Well, thank you so much, Kate.
Just for your real honesty and just for encouraging us,
thank you so much for doing that.
And I'm thinking there to myself,
she left a beach in Australia to come here.
And thinking, well, I wonder if I could get myself
a wee minister exchange over in Australia.
But it's great to be together.
Thank you so much for coming out tonight.
I hope this is going to be useful.
We're here at the final installment of our little series
that we began six weeks ago,
looking at the subject of work.
And the question we've been thinking through
is how does being a follower of Jesus,
how should it and how does it make a difference
to the things that we do with the waking hours of our days?
And if you remember, we started out
in the early chapters of Genesis
and we were thinking about God at work.
He created the cosmos from nothing.
He spoke and things came into being.
He created out of his all-powerful words.
We saw that he created male and female,
both made in the image of this great loving community
that we meet in Genesis of the three-in-one God.
And he tasked Adam and Eve,
this great complimentary dream team that he had made,
with the job of caring for and cultivating
his good creation for their good and for his glory.
And it was all going so well
until Adam and Eve rebelled against God.
And we thought about how sin is at work.
And we saw sin enter the world.
And we heard God pronounce
that one of the consequences of sin
was that work,
whilst not ceasing to be good,
was going to bring frustration.
And it will be at times hard.
And it will be at times unfruitful.
And if nothing else,
one day you won't be able to work
because death and decay will have set in.
But thankfully for the Christian,
the truth of the gospel
is that Jesus Christ has redeemed us
and he's made us his own.
And yes, we still live in this fallen world.
Yes, we still live with our fallen bodies.
But in Christ,
not only has our future been radically altered,
but our life's purpose here and now
has been radically altered too.
Because we've got a new master.
We've got a new vision.
And we've got a new agenda.
And we serve King Jesus
with our everyday work.
And so this evening,
as we bring it home,
we're going to think about how God
is at work today.
And we're going to see this great invitation
that Jesus makes to us as his followers,
as we serve him in our work that is temporary,
to join in with God's work,
the fruit of which will last for eternity.
So why don't you turn back to John chapter four
and to this quite wonderful chapter of scripture
that is so much to teach us.
But just before we pray,
I'm very aware that we've been sitting
for about half an hour now.
So what I want you to do is just to stand.
And we've been thinking about children.
If you were here this morning,
we were thinking about children,
how God,
how Jesus invited,
don't hinder the little children
from coming to me.
So I thought we'd get our inner child out
this evening,
just as we come to pray, okay?
Now this is what the,
this is what Pete,
this is on you here.
This is what Pete teaches,
if we're all looking at him.
This is how he teaches the children to play
in kids' church.
Is this right?
I've been watching you for almost six years now,
so I hope I get this right.
P-R-A-Y.
Do that together?
I feel I mastered that,
didn't I, Pete?
I nailed that one.
Okay, here we go.
P-R-A-Y.
Let's pray together.
Dearest Father,
we ask that you would help us grasp
something more this evening,
something more of your ways,
which are so much higher than our ways,
something more of your wisdom
that is so much greater than our wisdom,
something more of your plans
that are so much greater than our plans,
and by your spirit,
help us grasp something more
of the greatness of your son,
Jesus Christ.
And it's in his name that we pray confidently.
Amen.
Please have a seat.
And to get us thinking this evening,
I've got three questions for you.
Here's question number one.
Name the building.
St. Paul's.
Okay, question number two,
if you're really on the ball here.
Does anyone know the year of construction?
If you know the century,
that'll probably do.
So it's the late 17th.
Is that what you said?
Spot the architect.
I like it.
Thirdly, name the designer.
Christopher Wren.
So there's a famous story told
of Christopher Wren
and St. Paul's Cathedral.
Christopher Wren had designed
the grand plan of what St. Paul's
was going to look like,
and it's under construction.
And Christopher Wren decides
to go undercover
into St. Paul's Cathedral
to see what the moods
of the men
who were working
to make this thing a reality,
to see what their mood was like.
So he walks in undercover
into St. Paul's Cathedral
and he comes across a man
and he says,
man,
you'd probably call them sir,
sir,
what are you doing?
And the man replies,
sir,
I am cutting a piece of stone.
So he goes,
very good,
keep on working.
