Intro
This past week I met a young woman who takes 911 calls. I asked her about the craziest. She said one was the night before Thanksgiving… a woman called screaming. When finally calm enough to understand… she shouted.. “I don‟t know how to cook a turkey.‟
Nothing wrong with wanting to cook a turkey… but she missed the meaning of what was „critical.‟ She‟s missing the bigger picture. We all can when we become too focused and anxious about valuable things that we miss the vital things.
Continuing in our series… a journey with Jesus through the Gospel of John.
As we‟ve journeyed with Jesus through the Gospel of John… we have seen that Jesus comes as the intersection of the eternal realm and the created realm. He has come to reclaim the rule and reign of God… the kingdom of God… and to reclaim and restore lives as children of God. He calls disciples who would join in this process. What he has to impart isn‟t simply that of a religious system or a better interpretation of the Jewish system of Law. He is fulfilling in himself what all such systems pointed to. He is calling them to enter this new intersecting that is revealed in himself. He has called them to join him on a mission „behind enemy lines‟ that they don‟t really grasp… and then he lets the encounters along the way become opportunities to reveal to them what is at hand.
This morning we come to one of those expansive moments.
Chapter 4 - dynamic encounter… that begins with Jesus choosing to go through the land of Samaria… he waits by a well where a women comes out at noon….he speaks into her thirst…she discovers who he is. Now his disciples come back. But now it becomes a dynamic moment to his followers to understand what it represented… to not let the valuable miss the vital…
John 4:27-42 (NIV) 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
Background
Remember the chronology of the story. Jesus and the disciples arrive at the well. Immediately, the disciples go into the city to buy food. The woman comes from the city to draw water from the well.
Jesus engages the woman in conversation. Toward the end of that conversation, the disciples return from the city with food. They see Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman, yet no one said, “What do you seek?”, or “Why are you talking with her?” Smart move on the disciples‟ part to keep quiet at this point!
But their discomfort was no secret. The whole choice to travel through Samaria had been strange…. Jesus staying may have seemed strange. That he is talking to a Samaritan…and a women is totally outside their sensibility.
>Which is exactly why this becomes such an essential opportunity.
They are missing the bigger picture. Jesus is in the midst of a feast and they don‟t understand. Many of us can miss the big picture as well. We all can when we become too focused and anxious about valuable things that we miss the vital things.
How do we join the bigger picture… the real meat and mission of life?
1. See people the way God sees them
From a time management perspective, Jesus might have just told them about the harvest, instead of going through Samaria? Imagine this: Jesus and His disciples are sitting around a campfire. He pulls out a scroll, and unrolls it and says, “Gentleman, I have been doing some demographics research from the AD 30 Roman Empire Census, and discovered a pocket of Samaritans that need the gospel.” The problem is that nothing would have changed… because it wasn‟t a matter of facts but of seeing. They “need to go through Samaria”!
It doesn‟t matter what you know if you can‟t see it…. recognize it.
We can imagine Jesus as he watches His disciples as they start up the hill into the village of Sychar. Perhaps he saw them as they passed the woman on her way down to the well; it could be that they even forced her to step off the path to let them proceed. At any rate they failed to see her as anything but an obstruction to their plans, not as a person who needed to be reached with the news of what God had come to offer.
That is still a problem, in life you see what you are going after.
If food is what you go after then food is all you see. If money is what you are going after you tend to shut everything else out. If affirmation from others is what you are going after then that is what you see. (Drawn from John Hamby)
So Jesus says to us…„Open up your eyes‟
You are not seeing because you are preoccupied. He‟s not against getting food… but as we know… the enemy of the best is usually not the worst but the second best. Jesus taught us:
Matthew 6:25, 33-34 (MSG) “There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach… than the clothes you hang on your body. ...Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now…”
And „to look at the fields.‟
See what you haven‟t been able to see… people.
The word “look” (theomai) means “to wonder, to behold, view attentively, contemplate, indicating a sense of wondering consideration involving a careful and deliberate vision which interprets its object.” (Spiros Zhodiates). How do we interpret the lives we see around us?
How do we see people in general? What is your most basic response towards people?
