sow through supporting the missionary, and they reap on the field.

Sometimes they sow on the field for years before anybody reaps.

But Christ says there is coming a day when: “both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.”

That's a beautiful encouragement to missionaries and pastors who may not presently see much visible fruit.

God never asked us to manufacture the harvest. He asked us to faithfully labor in it

We don't all have the same part, but we can all have a part.

And one day, sowers and reapers will: “rejoice together.”

Conclusion — Lift Up Your Eyes

The disciples went into Sychar and came back with provisions

The woman went into Sychar and came back with people.

What made the difference?

She saw differently.

She had just met Jesus.

And suddenly she couldn't look at her city the same way anymore.

Maybe that's what our churches need.

Not another program.

Not another offering.

Not another missionary presentation.

Maybe what we need more than anything is to get our eyes back on Christ.

Because when we see Christ clearly, we begin to see the harvest differently.

When we see the world through His eyes:

The stranger becomes a soul.

The city becomes a field.

The sinner becomes a soul for whom Christ died.

The missionary becomes a laborer worthy of our prayers and support.

And our lives become an opportunity to participate in something eternal.

Jesus says:

“Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields.”

So perhaps the question we need to ask this morning is:

“What harvest have I been walking past because I never lifted up my eyes?”

The fields are not going to be ready someday.

According to Jesus:

“They are white already to harvest.”

Church, the harvest is here.

Lift up your eyes.

And when we begin to see the harvest as Christ sees it, reaching the lost will become more than a program of the church—

it will become the passion of our lives.