THE WELL – A Place for Divine Appointments
John 4:1-5 (p. 741) February 1, 2015
Introduction:
[My wife called me Monday morning right as I was putting pen to paper and she said she’d come upon an accident immediately after it happened, a young girl had slid through a red light and hit a mother with her baby in the car. All of them seemed OK, but Kari got the baby and her mother in her car and they made sure. The baby was crying but was OK. It just so happened that the mom was Valerie Williams, the wife of our principle at James Lane Allen. Greg and I thought...God gave Kari a chance to love and minister to a scared, hurting mom and I couldn’t have chosen a better instrument to bring comfort...at just that moment...a divine appointment.]
And some of you might think...Oh come on Rick that was just a coincidence...an accident...but my response would be...I don’t believe in coincidences...I believe in “God-incidents.”
God’s Word tells us: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
(Heb. 4:13)
In fact Jesus himself said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.”
(Matt. 10:29-31)
One of our truest beliefs is that God is omniscient...He’s all knowing. And this scriptural precedent comes from these verses and hundreds of others.
But we don’t believe that God is just an observer of our lives. We as God’s people believe He is an active participant. “And we know that in...all things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose.”
(Rom. 8:28)
God is continually working through His people, He is continually guiding, directing and protecting His people, so His purpose can be fulfilled.
By the way that purpose is revealed in Romans 8:29. “It’s so we can be made into the image of His son Jesus, the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
So let’s look at that firstborn son’s life. How He lived it and the example it should be for us as we consider our purposes daily.
I. SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO LEAVE A COMFORTABLE PLACE FOR AN UNCOMFORTABLE PLACE
David Kibler shared something that will resonate in my mind for a long time. He said, “Many people treat the Church like a country club...they pay dues and expect benefits in return.”
I’ve even had someone say to me...“I’m a paying member!!! I really don’t think I helped the situation...because I laughed out loud and asked, “what does that mean?”
I knew the answer even before David reminded me...“I give therefore I should receive the benefits I want...I paid for them.”
We live in a culture that constantly teaches this philosophy...work for money....but stuff that makes life better, more comfortable...pay for benefits...receive those benefits.
The problem for the child of God is that this is the exact opposite of God’s kingdom...Jesus said:
MATTHEW 20:25-29 (p. 690)
The world says exercise your authority, demand your rights. Figure out a way to have people serve you...put yourself first.
Jesus said, “Not so with you...If you want to be great in my kingdom, serve others like me, put yourself last...give your life.”
I’ve had this thought running through my heart and mind all this week after a phone call earlier...
[What if you had a tree that produced fruit that tasted sweet, people liked eating it...but the fruit was poisonous...it caused those who ate it to be sick, but it tasted so good they got other people to eat it, and it made those people unhealthy as well. What would you want to do with that tree? I’d want to cut it down....the fruit it produced is hurting people I love.
Sometimes in what we call the church...there is that kind of fruit produced when we allow the philosophy of exercising authority, demanding rights, figure out how people can serve me....to be what we adopt...instead of the “not so with you” fruit of servant hood. Jesus said, “you recognize a tree as good or bad by the fruit it produces.”
In our text Jesus and his disciples are impacting their community...so much so the news reaches the Pharisees...what news do they hear...“Jesus is gaining and baptizing more disciples than John.”
For the Pharisees it truly was a numbers game. More people following you is what it’s all about.
But Jesus knew that it wasn’t about the numbers...“In fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples...So they left Judea!”
[I wonder how many of us modern day preachers would have left in the midst of this “baptism” extravaganza. If it was more than what happened with John the Baptist, it was significant. Matthew 3:5-6 says, “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan confessing their sins, they were even baptized by him in the Jordan river.”
The whole region of the Jordan...and now Jesus’ disciples are baptizing more people than that. If you’re following a “new leader” this must seem like the most uncomfortable place in the world! Let’s stay here!
John the Baptist and Jesus had very different purposes for being here. John said I’m the friend who announces the Bridegroom. He is the bridegroom...and my joy is complete when I hear his voice. My job’s complete...He’s here...He must become greater and I must become less.
Jesus came “to seek and save the lost.”
It’s why one of his first disciples was named Matthew...a tax collector...Hated by the Jews and used by the Romans...Jesus said “come follow me” and Matthew left his “tax booth” and followed Jesus...that night they had dinner at Matthew’s house...listen to what happens:
MATTHEW 9:10-13 (p. 680)
It’s always a temptation to eat and drink with the comfortable crowd. Sunday school classes where faces seldom change, or a group that is comfortable, and unthreatening to the status quo. It’s comfortable to stay in Judea but...
The church doesn’t exist for our comfort or for the status quo. The church exists so that every member is better equipped to follow Jesus...“to seek and save the lost.” To leave Judea for Galilee for an appointment.
Each of us going into the world and being sensitive to:
II. THE DIVINE APPOINTMENTS OF GOD
According to a middle-eastern fable, a merchant from Baghdad once asked his servant to run an errand. While at the markets, the servant went around a corner and saw ‘Lady Death’. She terrified him so much that he returned to his master in a great rush. “I am terrified,” said the servant. “I want to take the fastest horse and ride towards Samarra.”