Do I see people with fear… as a source of potential threat or danger?
Do I see people with judgment… as a source of reminder of failure in us all?
Do I see people with self-serving eyes… as a source of how they might help me?
Do I see people with comparison… in terms of how they make me feel about my own sense of success?
Jesus had eyes to really see….
Matthew 9:36-37 (NIV) When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
He had compassion because he could see the reality of the need.
It doesn‟t flow from superiority or command…. But compassion that can see a need.
As we live among the most outwardly self sufficient and independent people in human history.. it may seem hard to see and engage needs in people. We will need to really LOOK… with intent and insight… but always KNOWING that it is there.
“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
The world is full of people searching.
A group known as GMO (Global Media Outreach) has developed a more focused and forward thinking model of using the internet to reach lives. Using various banner type ads… they have created a connection with responses that allows a level of tracking to bring real time understanding to who is responding and from where. What it reveals is how significant the internet can allow lives among the least reached and most closed cultures to both engage in exploring and receiving Christ. The numbers are staggering… and increasing… and beyond speculation as they simply reflect real responses. (Go to http://www.greatcommission2020.com/ and watch live.)
They estimate that 2 million people per day looking on the internet for spiritual truth … ultimately for God.
You can see on this site the real time responses to banner ads that invite knowing who Jesus is… they represent a 24 hour period beginning each midnight. Just last night when I looked… in less than the full 24 hours…
Daily visitors – over 461,000
Decisions – over 63,000
Follow Up – over 8,800
Some of you may be called to join this process as „internet missionaries‟… those who can and will accept regular connections and assignments to follow up in internet dialogue with people who have either responded having questions about Christ / Christianity… or have made a commitment and want help knowing what to do and how to grow. It‟s a great opportunity for those who are naturally conversant via email … and want to make a difference with their time.
People are searching silently across the globe…
and inwardly around us every day.
I have found that we have a very misguided assumption that those who are outwardly successful don‟t have any sense of need in their lives. I find the opposite can be true. When you are focused on what you believe is at the top of the ladder you are consumed with a hope… but when you reach it… you realize you are left with yourself… facing yourself.
People want those who will explore with them… explore their longings in a safe way.. which means we let go of any sense of control… and simply embrace influence.
When we see the need we will appreciate the next point…
2. Trust the goodness of truth when it is shared freely
As most know… I believe we live amidst a minefield of misconceptions about God… and if we want to share about God‟s love we will need to show God‟s love.
If we don‟t really have compassion… best we not open our mouths.
But we cannot separate the significance of truth from being a part of compassion.
Now our current culture is having a hard time dealing with the very basic idea of truth.
So people speak of truth being „relative‟… we „can‟t know truth for certain‟… that „truth is personal‟ so you shouldn‟t imply your truth is for me. the whole notion of converting people is what people have biggest problem with… the idea of claiming something as true is deemed narrow minded.
> All of these are fears that have missed the point. They are a reaction to claims of certainty…to claims of superiority… to judging people… to forcing people to conform.
None of those issues have to do with the simple reality of freely sharing what we have experienced as true. This whole encounter with the women is such a testimony of this.
How is truth experienced with the Samaritan woman?
This whole encounter with this woman reveals the true meaning of Jesus bringing truth.
She had been confronting the two essential truths to finding eternal life: the truth about herself… and then the truth about Jesus. (In verse 26: “I who speak to you am He.”) As she begins to put everything together, she‟s struck by the fact that Jesus knows everything about her and is still willing to talk to her. She can‟t get over it. She is so startled by this that she left her water jar by the well, ran back to her town and said to the people in verse 29: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
Evangelism is good news.
It‟s news because it provides what is helpful. Ignorance is a disadvantage… and this news empowers. Anyone who has truth that can help others is expected to do „good newsing‟
What we really have a problem with is the way such news is shared.
No one wants to hear someone claim to be superior? Does she claim she is superior… or judge anyone? Not at all. She is making no claim upon her nature but rather what she has found.
(NOTE #1)
No one wants it imposed. Does she force this upon anyone? No. In fact it‟s an oxymoron to control a choice. She just tells how Jesus spoke into her life and invites others to come engage him.
