Broken: Jesus the Missionary

Behold Jesus the Missionary

Intro

Good morning! If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those and turn with me to John chapter 4.

For the past several weeks, we have been in a sermon series entitled “Broken,” where we are looking at different instances and encounters that Jesus had with Broken people. Really, what we are looking at is how the gospel can restore broken people.

This is the reason we are all here right? Because we are or have at one point in our lives, been broken? Many of us, hopefully all of us, have experienced the restorative nature of being a follower of Jesus.

Today, I’m focusing more on how we are called to take the message of hope to the Broken. How we are called to be missionaries wherever we are. In our workplaces, in our schools, at the grocery store, right next door to where we live, there are broken people all around us and they will remain in their brokenness if they do not place their faith in Jesus, repent of their sins and submit to his Lordship.

Brokenness is before us in a way that it hasn’t been in the past with the conflict in the middle east over Jerusalem and Israel. More than ever, people need the gospel of Jesus Christ. And God has called his global church to be the ones to bring the message of hope and restoration.

Romans 10:14–15 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

But we are not left without an example to look to. This is what I want you to see this morning from John chapter 4.

Look to Jesus as the model missionary sent by God and being led by the Holy Spirit to intentionally reach and use broken people for mission.

if you have your Bibles opened to John chapter 4, look with me starting in verse 1...

John 4:1–6 ESV

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 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.

This morning I want us to see three things about Jesus in John 4. And the first thing is this:

Jesus’ mission is to reach people (4:1-6).

Jesus is a missionary.

God sent Jesus from heaven to a people (us) that did not know God to preach good news and see lives changed. When we go to a foreign land that does not know God we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus. We are living according to his example.

‌When we live on mission where God has sent us we are walking in Jesus’ footsteps. Wherever our churches are, wherever we work or where our people go to work, wherever our kids go to school… Before being a pastor, or an employee, or a student… we are first and foremost missionaries. God has sent you where you are primarily to make disciples of Jesus.

In John 4, Jesus is in Judean Countryside doing ministry near John the Baptist. He and John are baptizing tons of disciples. We see in verse one that Jesus hears that there may be some trouble from the Pharisees pretty soon so he decides it’s time to go back to Galilee. I don’t think that it’s because he’s afraid of some conflict or some hard ministry. I think it’s because he knows 1) there’s more work to be done before he is murdered by these people and 2) his disciples still have much to learn about the mission.

Here we see the wisdom of Jesus. He knew that if he didn’t keep moving, the Sanhedrin would attack.

Verse 4 says that he had to pass through Samaria. Why did he have to go through Samaria?

Galilee, Judea, and Samarias were three regions stacked on top of one another. There was Galilee in the north, Samaria in the middle, and Judea in the south. The easiest and quickest way to get to Galilee from Judea was to go due north right through Samaria. So going through Samaria would be the fastest way.

John 4:4 says that Jesus “had to” go through Samaria. Now why did he have to do that? The answer is, he didn’t really have to. There were other routes he could have taken. In fact, most people, especially the real pious religious leaders, would go east, cross the Jordan River, enter the region of Perea, then go north, re-cross the Jordan River, and they would be in Galilee. This was out of the way but it meant they wouldn’t have to go through Samaritan territory.

But He had to go through Samaria because that is where the Spirit was leading him. Jesus went where the Spirit led him. Even when it means going into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil like we see in Matthew 4.

Why did the Judeans hate the Samaritans so much?

‌It all went back to 722 B.C. when the Assyrians conquered Israel and took the northern ten tribes into captivity and brought in Gentiles from other areas to settle in that same region. Eventually those Gentiles intermarried with the Hebrews who had been left behind. Over the generations those people were called the Samaritans, and they developed their own religion that was partly based on pagan ideas and partly based on Yahwehism. Eventually they built their own temple at a place called Mount Gerizim. And they developed their own language and their own version of the Old Testament (which contained only the first five books).

The Jewish called them half-breeds who worshipped sacrilegiously.

And because of the Judean’s hatred and elitism toward the Samaritans, Jewish men when traveling would go around Samaria to get to where they were going. Which was out of the way.

But Jesus had to pass through Samaria. That is where the Holy Spirit was leading him to go.

Where is the Holy Spirit leading you to go? I think this is an important question that we need to ask ourselves. Where is the Holy Spirit leading you to go? It may be somewhere hard or somewhere with extreme need where you will have to sacrifice a lot to make a gospel outpost.

You have to go. Where he is telling you to go, you have to. Even if it’s somewhere you don’t want to go to talk to someone you normally wouldn’t want to, you have to. Jesus had to pass through Samaria because that is where the Spirit was leading him but let’s see why the Spirit was leading him there.

I love what verse 4 says,

John 4:6 ESV

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.

Jesus was tired.The Bible is so transparent right here with the humanity of Jesus. Yes, he is God but he is also a man.

This is another thing that I think that Jesus is demonstrating. That we don’t take breaks from the mission. Even when our hearts are tired, that’s when the Holy Spirit will really open doors for you because that’s when you need him the most.

How often do we use “being too tired” as an excuse to do ministry? I know I do all the time. I work a full time job where I’m talking to people on the phone all day, as an introvert this is exhausting.

We need to have the right motivations. I’m reminded of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11 when he is describing his credentials as well as his suffering for the gospel.

You know, he suffered 195 lashes, was shipwrecked, was stoned and left for dead. You know he was tired but he kept going.

Jesus says the same thing later when his disciples come back with food but Jesus said “my food is to do the will of the Father.”

And this is the second thing I have for you today.

Point II: Jesus’ mission is to reveal himself to thirsty people (vs. 7-26).

So Jesus makes it to Samaria. It’s about noon. It’s hot and he is tired. So he sits by Jacob’s well. And this is where we see what the Holy Spirit is orchestrating; a thirsty woman coming to get water. Let’s pick up in verse 7.

‌English Standard Version Chapter 4

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

She says,

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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.)

Jesus talking to her is a double whammy. Hebrew men would never talk to a woman in public. And on top of that… a Hebrew man would never be caught talking to a Samaritan… much less asking them for help with a drink of water.

This woman knew this and I love Jesus’ response to her. He says...

‌English Standard Version Chapter 4

“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.”

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Jesus is saying to this woman that if she just knew who he was… he could satisfy all of her needs. Not just her physical thirst but she could experience just how satisfying Jesus is! Jesus offers living water to thirsty people. And this is what we are offering to people. Not that we can give Living Water but we know how you can get it and we personally know the one that has it.

There are thirsty people all around us. If you don’t believe me then just look around at the world we live in! There are people who are drinking from wells that will never satisfy their thirsts! There are people that are drinking from the well of politics thinking that Joe Biden or Donald Trump can save them but they always find out that they end up being thirsty again. People are thirsty and…

This is why we want to see churches planted and planting other churches.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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.”

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This is the good news that we preach each week! This is the reason why we urge each of you to stop drinking from these wells that will not satisfy you!

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The only well that can satisfy you is Jesus. Drink from that well and you will never thirst again.

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Things start to get real in Jesus’ conversation with this Samaritan woman. She says… “yeah that sounds great! Give me this water so I don’t have to come to this well each day at noon when it is the hottest.”

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There is a reason that she was coming to the well at noon. All of the other women would come early before it was hot. She’s avoiding people and Jesus is going to address that now. He says...

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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.”

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This woman is an outcast of a people who are seen as outcasts by the Jewish community. She’s a divorced woman who is shacking up with her boyfriend. She’s a fornicator. She’s too sinful for God to love in their minds.

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And Jesus is there to talk to her. He’s there to love her. He’s there to satisfy her thirst. He says,

English Standard Version Chapter 4

“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.”

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True worshippers will worship God in Spirit and in Truth. I think this means that worship involves both our minds and our hearts. I think that we don’t have to choose between true, right doctrine and Holy Spirit driven ministry. Location isn’t important. The where is not as important as the how. Study and concern yourself with right doctrine but also, let the Holy Spirit do what he wants in and through you.

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Jesus wraps up this conversation with this woman when she says...

English Standard Version Chapter 4

“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.”

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Of all people for Jesus to come and reveal himself to… he chooses a Samaritan woman who has only ever experienced brokenness and pain… She’s gossiped about by the other local women forcing her to get water in the heat of the day.

John Seeking the Gifts, Not the Giver

Can you imagine how thirsty this woman was? How empty her life was? How barren her soul was? I don’t mean that she was passionately pursuing the things of God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. That obviously wasn’t the case. I’m speaking of spiritual bankruptcy.

‌She’s not much different from many of us is she? There are some of us here who have really messed up lives. God saves some of the most unlikely people. Have you ever just stopped and looked at the people that make up the church?

‌Everyone in here has a unique story of how they came to meet Jesus. Everyone has unique struggles and sins that Jesus paid for. We are all just as unlikely as that Samaritan woman. Look at what this Samaritan woman does next, and this is the last thing I want you to see today,

Point III: Jesus’ mission is our mission (4:28-30).

verse 28...

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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.

‌Why would she leave her water jar? Because this is the moment when she receives the Living Water. This is the moment that her thirst was satisfied on a level that she never even realized was possible. Who needs a water jar when you aren’t thirsty anymore!

She goes back to town, she said to the people there: “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (v. 29).

She didn’t go to them and pronounce that she had suddenly become a righteous woman, a paragon of virtue, and issue a command that the community follow her. She simply told the people she had met the Messiah. She knew that she had been redeemed by that encounter, and she wanted everyone in town to know it. For the first time in her life, she was not an agnostic. She suddenly understood and met .

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Jesus makes this observation to his disciples, he says,

English Standard Version Chapter 4

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.”

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What he is saying is that God is working in places even when we don’t see it. Places like Samaria. Places like Lakeshore or Springfield. Jesus says that the fields are white with harvest! You have classmates and coworkers who are ready to believe. The seeds have been sown… you just need to reap.

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As we begin to close out our time together this morning I want you to think of who it is in your sphere of influence that you need to speak to this week about Jesus. You can’t know what they are going through and how the Lord is working in their hearts.

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Because of her witness many of these Samaritan’s came out to see Jesus and they asked him to stay with them for two days. Many believed and were saved because one woman went out and told them to come and see.

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We were thirsty… we were in a desert dying of thirst. And then Jesus came and gave us Living Water that forever satisfied that thirst.

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Like that woman that invited those in her community to come and see… if we have truly tasted how good Jesus is wouldn’t we want those on this campus to come and see so that they can experience the same grace of Jesus?

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By way of application and then we will stand and worship together...

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Ask yourself: How am I intentionally living out the mission Jesus sent me on? What do I need to do or who do I need to talk to this week intentionally?

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If you are here today and are not a believer let me just invite you to come and see. All of those wells that you are drinking from will never satisfy you. They live leave you empty and wanting more. Jesus freely offers you living water today. All you have to do is believe that Jesus is the Christ who came and died to pay for your sins and he rose from the dead. You will be saved. If you want to talk to someone come see me or Pastor Barry or one of our leaders with the lanyard.

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Let’s pray

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