God's Heart for the lost

Jesus came to show us the heart of His Father toward the lost and in every encounter Jesus had with people we understand more clearly what God is like and what we are also to become. Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in Samaria gives us a clearer understanding of God’s heart toward the lost.
When Jesus encountered the woman at the well in Samaria, he did several things that crossed barriers between the Jews and Samaritans. He crossed an ethnic and religious barrier by talking with a Samaritan. There was no love between these two groups of people, they were bitter enemies of each other. The Samaritans were not considered true Jews because they intermarried with the pagan nations after their captivity in 722 B.C. and lost their identity as a nation and became known as the lost tribes of Israel. They were also at odds with the other tribes because they did not worship in Jerusalem but worshipped at Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans were considered as pigs to the true Jews.
The Jews in route from Galilee to Judea had to pass through Samaria which was in between the two areas or take an alterative route that was twice as long. So in order to save time Jesus and his disciples were passing through.
Another barrier was the gender issue of talking to a woman. Rabbis were not supposed to talk to women or their wives or daughters in public. Women in general were not treated with great respect nor given equal opportunities for education and training in the Law. A sect of Jewish Pharisees would close their eyes when a woman was coming toward them so as to not look at them. This caused them to run into things which caused some physical pain. The woman Jesus was talking to had another strike against her as she was a 5 time divorcee and was currently shacking up with a man. There were enough strikes against her to keep a true Jew and Rabbi away from her and this is why the disciples were shocked to see Jesus interacting with her.

Their small confined world needed to be expanded to see God's love for all people and desire to give them "living water." They needed a revelation of the heart of God and Jesus modeled that to them. Tonight I want to look at several of the misunderstanding the disciples had about the heart of the Father toward the lost as we look at the actions and words of Jesus.
John 4:31-42

Joh 4:31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
Joh 4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
Joh 4:33 So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?"
Joh 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
Joh 4:35 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.
Joh 4:36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
Joh 4:37 For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'
Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
Joh 4:39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did."
Joh 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
Joh 4:41 And many more believed because of his word.
Joh 4:42 They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."

The disciples did not understand Jesus' motivations for talking with this woman. The scriptures said they did not say anything to him when they returned from shopping and saw Him talking to her but John records what was going through their minds..." "What do you seek?" or, "Why are you talking with her? You have to wonder what they were thinking Jesus was after, was it good or bad? Maybe they thought Jesus had some bad motives in talking to her. Perhaps they put themselves in the situation and thought about what they would have been seeking from this woman who came alone. Jesus' motivations are always pure; they are always with the best in mind for whomever he is talking to. The disciples perhaps wrestled with the idea of impure motivations but they did not say anything. We can often do the same thing with God. We question him in our mind and lack understanding of why he is doing something in our life or the life of another person. God's motivations are always based in his love for us, there can never be an evil thought in God's mind in his dealing with us.
Or perhaps the disciples had learned by this time to not question what or why Jesus did the things he did. Maybe they at least understood that he had good reasons and motivations for what he did even though they did not understand and inwardly questioned his actions because of their prejudices against Samaritans and women.
Our motivations in talking with people have to come from our obedience to God and they must be pure. Jesus was concerned about the spiritual well fare of this woman. He understood her wrong beliefs as well as the rejection she faced from many people. His motivation was to bring truth to her and be a blessing to her life. In crossing the ethnic, religious and gender barriers Jesus demonstrated that he cared for her as a person and the things held against her would not keep him from demonstrating his concern for her.

Jesus gave this woman value, she was worthy of his time and effort to engage in a conversation with her.
The disciples did not give this woman the same value that Jesus gave her. She was a 5 time loser when it came to marriage fidelity. She probably did not have many friends and came to the well by herself at the hottest part of the day. She was doctrinally way off and ethnically not the right pedigree. Jesus saw past all of that but the disciples could not. They were locked into a different mindset that would not give any value to this woman. Jesus saw a woman who needed understanding. She needed to be set free from misunderstandings and be given the opportunity to see her true Messiah. Jesus could have completely ignored this woman and the disciples would have totally understood and agreed with his actions. But Jesus came to save sinners not condemn them. The value of the human soul cannot be measured and that is why it is imperative that every person has the opportunity to meet the Messiah. Jesus did not care what the disciples might think when they saw him talking to her. He saw a person of infinite value who deserved to know the truth. He was willing to taint his reputation to talk with her because she was of such value in the eyes of God.
Sometimes the hardest thing for us is to look beyond the exterior or even the interior of a person to see their true value to God. How we treat people and interact with them is often a reflection of the value we give them. We are all of equal value and importance to God and if this were not true Jesus would not have become a man to save us from our sin. Often we need to just get over our prejudices and preconceived ideas and get beyond our limited understanding so we can get to the real issue and the need of lost people.
If you have never had the opportunity to listen to "A Man Called Norman" by Mike Atkins I would encourage you to do it. It is the story of Mike's befriending his neighbor Norman who was an outcast in his city. Mike was able to get over many of his self imposed barriers, get beyond Norman’s limitations and idiosyncrasies so he could get to the heart of Norman and reveal the Messiah to him. It is a great testimony that I know you will enjoy.