He goes on,
makes another man,
he puts the same question to him,
sir,
what are you doing?
And he replies,
sir,
I am earning five shillings,
two pence a day.
I've got no idea
what that's worth in today's money,
but that's what he was earning
at the time,
five shillings,
two pence a day.
And on he walks
and he comes across
a third man
and he puts the same question
to the third man.
He says,
sir,
what are you doing?
And this man replies,
sir,
I am helping
sir Christopher Wren
make his plan
a reality.
Now,
here's the question for you
as we set out this evening.
If you were Christopher Wren,
which mindset
would have encouraged you
the most?
Surely,
it's the man
who grasped
the bigger plan
and the bigger purpose
for what you were trying
to achieve.
Because this evening
is all about
buying into
and grasping
the bigger plan.
So this is,
if you get one thing
from this evening,
that is what we're all about
this evening,
grasping a bigger plan.
And what we're going to see
is Jesus invite us
to sink our life's work
with God's bigger plan.
So if you've got John 4 there,
I invite you to turn back there now.
This is what we're going to see
in John chapter 4.
We're going to see Jesus
invite his disciples
to see how God is at work
and he's going to invite them
to join God at work.
And if you've got John chapter 4 there,
you'll see that the action
takes place with Jesus
having left Judea
in the south
and he's heading for Galilee
in the north.
And see,
if you notice it there,
what John tells us
at verse 4,
that he had to pass
through Samaria.
He had to pass
through Samaria.
Now as the crow flies,
this was the shortest route
from the south
to the north.
But for Jews,
if you wanted to avoid
defilement,
if you wanted to stay clean,
as it were,
then the travel route
that you took
was the one
that was on the east.
And that meant
that you bypassed
Samaria.
But Jesus,
do you see it there?
John tells us
he had to pass
through Samaria.
Now not because
he's got dry cleaning
to pick up there,
not because he's got
a distant cousin
that he needs to visit,
there's no other reason
for Jesus to go
to Samaria
except
a divine
and a purposeful
impulse.
Do you see what's going on?
It's John's way
of telling us
to sit up
and listen,
sit up and take notice
because something
quite magnificent
and something
quite striking
is just about
to go down
in his gospel.
Verse 5,
do you see it?
Jesus comes to this town
called Sychar.
And as you might expect,
he's tired
and he's weary
from his journey.
He's tired
and he's weary.
Now that's not just
a throwaway line
that John's chucked
in there.
That is actually
a line of very,
very deep theology.
Blink and you might
miss it.
Because what is
John telling us?
That Jesus,
he may be fully God.
This is what we've seen
in John chapter 1.
He's fully God.
But don't forget
he is also fully human.
It's the truth
that we're remembering,
isn't it,
this time of year?
The truth
that we're working towards
as we look forward
to the 25th,
we remember,
we celebrate,
we sing,
we declare
that veiled in flesh
the Godhead see
hail the incarnate deity.
This is Jesus.
He is God with us.
He is God in flesh.
And here he is
in John chapter 4.
And Jesus sits
by the well.
Do you see it
in the narrative there?
When does he sit
by the well?
At the sixth hour.
So at the very height
of the day,
he's by the well.
And who does he bump into?
Verse 7.
This woman.
Now immediately,
we should smell
that something's
not quite right here.
Because women in this day,
they would normally
come to collect their water
at the cool of the day.
Now that makes sense,
doesn't it?
Makes sense.
Unless you had
some kind of
factor 200 sunscreen
that you were wearing
and you wanted to look
like Casper the ghost,
this is when you would
go out to collect
your water,
the cool of the day.
But here is this woman.
She's out at the height
of the day.
She clearly doesn't want
anybody,
for one reason or another,
that will come on to see.
She doesn't want anybody
to see her in public.
And the scene develops.
We see this back and forth
dialogue between Jesus
and this woman.
And we soon discover
that Jesus knows this woman.
Jesus knows.
Do you notice it there
that she's had five husbands
who have either divorced her
or who have either died?
And Jesus knows
that the man that she's with now
is not her husband.
And we've got to ask
as the reader,
how does Jesus know that?
Did he read it
in Hello Magazine of the day?
How does he know that?
Well, he may be fully human,
but don't forget
that he is also fully God.
Do you see how the two truths
combine in John chapter 4?
