“Loving the Dirty and Broken”

Samaritan Woman, John 4:1-42

“Loving the Dirty and Broken”

Big Idea?

God calls me to go to and share His living water with those who are different than me.

Read verses, 1-42

Have you ever avoided someone you didn’t like?

Have you ever taken a different route rather than drive through a poorer part of Augusta?

We all have done this. We all have inconvenienced ourself to stay away from someone we didn’t care for.

The religious leaders, especially of Jerusalem were the same way.

They disliked Samaritans. So much they would take the long way around Jerusalem.

Check out this slide. Explain.

Jewish Leaders would avoid Samaria.

Travel double the distance, across steep elevation levels, to avoid Samaritans.

-Why

-The Samaritans viewed as a mixed bread.

-Not fully jewish.

-They were a mixed breed. Not pure jew.

-Outcasts

-Dogs

-If you were a woman, some viewed you as property.

-The were not pure Jews, they were of a different race.

-While they believed in the Old Testament, they didn’t participate in Temple worship.

-They would be considered spiritually confused at best.

Transition - Here is what I want to see about Jesus.

I. Jesus seeks those who are different. vs. 1-6

-If you want to share Jesus, you will have to seek out those different than you.

Acts 10:34, “Opening his mouth, Peter said, ‘I most certainly understand that God is not one to show partiality but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him,’ from every nation.”

We see Jesus showing us the Great Commission in action before He gave it as a command.

He loved those who were different. He is merciful and gracious to those who are different.

He traveled out of his culture. He sought out those very different than Him. So they could hear God’s message of love and forgiveness.

-If this church is going to obey the Great Commission. We must not only reach out to our neighbors & the different and broken in our county, but we MUST take the Gospel outside our Jerusalem, outside our Judea, outside of Jefferson County ...

Jesus shows us that we must seek out those who are different by going to them.

Transition - And not only did Jesus seek out those who were different than him He personally engaged with them.

II. Jesus engages the dirty and the broken. vs. 7-15

Who was this woman?

-Romantic love existed, but it did not have a hold as a high cultural value like we have today.

-Life was hard.

-Life and women were made to work.

Who was the woman?

She was a woman of shame.

A woman who had been rejected & divorced by 5 men. Women could not divorce, but men could.

She was living with a man who was not her husband - living in immorality.

-There is archaeological evidence that the well that this encounter took place at a well far out from the town of Sychar. There were wells closer to town.

Jesus knew that this hurting woman would come to get water in the heat of the day at noon (when most women avoided getting their water).

And Jesus knew that she would come to a well that was remote.

This woman avoided the women of her town to avoid the shame casting of other women.

Jesus has no interest in casting shame. Why

Luke 19:10 - Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost.

And Jesus sought out this woman.

-There was something broken in her life. There were reasons why she kept marrying and kept being divorced.

-We are not told the reasons, but this we know, the Samaritan woman was a desperate and a hurting person. She was probably a survivor.

-And she would have hurt for relationships. But when she looked back at her life there would have been a wake broken relationships with both women and men.

-She would have hurt for relationships, but couldn’t keep relationships.

Pause

It is easy for you and I to look at the dirty and the broken and resent them.

-Resent their immoral choices.

-Resent the dismissiveness of their need for God.

-Resent their success.

-This resentment causes barriers.

Jesus did not allow differences to be barriers.

For Jesus her different ethnicity wasn’t a barrier.

Her accent wasn’t a barrier.

Her gender wasn’t a barrier.

Her difference in education - not a barrier.

Her sinfulness wasn’t a barrier.

Jesus made a choice that all these things would not be barriers for Him.

Friends, The different and the broken are not the enemy, they are your Mission Field.

-Unbelievers in your family are your mission field.

-People who do not look like you are your mission field.

-People who do not vote like you may be part of your mission field.

-People who use terrible language at school or work are your mission field.

-Christ Follower, If you are going to be like Jesus and reach those in your mission field, you must move past the barriers of your own culture and your own bias.

Pause

-What is the bias that holds you back for reaching out to those who are different?

-What keeps you from loving and engaging those different than you?

The truth is When Jesus reached out to you - He pushed aside the barriers and he reached out to you - the dirty and the broken.

His love for you is more powerful than any barrier.

Will you love the different so much that any barrier will be like a paper wall that is easily walked through.

Transition - Next we see in our passage that, Jesus heart of great love for the Woman caused Him to … confront her sin.

III. Jesus willingly confronts sin. vs. 16-19

Story tell -

Jesus says, Go get your husband

-I don’t have one.

-You’ve had 5 and the one you have now you are just living with.

What was the problem? The main problem was NOT that she had 5 divorces and was immorally living with a man.

-This was not her main problem.

The heart of the matter is that the Samaritan woman was trying to quench her spiritual thirst with something other than her creator.

-Isn’t this one of the main reasons we struggle with sin.

