1B TWO SAMARIAS

BE HONEST- WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE DO YOU TEND TO AVOID?

WHY?

5. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. (noon)

7. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink.''

9. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?'' For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, `Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.''

11. The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

13. Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,

14. "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.''

15. The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.''

17. The woman answered and said, "I have no husband.'' Jesus said to her, "You have well said, `I have no husband,'

18. "for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.''

20. "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.''

21. Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.

23. "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

24. "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.''

Let’s start by looking at the situation here. Out comes this woman- all alone in the heat of the day. The well was outside the village. Alone meant vulnerable- a woman wouldn’t normally do that. Carrying water was hard work. It was work for the cool of the morning or evening, so normally, a woman wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t do this unless she had no choice. There was a big ol’red flag up here. For some reason- this was a rejected woman. She was all alone, and rejected by everyone… everyone except Jesus.

It is the ‘Son of God’ who initiates the conversation. It is always God who makes the first move- and she is shocked. Her life up to this moment had been a cycle of rejection. This very trip to the well was a product of rejection. And in one remarkable instant, Jesus shatters the cycle. And a divine strategy unfolds!

‘Give me a drink.’ Jesus brings Himself down to her social plane. ‘Woman, I am not too good for you. I want our lives to touch. You are significant and you have something to contribute.’

But- Blowing social etiquette like this- perhaps, this is a bad witness Jesus. I mean- even your own disciples are flabbergasted. Perhaps you are compromising just a little.

IS THERE A SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCE WHEN WITNESSING ISN’T SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE… WHEN?

WHAT MAKES IT THE RIGHT TIME TO APPROACH SOMEONE IN THE NAME OF CHRIST?

As soon as the door had opened, Jesus began a revelation of the truth- no compromise, no diluting- a pure and systematic revelation. He started with the thirst she perceived in herself, and then turned to the real thirst.

As the conversation unfolds Jesus reveals the truth about Himself, and about her ‘self’. But, He’s hitting too close to home, so she does the human thing-

… you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband…’ (Yeah, you’re right about that, and your life’s a real mess!)

"Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain…”

She deflects the limelight from those ‘personal holes.’ Even in our fellowship- we all have our ‘personal holes’- for some it’s financial habits, for others it’s dealing with parents or children or spouses. For yet, others it’s problems with fear, problems slowing down, problems speeding up, problems saying ‘no’, problems committing to ‘yes’- And the sad fact is- those are the very things sapping our joy- But like this woman, we change the subject to something a little more churchy and away from ourselves-

“The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit.”

(Jesus is relentless. He changes topic with her, but in His focus, He refuses to stop hitting at the heart of truth - why? -Because a woman is dying here, one lonely day at a time- and we get to witness how He saves her life.)

WHAT KIND OF “HOLES” OR WEAKNESSES IN OUR LIFE-HABITS DO CHRISTIANS IN OUR CULTURE TEND TO HAVE?

WHAT RESPONSE DOES JESUS HAVE TO THE SHORT COMINGS IN THIS WOMAN’S LIFE?

WHAT KIND SHOULD WE HAVE TO OTHERS?

And did you notice the flow of the conversation? After initiating the conversation, Jesus lets the woman lead. Through the entire conversation- eight times, Jesus is responding to her. And in two instances the word used is ‘answered.’ He answered her.

Time for another one of those great Greek words: The word used is ‘apokrinomai’ ap-ok-ree'-nom-ahee. Here is the official meaning:

Signifies "to give an answer to a question" - but always where something has preceded, either statement or act to which the remarks refer.

Here’s the point folks- Jesus was listening! He started by acknowledging the needs she was feeling. He started in the context of her perceived thirst. (The thirst that was her concern in life as she knew it.)

25. The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming'' … "When He comes, He will tell us all things.''

… The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said … Could this be the Christ?''

Anyone who has taught a youth class knows what it’s like trying to hold their attention. “Settle down” and “Be quiet” become an integrated part of your vocabulary. Roughly two years ago we moved to the coffee house approach for our older teens. We let the kids play their music, we had kids read their poetry, put up their art, and listened at their volume. And sometimes we winced; sometimes bit our lip- and we prayed a whole lot.