This is Jesus.
This is our Lord.
He knows every little detail
of this woman's life.
He feels her pain.
He sees her tears.
He hears her words.
He knows her sin
and he understands her questions.
And most importantly,
he knows what she doesn't know
at this outset of John 4.
He knows what she needs most of all.
She needs living water.
She's not going to find it
from the well.
She needs living water
that's going to what?
It's going to quench her thirst.
See, her life up to this point
has been this endless cycle,
this endless merry-go-round
of disappointments
and failed dreams.
There we go again
and again and again.
This woman,
here she is.
You know,
as Christian writer
and apologist,
Ravi Zacharias,
he puts it like this,
the loneliest moment
in your life
is when you have
just experienced
what you thought
would deliver the ultimate
and it's let you down.
That's this woman.
Every bubble of her life,
she's watched it grow.
She's watched it promise
and ultimately
she's watched it burst.
Now we're left here,
aren't we,
John chapter 4,
thinking,
does this woman need a husband?
To her right,
she needs a husband.
A selfless husband.
A husband who will give his life
selflessly to die,
to save her.
A husband who will complete her.
A husband who will transform her
into a spirit and truth
worshiper of the living God.
Do you see what she needs?
She doesn't need a husband.
She needs the great husband.
She needs Jesus.
Jesus.
Truly,
Jesus
had
to pass
through
Samaria.
He had to meet this
and let's get it in context
who she is at this point.
She is theologically
uneducated.
She is religiously
impure.
She is ritually
unclean.
She is morally
disqualified
and she's a woman.
And it's no surprise then
that when the disciples,
when they come back,
remember they were off
buying bread in town.
When they come back,
return at verse 27,
they are flabbergasted
that Jesus is speaking
with this woman.
And this woman,
after her encounter
with Jesus,
what has she done?
She's gone back where?
Into her own town.
And as we sometimes say
in the West
where I'm formed,
she's clearly got
the gift of the gap,
hasn't she?
She's just telling
everybody she meets.
Verse 29,
inviting everyone
that she meets.
To what?
Come and meet a man
who told me everything
that I ever did.
That's her invitation.
And so are the people
going to come
from this village?
You bet they're going
to come.
Meanwhile,
the camera pans
to the disciples.
What are their minds?
Jesus,
have you had
something to eat?
Jesus responds,
verse 34,
effectively,
boys,
you need to up the game.
You need to get
your priorities right.
You see,
for Jesus,
the accomplishment
of God's mission
is way more urgent
than filling his belly
with food.
God is at work,
says Jesus.
God is at work.
If only you would see it,
and if only you would seize it,
and if only you would buy
into God's bigger plan.
And how is God at work?
Jesus shows them.
Verse 35,
don't you have a saying?
It's still four months
until harvest.
I tell you,
open your eyes
and look at the fields.
Invitation there
to the disciples,
lift their eyes
and look.
Well,
I was trying to picture it
this week,
as they lifted their eyes
and as they looked,
what would they have seen?
Most likely,
just brown,
empty fields.
It's not harvest time yet,
but what does Jesus say?
That these fields
are ripe for harvest.
Really?
Brown fields?
You can understand,
can't you,
the disciples
who were previously
thinking of bread
are looking at Jesus
and thinking,
is he one sandwich
short of a picnic?
Has he lost the plot?
What's he on about?
Brown fields?
So their eyes up,
they're still looking
and thinking,
what's on the horizon?
You flip the question,
they think,
who's on the horizon?
The people from
this Samaritan village,
who they are,
responding to this woman's invitation,
they're making their way
across the fields
to get to Jesus.
Here is the harvest,
says Jesus.
You see,
he's not talking about
a physical harvest,
is he?
He's talking about
a soul harvest.
This is how God
is at work,
says Jesus.
In the coming
of Jesus,
in the coming of his son,
he is breaking
into people's lives.
He is calling people
to repent and believe
in his son,
Jesus.
He is bringing men
and women,
boys and girls
back to God.
See,
when Jesus talks
about God's work here,
what he's talking about
is God's work
being a harvest work.
And what are the disciples
invited to do?
Join in the Father's work.
Verse 34.
Join in the Father's work.
And what would that mean?
Two things.
You see,
firstly,
Jesus invites them
to get sowing.