Another thing the disciples did not understand was the real purpose of Jesus' life. They often only thought in terms of the physical and did not see the spiritual aspect of Jesus life and words. When they wanted him to eat he came up with a reply that they did not understand in the sense that Jesus meant it to be understood.
"I have food to eat that you do not know about." Their first thoughts and only thought at this time was that Jesus was talking about physical food. Jesus often seemed to communicate at a level that they were not able to understand and I am sure it was a bit frustrating for them. Their lack of spiritual understanding was evident in their response. ”Has anyone brought him something to eat?" The disciples did not understand that they were spiritual beings that had a soul that lived in a body. They saw and interpreted things through their 5 senses and thus did not understand the spiritual things Jesus was communicating to them. Years later they could look back and say, "Oh now I get it!"
The food Jesus was talking about was his true purpose in life "My food is to do the will
of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
This took precedence over physical needs and this was the priority of His life. The very thing that gave Him life was His obedience to His Father. His greatest desire and I believe His greatest joy was found in doing the will of His Father.
This has to be our focus as well, knowing and doing the will of the Father. There are two areas we must focus on to accomplish the will of God.

One is to destroy the works of the enemy by proclaiming what Christ has done to defeat him. Jesus' resurrection has stripped him of his greatest weapon, the fear of death. The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest moment in history because of its impact on Satan. As long as Satan could kill people in their sin they would never be able to be united with a Holy God. He experienced being cast out of heaven because of his own rebellion. He understands that sin brings death and his greatest tool was creating a fear of death and its destiny. We were helpless to do anything that could take away this fear. We were in bondage to the enemy whose greatest delight is to see people killed and die in their sin. He knows there destiny and when Jesus died he thought the battle was won. Christ's resurrection destroyed his power and liberates everyone who believes in Christ from the fear of death. Every time we proclaim the gospel message we do violence to Satan and his demons. They do not want to hear the gospel proclaimed and we can see the wrath of the enemy in the laws of certain religious beliefs that today are killing people who do not believe as they do. This belief is 100 percent inspired by Satan because its whole purpose is to impose death and silence the voice of messengers of the gospel. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will never die." These are powerful words that destroy the work of the enemy.

The second focus is to establish God's Kingdom and will on earth as it is in heaven. Heaven is our pattern. If it exists in heaven then we need to bring it to earth. Establishing God's Kingdom means we bring heaven to earth. When Jesus came to earth he brought the Kingdom of heaven to earth through his acts of obedience to the will of His Father. Everything that Jesus did was in response to what he saw his Father do. Jesus performed the will of His Father which involved revelation of truth and its proclamation, miracles, signs and wonders.
Bill Johnson, pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, Cal. made this statement. "We often form our theology based on the things that don't happen rather than on the things that do happen." When someone is healed of a sickness we don't base our theology on the healing but instead base it on those who were prayed for but not healed. If sickness is God's will then why should we fight against it? Will we not be fighting against God? If we base our beliefs on what heaven is like it will solve some of the areas that we see confusion. We have to believe with all our heart that what God desires on earth is the same thing he has in existence in heaven. Our job is to bring that Kingdom to earth but that will only happen when we truly believe that this is what God desires.
We can look at the end times prophesies in a couple of ways. We can see them as promises of what is going to happen and sort of just give in and say it is coming to an end and there is not much we can do about it. Or we can look at these words as being descriptors of the conditions that we will face in the battle to establish God's Kingdom. I believe God wants us to engage in the battle with greater intensity in spite of all the things that are happening that are causing some to lose heart and lose faith. We are not to throw in the towel but take up the towel and serve as Jesus served. Our goal is to establish as much of the Kingdom of God as is possible until they day Jesus returns to reign for 1000 years.

The disciples also did not understand the time factor.
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.
The harvest as they viewed it was in the future but in Jesus' eyes it was now. The Samaritans were the harvest field and the time of the harvest was now. I believe that God is opening a door for the gospel in several of the nations in the Middle East. I listened to a message from Andrew White, a Vicar from the Anglican church of England who has been working in Iraq for 13 years. He reported that the church is growing and God is doing miracles among the people. Christians have been killed and Andrew asked God what he should do and he told him to get the Islamic leaders together for a meeting at which he presented a fatwa. A fatwa is an Islamic religious ruling, a scholarly opinion on a matter of Islamic law.
He did that and presented the problem of the killing of Christians and since that time there has been any killings.
God is opening the doors in Libya as well. CBN in their news broadcast called "World Christian News"(April 1: 6.50) has reported that there is an openness to the gospel and a great need for literature to be given to the people.
We must understand the time and act quickly because the harvest is ripe. We have to always be ready to share with people. The devil will always tell you that this is not the right place or time to do it. You may be in a public place or in your work place and it may seem to be awkward but when the opportunity is there we have to take advantage of it. Delayed obedience is disobedience. We need to be more concerned about being obedient to God than any lies and limitations the enemy may place in your mind to tell you to wait.
The time for the Samaritans to hear the message from Jesus was now and after Jesus' conversation with the woman he stayed in the city for two days to minister to the lost and many came to believe in Him.