-We not only think that sin will be fun, but we think that sin will satisfy.

-We try to satisfy your spiritual thirst with something else other than Jesus.

-You think, “If I could just have more control over my life I would have peace.

So you try to control others with nagging, over planning, over checking details, or control with anger.

-You maybe you feel empty - instead of going to Christ and asking him to fill you, you numb yourself by over entertainment, staring at a device screen way too much, abuse of pain medication … we try to escape the emptiness.

-Or maybe you think, If I could have the respect of other people I would be content.

So, we dress to impress, or we become The Expert, or we overachieve to gain respect ...

In the end we are looking to fill that empty place on the inside.

We thirst for something more than this life can give.

Jesus says it this way, that we thirst for Living Water.

William/Robby read earlier a passage that talks about us hungering for something more.

Is 55:1-3 “1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

We hunger for Spiritual Food.

Your Soul desires the bread of God’s Word, the water of His cleansing Spirit,

as you take the Lord’s Supper last week you drank and ate, reminding you how you partake in the body and blood of Christ.

Jesus invites you to consume His food and His drink and be satisfied.

The Living Water of Himself.

-Will you spend time with Him feasting on His Word and be satisfied?

-Will you give yourself to Him in salvation and be satisfied? Pause

-Jesus showed the Samaritan Woman how she trying to satisfy her spiritual thirst with earthly sinful relationships.

The point is that Jesus loved her so much that he confronted her about her sin.

When you and I minister to the broken and the different, you will also have to confront sin.

And Jesus confronts your sin because He loves you

You and I must talk to others about their sin - even in a culture that denies sins existence.

-Here is one way I do it.

-You know I’m a Christ follower. I’m not a perfect person. I sin everyday, I probably sin at least twice before nine in the morning. I’ve broken all of the 10 commandments. You know, You and I both deal with the guilt of sin. We both stand guilty before God.

Here is the Good News, I have found the one who has forgiven me of every sin I’ve ever done.

We talk about sin because we love people.

Parents and Grandparents - Talk to your children about their sin. Tell them when they lie or steal or are mean to their brother - what you have done is both wrong and it is a sin against God.

-Someone might say, I don’t want my child to feel bad.

Let me ask you this.

Do you want your children to deeply see their great need for the Savior?

Don’t talk to them about morality. Speak to their soul about sin.

Why? Because you love their eternity.

-Tell them that Jesus is the only one who can forgive sin.

Jesus confronted the Samaritan woman about her sin.

Transition - Then Jesus shares the answer to her sin. Then He reveals himself - The Messiah. He says, “I who you speak of is He.”

IV. Jesus reveals His identity as Savior. vs. 21-26

Jesus says, This Messiah you refer to. You are looking at Him.

In fact he said something more than that. The last word (in verse 26) that Jesus uses to reveal Himself to The Samaritan woman is NOT the pronoun “He”.

Jesus doesn’t say, “I am he (Messiah).”

He says, Literally, in the Greek

“The one who you speak to AM.” (X2)

That’s weird, what does that mean?

In the Old Testament, Moses was confronted in the dessert by God in the burning bush. God told Moses to go talk to the Hebrew people.

Listen to what Moses said to God. Read Exodus 3:13-15

It is this name “I am” that Jesus uses with the Samaritan woman. Jesus says, The one speaking to you is the “I AM”. It is the greatest name for God.

Jesus was saying I AM Messiah and I AM the one who has brought all things in to existence.

Don’t ever let someone tell you that Jesus never claimed to be God.

Jesus makes it ver clear that He is not only Messiah, but He is God.

Transition - Now the woman must do something. She has just been overwhelmed by the presence of God in Christ.

V. The Good News Brings a Response, vs 27-42

Story Tell

The woman leaves Jesus, goes to the town and tells.

The people do not dismiss her (this is a miracle).

They went out to see who this man is.

-Jesus tells his disciples, look up the harvest is here.

-Many many more come to believe.

Jesus stays 2 days, tells them more about who He is.

When the Gospel is shared it effects lives.

Romans 1:16 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

-The Gospel has a power of its own.

-It will either harden people more, or it will convict, or it will convict and save.

-You are not the one who convinces and saves.

-The Gospel in itself convicts and saves.

-We see the effect on these spiritually thirsty people.

-They believe.

Here is the .... statement.

vs. 42

John 4:42 ESV

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.”

The Gospel had reached the broken and the different.

-The testimony of the most broken of the Samaritans was used to bring hundreds of Samaritans to Jesus.

My friend - Your testimony of how Jesus has changed your life can be used to bring many to Jesus.

-Will you share it?

-Who will you purpose today to share it with?

If you do not know Jesus, will you fully trust Him now?

Jesus saves all kinds of broken people.

Jesus saved the Samaritan woman who had all kinds of hurts and hang ups.

He certainly can save you now.

Will you come to Him?