Get sowing.
So tell everybody
that you come across
about Jesus.
Make it your life's business
to seek to introduce
everyone that you come across
to Jesus.
And make it your life's business
to invite everyone
that you come across
to put their faith
in Jesus.
So your life's work
is to be about
diligently sowing the seed,
expectantly spreading
the word.
And if you wanted
a case in point example
of what that looks like,
surely it's just
this woman.
What has she done?
She's just gone back
and she's told everyone
that she's met,
come and meet a man,
come and meet a man.
They told me everything
that I've ever done.
Get sowing,
Jesus said.
And secondly,
get reaping.
Work hard.
Make it your life's work
to get those gospel seeds
reaped.
Work to see those gospel seeds
that the others
before you have planted.
Work to see them
come to fruition.
Do you see that
these fields
currently full
of lost people
making their way
to Jesus?
This is the harvest,
says Jesus
to his disciples.
So the question
for them
is,
will they lift their eyes
to what God is doing
or will they be dominated
by the world's work?
As they look out,
will they continue
to have their horizons
dominated by the world's work
or will they take up
the invitation to join
in the Father's work?
Will they look on the world
through the eyes of Jesus?
Will they have a heart
for the harvest?
Will they have a mindset
for mission?
And here we are back
to our big question
this evening.
Will they sink
their life's work
with God's bigger plan?
That's the question
of John 4.
And I think that's
the big challenge
that will come to us
this evening
as we finish this series
and as we think
about how God
is at work.
Will we sink
our lives,
our working lives,
with how God's
is at work?
And just to help us
think through,
we're just going to go
for another 5-10 minutes,
okay, just to help us
think through the implications
of what that might look
like in our lives,
I've just got two things
that we can take away
and apply from
John chapter 4.
Sound okay?
Here's the first one.
Here's the first thing
we learn from
John chapter 4.
The places that God
targets.
So Jesus had to
pass through Sumeria.
Why?
Well, presumably
because no Jew
in Jesus' day
would ever venture there.
And we see Jesus,
don't we?
I love this in John 4.
We see him
smashing gospel barriers
and we see him
building gospel bridges.
Jesus smashes
the male-female barrier,
doesn't he?
And he smashes
the Jew-Gentile barrier
because this woman,
she was lost,
she was helpless,
she was spending
her life chasing bubbles
and she needed
to be reconciled
to the God
who created her.
And so I think
that as readers,
the question we're
meant to ask is,
where are the lost
people of our day?
Where are they?
I think the answer
has got to be
everywhere.
And the question
we need to ask ourselves
as we see Jesus'
prerogative
is his mission
our mission.
Ask yourself firstly,
where has God
deployed you?
Where has he put you?
How often we forget,
don't we,
the sovereign purposes
of God for our lives?
How often we forget
his sovereign hand
over our placement,
if you like,
that he's not put us
to places where we are,
doing what we do
simply so we can
fill time between
now and his return.
He's placed us
where we are
with a divine purpose.
The office,
the playground,
the surgery,
the classroom,
the changing room,
the building site,
the hairdressers,
the shop,
the family,
the stairwell,
the coffee shop,
everywhere he has placed us
with this mission.
Now,
we need Christians,
don't we?
We need them witnessing
in all different areas
of society,
all different sectors.
That's what we need.
But do you see
how God
in his almighty wisdom
has done that?
It's been so incredible.
I've loved having
these interviews
up the front
over the past few weeks
because we've seen
how God has been
at work deploying
his people all around
this city
in all different areas
of society.
We've seen Christian parents.
We've heard from
Christian teachers,
Christian scientists,
Christian students,
Christian civil servants.
Do you see,
and we didn't even
interview a doctor.
I don't even know
how we managed to do that.
But do you see
how God has placed
his people,
and we're just a microcosm
of this in our city,
how God has placed
his people all over
the place.
So have a think,
where has God deployed you?
And ask yourself,
secondly,
who has God put
around you?
It's a constant theme,
it's a constant pattern
in scripture
that we see
that God places people,
his people places,
so that he can reach
other people.
If you want to check out
the book of Acts,
we see this all the time.
God wants to reach
the Philippian jailer.
What does he do?
He preaches Paul in prison.
God wants to reach
the Ethiopian eunuch.
