Work While It Is Day

John 9: 4

In this passage of Scripture Jesus speaks about His work, and gives us direction for ours.
John 9: 4 says: " I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work."

To understand the importance of this text, we must examine it in the context of the chapter.
The text comes after a question that had been asked of Jesus by the disciples.
The disciples had come upon a man who had been blind from birth, and the disciples had asked, "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"

The disciples, who had not yet learned to look on people as Christ looked on them,
as people to be loved, saw the man as a philosophical problem, and they were ready
to debate it.
They reasoned that suffering was related to sin.
This man was suffering; therefore sin is involved.
So the question was who sinned?
That was their way of thinking.

To Jesus this man was one on whom Jesus had compassion.
Rather than getting deeply into a philosophical answer, Jesus answered them briefly.
At the same time He was ready to heal the man born blind.

It is in this situation that Jesus spoke of His work, and stressed that He must be working.
He added that the night was coming when no man could work.
C. H. Spurgeon once said that " The Saviour has a greater respect for work then He has for speculation."

Questions are good, and there are answers to such questions, and Jesus gives them.
But what mattered most was to work, for the time to work is limited and the workers are few.
God had sent Jesus to work, and He was determined to do that work.
Christians, God has also given you work to do.
So we must also be determined to do that work that is ours to do.

The verse itself is most instructive.
The first thought to us is the necessity of working.
This is indicated when Jesus said, " I must work."

The necessity of working is something that is found throughout the ministry of Jesus,
and it is related to the will of God for Him.
The earliest words of Jesus makes this point.
His parents had taken him to Jerusalem for the Passover when he was 12 years old,
an when they left to return to Nazareth, Jesus stayed behind in the temple.

Joseph and Mary thought He was with others in their company.
When they discovered that He was missing, they went back to Jerusalem.
And, after much searching, they found him.

He was discussing doctrine with the leaders of the temple.
His mother asked Him: " Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?"
Jesus replied, " How is it that ye sought me?
Know ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2: 49)

Remember the time when a short man named Zacchaeus climbed a tree in order
to see Jesus as the crowd in which Jesus was walking past by.
Jesus knew the need of this man's heart and soul.
So He stopped at the tree, looked up, and said to the man:
" Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house."
(Luke 19: 5)

When Jesus was talking to nicotine us Nicodemus, he referred to the lifting up
of the brass serpent in the wilderness.
He said: " Even so must the Son of man be lifted up." (John 3: 14)
In Luke 9: 22 Jesus said: " The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected
by the elders and chief priest and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day."
From the beginning of His ministry to the end of it, Jesus felt a necessity of obedience
to the will of God to do the work that He had been sent to do.

So, Jesus felt compelled to work because he wanted to be obedient to the will of God.
He also wanted to care for the need of men.
In John 8 we read about Jesus being driven out of the temple area.
Most of us would think that it is all right if Jesus was thinking primarily about
His own needs and problems.
But He is not.

For as soon as He is outside the temple area by the gate of the temple, He noticed
a blind beggar, and is immediately ready to care for the man and his problems.
The heart of the Lord Jesus Christ when out to him.
It was always this way with Jesus.
Wherever He looked there were sheep to be gathered and souls to be rescued.
So He worked for the need of people compelled Him to work.

There is not any difference today.
The need today is also great.
Men and women are perishing today without the gospel and without Jesus.
They crowd our cities and our countrysides.
They are the poor, the lonely, the outcast of society, and those who do not believe in Jesus.

The need is urgent.
Who will reach them?
Will you?
Do you feel that you must work?
Jesus felt that, and as a result, was a blessing to all who knew Him.
What are we doing to be a blessing to those who are in such desperate need?

Another source of necessity which Jesus felt the need to work was undoubtedly
His love for others.
Jesus loved people, and He would go out of His way to work for them.
Do we love others?
Or do we just see them as problems, as the disciple saw the man who had been born blind?
Do we love others enough to help them?
Or do we just merely lecture them or preach to them.

There is an illustration of what ought to be done in the story of the loving father and the prodigal son.
The son had taken his share of the father's inheritance, and then, he went off
to another country where he wasted all his inheritance on low living.
When it was all gone, he returned home and found his father waiting for his return.

He said, " Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy
to be called thy son."
Do you remember what the father said?
Or to be more personal, what would you have said if you had been the father?

First, most fathers would probably have given his son a lecture, and questioned him.
" Where have you been?" might have been one of the questions.
Another might have been: " What have you been doing?"
" Where is your money?"
Didn't you know that that you have wasted one half of my estate?
"How could you have done that?"
"You have not been a good steward, and you have not been a faithful and loving son.
What are we going to do with you?
What could you possibly expect to receive from me now?"

These are questions and comments that we might have made, but this was not
what the father did.
Instead, he threw his arms about the neck of his son and kissed him.
He said: " Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand,
and shoes on his feet.
And bring the fatted calf, and kill it; and led us eat, and be merry.
For this, my son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."
(Luke 15:20-24)

This parable was given to show the love of God the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ
for men and women who are lost in sin.
This should be our pattern and our passion.

Is the man or woman who is steeped in sin repulsive to you?
His sin is repulsive to the Lord Jesus, but Jesus loves that person anyway.
He even died in that person's place and took that person's sin upon Him.
This love should move us and motivate us.
The love of the Lord Jesus Christ should constrain us.
It should constrain us to work and witness for the salvation of others.

There is another lesson that comes from the words of Jesus about work.

It is the specialized nature of the work, which Jesus indicates by the next phrase
in the sentence which is " I must work the works of him that sent me."
It was the works of God (and only those works) which Jesus felt compelled to work,
while it was yet day.
There are many people who can take the first part of this verse and say with
great honesty and enthusiasm, " I must work."
But there are very few who can say, " I must work the works of Him that sent me."