The disciples also needed to have the same vision that Jesus had. They had to lift up their eyes so they could see the harvest. Their focus was on getting through Samaria and they missed seeing the harvest field of souls that was there. We can miss out on what God wants to do because we are so focused on the next thing that we do not see what is in front of us or around us. We have to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and respond when he puts a message in our heart to talk with someone. God has spoken to Jesus about this Samaritan woman's life and Jesus knew that this was given to him to be used to open her heart to him. God revealed to Jesus that this woman had been married five times and was now shacking up with a man. I don't think he did this to shame her but used it as a way to get her attention and reveal His true nature and mission. Words of knowledge have a way of getting our attention and are gifts from God to show us his love and concern for us. We need to keep our eyes open to see what God sees so we can respond as He wants us to respond. As we learn to walk in the Spirit and hear God's voice I believe He will reveal things to us about people that will open their hearts to receive the gospel. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the Word of Knowledge where the Holy Spirit supernaturally gives you knowledge about a person or situation. It is a great gift to have when we are witnessing to people. The Samaritan woman was so impressed that she went back to her village and invited the people to meet Jesus. "He told me all that I ever did." was her summation of Jesus' conversation with her. Ask God for his vision to see the harvest field of souls and for the gift of the word of knowledge to help open the door to the soul of a person.

The final area the disciples did not understand was the process of sowing and reaping when it pertains to the salvation of people. God is always at work to prepare people to receive the gospel message. He has placed eternity in the hearts of people. When we talk with people we are either ones who are sowing seeds of the gospel in the heart of the person or we may be the one who leads them to Christ. We may not always see instant results but we must believe that when the word is sown it will not return void. It will produce results. Some seed may take years to take root and grow while others will be planted in fertile soil and come to Christ quickly. Our witness must always draw people to Christ and give them a clearer picture of the love of God for them.
In the news of recent days we have witnessed the response of the Muslims in Afghanistan after the pastor Terry Jones from Florida had a trial on the Koran and it was burned. The Daily Beast reported the following:
"During his day in New York City, in full peace-maker mode, Jones promised Today show host Carl Quintanilla that his church wouldn't burn any Korans, "not now, not never." By the New Year, however, Jones had come up with a knockout pitch. The church couldn't burn Korans—but what if it was no longer a church? What if it was, instead, a courtroom, the Koran was on trial, and burning was one of the possible penalties? "The complaints about International Burn a Koran Day was that it was unfair," the pastor told The Daily Beast. "Muslims told us that it was not a book of violence but one of peace. We said, OK: a fair way to discern that would be to put the book on trial. We'd bring charges against it and invite them to defend it." The charges were the following:
"1) Crimes against humanity: training and promoting terrorist activities throughout the world. 2) Death, rape, and torture of people worldwide whose only crime is not being of the Islamic faith. 3) Crimes against women, against minorities, against Christians with the promoting of prejudice against anyone who is not a Moslem."
The Koran was found guilty and sentenced to burning. The aftermath has been horrible as over 20 people have been killed by irate Muslims.
NBC April 3 ( 6:13) gave this report.
The political process and relationships that have been established have been set back by these actions and I am sure the spiritual advances in the lives of many of these people have also been damaged. Actions like these hardly show the love of God for the Muslim world. Has the burning of the Koran drawn people to Christ or driven them further away?
We must be careful of what type of seeds we are planting in the hearts of people. We must speak the truth in love if we want it to be received and responded to positively. We do not have to apologize for the truth but we must be careful how we speak against what other beliefs and trust the Word of God to be living and active, sharper than a two edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God will accomplish more than any negative criticism we speak against people. We have a message of love, redemption, healing, freedom, forgiveness and grace that this lost world needs to hear.

Jesus came to reveal God's heart for the lost. In his interaction with the Samaritan women and through his teaching to the disciples at this incident we see more clearly what this involves.
1. Our motivation in sharing with people must always be pure and for their benefit.
2. We must give them the same value that God does putting away all or our preconceived ideas and prejudices.
3. We must embrace our true purpose as Jesus did by destroying the works of the enemy and establishing the Kingdom of God.
4. We have to understand the time of the harvest is now and take action.
5. Our vision must be focused on the ripened harvest and not ourselves.
6. Our witness is part of the process of sowing and reaping. Our seeds must always draw people closer to acceptance of Christ as Savior.

I pray that each of us will have the heart of the Father toward the lost and be actively sharing the gospel message as Jesus has demonstrated to us in his life and ministry.