The Pursuit After Jesus - John 4:31-54
We become strong in our faith when we pursue Jesus.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
Logic vs discernment
The disciples thought about physical food just as quickly as the woman had thought about physical water
He’s not talking about food, He’s talking about what He was sent to do (cf John 5:36, 6:38, 8:29)
2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. - Deuteronomy 8:2-3
Jesus’ food
The souls of these men and women coming to Him was more important than physical food
There is the urgency of the Gospel Jesus sees that they don’t
If in his dealings with the Samaritan woman Jesus was performing his Father’s will, there was greater sustenance and satisfaction in that than in any food the disciples could offer him.
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. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
Sowing and reaping, one sows another reaps
Example of Philip in Acts 8:4-8
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 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.”
They did not believe in Jesus because of what she said
Our stories don’t have the power to save, that is of God, but they do have the power to draw people to Jesus
They had a personal encounter with Jesus
Many believed when they came to see Jesus at the well
Many more believed when Jesus was invited in
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. - I John 4:7-12
Do you honor Jesus? Is He welcomed? There will be evidence of this in your life.
46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
The you in verse 48 is plural as Jesus is speaking to all the people there
John 2:23-25 Jesus did not entrust Himself to the people here
They were after what He was going to do
Essentially telling them their faith needed to be propped up by first seeing miracle
Do we want Jesus or do we want what He can do for us?
Would we still want Him if we received nothing but His grace?
Would we still want Him if what He gave us was taken away? (Job)
We get both when we want Jesus
49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
When did the man believe?
In the centurion account (cf Matthew 8:5-13), Jesus marvelled at his faith, with this official, He questions his faith
There was a desperation that rooted his faith, not the need to see miracles
51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
Faith is something that encompasses every moment of the Christian Life
The children of God believe the Word of God, but they are also believers who day by day cling to the Lord and trust in His ways
Just like this official, sometimes Jesus answers are requests in a way that is unexpected, or a way that is not exactly what we had in mind
Faith chooses to trust Him even when life does not turn out as planned.
Faith chooses to trust Him when they answer does not make any sense.
Faith chooses to trust Him instead of our own plans.