It‟s NOT narrow minded to share what we believe is good news.
It‟s become sort of an acceptable posture to consider the teachings of Christ (Christianity) as good… but not the idea that they can be presented as a truth for others.
That‟s a position that really cannot bear weight. It‟s like saying I like ice cream but not that it‟s frozen. If it‟s not frozen… it becomes something else. The truth it presents is part of it‟s nature.
For all the talk about there being no absolute truth….the truth is that we exchange what we believe to be true all the time… and we do mean that we believe it is true for all. If you ask someone if they believe that racism is wrong… or rape is wrong… we can also ask if they believe it is just true for them or true for everyone? (Drawn from thoughts shared by Tim Keller)
3. Join in the process that offers life
As Jesus notes…“Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true.” (John 4:37)
(NOTE # 2)
Here in Samaria others had sown and prepared ahead of what this moment. Their ancestors had been Israelites These people had a heritage from Old Testament scripture… that‟s why she knew about the coming Messiah. They also had the testimony of John the Baptist who had ministered there. And now this woman at the well has gone to them and testified of her experience with the Lord. So he says… guys… this is not just something you can make happen… but it‟s a process you can join.
When? > Jesus says..’Even now he harvests the crop for eternal life,’
Jesus says the time is now. You keep thinking that the time will come… that the harvest is in 4 months… but the fields are ripe now. The disciples had some good reasons to think it wasn‟t a particularly open time. God‟s chosen people of Israel has been scattered… many now living under oppression… in years of silence from prophetic voices… and now both the Roman rulers and the religious leaders were against any claims to change.
Jesus operates in response to what never changes… there are women at a well that long for love.
Jesus is excited because SHE GOT IT… she went and shared with others… and here they come.
Jesus saw with compassion… and what he saw was not something short on potential… but on those participating. (The harvest is plentiful… but the workers are few.)
This is not just that which offers life to others… but to us.
Jesus said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about….My food…is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. - John 4:32, 34
Jesus refers to this as food… because it is what helps energize and sustain him.
We all need that which sustains us.
Many of us are dying because we lack a mission… an energizing substance to life.
Ever feel like life is wearying… wears you out? Guess what? It ALWAYS will. The question is how you spend your energy… not if you spend it.
Jesus is calling us to discover the deeper satisfaction of being a part of what God is doing
Pleasures, possessions, and positions can never satisfy… because there is something bigger at hand. As parents, food means very little to us when one of our children is in need. In the same way, nothing should be more important to us spiritually than seeing God‟s lost children restored to Him.
Conclusion:
It all begins with getting new eyes for people… compassion and entrusting the place of sharing what we have found to be true. As C.S. Lewis pointed out so eloquently in The Weight of Glory, other than the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the spirit of the human being to whom you're talking is perhaps the holiest thing you will ever encounter. So take off your shoes as Moses did at this burning bush.
I want to close hearing from the voice pf one who represents such lives:
VIDEO - „Unspoken Plea (Evangelism) hidef‟
This video piece can be previewed and purchased at: http://www.sermonspice.com/product/14974/an-unspoken-plea
A version with a young female high school student is also available: http://www.sermonspice.com/product/16167/a-students-unspoken-plea
Pray for new eyes…
Resources: I am grateful for the thoughts of others I may draw from. I will usually study the text and form my own shape to the points and structure. In the process I may insert various ideas and statements from others (commentaries and messages related to the same text) which are related to the points I have developed. I do not use these notes as a manuscript that is either memorized or read… but rather as a guide for the thoughts I offer. This message drew thoughts from Tim Keller, Richard Tow, John Hamby, and Randy Chestnut.
NOTES:
1. God has given each of us different evangelistic styles. It takes all kinds of Christians to reach all kinds of people. All people cannot witness the same way, but all people can witness some way. The book Contagious Christian notes the following of which the women reflects the „invitational.‟
Confrontational Peter Acts 2 Intellectual - Paul - Acts 17 Testimonial - Blind - Man John 9 Interpersonal - Matthew - Luke 5 Invitational - Samaritan - Woman John 4 Serving - Dorcas - Acts 9
2. Paul makes nearly identical point - “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV)
