Introduction
In Switzerland every year, in the city of Basel, the festival of Fasnacht is held. The event takes its name from the start of the fasting season of Lent. Before beginning this time of penance and doing without, there are three days of parties and festivities and revelry (similar to Mardi Gras).
Pastor James Boice (Tenth Presbyterian, Philadelphia) lived in Basel three years. He writes: “The carnival is always a time of riotous behavior in which the normally restrained and stolid Baselers let themselves go morally.” (Apparently, what makes this event especially popular is that the revelers wear masks. With their identity completely veiled, they are emboldened to do what they would be ashamed to be known for doing.)
Boice continues: “Each year during Fasnacht, however, the Salvation Army challenges people to a higher standard of behavior by placing large posters around the city bearing the German inscription: ‘Gott sieht hinter deine Maske’, ‘God sees behind your mask.’”
God sees behind your mask. He is not blinded by our pretense. He is not deceived by our deceptions. He knows what’s in our hearts and lives.
King David, about 3000 years ago, sung about God’s sight under and behind our masks: “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar…. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there...!” (from Psalm 139).
What will you do about this knowledge? Later in Psalm 139, David professes his faith in God’s goodness by saying: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” Will God’s seeing behind our pretense be precious to us?
In our text this morning, Jesus proves his Deity by showing that no mask is able to hide who we are from him. Jesus knows what this woman has done and he exposes her dry soul. He has already offered her living water; now he describes the dryness and its cause, that she might receive the water of life. Three things must happen in her life (and in ours) to escape the drought of dryness through the fountain of life. There must be: 1) a confronting of sin; 2) a coming in spirit and truth; and 3) a confessing of Christ as Savior. Let us consider each in turn, that we might have our dryness healed and so that we can lead others to the waters.
1. Because the Path Out of Dryness Leads to God through Christ, We Must Confront Sin (John 4.16-18)
We now enter a second phase of Jesus’ interaction with this woman. Jesus deliberately and decisively changes the tone.
Last week we heard Jesus arouse her curiosity and appeal to her imagination as he (what we might call) “met here where she lived.” She was physically thirsty – thus she is at a well. Jesus began with that common experience of thirst for water and speaks to her thirst for God. She did not understand (at least not completely), but she was intrigued and said (verse 15): “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty….”
“Go, call your husband, and come here.” It comes from out of the blue – this bolt of reality bringing burning light to the dark secrets hidden in her heart. Jesus (as it were) reaches up and rips away the mask. Here is the principle – any true seeking for living water must confront sin.
It is unpopular, of course. Since Adam and Eve first sewed fig leaves together, and hearing the sound of God’s approach, hid themselves, humankind has continued the futile effort to escape the eye of God. But this not another fun round of hide and seek. It is deadly serious because we are seeking to hide from the Father what only he can heal.
It is common to avoid the doctor. Sometimes we would rather live with a pain than discover a real problem. Yet it might be the case that a disease will end in disaster unless we bring it to the light.
In a similar way, our greatest danger is not our sin (per se), but our refusal trust the Father with our sin. Of course, there are reasons. It is embarrassing to have our failures and rebellion exposed. James Boice notes: “In the Bible, whenever a person meets God, it always produces feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment and terror in the worshiper. These are all painful emotions, and we are doing everything possible in our culture to avoid them.”
1973, Dr. Karl Menninger (a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist) published, Whatever Became of Sin? In that book he lamented what he described as American society’s rejection of the concept of a divine standard of right and wrong. He also observed that the word “sin,” was even disappearing from our vocabulary!
I was privileged to have breakfast yesterday with Pastor Baruch, the Pastor of Grace and Truth Christian Church in Israel. He himself is Jewish and I asked him: “How does one begin presenting the Gospel to a Jew? Do you immediately speak of Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah?” Pastor Baruch explained that Judaism has lost all sense of moral sin and no longer sees a need for good news. So he begins with the holiness of God.
We began there in our worship service today. We heard the law and confessed our sin. Both of those (the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man) are increasingly unusual in churches because people do not want to know the truth of their standing before God. But as Dr. David Wells correctly notes, “Holiness fundamentally defines the character of God. Robbed of such a God, worship loses its awe, the truth of his Word loses its ability to compel, obedience loses its virtue, and the church loses its moral authority.”
Many modern people criticize the Christian church for dwelling to much on sin. But our reason is simple – we must be realists. Sin is our daily experience. I told you about the Wall Street Journal article describing the new “evangelistic” push in atheism in Europe. No longer content to be passive, atheists are proselytizing, using “outreach events” and other “religious techniques” to spread their belief that there is no god.
Friday’s paper published letters to the editor – both pro and con – in response to that article. One I found especially interesting was the statement that all of society’s problems are caused by religious people. “The sooner we can eliminate religion, the better, so we can get busy saving the world with all the good works atheists are doing.” The claim was so patently ridiculous that I first thought it was written tongue-in-cheek.
Of course there have been fights throughout history in the name of religious belief and religious freedom. There have also been terrible atrocities committed in the cause of communism and Nazism and tyrannical socialism and other atheistic “faiths.” Neither fact proves anything. And neither will eliminating the Christian faith usher in peace and happiness. Such a claim is foolish and a bald denial of reality – because the problem is in my heart.
Romans 3.23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Isaiah 53.6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way….”
1John 1.10: “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Psalm 14.3: “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
We are dry of soul because our sin separates us from the fountain. But hear God’s grace: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters….” “Come to me” calls the Father, “that your soul may live.” “Come and you will be satisfied.” It is good news and it is free – but know this: none can come to a holy God without confronting their sin.