What does he do?
He brings Philip to him.
God working out
his purposes,
his sovereign purposes
through his people.
You see,
this is God uniquely wiring
and uniquely placing
each of us
where we are
to accomplish
his sovereign purposes.
And that means,
if you work that through,
that means
he has placed
you places
that you can reach
people for Jesus
that I can't reach.
and I can reach
people for Jesus
that you can't reach.
But the question is,
will we see it
and will we seize
the opportunity
and the invitation
to be part
of something bigger?
You see,
the Great Commission
is no young man's game.
The call to make disciples
is not simply
for the seasoned
and mature saints.
We're all in this together.
That Jesus summons us
to join in
God's work.
And so the question
we need to ask ourselves
is,
whatever we are,
whatever we're doing,
will we sink our lives
with God's bigger plan?
So there's the first thing
we learn,
I think,
from John chapter 4.
We learn the places
that God targets.
Here's the second thing
I think we learn.
The people that God uses.
Because you have to see,
as we read this through,
there is a beautiful simplicity
about John chapter 4.
Isn't there this woman?
Now just think about her.
She doesn't go to church.
She's got no theology degree.
She hasn't attended
a Christianity Explored course.
She hasn't been taken through
a Two Ways to Live manual
and how to do that.
She hasn't read
a stirring book on evangelism.
She simply has met Jesus,
has been transformed by him,
and has gone back
to her village
and told everyone
that she meets about him.
From the text,
you notice that we didn't,
we don't even see Jesus
tell her to go and do that.
It just kind of happens naturally.
But notice why people came,
verse 39.
Because of this woman's testimony.
Come and meet a man
who told me
all that I ever did,
she says.
Now you can imagine
the townspeople
when she drops that one in,
can you not?
Wait a minute,
he told you everything
that you've ever done?
She responds,
yes,
everything I've ever done.
Everything I've ever done.
Do you see in Jesus
she's clearly found someone
with whom there is no hiding,
with whom there is no pretending,
and with whom she can be herself
worse and all.
And you can imagine her,
can you not,
going back to her townspeople
and saying,
isn't it incredible
that the man that I met,
the Messiah,
hasn't come to judge me
for my sin.
He has come to save me
from my sin.
It's the same thing
that we see
at the rulers,
the elders and the scribes,
that they say
of Peter and John
in Acts chapter 4.
You can check that out afterwards.
That they perceive
that these men are what?
Uneducated and common.
In other words,
they were just country bumpkins.
But what did they recognize?
What did they say
about these men?
That they had been with Jesus.
They had been with Jesus.
Presumably these men,
remember their intent
on stamping Jesus out,
they look at Peter and John,
they hear how they talk,
they see how they behave,
and it simply reminds them
of Jesus who they tried
to stamp out
in the first place.
And there was a survey
carried out in 2012
by Marie Curie Cancer Care
as part of their
Cancer Awareness Week.
And they asked living celebrities
to write in and tell them
what they would like
to be written
on their tombstone.
If you want to check it out,
you can Google it afterwards.
There's some quite funny
entries in there.
This is my favorite.
Louis Theroux
wants this in his tombstone.
And if you're a man,
you'll click with this, okay?
So now,
do you believe me
that I've got man flu?
This is what he wants to
write on his tombstone, okay?
There's some great entries
in there.
But here's the question
I want to ask you.
What would you like
written about you?
What would you like
written about you?
I was thinking on it this week.
What would people say about me?
Husband?
Father?
Airdrie fan?
Probably.
But here's what I want
people to write.
Graham Shanks,
we saw that he had been
with Jesus.
And if that's it,
praise God,
we saw that he had been
with Jesus.
That's clearly what
these townspeople
saw in this Samaritan woman.
That's evidently what
these chief elders and rulers
saw in Peter and John.
And the question for us
this evening is,
do we live our lives
in such a way
that that is what
people in our circles,
people in our workplaces
would instinctively say
about us?
They had been
with Jesus.
You know,
every Christian has
the same story.
Sorry,
every Christian has
a different story,
but each story
has the same message.
that I was lost
and I met Jesus.
Or rather,
Jesus met me
and he transformed me.
It's the old hymn we used to,
I remember singing it
when we were growing up.
