Opposing Views

Greeting

Lighthouse! It’s good to be back!

I want to again thank Pastor Sam who did a masterful job last week preaching. Wasn’t that message amazing?

And thank you to all of the Team for their leadership. I have been on the road for the last 3 weeks. But I am back and I won’t be flying anywhere until June. So you are stuck with me for a while.

ALSO - Listen, next week is mind blowing! We are turning 5 Lighthouse! 5! We launched in 2019 with 74 adults in a coffee shop. Now, we are running 3 services, we have close to 180 just on our Dream Team, we own this campus and we’re in renovations to build a home for generations to come.

Look at what God has done. Look at what God has done.

How many of you are ready to dive back into our series, Friend of Sinners?

Let’s go. Turn your Bibles to John 4. Now I am going to read the first seven verses of John, but I will be preaching from the twenty seven verses of John 4. In the interest of time we will only read seven, but I’ll continue with the entire story throughout this message.

Ok, here we go.

Reading

John 4:1–7 NIV

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 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 noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

Title - Opposing Views

Introduction

We are headed into an election this year, and Lighthouse, let me tell you it’s going to get crazy again!

I was in DC last week and as I walked around I could see various groups in town for political reasons. There were people holding signs outside of the Supreme Court. There were groups of women wearing uniforms that represented their cause. There were other groups wearing hats or shirts that boldly declared their political views.

The thing about political views, and really, any kind of view that we hold, is that our views are connected to our values.

Come on, I’m in my introduction, and I’m already teaching.

Our views are held by our values, and when our views conflict with someone it is because our values conflict with that person.

Transition

My goal today, is to bring our collective values a little closer into alignment.

I’m not talking about political values or social values.

I am talking about the values we all share as followers of Jesus.

I’m talking about Kingdom Values - the primary values that should be driving your life.

Text

Here in our text we read about Jesus having a conversation with a woman at a well.

It’s important for you to understand some of the key contextual issues in the text that are driven by the cultural moment of the text.

First off, Jesus was moving from Judaea to Galilee to move away from the Pharisees who were plaguing His ministry. As he moved from Judaea to Galilee he traveled through Samaria. Now, normally, a Jew like Jesus would avoid traveling through Samaria. Jews didn’t want to go through Samaria at all. They would walk around Samaria and only if absolutely necessary would they walk thru Samaria. And if they walked through Samaria, they certainly would not stop like we see Jesus did.

It’s kind of like passing through El Centro… you don’t stop, you just keep on driving on your way to wherever it is you are going.

[Pause]

Now why is that? What’s the big deal about Samaria?

Well, hundreds of years before Jesus’ time the twelve tribes of Israel, or what we would call a nation today, split into the Northern tribes and Southern tribes. The Northern tribes got further, and further away from Yahweh and eventually did not have a faith that resembled worship to Jehovah. And so the Southern tribes, because they more strictly held on to their faith, they considered them outsiders. They abandoned their faith, their culture, and their way of life.

Samaria was the capital of the Northern Tribes.

So that’s why it was shocking to the disciples when we read that Jesus had to go through Samaria.

Just know that John words this in such a way that there was a disagreement with the other disciples about why Jesus went there. I’m sure they tried to stop him and remind him that he had no business going through there.

[Imitation]

It probably went something like this; “Hey Jesus, we need to go around Samaria. We can’t walk thru Samaria. Because, you know, there are Samaritans there. It’s not a good look. It’s not good vibe. It’s bad for your image, and I don’t know if you know this, but we kind of have an image problem as it is…”

But, Jesus was on mission.

How many of you know that when you are on a Mission, you will do whatever it is to get the Mission done. So Jesus tells the, “We HAVE TO GO through Samaria.”

And, Jesus STOPS.

Jesus stops in Samaria!

He tells his disciples that he’s tired, and he’s hungry and he needs food.

Now, keep in mind. Jesus being tired is completely a facade. Jesus is capping as the kids say.

Jesus is the God man. He’s only tired if he’s got something up his sleeve.

And in fact, HE DOES!

Jesus stops at the well and it is there that he has an encounter with this unnamed woman.

What do we know about her?

She’s a Samaritan. I’ve already established what that meant to the Jews… she was not on their side. She was from the wrong side of the tracks, and more importantly, she was on the wrong side of their values.

You ever wonder how to talk to and treat someone who doesn’t share your values? Read John 4. Jesus gives us a masterclass.

She’s drawing water at noon, meaning there was something about this woman that made her not want to draw water when the other women were there. There was something about her, that we don’t know yet, and she didn’t want to be around the other women who normally draw out water in the morning when it is cooler in the day.

And all of this sets the stage for what Jesus is about to show us…

Opposing Ethnic Views

We need to understand that Jesus is fully God and fully man. He has a completely different view of humanity than anyone else does at his time.

And what Jesus does is he drips this in slowly over his life time.

He progressively reveals who He is through the life of Jesus.

John 4 is showing us a drip of what would later become a flood on humanity. And what is that drip?

That salvation was not just to the Jews, but also to the Samaritans and the Gentiles.

Tell your neighbor, “that’s us” Paul wrote that in Romans 1:16:

Romans 1:16 (NIV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

What this meant was the Jews believed that salvation only belonged to them! They were operating with limited knowledge of the plan of God.

[I have this cross here that is going to help me preach this message. This cross is going to represent a timeline. There is everything before the cross, there is the eternal event of the cross, which I’ll walk you thru, and there is what’s to come after the cross]

Back to the Jews, and really, the disciples. In time, they were here, before the cross.

But that’s not where Jesus is. Jesus doesn’t share their view because he sees humanity from here - the cross.

The disciples are here.

Jesus is here.

The disciples tell Jesus, let’s not go there! They are Samaritans.

But to Jesus, he already knows what’s coming.

Jesus sees a day where every tribe, and every tongue, will be surrounding the throne of heaven. Jesus knows that at the mention of his name, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

Jesus has an opposing view.

But let me let you in on one more detail in the text as well.

The woman has an opposing view!

Jesus sits there at the well, and this woman says to him, “You are a Jew! Why are you asking me for a drink?”

You see, she understood what the Jews said about her group. She knew that she couldn’t be accepted by the Jews. Frankly, she was baffled that Jesus would even speak to her!

But as I said just a minute ago, Jesus has an opposing view.

You see this woman is here… She’s on the other side of the cross. She is part of a people group that will be brought in on the other side of calvary.

The Present Cross

Now the story of John 4 is a microcosm of the microcosm of Calvary. As I said just a minute ago, the cross is an eternally present event. That means that what Jesus did on the cross thousands of years ago, is presently applied to your life when you receive the sacrifice of Jesus, and receive the forgiveness and the adoption that comes with the cross.

So even though I am talking about a Jews and Gentiles separated by the cross, there is an application that we also make when we talk about when Jesus came into our life. We have a “before the cross” moment in our life before we received Christ into our lives. After we’ve received Christ into our lives, we now live “because of the cross.”

And let me just stop and preach on this for one minute…

Don’t you dare judge anyone who isn’t on your side of cross.

Some of us who have been saved walk around acting like we didn’t use to be cheaters. We walk around acting like we weren’t users, and abusers. We act as if we’ve never had a bad day in our life.

But where are the real people in the room that can say I once was lost, but now I’m found.

I once was a drunk, but now I’m sober.

I once was an addict, but God delivered me from drugs.

I couldn’t stay faithful to my spouse until God changed me from the inside out.

I used to be controlled by my anger, but now I have the joy of the Lord down in my heart.

And now that I am on the right side of calvary, I got no business judging anyone who is where I used to be. I’m not on this side of calvary because of my last name, or my good works, or my Sunday attendance. I am standing on the right side of calvary because of the grace of God.

He’s the reason I am here.

He is the reason that I am no longer bound.

He is the reason that my world has changed.

Opposing Lifestyle Views

Now, as I said a minute ago, we’d get to the reason that this woman was drawing water out at noon and not at the morning. She didn’t want to see the other women because this woman lived a promiscuous life style. She had already had five marriages and was now living with a man that was not her husband.

Listen, even within HER PEOPLE GROUP, the Samaritans, this was outside the lines.

The Jews thought that the Samaritans lived loose, but even Samaritans thought that this woman had gone too far. You can see that’s the extent of how far to the fringes she was.

And do you want to know what this made her?

Well, to religious circles, they’d stay clear of her. To religious circles they’d want to be as far away from her as possible. She is an outcast.

[Pause]

But not to Jesus.

Jesus is dripping grace to this woman.

Jesus tells her, you’ve been drinking from the wrong well! You’ve been drinking from a well of sexual promiscuity. You’ve been trying to satisfy your soul by running from one man to another.

And this is why he tells her, “Those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty again!”

Jesus is saying two things to her:

[Here is the first thing.]

No matter what you’ve done, Jesus can save you.

Just because the world, or your world has turned it’s back on you doesn’t mean that Jesus will. When others don’t want you, Jesus wants you. When others want to put some distance between you and them, Jesus wants to get closer to you.

So you here today, no matter what you have done, Jesus loves you and he wants a relationship with you.

[Here is the second thing Jesus is telling her.]

2. I’m the Only One that can Fulfill You

And can I say the same thing to you all?

Draw from Jesus, and not your career ambition

Draw from Jesus, and not your hobbies.

Draw from Jesus, and not from trying to one up your neighbor.

What well are you drawing from?

Jesus is the only one that will satisfy you.

Jesus is the person worth centering your life on.

And as I said a minute ago, Jesus was dripping grace to this woman, but for us today, there is a flood of grace made available to us because of the cross. Because of this cross right here every single one of you can receive the life-saving, and life-changing, grace of God.

Receive Jesus (Conclusion)

Lighthouse, today the Grace of God is available to you. And there is only one condition of God’s grace… it cannot be earned, only received.

The Jews valued their performance. They believed that their work would earn them the grace of God, but that’s not how it works!

The Samaritans had their own mountain that they worshipped on. That’s what we learned from this woman. They had their own way to earn salvation, but they had it wrong to.

Jesus goes to this cross, and he now offers forgiveness to everyone.

Everyone.

The Jew. The Samaritan. The Gentile.

Black, white, latino, Asian, Pacific Islander… the list goes on and on… salvation is for you.

Your action is simply this - to believe and to receive.

What Well Are You Drinking From?

So let me ask the room right now… How many of you know that you’ve been drinking from the wrong well, and you are ready to start drinking from the right well?

Let me say it differently, how many of you have never received Christ, and you are ready to receive Christ today? And start drinking from His well?

If that’s you, I want to lead you in this prayer.

[Lead a Salvation Prayer]

Listen, if you’ve received Jesus, and you are wondering what is your next step, that is water baptism. We’re having water baptisms in a few weeks and we’d love for you to join us in baptism on that day. You can sign up by scanning the QR code in front of you. We’re also going to offer a baptism class for anyone that wants additional teaching on baptism. Scan that QR

I’m going to also ask once more for our Hosts to come help me with our Impact Cards. We’ve been doing this the last two weeks. Some of you might be wondering why we keep running this back, and that’s because every Sunday it is someone’s first Sunday here and we want to bring them in to what God is doing. And we also want to give them the chance to make an eternal impact.

Some of you here enjoyed the message, and but maybe you are saved, water baptized, plugged in… so to that I will only ask. If you value the things that Jesus valued, then you will view people the way that Jesus viewed them. And Jesus, LOVED PEOPLE.