The strategy was simple though- we do their thing, and in the middle, we open a window where we get to say what we have to say. We were all, kind of nervous about this- if it was hard to keep their attention in a controlled Sunday school class- what was going to happen after an hour of 100 decibel music and a room full of teens hyped up on cappuccinos? …Then one night I realized the strangest thing: In two years of messages, I have never told anyone to settle down… not once. Every teen, almost to the person, will give us their attention for those critical twenty minutes. Isn’t it amazing how people will listen if they feel they’re being heard!

In his early years, when Rick Warren was laying the groundwork for a new church, he discovered a valuable lesson. He puts it like this:

I’ve learned that most people can’t hear until they’ve first been heard. People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.

In Samaria #2, that was God’s action, so what was the human reaction?

28. The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said …

29. "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?''

39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did.''

42. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.'' (Wow! Is this the same Samaritans?)

IS THERE A RIGHT AND WRONG WAY TO “LISTEN” TO OTHERS… HOW?

WHEN WE LISTEN; HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN IT IS TIME TO SPEAK CHRIST?

WHAT ARE SOME INVENTIVE WAYS WE CAN OPEN UP THE OPPORTUNITY TO LISTEN AND THEN RESPOND TO OTHERS?

The human reaction was ‘she left her waterpot.’ She came to the well empty. She came there with a tool and a plan of her own making to handle her thirst. But when she met Truth, she would abandon them both. She abandoned them for the real thirst quencher- real life, spiritual life in Christ.

You can tell when someone meets Truth. It naturally sets off a particular chain of events- ‘Give me’ leads to ‘come and see’. Life is contagious. If there is any season that illustrates this, it is spring. In your gardens, in your lawns, in the common ground around the Lake- life is growing, it is striving to reproduce itself- that’s what it wants to do. Healthy life does that! And folks; healthy spiritual life does the very same thing. -By what mechanism? -By, ‘come and see,’ by enthusiastic, excited, invitation.

If people are not excited to bring others to their church fellowship… if they are not proud of their fellowship… that church needs to stop and ask some serious questions, because something’s wrong. It might be a ‘heart’ problem in the individual or it might be problem in the fellowship- but if a group gathered in the name of Christ is not moved by an overwhelming sense of ‘come and see,’ something needs changing. I hope we are not in that situation, but please be alert to this- it is a red flag.

‘Come and see’ is followed by ‘many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified.’ Spiritual life leads to personal testimony. Almost without exception- before any person turns to see Christ- they will first see His reflection in another human face… in another human life. Witness and mentorship are tools of life.

Then, the ‘woman who testified’ leads to “they ‘came to Him.’” Think about it; this woman was dispossessed, she had no credibility- how passionate, how convincing would she have to be to cause a whole town to follow her? Isn’t it amazing what God can do through the least of us, if we will just allow truth to move us?

Then “they came to Him” ultimately results in “"Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves.” Those who ‘came to see’ now have been brought to a place of ownership themselves. Now they are convinced for themselves. Now they understand, for themselves. And the cycle of spiritual life has come full circle. A healthy church should be filled with essentially two groups of people- the seeking, and the ministers. We grow from one to the other, but no one is meant to live in the middle.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ANYONE HAVE THIS KIND OF RESPONSE TO THE TRUTH OF CHRIST…HOW AND WHEN?

WHAT ARE SOME WAYS THE CHURCH CAN SPEAK CHRIST AND EVOKE THIS KIND OF RESPONSE?

WHAT ARE SOME WAYS WE CAN DO IT AS INDIVIDUALS?

The primary focus- from how we set up our worship to how we view our neighbor becomes- where is God moving here? And that means there is one capacity we must develop above all else- spiritual sensitivity. To survive with joy; we must have the skills, and the sensitivity to discover where God is working- and then join Him. Our priority is always to join Him!

This very day- we are traveling through Samaria. Which Samaria? It depends on our response. It could be a Samaria dead in judgment or alive with people calling out, ‘come and see.’ It depends if we have the resolve to become sensitive enough, skilled enough, and practiced enough, to discern the waves.

While you’re deciding if it’s worth the resolve, Jesus has a message for you, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35)

What do you think He’s trying to tell us? What do you think He wants you to do?

HOW DO WE DISCERN WHERE GOD IS MOVING… AS INDIVIDUALS… AS A CHURCH?

WHAT WAYS HAS GOD MOVED HERE IN THE PAST?/ RIGHT NOW?