I was lost,
but Jesus found me,
found the sheep
that went astray,
threw his loving arms
around me,
drew me back
into his way.
Yes,
I'll sing the wondrous story
of the Christ
who died for me.
Sing it with the
saints in glory,
gathered by
the crystal sea.
Do you see,
these are the ordinary people
that God uses.
And I find that
massively reassuring
when I look at my own life
because I know
I'm an ordinary person,
living an ordinary life,
doing ordinary things,
but simply to tell people
about an extraordinary God.
As my friend's
Twitter profile reads,
I'm simply a nobody
trying to tell everybody
about somebody.
I think that's a great way
of putting that.
I'm a nobody
trying to tell everybody
about somebody.
So I hope you're encouraged
just by a short little time
in John chapter 4
that God uses simple people
with simple stories.
Because I know that's hard,
isn't it,
for many of us in the workplace.
We think we don't have
the answers.
Well,
I hope the woman
has encouraged you here
that she simply went
and told
and said,
come,
come and meet a man
who's known
and who knows
everything I've ever done.
You see,
this woman didn't just
testify to Jesus
to see how she invited.
Just on a personal note,
how encouraged I was
to hear how many people
invited friends
to that gingerbread event
yesterday.
Now,
I know they didn't all come,
but so encouraged
this week hearing
how many invitations
had gone out to people
to come.
Come to an event,
yes,
but come and meet Jesus.
Come and meet Jesus.
You know,
Christmas presents us
with just a wonderful opportunity,
does it not,
to invite people
to come.
It's such an easy sell.
Such an easy sell.
Who could we be inviting
to come to
the Christmas events
that go on here?
Who can you invite?
And here's the challenge
I want to leave you with.
Who are you praying for?
Somebody challenged me
this week that if,
and get this,
this is a challenge,
that if God
was to answer
every one of my prayers
for my non-Christian friends
to become Christians,
how many people
would be added
to the kingdom?
Are we praying
for our friends?
Are we praying
for opportunities?
Are we praying
that God would give us
the heart and the gumption
to seize those opportunities?
Who's on your heart
this week?
Who can you be praying for?
That's the second thing
I think we learned
from John chapter four,
the people that God uses.
Will we sync our lives
with God's bigger plan?
So just as we close,
let me take you back
to Christopher Wren.
Remember those three men
that he talked to?
Let me ask you
just as we close
the question,
what do you do?
What are you doing?
Same question
that he asked those men.
What are you doing?
Are you simply
cutting a piece of stone?
Are you just performing a job?
Are you just going
through the routine?
Are you simply earning
five shillings,
two pints a day?
Are you just trying
to fill your face?
Are you just trying
to put food on the table?
Or are you like
that third man?
Have you grasped?
Have you seen?
Have you seized?
Have you bought into
the great designer's
master plan?
See, Jesus is telling us
that is the very reason
that he has come
because God is building
something bigger.
God is building something
more beautiful
than St. Paul's Cathedral
and he's building something
that's going to last
well beyond St. Paul's Cathedral.
He's building his church.
How is God at work today?
He's working through his son
by his spirit
to seek and to save the lost
and to gather in
the great soul harvest.
Here we see it
in Revelation chapter 7.
The great multitude of people
that through Jesus
God has won to himself.
John writes this,
After this I looked
and there before me
was a great multitude
that no one could count
from every nation,
tribe, people and language,
standing before the throne
and before the Lamb.
And you read on down,
They fell on their faces
before the throne
and they worshipped God
saying, Amen,
praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks
and honour and power
and strength
be to our God
forever and ever.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Father,
and so just maybe
in the silence now
as we've maybe come
to the end of this series,
maybe now is a great time
just to pause
and maybe to rededicate
ourselves to God's
master plan.
And so Father,
thank you so much
for this evening.
Thank you for these
last few weeks
as we've studied
your word
and particularly
as we've looked
at applying it
to this particular
area of our lives,
the things that we do
during the waking hours
of our day
that we call work.
And Lord,
we ask that the message
and the challenge
of these last few weeks
would last long
in our minds
and it would profoundly
change the way
that we act
and behave
and live
and view the world.
Help us, Lord,
to sink our lives
with your bigger plan
for this world.
And so this is our prayer.
Dear Father,
hear it because we make it
in Jesus' name.
Amen.