Last weekend, we traveled to New York City with good friends to celebrate a milestone birthday (a year later, but hey, we made it finally!) Our friend's birthday wish was to attend a church service at Redeemer Presbyterian Church and hopefully hear Pastor Tim Keller preach. So last Sunday morning, we found ourselves in church on the Upper West Side and we settled in to hear God's Word.
The message, entitled Why a Public Faith?, covered Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). Keller explained the call to all Christians of spiritual sowing and reaping.
In John 4, Jesus traveled with his disciples to Samaria but when they got to Jacob's well, Jesus stayed there and rested while His disciples went into town to buy food. Around 12 noon, a woman arrived at the well to draw water. Jesus asked for a drink. Of course, we know that Jesus went around breaking all the "social rules" so the fact He is alone with this Samaritan woman--something Jews & Samaritans would never allow--should not surprise us. And, Jesus lets the woman know He has water for her--living water. Later, He reveals to her in v. 26 that He is the Messiah.
The disciples return and are surprised to find him alone with a Samaritan woman. They were concerned for Jesus and they told Him to eat something. Cryptically, Jesus answers, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." And, "my food is to do God's work." Then, He shares a well-known proverb, "Don't you say 'four months more and then, the harvest'?"
The harvest/crop is eternal life. Sowing is pointing to Jesus as the source of eternal life. Reaping is faith in Jesus Christ. In the natural world, the reaping takes time.
For Christians, the Gospel should be our food. Jesus makes it clear what we should be doing in His strong call to spiritual seed sowing.
The method?
Jesus pointed the woman at the well to eternal life in Him. She went and pointed others to Jesus. (v.28 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did!") As a social outcast and probably the lowest of the low in her village, she bravely and winsomely shared with people what's happened to her. She chose personal transparency.
"Public faith is simply letting people know who you are. . . letting people see the wellspring of your heart. If it is appropriate to let someone know how you made a decision, set priorities or dealt with a crisis, you can share about Jesus. Not to do so would be dishonest. This is the logical consequence of public faith." --Tim Keller
The challenge/declaration/the take-away: This little light of mine--I'm gonna let it shine!
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