Come to the Well of Freedom.
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever been stuck… stuck in the snow, in the mud, in traffic… stuck and there is nothing you can do to get out. All you can do is simply wait for help to arrive.
When we lived in Ohio, we had a Land Rover… 4 wheel drive, off road, trail riding, able to go through anything vehicle… well, at least that’s what I thought.
I found out that you can have the best off road vehicle but if your tires are bald, getting stuck will eventually happen.
Sometimes in life we go through moments where we feel stuck. We get overwhelmed, we feel trapped, helpless, alone.
If only life had a control-Z (undo), an eraser, a game restart, if only we could take a mulligan, or just have a redo…
In John 4 we are introduced to a woman who was stuck.
Stuck in her sinful past, Stuck because of her past relationships, Stuck because she was an outcast status in society. This woman was a Samaritan.
As Jesus left Judea he had to pass through Samaria on his way to Galilee. Jesus chose to go through a place where most Jews would avoid but when Jesus showed up He offered her real freedom.
John 4:3–26 (ESV)
3 Jesus left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying 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 water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
PRAY
We see here that Jesus gave her real freedom. Jesus came to breaks down every wall, removes every mask, and to give us a divine purpose.
Jesus Frees us by breaking down every wall.
Jesus Frees us by breaking down every wall.
Walls keep people separated, create division… walls keep people from talking, listening, connecting… keeps people isolated.
Walls give a sense of false security.
Jesus gave us real freedom by breaking down every wall.... false security and false identity.
Just by approaching and talking to this Samaritan woman, Jesus broke down a wall.
Jesus broke down the walls of racism.
Jesus broke down the walls of racism.
Jews and Samaritans were enemies… they hated each other and they had a long history of division. This woman was a nobody in the eyes of the Jews.
There was a lot of racial division within the Jewish community throughout Jesus’ ministry. Jews and Samaritans… Jews and Gentiles… Jews and Romans… If you weren’t a Jew, you were a nobody, especially if you were a Samaritan.
Jesus was well aware of the racial division in that culture. This woman was also well aware of the racial division as well. She surprised that Jesus would talk to her, let alone ask this Samaritan woman for water.
Jesus broke down the walls of racism by asking her for water from her own vessel.
Jesus broke down the walls of sin.
Jesus broke down the walls of sin.
Jesus shows up at the well, in the middle of the day.
In this culture, the women took care of the water collection. Wells were a the place where women could gather in the early morning or at dusk to avoid the high heat.
That’s when this encounter with Jesus took place… it was around noon.
She came to the well to draw water when most women were not present. But Jesus was not ashamed to be with her. Jesus didn’t judge her but showed her love.
We can be quick to write others off simply because of their sinful past but Jesus never writes her off.
Jesus came to restore the years that the locust have eaten. Jesus came to break down every wall that others often use to manipulate, to blackmail, to dominate… show their power over others through guilt and shame.
When Jesus broke down those walls, there is now nothing that can ever separate us from HIS love.
Jesus came to break down those walls of sin, our cultural bias, and our broken past. Those things no longer need to wall us in, make us feel isolated, or define us.
Jesus loves us enough to break down every wall.
Jesus Frees us by removing every mask
Jesus Frees us by removing every mask
We wear masks to hide the things we are ashamed of.
We live with our masks on trying to fool others because we are afraid of the truth; we are afraid of being exposed and we doubt that people will still accept us.
Our insecurities keep us in hiding but eventually our false self will be exposed and when that happens we feel uncomfortable, violated, angry…
But the good news is that Jesus knows our real self better than anyone yet still love us.
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
She was confused… Jesus didn’t have anything to draw water out of the well but yet HE offered her living water.
Jesus demonstrates that HIS gift surpasses any gift that can be found in a deeply historic, potentially superstitious well.
Jesus has water she has never seen, and she must discern how to get it.
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
She wants this living water that Jesus is offering her but in order for her to drink it she must shed her false self, remove her masks and accept the fact that nothing is ever hidden from God.
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
This Living water Jesus is offering will remove our religious, shameful, self-idolizing masks, the masks that Jesus came to remove.
Jesus knows every part of us and yet still loves us. The only approval that matters is God’s.
Jesus get’s down into her nitty gritty real self… Jesus brings up her 5 failed marriages and the man she’s shacking up with that is not her husband.
Jesus knows all this dirt and could have used it against her but choose to give her real freedom.
Jesus knows all our dirt and yet HE still wants us to come to HIM, just as we are.
Jesus is still the living water that gives us lasting freedom.
Later on in the book of John Jesus stood up and shouted…
John 7:37–38 (NLT)
37 “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ ”
Jesus is the only one who can offer us living water that can give us real freedom. Are you thirsty enough to come to Jesus and let HIM remove our every mask.
Real freedom happens when we abide in Jesus, we remain in Jesus, we identify with Jesus and continue to draw from the well, the living water.
Jesus Frees us by giving us a new divine purpose.
Jesus Frees us by giving us a new divine purpose.
As soon as the conversation got uncomfortable, this woman quickly changes the subject. Instead of talking about her issues she put on her religious mask.
It’s interesting that the religious mask is the go to when we don’t want to talk about deep rooted issues… addiction, secret sin, generational curses.
She was hung up on the where but Jesus was focused on the how and why…
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus focused on the how and why she should worship God.
How… Worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth.
Why… because this is the kind of worship the Father seeks.
True worship not tied to a holy place but true worship is impacted by a holy God.
Jesus said how we worship the Father will make all the difference.
We don’t worship for show, we don’t worship for people.
We worship Jesus who knows us fully… We don’t worship by looking for the approval of others but we worship being fully known by the Father as we worship in the Spirit and in truth.
Jesus gives us the freedom to live out our divine purpose as we fearlessly worship our Heavenly Father who knows us better than anyone.
Who knows that we have lot’s of issues but sees us as HIS child. Yes we are all a work in progress being made to look like Jesus.
As this woman was trying to deflect Jesus’ explanation of worship…
John 4:25–26 (NLT)
25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”
Jesus never revealed HIS true self to the religious leaders but he does reveal HIMSELF to a woman who was stuck in bondage.
She needed real freedom and Jesus gave her the answer. Her religious routine was not working but she was looking forward to the Messiah when all her questions would be answered.
Jesus gave her that answer by giving her a brand new freedom that she never had before.
28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
She was no longer aimlessly trying to find meaning and purpose.
Jesus knew everything she had ever done yet gave her that living water and after tasting that living water from Jesus, she left her earthen vessel at the well. Jesus gave her new freedom that she never had before.
The Holy Spirit transformed her life at the well. This living water cannot be contained because eventually it spills out over its rim.
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Jesus describes HIMSELF as enough.
The Greek phrase here, “I am HE” is the divine name of God uttered to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Jesus is the living water, Jesus gives us that same invitation.
Jesus is the the great I AM. When we are not enough… Jesus always is more then enough…
Today we celebrate our freedom as Americans. We are free to speak what we want to speak, to live how we want to live, to enjoy life and to worship freely… but the freedom Christ gives us goes much deeper then our American heritage.
Jesus set us free so we can tell world. We can drink of HIS living water that we never have to thirst again.
Jeremiah 2:13 (NLT)
13 “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
Keep coming to that well that gives us a freedom that goes beyond this world.
The world can’t give it and the world can’t take it away.
The woman’s story did not end at the well because this living water could not be contained within her. Living water will always flow out and because of that, her entire town encountered Jesus.
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.”
TAKE AWAY:
Jesus freed us by breaking down our walls
Jesus freed us by removing our masks
Jesus freed us by giving us a new life and purpose