The Satisfying Work of Every True Believer

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, 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?” 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, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor” (John 4:31-38).

The Samaritan woman came to the well thirsty. Jesus came to the well tired... “Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour” (John 4:6) and hungry… “Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’” (John 4:31). But His response revealed that Jesus had a different kind of hunger. While the disciples were concerned about the hunger for food that controlled their stomachs, Jesus was consumed with a hunger to do the will of him who sent me. This kind of hunger could only be satisfied by doing His work. Jesus defined the work that satisfied His hunger by using a metaphor of the harvest. He invited His followers to engage in the work of making disciples because it is the satisfying work of every true believer.

The Author of the scriptures, the Holy Spirit masterfully nestled this discourse right in the middle of John’s description of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman and her response to His invitation to believe in Him as the Messiah… “The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.’  Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he’” (John 4:25-26). The Spirit inspired John to record that many of the Samaritan woman’s neighbors believed in Christ because of her testimony… “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony” (John 4:39). The Spirit also led John to note that she led many other neighbors directly to Jesus to hear and believe His words in person… “We have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42). Truth seekers discover in the transformed life of the Samaritan woman a primary characteristic of genuine discipleship. Evidence of the new life in Christ is a hunger to share the good news with others because the love of Christ has taken control of the new believer’s heart… “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;  and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

The Spirit clearly reveals here that although He was tired and hungry, Jesus was consumed with doing the work of God. He also shows us here that the work of God is sharing the gospel and making disciples. Jesus revealed at another time that He shares His joy with the angels in heaven over the salvation of souls… “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Jesus wanted His disciples to know the same satisfaction and fulfillment that He and the angels experienced when a lost sinner repents and believes in Him. That’s why He gave the work of sharing the gospel and reconciling sinners with God to His disciples… “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;  that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). That’s why he began His earthly ministry with an invitation to His followers to earnestly do the work of God by making disciples, and He ended His earthly ministry with a commission to make 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” (Matthew 28:19).

As we grow up into Christ our hunger to share the gospel and make disciples grows because it’s…

The Satisfying Work of Every True Believer.