THE WELL – A Place for All People
John 4:9 February 13, 2022
Introduction:
My brother and I were down in Fort Lauderdale for a vacation several years ago. He has a time share and we were just enjoying some time together and eating our way down the treasure coast...we both love seafood so we’d been asking people....“where’s the best seafood restaurant?” And, the answer kept coming back, “The 15th Street Fishery,” so I called them up and made reservations for the evening. I also asked, “what’s the dress code...and the guy said, “casual.” Now casual to Sam and I means “shorts and a T-shirt.” I still remember, “He had on his KY verses FL T-shirt with a gator fighting a wildcat, jean shorts and tennis shoes. I had on a Harley T-shirt (I know, shocking huh?), jeans and boots...and a hat.
As we walked in, greeted by a maitre d’ in a tux, after we had given our keys to valet parking...we encountered super dressed up patrons, preppiness oozed from every person in this very upper class restaurant, I asked our waiter, “I thought dress was casual...He said, “It is...then he brought us a menu...with 7 course meals and “no prices.”
Now Sammy and I aren’t afraid to pay for a great meal...especially when I say Sammy and I and I mean “Sammy!” But for the two of us, including tip, it was $150. Our favorite part of this very interesting meal was the 4th course...a little glass was brought out filled with what looked like “Ice Cream.” We laughed and asked what it was...we knew we were only mid-meal and it wasn’t dessert...and the waiter said, “It’s sorbet...to cleanse your pallet!” Sammy and I still laugh about that line.
My point...don’t say you’re open to welcome everyone, even two KY boys in jorts and jeans if you’re not! We felt more awkward than a member of PETA in a KFC.
Church can be that way for lost, hurting and damaged people if we’re not careful. Just because we say “Everyone is welcome” and we sing, “Just As I Am” doesn’t mean it’s a reality. And I’m not talking about dress codes or types of worship services. I’m talking about an attitude of members that either celebrates “new people, or silently looks at “new people” with cautious judgments.
You see it’s scary to come to the well when you’ve lived a life outside of God...It’s embarrassing to come to the well at the same time all the respectable do...even though you might thirst for something better.
Jesus knew “The Well” is a place for all people, Jew and Samaritan, men and women, Messiah and messy.
We have to ask ourselves...
I. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE CHURCH REFUSES TO ASSOCIATE WITH THE WORLD?
In this encounter at the well the Samaritan woman assumed that what was true for most Jewish male Rabbi’s...must be true for this Jewish man sitting in front of her at Jacob’s well...“Jews do not associate with Samaritans”...literally you can translate this statement to say, “Jews don’t use dishes that Samaritan’s have used.”
It comes from the same reason Jews walked around Samaria when traveling from Judea to Galilee or vice versa...Samaritan dirt made you unclean, spiritually. Anything that had to do with this pagan, half breed worthless people was something to be avoided at all costs.
But Jesus was at the well because of her. She was the reason He had to go through Samaria...His purpose...His mission of seeking and saving the lost could be captured in His encounter...not only was he willing to associate with her, to drink out of the same cup, he wanted nothing more than for her life to be changed completely. His thoughts were for her salvation...not his reputation.
When the church refuses to associate with the world it becomes self focused instead of mission focused.
1. Self-focused instead of mission focused.
The danger for all of us as fallen, sinful human beings is to try and find satisfaction and pleasure outside of God’s plan...It’s the temptation Satan, the serpent, used in the Garden of Eden...and it’s still the temptation he uses in 2015.
The Samaritan woman certainly seems to have thought “If I have the right relationship I’ll be satisfied, I’ll be happy, and yet 5 “I do’s” later she was shacking up with a guy without even the legal rights of marriage. Her self-focus ended in failure...but sometimes the greater danger is “worldly success.”
[Francis Chan, the author of “Crazy Love” and “Forgotten God” said, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter!”]
Satan loves helping us succeed at things that don’t really matter, especially when the church loses its mission and purpose, and leaves its “first love.”
The church at Ephesus was a “big, big deal in the Apostle Paul’s ministry...In Acts 18:19 we discover Paul plants this church after leaving Corinth on his 2nd missionary journey...and on his 3rd journey Paul spent between 2-3 years here teaching. How much did he love this church...he left Timothy at Ephesus to be its lead minister. Paul loved and valued Timothy like no one else...there were great leaders that Paul said goodbye to in Acts 20...All this around 52-57 A.D. It became a dying church just 40 years later in 96 A.D. and by 200 A.D. Ephesus doesn’t exist. Why? Listen to where it’s focus is:
REVELATION 2:2-5
Hard workers, determined to succeed, dealing with evil people, doctrinally sound, persevering... “Yet they’ve forsaken their first love.” What is that?
Most believe it’s a deep love for Jesus that compassionately loves lost people.
They were successful at everything but what really mattered. Their lifespan 148 years...2 generations.
When the Church refuses to associate with the world...it.
2. Ceases loving broken people.
One of my favorite books is by a guy named Craig Gross, and it’s called “The Gutter;” where life is meant to be lived.