Not fixing your sin – the sick need a physician. Not hiding your sin – God sees behind your mask. No longer denying your sin – fearful of God’s rejection. But admitting, unmasking and coming by faith to a loving Father to be forgiven and changed forever.
“Go, call your husband….”
Jesus is neither mean nor self-righteous. Even after she evades the truth by claiming to have no husband, he confronts her equivocation with a positive comment at the beginning and end of his correction. “You are right,” is his opening statement; and he ends with: “What you have said is true.” But in-between Jesus is firm and resolute – the mask must come off: “the one you have now is not your husband.” Adultery and divorce are sins which must be owned in order for the dry soul to find refreshment at the fountain of God’s grace.
Here is a great failure of the church today. In an effort to coddle and keep dry souls who are running from an all-seeing God, the modern church eliminates from her worship and evangelism both the holiness of God and the sinfulness of mankind. Such will not do – because it is not Jesus’ method. The path out of dryness leads to a holy God through a sin-forgiving Christ – therefore we must confront the heart of the problem: the human heart.
2. Because the Path Out of Dryness Leads to God through Christ, We Must Come in Spirit and Truth (John 4.19-24)
Please note three essential facts.
First, worship is the proper activity before God. In the whole of the Bible, this is one of the few times where the Father is said to be seeking something in particular: worshippers. Worship is the only proper response of the creature to the infinite Creator God. We can think of it as a “symphony” in three movements.
• It begins with reverence and praise: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, and the whole earth is full of his glory.” God is great and greatly to be praised; and worship gives him the words of our lips and the meditation of our hearts (to the best of our abilities) which honor and acknowledge his character.
• The middle movement is one of humility: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” The sight of God always reveals our failure to live worthy of his presence. Worship confesses the sin which clings to and dries out our souls.
• The culmination is joyful thankfulness. For Isaiah, the angel brings the coal from the alter to take away his sin. For us, we recognize the three-part song: God is great; I am not; God’s Messiah bridges the gap – then we respond by giving thanks to God.
Lord willing, we will come back to this theme in two weeks. Today be aware that Jesus speaks to this woman about worship because the dry soul is watered through the proper response to the presence of God. We were made for worship.
Second, worship must be in spirit. Note well, the word “spirit” in verse 23 is not capitalized. Jesus is speaking of spiritual worship, that act of exposing your heart to God, rather than being content with formal and outward ceremonies. We can say all of the right words and sing all of the right songs and hear all of the right sermons and be further from the fountain of living water than when we entered the building. We must have those forms in order to worship, for we are both body and soul. Spiritual worship is never less than reciting together the biblical liturgy; but it is always more. Charles Spurgeon is correct: “God does not regard our voices, he hears our hearts, and if our hearts do not sing we have not sung at all.” Is your heart singing?
Third, worship must be in truth. In 1993, the ReImagining Conference made the news. New rituals replaced communion as milk and honey were distributed and the participants were told: “This is the body of God for healing the bitterness of the human heart….” The goddess Sophia occupied center stage in the event. The conference program declared: “I found God in myself, and I loved her. I loved her fiercely.” And Delores Williams, a PCUSA pastor said, “I don’t think we need folks hanging on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff.”
Such blasphemy and foolishness is exactly what Jesus warns of. God cannot be known apart from truth, apart from worship which conforms to Scripture. What we like, what we imagine, what makes us feel “spiritual” – these are wholly irrelevant. God tells us who he is and how he is to be approached. If we will not submit to the means and methods of worship as defined in this book, we remain far from God – regardless of what we may feel. The path out of dryness is one of spiritual and truthful worship.
3. Because the Path Out of Dryness Leads to God through Christ, We Must Confess the Savior (John 4.25-26)
This is a profound proclamation. Nowhere else does Jesus give such a plain statement of his nature and office: “I am the Messiah.” Jesus does not present himself so clearly to the learned Scribes or the moral Pharisees. It is to a dear woman, lonely and lost in sin. We should immediately remember other, similar interactions. Jesus eats dinner with the tax collector. Jesus shows mercy to the woman caught in adultery. Jesus grants forgiveness and heaven to the thief on the cross.
Jesus gives his fullest and simplest message to those who need it the most. As the great physician, he cures those we would fear are beyond hope, showing that none are too lost for his love and healing.
Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Of course you acknowledge him as a great man, an influential teacher, a charismatic leader. All do. But that is not what he demands: “I who speak to you am he.”
Jesus is saying this: you have a problem with sin which has separated you from other people. That is why you are here alone and lonely. But you have an even bigger problem – God sees behind that stern mask you wear to hide your tears. You are dry of soul for your sin has separated you from the source of living water. You need God to provide a Savior, a Messiah, one who will carry your iniquities and show you the path to restoration. I am that provision of God’s promised grace. I am he who will thirst completely, so that you may never thirst again.
Will you believe in him as your Messiah? Those who believe own their sin, take off their masks, and come just as they are to the Father for forgiveness and life. Will you believe?
4. Conclusion
Pastor Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia. At the close of the service a stranger came up to him and said, “I don’t like the way you spoke about the cross. I think that instead of emphasizing the death of Christ, it would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example.”
Stearns replied, “If I presented Christ in that way, would you follow Him?” “I certainly would,” said the stranger without hesitation. “All right then,” said Stearns, “let’s take the first step. He committed no sin. Can you claim that for yourself?”
The man looked confused. “Why, no,” he said. “I never claimed that; I acknowledge that I have sin.”
Stearns said, “Then you need a Savior, not an example.” Now you know – how will you respond? Think about that.
