Go Tell Your World
John 4:24-42
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Oct. 26, 2008
*John 4 tells the great story of a Samaritan woman whose life had been broken. She had been married 5 times, and now was living with a man outside of marriage. This woman was scorned by her neighbors, and broken by her sin.
*But then one day she went to the well and met Jesus!
-She found out that Jesus knew all about her troubled past, but that He still cared for her. Jesus talked with her and showed concern for her. He treated her with compassion and respect. Jesus cared so much for this woman that He even gave her the living water of everlasting life.
*This woman’s life was changed forever when she met Jesus. She was saved by trusting in Jesus the Christ. And she rushed back to town to tell everyone how Jesus had changed her life.
*Has Jesus changed your life? If He has, then just like this Samaritan woman, you have a story to tell. That’s what we will focus on today.
*Let’s get started by reading vs. 24-30. There Jesus said:
24. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
25. The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
26. Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
27. And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"
28. The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
29. "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
30. Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
*Christians, we need to be like this woman. We all need to be more faithful to witness for Jesus. Howard Hendricks once said, “In the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering.”
*Bill Bright was the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. He was also responsible for the “Jesus” film, which has been seen by over a billion people around the world. Bright’s organization once helped to survey millions of believers. Sadly, they found out that 98% of us do not regularly introduce others to our Savior. (1)
*98% of Christians don’t witness for the Lord?!?
-We have got to help turn that number around.
-We all need to be more faithful to witness for Jesus.
-And the Lord will help us do it, just as He helped the woman at the well.
1. First, Jesus will help us overcome our inadequacies.
*Many times we feel inadequate to serve the Lord because of our past failures.
-This poor Samaritan woman knew all about failure.
-She had not one or two, but five failed marriages.
-Her life had been broken by her own sin, and by the sin of people she trusted.
-Her background was terrible.
-But then she met Jesus and her life was changed forever.
*Jesus Christ has the power to change our lives, because He is the Lord God Almighty who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead!
-Jesus can wash us clean.
-He can overcome our past failures.
-Jesus can give us a fresh start in life.
*Anne Lamott described a time when a fellow church member told about adopting her son through an organization called A.S.K. -- Adopt Special Kids.
*Part of the adoption process included filling out a questionnaire checking “yes” or “no” for one’s willingness to adopt babies that had been born addicted, disabled or terminally ill. The couple had checked down the list.
*Their pastor was helping them to work through the process, and he later told their church that God, too, is like an adoptive parent who says, “Sure, I’ll take the kids who are addicted or terminal. I pick all the handicapped kids. And of course the sadists, too, the selfish one, the liars, -- I choose them.
*I choose the disobedient ones and the terrified ones, the self-indulged ones and the trouble-makers, the damaged ones and the unlovable ones. In love, I choose them all. I will be a parent to them all. I will end their separation and bring them home to me.” (2)
*That is the power of the cross of Jesus Christ!
-Jesus died to take the punishment for our sin. Then He rose again to give new life, eternal life to all who will put their trust in Him.
-He can wash it all away and give us a new life of hope and love.
-Jesus can make us a part of the family of God.
*That Good News is something worth sharing! So this woman at the well ran quickly to tell all of the people in her hometown what the Lord had done for her. What she found at the well that day overcame all of the junk in her life, and she had to share it with others.
*Just like that, Jesus will help us overcome our inadequacies.
2. And He will help us overcome our inhibitions.
*Jesus can overcome all of our fears in witnessing. Do you think this woman was afraid to talk to the people in her city? She probably was afraid.
*Most women in that day went to get their water later in the evening. This woman was at the well at an odd time when she didn’t expect anyone else to be there. Maybe she was trying to avoid the people who looked down on her. And she must have been at least a little nervous when she ran to tell the people about Jesus.
*99 out of 100 people have fears when it comes to witnessing: fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of saying the wrong thing.
*Billy Graham had fears. He said that many times his hands got clammy and his knees started shaking before he preached. Billy Graham also said, “Every time I stand before a crowd I feel so unworthy to preach the Gospel. I feel fearful that I may say something or do something that may mislead someone, because I'm talking to eternal souls who have the possibility of living in heaven forever.” (3)
*Almost everybody has fears about witnessing, but Jesus can overcome our fears! One of the best things to help overcome our fears is praise.
*In vs. 28 this woman left her water pot and rushed back into the city. That was a half-mile trip, and as she rushed back to tell the people about Jesus, I can see her praising the Lord all the way:
-“Thank you God for letting me get to the well at just the right time today!
-Thank you God for letting me meet your Messiah!
-Thank you God for loving me even though you know all about my sin!
-Thank you God for your forgiveness!
-Thank you for giving me your living water!”
*Whenever you feel fear over talking to others about Jesus, take a little time to praise the Lord and thank Him for the wonderful things He has done in your life. -- And know this: Jesus will help us overcome our inhibitions.
3. He will also help us overcome our inexperience.
*Talk about inexperience, think about this Samaritan woman. Yes, in vs. 25, she knew that the Messiah was coming. There she told Jesus, “I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
*She knew that the Messiah was coming, but she had none of the wonderful things God has given to us: no Sunday School, no New Testament and no witness training of any kind.
*The only real experience this Samaritan woman had was a personal experience with Jesus Christ. -- But that was all the experience she needed.
-She had a personal, dynamic, life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ.