Seeing how absolutely terrified his servant was, the master granted the request.
Later that afternoon, the merchant visited the markets himself and he too met Lady Death. He asked, “Why do you startle my servant?”
Lady Death answered, Frankly, it was I who was startled. I couldn’t understand why your servant was in Baghdad, because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
Each of us have this appointment with God...“It is appointed unto men once to die, and then face the judgment.” (Heb. 9:27)
[I’ve buried some of my dearest friends this month, Greg was 60, Susan was 55, Ronnie was 69, Jay was 97, my uncle Fant was 84. Each of them kept a “divine appointment with God.” He knew the number of their days...even if they didn’t. Some were sudden, some were inevitable because of illness but Jan 3, Jan 6, Jan 13, Jan 21, Jan 22 each one finished this life...and faced God for an eternal destination.]
Jesus’ divine appointment with the Father would happen on a Roman cross somewhere around 33 AD. Jesus was in his early to mid thirties...when he gave up his spirit, cried it is finished and breathed his last.”
Everything Jesus did was in preparation for this divine appointment. Every lost person sought...every lost person would be saved...only because of His sacrificial death. He knew it...it’s what drove Him. It’s why he obeyed and drank the cup of suffering, even when he would have preferred it to pass him by. It’s why He resolutely set His face towards Jerusalem. The cross...It’s why the Apostle Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord. Through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal. 6:14)
Paul understood the Messiah’s purpose...The Savior could only save the lost, and rescue the perishing by dying for our sin...by paying our debt. Jesus, the Lamb of God taking all the sins of the world upon himself. The cross is God’s divine appointment with the world.
1 JOHN 4:9-10 (p. 857)
I have a friend named Dan who is a Christian counselor, we had him on staff at Fern Creek. Dan and I have been friends and fellow servants for a while. He wrote this last week:
The nicked up, banged up, brokenhearted, downtrodden, dismissed, disenfranchised, marginalized, ostracized, left out, fallen, flawed, self-conscious, guilt-ridden, disappointed, discouraged, disheartened and defeated. These are the people that Jesus came for. And they should be who we are all about. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” (Psalms 34:18)
Think of all the divine appointments Jesus had in preparation for the cross...fishermen at their boats, tax collectors at their booths and up trees, women at his feet in shame, and rich young rulers, and one of my favorites is found in John 4...“It happens at a well.” And if Jesus tarries we’ll look at “This Well” and what it means for those who come to it all the way through Easter.
John 4:4-5 tells us, on the heels of the “Baptisms” in Judea, Jesus went to Galilee and “He had to go through Samaria...to a town called Sychar.” There’s a well (and I’m not sure if it looked anything like this amazing well made by Billy & Cindy Reynolds, but maybe!)
LOOK AT THIS PICTURE (SHOW PIC OF GALILEE, SAMARIA, JUDEA)
Everyone knew, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...but that didn’t motivate most Jews to take it...Samaritans were viewed as half breed pagans who were of less value to society than pigs. So most Jews took the detour around Samaria...it took longer but kept you “cleaner.”
Jesus didn’t take the short route for time...He took the short route because He had to...He had a divine appointment with one of the most nicked up, broken, downtrodden, discouraged, defeated people you could meet. He had an appointment as the Messiah to change her direction and destiny...At the Well.
We’ll look at this meeting together over the next 2 months, but today I’d ask each of you to consider two things as you leave. First, will you consider looking for those divine appointments this week. Whether it’s a “car wreck” or a family at Krogers....maybe pay for their groceries if God’s blessed you to be able to do that. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading...and obedient when you feel His urging. I’d love to hear your stories...about divine appointments and secondly, consider your meeting with Jesus at the well...did you leave that meeting with a desire to tell people how much Jesus changed your life...if not, why? If you’ve stopped Why? Biblical knowledge is important, but only if you’ve encountered Jesus at the well.
Conclusion:
Brennan Manning tells a story in “Lion and Lamb” of a recent convert to Jesus who was approached by an unbelieving friend. His friend’s first statement: “So you’ve been converted to Christ?
“Yes.”
“Then you must know a great deal about Him?”
“Tell me, what country was He born in?
“I don’t know”
“What was His age when He died?”
“I don’t know”
“How many sermons did He preach?”
“I don’t know.”
“You certainly know very little for a man who claims to be converted to Christ.”
“You’re right. I am ashamed of how little I know about Him. But I know this: 3 years ago I was a drunk. I was in debt. My family was falling to pieces: they dreaded the sight of me. But now I have quit drinking. We’re out of debt. Our home is happy. And my children and wife look forward to me coming home each evening. Jesus did all this for me. I know this much about Christ!”
Meeting Jesus at the well is a divine appointment and if you’ve really met Him, you might not know everything in the Bible, but you sure know what Jesus did for you.
Let’s pray.