An example of this is like a man who is determined to get ahead in business.
He rises early in order to get to the office before most of the other employees.
He puts in a long day, skipping coffee breaks, and even having his lunch sent in to him.
After all the others leave, he stays, and it is late when he finally starts home.

At night he is thinking about his business and planning for the next day.
He is doing all of this to get ahead in his work.
His desire is so strong, and it is a proper desire.
If a person wants to get ahead in the world, he or she must work.
Hard work is good for anyone.

But this is the point for which Jesus came into the world.
It was not to get ahead in business or to get rich.
He came to do the works of Him who sent Him.
It was upon this that He desire to do, and He focused upon every activity.

Do we apply the same discipline and enthusiasm that we have in other areas of our lives
to the work of God?
Notice that Jesus was not selective in the works He felt compelled to accomplish.
He did not pick and choose.
Rather, He said, " I must work the works (plural) of him that sent me."

He was saying that He must do all of them.
Whatever they were, and whether they were either personally appealing or unappealing,
He will do all of them.
Remember when He was the Garden of Gethsemane, and sweated as it were great drops
of blood as His soul shrank in horror from the spiritual suffering of the cross.
But Jesus was determined to go through it all.

Do we back away from that which is distasteful?
There is no doubt that much Christian work remains undone simply because of this.
Most Christians have not yet learned that each believer is personally to do the works
-- all the works -- of Him who sent Him.

The words of Christ about work also teach us that there is a limitation to the time
we have allotted to work -- time is short.
Jesus indicated this by saying, " I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day."
This striking words from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ mean so much more than
if they had been spoken by any mere man or woman.

Christ is the timeless God.
He lived in eternity past, and will be living throughout the eternity future.
If anyone could have postponed work, it would have been the Lord Jesus.
Yet, we see Jesus concerned for the moment and was aware that the moment was passing.
If that it is true for Jesus, how much more true it is for us who are creatures of time
and for whom time is quickly passing.

Time is passing for us.
We are here today, and we are worshiping God.
There is not one bit of assurance that we will be here on this earth tomorrow.
Death may come to us.
Or sickness may come upon us, and the opportunities for service which we have today
may be over.

And even if we continue to have good health, a time of opportunity may pass for the one
to whom we should be taking the gospel or to whom we should be serving.
Every preacher must be acutely aware that we will not preach to the same congregation
for long.
Some will die this year, and more will die the next year.
We cannot wait!
We must preach the full counsels of God with all the depth, maturity, passion
and urgency of which we are capable.

Richard Baxter once said, " I preach as though I ne'er might preach again,
and as a dying man to dying men."
That must be our standard.
God holds us responsible.

Are you a Bible teacher?
If you are, that same principle applies to you.
You will not have those children very long.
They will grow up, and you will be limited in your influence upon their lives.
What will you teach them in that time?
What will they learn?

For some, it may be the only time in their lives in which they will have opportunity
to hear about God's love for them in Christ and of His great plans for them.
For some it may be the only time in which they will ever memorize Scripture.
God holds you responsible.

Are you a mother or a father?
Then these truths are also for you.
Now is a time to train your children.
You must begin while they are young.

You must lead them to know and receive Jesus as their Saviour.
God holds you responsible.
You must teach them the truths of God, and help them to develop Christian character
that will stay with them all their lives.
God holds you responsible!

Time is passing!
In this as in other areas " the night comes when no man can work".

Then, we must consider the end of all things.
Life will come to an end for each one of us, and for those to whom we witness.
It is also true that the night will come in history, and that opportunity for all work will truly end.
Today, there are great opportunities to serve Christ.
We do not know how long they will last.
We'd do not know when the end will come.

Dr. Carl F. H. Henry was a visiting speaker at a seminary when he spoke of the frightening
rise of a new barbarianism in our age.
He said: " The barbarians are coming!"
He compared paganism of today to the barbarian conquest of Christian Rome.

He said: " They are coming in science through the misuse of new discoveries.
They are coming in communications as men discover ways to manipulate
public opinion to bad ends.
They are coming in the religious realm, as institutional Christianity fails to do the work
that God has given us.
And we will see an increase in to the occult, and the cults and to Satanism."

He goes on to say that they will " obscure the vitalities of revealed religion
-- they will detour churchgoers from piety and saintliness, and in the so-called
enlightened nations not only will the multitudes soon relapse to a retrograde morality,
but churchgoers will live in Corinthian immorality, and churchmen will encourage
situational ethics, and the lines between the Christian and the worldling will scarce be found"

Doesn't that sound like what is happening in our world today.
It is time to get to work while God gives you the chance!
Wake up! Get moving! Serve! Give!
Sacrifice! Suffer, if need be!
Live for Jesus with all your being, while God has given you this tiny window of opportunity
The night is coming!

Work, For The Night Is Coming!

"Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the morning hours;
Work while the dew is sparkling,
Work 'mid springing flowers;
Work when the day grows brighter,
Work in the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man's work is done.

Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the sunny noon;
Fill brightest hours with labor,
Rest comes sure and soon.
Give every flying minute,
Something to keep in store;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man works no more.

Work, for the night is coming,
Under the sunset skies;
While their bright tints are glowing,
Work, for daylight flies.
Work till the last beam fadeth,
Fadeth to shine no more;
Work, while the night is darkening,
When man's work is o'er."

--- Words by Anna L. Coghill, 1854, music by Lowell Mason, 1864

Are you working for Jesus?
God grant that we may on that day when we see Jesus, hear Him say:
" Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Sermon adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White