-And if you are saved, you have too!
-You have all the experience you need to do the things she did.
*But what did she do?
-In vs. 28 she went: “The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city.” God’s work is never limited to these four walls. That’s why we need to talk to people where we work, play and live. We have to go. The woman at the well went.
*Then in vs. 29 she witnessed. She said to the men in her city, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
-Notice that she used her testimony.
-When Jesus is part of our life, He turns our troubles into testimonies.
-And every born-again believer has their own unique testimony about how Jesus has worked in your life.
*Believer, you probably didn’t meet Jesus at a well. But you met Him somewhere, and He has changed your life. Now, wherever we go, Jesus goes with us, and we can give a testimony about what He has done in our lives.
*“Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” -- Could it have been any simpler?
*I have really been blessed in my life. I have a wonderful family and wonderful friends. I have been able to serve the Lord for over 25 years. I got to go half-way around the world to tell people about Jesus. I got to lead my mother and my brothers to the Lord. I have received countless other blessings. On top of that, I know Jesus as my Savior, and I am going to live forever in Heaven.
*And all of these blessings have come my way, because in 1975 Georgia Savoie did what the Samaritan woman did in our story today. Georgia simply invited me to come to church. But she was really inviting me to come and meet Jesus.
*Come and get to know the only Savior of the world. Come and see the one who died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead.
-Come and see. -- How simple! Even the youngest among us can help other people trust Jesus as Savior and Lord.
*Craig Hamlin tells about a missionary mom who talked to her children about the importance of sharing their faith with lost people. Then one day, ten-year old Ryan was playing race cars with his friends.
*After several minutes he came running into the house and yelled, “Mom, you’ve got to come quick. Isabelle wants to accept Jesus into her heart.”
*Mom was a little skeptical of the little girl’s sudden interest in spiritual things, and said, “Ryan, I thought you were playing race cars?”
*Ryan replied, “We were, Mom, but our cars wrecked. The accident was real bad, so I asked Isabelle if she would go to heaven if she died. She said she didn’t know. I told her how she could know and she wants to ask Jesus into her heart.” (1)
*If ten-year-old Ryan can do it, so can we, with the help of the Lord. Jesus will help us overcome our inexperience.
4. And He will help us overcome our indifference.
*At the beginning of our story there is no evidence that the woman at the well cared for the people in her city. She went out of her way to avoid them. And she had probably been burned by some of the men in that town. She was cut-off from most of the other people in her city. It was partly their fault and partly her own fault.
*Then the woman at the well found out that Jesus cared about her, and she began to care for others. That’s what put her on the road to the city. She started loving other people with the kind of love that Jesus has for us.
*And she found out that she could make a huge difference in her world.
-We see it starting in vs. 39, where “many of the Samaritans of that city believed in (Jesus) because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’”
*This blessing grew even more in vs. 40-42:
40. So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
41. And many more believed because of His own word.
42. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.''
*All of this happened because the Samaritan woman started loving other people with the kind of love that Jesus has for us. And that’s what we should do.
*The Lord’s love ought to move us too, but often we are like the Lord’s disciples in this story. They had gone into the city to buy some food, minding their own business so to speak. They must have passed the woman on the way into town, but didn’t bother to tell her about the Lord.
*Then the disciples got back in vs. 27, just when the Lord had told the woman that He was the Messiah. She took off to witness, and the Lord began to teach the disciples about their spiritual blindness.
*It’s amazing that the people who should have cared the most, didn’t. But isn’t the same thing true today? -- We need to hear what the Lord told His disciples in vs. 35: “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”
*James Merritt tells about a sales manager who called his salesmen together to try to encourage them to have a greater vision for their company. He had a big white poster board set up in the conference room. And in the middle of that poster he had drawn a black circle about the size of a quarter.
-He asked each of the salesmen to tell him what they saw on that poster.
*Well, the first one said, "I see a black dot."
-The second one said, "I see a black dot."
-The third one said, "I see a black dot."
-All 35 sales people in that room said the same thing, "I see a black dot."
*The sales manager looked at them for a moment and then said, "Isn't it strange that all of you saw the black dot, but none of you saw the white all around it."
*And James Merritt asked:
-“Mrs. School Teacher: In your classroom do you see only students, or do you see fields that are white unto harvest?
-Mr. Businessman: In your building do you see only employees, or do you see fields that are white unto harvest?
-Mr. Doctor: In your office do you see only patients, or do you see fields that are white for harvest?
-Mr. Coach: In your gym do you see only athletes, or do you see fields that are white for harvest?
-Student: In your school do you see only classmates, or do you see fields that are white unto harvest?” (4)
*By the love of God, start seeing and caring for the harvest all around us.
-And go tell your world about Jesus.
1. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Five Things We Must Do to Reach People with the Gospel” by Craig Hamlin - Luke 19:1-10
2. Adapted from the book “Traveling Mercies” by Anne Lamott - New York: Anchor Books, pp. 254-255 - (Found in ChristianGlobe.com sermon “Changed Lives - The Woman at the Well” by King Duncan - John 4:5-42 - Dynamic Preaching First Quarter 2008)
3. Source: The Bible Illustrator: Date: 10/1987.15 - Title: Billy Gets Nervous Too!
4. ChristianGlobe.com sermon “The Love of the Harvest” by James Merritt - John 4:34-38
