The Insider and Outsider

Introduction

We are continuing our series through the Gospel of John looking at some of the personal encounters Jesus has with others

And remember our twofold goal:

To learn about Jesus’s character

To encounter Jesus for ourselves

And today we are looking at two separate stories that are both popular and familiar

We tend to see them as separate stories but I think John placed them close together in order for us to see a contrast between the two of them

We have the story of an insider—Nicodemus in John 3.

We also have the story of an outsider—the woman at the well in John 4.

And after we look at each of them, we’ll see the common ground they share

The Insider—Nicodemus

John 3:1–10 CSB

There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus. “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.

Nicodemus was an insider

He was religious, moral, a member of the religious elite

We give Pharisees a lot of flak

They were good people

They were the best people in Jesus’s time

They took the law of God seriously

They saw that they followed all of God’s commandments

They devoted their life to studying scripture

On top of that, Nicodemus was a seeker—He was curious about Jesus

John 3:2 CSB

This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

Many of the Pharisees wanted Jesus killed, but Nicodemus took time to approach Jesus to see what He was all about

And how does Jesus interact with him?

He doesn’t give him a straight answer

He’s kinda hard to understand

He is intentionally trying to point something out to Nicodemus

All of his status, knowledge, and religious performance don’t give him an advantage in God’s kingdom

He’s pointing out to Nicodemus how little he actually knows about who God is

John 3:9–10 CSB

“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus. “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.

And Jesus lets him know that if he’s going to be a part of God’s plan, he’ll have to start from scratch

He’ll have to be born again

1 Corinthians 8:2 CSB

If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.

But I think we see here a very important encounter with Jesus

We see someone who thinks they have everything figured out

But is intrigued by Jesus

They are good

But not good enough

They are wise

But not wise enough

So he draws Nicodemus in by eluding him

And as long as we think we have God figured out

or we think we are good enough or wise enough

God will often elude us—because he wants to be sought in humility

Psalm 138:6 CSB

Though the Lord is exalted, he takes note of the humble; but he knows the haughty from a distance.

So hold onto this story of Nicodemus, because we’ll get back to it

But I want you to just note, this is how Jesus encounters the religious insider

The good person, the wise person

Next we have a story of Jesus encountering someone who is vastly different:

The Outsider—The Woman at the Well

John 4:4–19 CSB

He had to travel through Samaria; so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, because his disciples had gone into town to buy food. “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.” “Sir,” said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.” “Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.” “Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.” “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ ” Jesus said. “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet.

John 4:25–26 CSB

The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

Here we see Jesus encountering an outsider

And not only an outsider but a outcast

Samaritan—Stayed during exile and intermarried/false idols

Woman—Jewish man / Samaritan woman

Drawing water at noon—Outcast in her own culture

How does Jesus engage with her?

He initiates

He speaks in metaphor—but pretty clearly/easy to understand

Thirst/Water

He sparks up a thirst for more in her

And he reveals how she has been trying to fulfill this thirst (and failing)

If you read between the lines you see that she is seeking to find her fulfillment in men

And each time, it isn’t satisfying

It’s the well she drinks from time after time again, and she will remain thirsty

And Jesus is offering something that will truly satisfy

You see, this woman was lost

She knew what she was doing was wrong—but it was the only thing she knew

Jesus comes to find the lost sheep

He pursues the outsider and points them to himself

Jesus points out how she’s been doing things wrong

Not to shame her—but to get her to realize that things aren’t working out

That deep down—she needed Jesus

So these two people couldn’t be more different

But what is John showing us in these two encounters?

The Common Ground

The insider and the outsider are both have something in common

They are both missing something

They are both missing the undeserved, never-ending love of God that only comes through Jesus

From the outcast to the celebrity, we all have a level playing ground before Jesus

Because each human was made for God, we have this deep longing for him

Nicodemus and the woman at the well both show how manage this longing

For Nicodemus

It was building a tower up to God so that he could try and bridge that gap

He thought that his devotion and accomplishments would satisfy

But ultimately they can’t

For the woman

It was taking that longing and trying to suppress it by distracting herself from the real issue

She was aware she couldn’t reach up to God so she gave up

Before encountering Jesus both are plagued by pride

In pride, Nicodemus thinks he knows and understands God

Until he seeks him out to ask him a question

And his whole understanding unravels

In pride, the woman thinks she knows how to run her life apart from God

Until Jesus seeks her out

And her cycle of idolatry is revealed

But both are made aware of their insufficiencies and both are left satisfying for more

And this is my main point tonight:

If we want to encounter Jesus—We must do it with humility

In humility—Nicodemus was confused

In humility—the woman must have been embarrassed of her past

Whether your tendency is to think highly of yourself

Or lowly of yourself

Pride will fluster us if we think to highly of ourselves

God relates to us through grace alone—not through our performance

If we try and relate to him because of how good of a person we are, God will elude us

On the other hand, Pride will try and shut us off from Jesus if we think to lowly of ourselves

We will be tempted to think our sins are too great; or we are to far gone

But we have to realize that the dissatisfaction you have in life; the thirst you have

Will only be filled by the living water that Jesus provides

And I think each of us, at different times can relate to either Nicodemus or the woman

But guys, our actions, good or bad, will not change God’s love for us

When we seek to encounter Jesus it must be in humility

Whether its prayer, meditation, Bible reading, listening to a sermon, singing worship

We have to expect God to show up—not because we deserve it—but because He loves us

Are we willing to admit how much we don’t know or understand?

(How often are our prayers trying to convince God we’re right about something)

Are we willing to be exposed before Jesus and confess our idols?

(How often we try to cover up our sin/forget about it/ before bringing it to Jesus)

This is what I want to leave you with before we discuss in small groups

Whether you are an insider or and outcast

(or anywhere in between)

God loves you

Not because of what you have or haven’t done—not because of your performance

He created you

He loves you like a parent does

Parental love/approval

We can’t bring our expectations of who we are when we encounter Jesus

Because He doesn’t care

But all of us are on level playing ground before Jesus

God has no favorites

And that is deeply discouraging

But also highly encouraging

So lets pray and take time to talk about these two stories together.

Discussion Questions

Do you relate to Nicodemus (confused by Jesus) or the woman at the well (embarrassed by Jesus)?

What are some things we seek to fill our inner emptiness that ultimately leave us thirsty for more?

What are ways you relate to God through your own performance (whether good or bad)?