Browsing through a college newspaper, I recently stumbled upon a brief article written by a student who had given up on the notion of a “loving” church, so much so that he titled his article, “Why Your Church Stinks.” This frustrated and disillusioned person explained his perspective on how the Church is no longer relevant to hurting people. He believed authentic behavior had been lost because those in the Church had, in many cases, forgotten what it was like to be in the gutter, that their pasts, in their eyes, did not qualify for gutter status. Although I disagreed with his presentation, I agreed with his principle. Ultimately, his sorrow was rooted in the inconsistency embraced by many people in organized religion.
Maybe the typical church attenders aren’t out of the Red Light District, the sex industry, a crack house, or a prison, but they are from the gutter. Maybe their gutter had a different circumstance and scenario. Maybe it was or is a deceitful business, a horrible marriage, an unavailable dad, or a sexually permissive wife...we all have a gutter-filled past that we should not deny or forget. This is the very thing that defines our faith – that we no longer live in our gutters.
And it is the thing that should drive us back to the gutter. As Christlike people, unless we have gone to the gutter, we have not fully understood His purpose, nor fully embraced His plan for mankind. His plan is to make real love available to any and every person who would want it. When we understand Him, we will see what He sees.
It’s so easy at Ephesus and at Cornerstone to forget our gutter (and there are many that think “Well! I’ve never been in the gutter of sin like so and so!). And the ironic sad thing is...they’re still in the gutter of pride and self-righteousness that according to Jesus is the “Decorated Tomb of religion” filled with every impurity.
Forgiveness of our sins is what gives us new life...and hope...but those who believe they’ve been forgiven little...they begin to love...“little,” if at all.”
By the way...The disciples of Jesus...you know the 12...including Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew, Simon the Zealot, and half a dozen others are in town while Jesus is at Jacob’s well. When they return in John 4:27 they are surprised to find him talking to this woman, but none of them asked, “what do you want? Or “why are you talking to her?”
I love this...because if we’d seen the faces of the 12 it would have been utter surprise and shock...“whaaaat...is he doing?” must have been their thoughts...“Get away from her!!!” must have been the thought that followed.
Why? Maybe they assumed some people are beyond saving...or “not worth saving.”
[I'm involved in several ministries that allow for the Church to love real broken people...those people will never come through the doors until they are loved by real disciples who will sit with them when they do. You see the longer we are Christians the more we distance ourselves from our past...but it’s the relationships and friendships of our “before church lives” that are filled with lost, broken people...after being Christians for a while...most of our relationships are with other Christians...nice for us...but not for a lost world. It’s why the Great Commission is very specific and imperative.
“Go into the world and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19)
Jesus says, “This is my commission to every disciple...intentionally go into your world...intentionally involve yourself with those who aren’t followers...so you can lead them to be followers.”
Very seldom do we meet lost, broken, and hurting people at church on Sundays...more often we meet them intentionally because we went to the well while all the other disciples went to get something to eat together.
God’s Word tells us in Revelation 22:17 that the Holy Spirit works through Christ’s bride the Church for ALL people to hear the invitation of salvation.
“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” and let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come” let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”
II. WHAT SHOULD OUR HOPE BE FOR ALL PEOPLE?
That they “come” to salvation! That the Holy Spirit will work through us saying “man I was thirsty for something more than I’d satisfied for...and Jesus gave me living water, He’s given me new life. Come on...let me show you!”
Let me conclude with this statement (Craig Gross – The Gutter)...Many in the Church have chosen to examine the lifestyle of the woman at the well, “Christians have chosen to criticize the situation instead of delivering hope to it...our minds have mastered this deceptive method and it usually plays out like this...“If I denounce this awkward situation as a social ill that is not my responsibility, then I can walk away and ignore this person and feel less guilt for not doing the right thing. If I bash the gutter, it’s easier for me to ignore it. Phrases like “Promiscuous woman, get a job,” “they’ll just spend it on drugs” flood our minds and drain the conversation of Christ’s compassion.”
My heart will harden to the “worthless prostitute”...it springs compassionately to “Jenna, the single mom who was abused by her dad, and found herself on the street...because the street was the better of two horrible realities...and she didn’t have the choices I did!”
You see compassion moves us toward pain, judgment moves us away from it...Jesus always moves toward pain.
What if our first thought was “what if this was my daughter or granddaughter at the well, instead of “How disgusting she is? And which do you think describes the heart of Jesus better?
Broken people need role models of hope. Our response to hurting people at the well must be “Come see Jesus.” He’s left his Holy Spirit to partner with us in this commission.
Jesus didn’t come to call good people to be better...He came to call sinful people to be forgiven.
[Do you think you can go to heaven alone? I mean this: Can you accept Jesus Christ as the one who died for your sins, can you die to self and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, and to receive the gift of God’s Spirit...and then never be moved to do what He’s saved you to do? Can you then just ignore a lost world He came to save? Can you cloister yourself with other saved people and talk about God’s plan...but never do anything about it...and then stand before Jesus and hear “Well done my good and faithful servant.” What do you think?]
Hmmmmm, something to consider as we remember “cursed fruitless fig trees,” and “fields white for harvest and so few workers,” huh?
Let’s pray for our sons and daughters at the well.
