2/3: An Evening with Jesus Part 3
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Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
Intro
Intro
This has to be one of the most unique interactions that this woman must have had in her entire life. She goes out to get some water and she meets the Son of God. And she is an extremely unlikely candidate to be used by God to spread the Gospel. An unusual candidate for sure. But we see that in the Scriptures God chooses those who we may pass over. Think about Abraham, or David or Moses or Peter. Maybe these people seem like heroes for you but what about Rahab, or Samson, or Paul. Not very honorable men and women but the ones who God chooses to do a perfect work through.
Gladys Aylward was a missionary to China in the early 1900’s. Born in London in 1904 she worked for several years as a parlor maid, and during her time in London she attended a revival meeting at which the preacher spoke of dedicating one's life to the service of God. Gladys responded to the message, and soon after became convinced that she was called to preach the Gospel in China.
At the age of 26, she became a probationer at the China Inland Mission Center in London, but was failed to pass the examinations. She was part of the working class, which does not mean much now like it used to then, but she was lower class citizen and not well respected. She had to work multiple jobs saving money hoping to make it to China to help a 73-year-old missionary, Mrs. Jeannie Lawson, who was looking for a younger woman to carry on her work.
She spent her entire life saving and, not knowing Chinese. She did not have enough money for the ship fare, but did have enough for the train fare, and so in October of 1930 she set out from London with her passport, her Bible, her tickets, and two pounds ninepence, to travel to China by the Trans-Siberian Railway, despite the fact that China and the Soviet Union were engaged in an undeclared war. The perilous trip took her across Siberia with the Trans-Siberian Railway. She was detained by the Russians, but managed to evade them with local help and took a lift from a Japanese ship. She traveled across Japan with the help of the British Consul and took another ship to China.
While there, God used this uneducated and woman with no background of prestige to preach the Gospel in prisons and He used her to save the lives of about 100 orphans during the war. They began to call her Ai-weh-deh, meaning virtuous one. It is an amazing testimony that has been captured in books and a movie.
Body
Body
And it is interesting when we read of the night Jesus spends with this Samaritan Woman. There are a lot of similarities between this night’s conversation and a previous’ night’s conversation. In the movement within John’s Gospel, we move from prominence to outcast; from Nicodemus, a religious leader and well respected person, to a Samaritan.
Similarities
Evening
Private discussion
Analogy of water is used with relation to eternal life and both misunderstand Jesus
Both acknowledge Jesus as a prophet and in their lives we know that both come to faith and have lives changed by Jesus
Content of their conversations is on salvation
Differences
Jesus goes to Samaritan woman; Nicodemus went to Jesus
She was a Samaritan and considered an outcast and no Jew would associate with them; Nicodemus is well-respected by the Jews and all would want to associate themselves with him
He sought her out. Samaria was a region populated by those who were descendants of the Northern Israelites who intermarried with the Assyrians. They worshiped the pagan gods in addition to Yahweh so they had a mashup of truth and fiction. Because they were descendants of intermarriage they weren’t allows in the Temple to worship and so they would worship around their own temple on Mt. Gerizim.
And it is to her that Jesus is compelled to go to. He could have easily avoided Samaria in order to reach Galilee. Avoided these half-breed and rejected ones. But just as we learned in chapter 3, salvation is not just for the Jews, but for all who will believe.
Salvation is for all and comes only from Jesus
Not only do we see this being the case as he goes to the people in Samaria, but also with the woman that he encounters. It is very likely that the city had many other wells that she could have gone to, but because of her immoral lifestyle she goes to this one at this time to potentially avoid contact with the other women.
And Jesus approaches her. This could even be a good model for us in how we witness. You can start with the natural and then move to the spiritual to engage them in conversation
John 4:7- natural (relate), 10-spiritual (create opp to move to spiritual), 18- law (convict them), 26- revelation (reveal Jesus to them)
How do you start a conversation, I get asked that a lot. This is what I have learned in my experience. Magical word- "Hello"
Have you seen one of these? Give them a Gospel Tract.
Do you consider yourself a good person?
If you don’t have a tract, you can use any subject.
Candy Crush
Pokemon Go
9/11
Looking at the beauty of a building
I want to tell you what Christianity is and I want to hear about your opinion
Christmas
7 bn people in the world, what % of people do you think are good people?
Halloween is based on old Jewish fesitval called Sawee, they thought there was a thin line b/w the living and the dead. What do you think happens when you die?
Asking people what their thoughts are on belief systems
Saw someone breastfeeding, what do you think about that?
Saw a sign for bridget jones' new movie, you think morals in movies are making society go out the window?
Why are you dressed up like that in a costume (comiccon)
Biggest illusion in the world? People think they are good
Heaven exists- and I have a ticket would you need it? Try and rip it.
