Four Months Until Harvest

John 4:35-42 – Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Matthew 9:36 – When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Luke 2:11 – Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Application:

• ·         Jesus’ compassion for people is often noted in the Gospels.
• ·         There is no competition among Christ’s faithful servants, and sower and reaper share in the joy of the crop.
• ·         “The Savior of the world” points to the facts (1) that Jesus not only teaches but also saves and (2) that His salvation extends to the world.
• ·         Many Jews were looking for a political leader to deliver them from Roman rule, while others were hoping for a savior to deliver them from sickness and physical hardship.
• ·         “God so loved the word” is the great truth that motivated God’s plan of salvation.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV