John 4:27-38

Just as Jesus makes His declaration to the Samaritan woman, the disciples return. I love how John describes their reaction to finding Jesus at the well with this woman:

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” (John 4:27)

Although none of them dared question openly, apparently they were certainly wondering what in the world Jesus was doing with such a woman. Jesus was going to set them straight!

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.


Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”


But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”


Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” (vs.31-33)

We finally see here the response of the woman to her encounter with Jesus: she left her water jar and ran to tell others about Jesus! Now, don’t you wonder if a few eyebrows didn’t raise when she said this man “told me everything I ever did,”? They surely knew her reputation, but with this declaration, she pretty much is admitting it all openly to these people who had scorned her. They were witnessing an immediate change in this woman who used to go out of her way to avoid their eyes.

Meanwhile, back at the well, the disciples were encouraging Jesus to eat what they had brought back, but He apparently had already eaten! The disciples were confused, not understanding that He was sustained and filled to the brim by doing the Father’s will. And then Jesus addresses their prejudice against the Samaritans. As the people of the town were making their way down the road to see Him for themselves, Jesus points out that these people, despised and rejected by the Jews, were ripe for the picking. They were hungry for and ready to hear the gospel:

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”  (vs.34-38)

Jesus was challenging the disciples and us to open our eyes to see the needy people all around us who are so ready to hear the good news of salvation through Christ. Because we tend to view the world with worldly eyes, we are ignoring the “invisible” people right next to us in our neighborhoods, in our offices, in our classrooms. I know, as a teacher, that all teachers love working with the gifted kids. They are usually excited to learn, motivated to do their best, and they energize your classroom. But truly, they are the easiest ones to work with! It’s the quiet ones, the struggling ones who have no support at home and few friends at school, the ones you don’t even realize are absent until mid-morning, who are the ones who truly need a good teacher to take an interest. Jesus is telling me that these are where the harvest is!

First, let me make it clear that I do not evangelize children in a public school setting. I’m not there to actively witness to children. Their spiritual training is their parents’ responsibility (would somebody please explain that to the parents??). My job, as a Christian in a public school, is to LOVE these kids, do my best to teach them the curriculum, while also instilling a love for learning. I am responsible for doing my job in the best way possible. With that said, this message from Jesus this morning reminds me that it’s my low group - the ones who never do their homework or study for tests, the ones who appear destined to fail in the world’s eyes - these are the harvest!

Who are the “Samaritans” of your personal world? Do you see them through the eyes of the disciples or through the eyes of Jesus? I’ve been challenged here, how about you?

 

John 4:19-26 revisited

I want to revisit the last part of the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, because this story is so poignant. Even when the woman confessed that she had been living a life of sin, she was not quite ready to deal with the personal issue. She was only comfortable with a general religious discussion:

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” (John 4:19-20)

But Jesus made it clear that it is not WHERE you worship that matters. It’s not the special building, temple, or cathedral that counts. It’s WHOM and HOW you worship that God cares about.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (vs.23-24)

The woman was finally beginning to get it, for she realized that she needed to be looking for the promised Messiah. And Jesus boldly claimed, “I who speak to you am he.” (vs.26)  Imagine her thoughts! The very One that she had been taught to wait for was standing right in front of her, a miserable sinner, a lowly woman! She had come to the well alone in the heat of the day to avoid the scorn of other women, and found the Messiah, the Savior of the world, waiting for her! She had spent her life trying to fill the void in her spirit by seeking her worth from multiple men, yet she had remained empty. In fact, I’m certain that void grew bigger with every futile relationship. While the people of this village probably judged her, Jesus LOVED her. He had come out of His way just to meet her!

I love this story! When we consider the lack of value given to women in general in those times, it is so wonderful to see Jesus treat her with dignity and compassion. He did not harangue her to repent, he just very gently showed her the reality of her life. Then He offered her hope in Himself, the Living Water. While His message is always the same - we need to be born spiritually from the inside out by His Spirit - that message is always personally delivered to each of us in a way that opens our hearts to receive Him.

What a personal God! How He loves us! How did He come to you? I’d love to hear your stories!

Next time, we will see the results of this encounter.

 

John 4:9-26

As we look at this dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, let’s note how Jesus is able to keep the discussion focused when she tries to sidetrack it.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)


The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)


Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:7-10)

While we know that Jesus came to serve, not be served, there were times in His ministry when He allowed others to serve him, and this is one of those times. Instead of gallantly offering to get the water, he asks her to draw it for Him. It is so much easier for us to give sometimes than to be on the receiving end. It requires humbling to allow another to do something for us. However, when we do this, we are often providing an opportunity for blessing that the other person would have missed otherwise. Don’t be afraid to allow others to serve you once in a while. It may open the door to sharing the gospel, as it did in this case with the Samaritan woman.

This woman was surprised when Jesus spoke with her. After all, she was a despised Samaritan - and a woman to boot! Rather than get into an ethnic discussion, however, Jesus provoked curiosity in her by suggesting that He was the source of living water. She took Him literally, thinking He was speaking of physical water. Then she displays her knowledge of Old Testament history specific to the well.

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”


Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (vs.11-14)

Jesus was leading her into a spiritual discussion, showing her that her physical needs were not really what He was concerned with. He wanted to make her thirsty for His living water, because nothing the world has to offer will satisfy like Jesus does. Through the indwelling Spirit, He gives us a well that NEVER runs dry! And the Samaritan woman took the bait! But there was one issue that needed to be dealt with first: her sin. In order for her to receive this living water, she first needed to acknowledge her need through confession:

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”


He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”


“I have no husband,” she replied.


Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” (vs.15-18)

I wonder how hard that was for her to admit that. I wonder if she said it in a whisper, in shame. I’m thinking that Jesus’ love and the compassion He was showing just broke down those barriers and that confessing was probably a relief! But when He showed her that He knew the WHOLE truth about her ugly past, she was amazed! And maybe still a little uncomfortable, because she once again tried to turn the conversation from a personal issue to a general religious discussion about where to worship, rather than HOW to worship.

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”


Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”


The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”


Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”(vs.19-26)

Okay, when we are finally confronted with the outright claims of Jesus Christ, it is decision time. Jesus had gently drawn her to the main issue. Jesus said that we are required to worship in spirit and in TRUTH.  It matters WHOM and HOW we worship.  Now that she knew who He claimed to be, what was she going to do about it? This is the only question that will matter in eternity: Who is Jesus to you? He is offering living water, because He IS the Living Water! Are you thirsty? Jesus says, “Come.”

 

John 4:1-8

One of the sweet things you see in reading the gospels is how Jesus treated each person as an individual. His encounters with people were all unique, meeting the specific needs of each person’s heart. While Nicodemus was a well-respected religious scholar and leader, in chapter 4 we meet a woman who is emotionally needy and feeling completely unworthy. Jesus goes out of his way for this encounter!

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. (John 4:4-6)

Jesus was headed from Judea, in the southern part of Israel, to Galilee, in the north. Most Jews would avoid Samaria, which is in the middle section of Israel, and go through Perea on the other side of the Jordan, because the Jews hated the Samaritans. This animosity dated back to the Assyrian invasion in 722 B.C. When the Assyrians took most of the Jews captive and back to Assyria, they left behind a few Jews. Then they sent some of their own people to settle in Israel, and these intermarried with the Jews that had been left behind.

So, the resulting Samaritans were considered half-breeds, and were despised by the Jews. While the Samaritans did believe in the books of Moses, they had been barred from the temple in Jerusalem. So they built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, and they changed the details of some of the Bible stories so that the Garden of Eden was on Mt. Gerizim, Noah’s Ark had landed on Mt. Gerizim, and Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice on Mt. Gerizim! :)

With that background info, you can see that it was unusual for Jesus to purposefully go through Samaria. In fact, did you note that verse 4 tells us that he had to go through Samaria? He was compelled to go there, because He had this divine appointment with the Samaritan woman!

Verse 6 tells us that Jesus was tired from His journey - but never too tired to meet the needs of others. We’re told the time was the sixth hour, in the heat of the day. Most women would come to the well early in the morning or in the cool of the evening, but this woman came at the hottest part of the day, most likely to avoid the scorn of the other “respectable” women.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) (vs. 7-8)

How interesting that Jesus sent the disciples into town for food! He could have easily produced their food miraculously, but Jesus never performed miracles to satisfy His own needs. In fact, that was one of the temptations of the devil in Matthew 4, when Satan tempted Jesus, after 40 days without food, to turn stones into bread. No, Jesus did not come to serve Himself, He came to serve us. So, he sent the disciples away, because He needed to meet this woman alone. The woman was coming to draw water, but the Living Water was about to draw her to Himself. We’ll look at their dialogue tomorrow!

 

John 3:22-36

In the final passage of chapter 3 of John, the scene shifts suddenly back to John the Baptist. We never read about Nicodemus’s reaction to the words he had just heard from Jesus, although he had much to think about. Because he provided the burial spices for Jesus, it is assumed that he became a believer at some point. But in verse 22, we return to John the Baptist, who is now baptizing people at Aenon, which is where Jesus is also baptizing.

After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. (John 3:22-23)

I would have missed this point, but Jon Courson actually asks why John was now baptizing at Aenon. He suggests it had nothing to do with heavenly revelation or fulfilling prophecy, but that the answer is simpler and very practical: because there was plenty of water. Courson writes that too often we make finding the will of God much more difficult than it needs to be. God often aligns the desires of our hearts with His will when we are trusting Him. He gives an illustration from Chuck Smith’s life. When asked why he chose to start up Calvary Chapel in the middle of a bean field in Costa Mesa in the 70’s, whether or not God had directed Him there, Chuck laughed and replied, “I took the church in Costa Mesa because I like to surf and it was the closest available church to the beach!” :)

Now, when John’s disciples saw Jesus and his disciples baptizing in the same area, they seemed to see it as a competition:

They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. (vs. 26-30)

From the moment John first was near Jesus, while still in his mother’s womb, he leapt for joy. John saw himself as the best man, bringing the Bride to the Groom. At this point in his ministry, his joy was complete, for he saw the people going to the Groom. His own ministry was drawing to a close. He felt no competition, only joy in completing the task God had given him to do. As Jesus became greater, John was to become less.

I certainly see some practical application to my own life in John’s response. As a teacher, my job is to help educate the next generation. So why would I be jealous when I see another teacher do a fabulous job? If someone else is also working hard to prepare children for the future, wouldn’t I rejoice? If my gift were to sing for God (so NOT my gift), then why would I be jealous because someone else was given the position of choir director. As long as we are all using our gifts for God’s glory, then we need not feel competition toward others. We are ALL to become less, while Jesus becomes greater.

Finally, in the last verse of chapter 3, we see John repeat much of what Jesus had said to Nicodemus:

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (vs. 35-36)

I love what Jon Courson writes about this, so I’ll finish with his thoughts:

“Why does the wrath of God abide on the one who does not Believe in his Son? Because he who does not believe is trampling on the sacrificial blood of His only begotten Son. This world is sinking fast in the quicksand of sin. God does not condemn us for being in that place - only for refusing to reach out to the nail-pierced hand offering to pull us out.” (Jon Courson’s Application Commentary: New Testament, P. 462)

People aren’t sent to Hell because they are sinners. Christ died for sinners! They go there of their own free will, because they refuse the free gift of salvation that Jesus provides!

Wow!  Chapter 3 was great - but wait until we go to chapter 4 next week!  It just keeps getting better!

 

John 3:16-21

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

I’m pretty sure that this verse doesn’t need an address attached for you to know where to find it, since it is probably the most well-known verse in the Bible. Jon Courson, in his Application Commentary: New Testament, points out that these few words sum up God’s heart, His plan, and His will. He suggests that this verse is one we should meditate on it for ten days, emphasizing a different word each time:

For God so loved the world...
For God so loved the world...
For God so loved the world...

It is God’s greatest desire that the entire world would believe in His Son and have everlasting life. He does not want anyone to perish. In his second letter, Peter affirmed this:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

Yet, I always find it interesting that rarely, when John 3:16 is quoted, do we ever hear the words that Jesus spoke next:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. (vs.17-21)

Jesus was sent into the world to SAVE it. Now, some people have a ho-hum attitude when it comes to being “saved,” and behave as if Jesus just came to show us the Father’s love for us. The silliness of this idea can be demonstrated in an illustration I heard years ago. Let’s say I’m sitting at the end of a pier, dangling my feet in water, and you come running down the pier and dive in for a swim. You are having a perfectly lovely swim, in no danger whatsoever, when I jump in the water to “save” you to show you how much I love you, and I drown in the process. That would not be love, that would be DUMB!

Well, Jesus did not die an agonizing death on the cross just to show us how much He loved us! He died on the cross because we were DYING in our SIN! We were “perishing” and needed to be “saved.” In fact, before His death, Jesus prayed that the Father would remove that cup of death if there could be ANY other way to save us. But He submitted to His Father’s will, because he loved us and because we needed saving!

The power in the gospel, much like an electrical charge, is in the partnership of the positive and the negative message. Without the negative, the positive has no power. As my pastor loves to say, “You have to know the bad news [you’re a lost sinner], in order to appreciate the good news [Jesus died for sinners].”

Verse 18 above tells us that anyone who does not believe in Jesus stands condemned [is perishing], because he hasn’t believed in Jesus. What does it mean to be condemned? Well, Revelation 20:15 tells us, If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. This will be along with the devil and the antichrist, and it’s a place where they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Rev 20:10) That’s harsh! But, because God is a holy, holy, holy God of justice, His righteousness and justice require wrath. But the good news is that we have been saved from that when we put our trust in Jesus, alone, to save us. Being saved sounds pretty good, right?

Why doesn’t EVERYONE receive this salvation gift? John 3:19 tells us:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.


Wow! Jesus tells us that men prefer to live in their sin! He also told us that His way is narrow and few would find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

I am so grateful that God opened my heart to hear and believe! But because I know He loves the whole WORLD, I need to make sure that as many as possible find that narrow Way!

 

John 3:9-15

Before looking at the next verses in John 3, I just wanted to ask you to pray for two little ones. My sweet friend, Erin, who has been having early contractions with her first baby (due date in March), is still holding onto that baby! However, they just learned that, in addition to the heart valve problem which will require surgery after birth, there is now a cyst showing on the brain. Please pray that God, in His mercy, will heal these problems before this little one is born! And pray for Erin and her husband, Danny, as they await the birth, that they will know God’s peace as they trust in His loving kindness and His sovereignty.

Then, Molly’s dear friend, Joyce, and her family need our prayers. Their toddler daughter, Bridget had cataract surgery a few months ago, and now they have found that the capsule that holds the lens in place (which cannot be replaced) is opaque. They are planning to remove it next Tuesday, hoping that there is enough scar tissue from the cataract surgery to hold the lens in once the capsule is removed. This is a very scary time for them. Please pray that God’s hand will be on the surgeon’s hand. Actually, because nothing is impossible for God, let’s pray that God will miraculously heal Bridget’s eye! So many needs... Such a BIG God!

As I was thinking about God’s power to not only create the universe from nothing, but to also knit together a heart valve, make a cyst disappear, and repair a lens capsule, I was reminded of the amazing miracle God does to regenerate our souls! And that’s what Jesus tries to get across to Nicodemus in today’s lesson.

Nicodemus had started with the acknowledgement that the miracles that he had witnessed Jesus performing were surely from God, but Jesus led him into a personal discussion about Nicodemus’s need for his own miracle: the need to be born again by the Spirit of God.

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.


“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:9-15)

Here Nicodemus was - this well-respected Jewish leader, a leader among leaders, and a scholarly teacher of religion - and yet he did not understand what Jesus was speaking of when He said Nicodemus needed to be completely regenerated. What Nicodemus needed was a heart transplant! He had seen the miracles of Jesus and had heard His teaching but could not grasp why Jesus had come: Jesus must be lifted up on a cross to die for our sins, so eternal life might be given to everyone who believes in him.

No matter how smart we think we are, no matter how many letters follow our names to show the extent of our education, there is nothing more important to understand than our need for a Savior. This is a message not just for the PhD, but for the woman out in the fields in Africa, for those in the ghettos of India, as well as for the 1% on Wall Street! We are sinners in need of a Savior. Nicodemus needed a Savior and so do we! Tomorrow we’ll look at one of the best-known verses in Scripture, as well as the one that follows it that is not so well-known, that speak to this need. In the meantime, please keep praying!