Do you have a New Year's Resolution? I have one, but I need to ask you first a question, are you a good person? This is what I recommend, you repent and place your faith in Jesus
What is easter about? Let me tell you what it is about
What is the most important thing in life
What is the greatest act of love- valentines day
Why is there evil in the world
What happens if you don’t share the Gospel?
You are disobeying God
No reward for winning souls
People lost in hell for eternity (1 John 5:12)
If it is true that no one goes to hell if they have never heard of Jesus, then we ought to go out and silence every Christian and close our churches so that no one will ever hear about Jesus. Jesus was a bad person for telling us to go and preach the Gospel.
C.H. Spurgeon "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you’re not saved yourself, be sure of that!"
2. Past sins and current sins do not keep us from the salvation he provides
That truly is an amazing thing. You see Jesus did not just point out the sin in this woman’s life. He offered her eternal waters that never run dry. She was given faith to believe and to live eternally.
3. Jesus satisfies our deepest longings and needs
This was a woman who had tried everything to find satisfaction. And we are very much like the Samaritan woman. We would like to think that we are like Jesus or even like the disciples. But the fact is that we are like the Samaritan woman. She was going after husband and husband to satisfy a deep longing and desire in her life.
And let me tell you today that if that is you, you will never be satisfied so long as you are chasing after the things in this world. Why?
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
and people’s eyes are never satisfied.
We know this is true with everything in life. When you buy one board game, or video game you want another. When you get one Superbowl ring, you want another. When you eat, how many of us say well that is it. I am satisfied. Maybe in the moment you do, but after 1 hour you are already raiding the chip closet looking for a snack. The same goes for sex, social status, the number of followers, the number of retweets, the number of likes, the number of trips you take, no matter how many awards you receive. You will never be satisfied. Why? Because you cannot ever be satisfied when chasing after things which cannot satisfy.
Jesus tells the Samaritan woman,
13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.”
Do you want to be satisfied completely, fully, wholly, entirely, to the uttermost? Come to Jesus. We spend so much time looking for satisfaction in this life that I think we forget that we were made for something more. Or as the Westminster Shorter Catechism starts, what is the chief end of man? To give glory to God and to enjoy Him forever. And so, that leads us to a fourth and final consideration. Worship.
4. Worship is not about where you worship, but how you worship
21 Jesus told her, “Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus changes the subject quickly from eternal life and her need of repentance to what true worship will inevitably look like. The huge controversy in that day was where God would be worshipped. And Jesus puts it to rest. It is not a place where God is worshiped. Not only on a Sunday morning. But God’s people will worship him not in Jerusalem, like the Jews taught. Or even on a mountain, like the Samaritans believed. No.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 4
How one worships is more important than where one worships.
Authentic and true worship is not a routine, monotonous repetitive action. It is steeped in love for God. It is a life that has been changed. Not merely outward behavioral modification, but inward transformation.
And we see that she gets it! She is transformed and goes out and spreads this great news.
We did not read the rest of the events that transpire, but she goes into the town and she preaches to everyone there. So much so that in verse 39 it says
39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”
But that sort of faith is not sustaining faith, they cannot have their faith resting on the testimony or experience of another and so..
40 Therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of what He said. 42 And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”
Can you imagine that? She goes out for water and she does not even get the physical water. Perhaps she is thirsty or she needs to wash clothes, clean the dishes, whatever the case may be. She has the most amazing conversation with God incarnate.
28 Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men,
She leaves behind her physical need for water and I am sure that corrects her life for holiness. She finds full satisfaction in Christ and has inward transformation that satisfies her true desires.
Conclusion
Conclusion
And the question we come to is this, are you still chasing after things to satisfy you? I don’t care what it is that you are chasing after. Because the truth is, whatever you are seeking in your life for complete satisfaction, enjoyment, and purpose in life is vanity and idolatry.
15 Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 16 For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.
They will never satisfy you. To borrow from a blog article written by a brilliant and handsome man named Alexander Galvez
John D. Rockefeller is considered to be one of the richest persons in modern history. He was the first ever American billionaire and would have been worth $340 Billion today by one estimate; that is $246 Billion more than Bill Gates. One quote that I will never forget which is attributed to him came when a reporter asked him, “How much money is enough?” His response confounds me, “Just a little bit more.”
We can experience true joy when we no longer chase after the wind. Only when we turn our face away from self and towards pleasing the God of all creation, will we be able to truly enjoy God’s blessings. To truly enjoy life! In the end, the wicked may accumulate a temporary prosperity, but only the righteous will inherit one that is everlasting. As Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matt 16:26)
So stop chasing after things which will never satisfy.
On another evening in Jesus’ life, we read of how he suffers and dies on a cross, only to rise again three days later. Conquering sin and death and having the wrath of God poured out on him that we deserved. All of humanity figuratively has a conversation with Jesus that evening. They will either reject this sacrifice or they will turn from sins and place their faith in him.
Because it is only then when we can become the worshippers that God desires. It is only then when we are transformed to be worship him in spirit and in truth.
Let’s pray.