Leaving The Comfort Zone
Text: John 4:1-26
Introduction
1. Survivor Eva Hart remembers the night, April 15, 1912, on which the Titanic plunged 12,000 feet to the Atlantic floor, some two hours and forty minutes after an iceberg tore a 300-foot gash in the starboard side: "I saw all the horror of its sinking, and I heard, even more dreadful, the cries of drowning people."
Although twenty life-boats and rafts were launched-too few and only partly filled-most of the passengers ended up struggling in the icy seas while those in the boats waited a safe distance away.
Lifeboat No. 14 did row back to the scene after the unsinkable ship slipped from sight at 2:20 A.m. Alone, it chased cries in the darkness, seeking and saving a precious few. Incredibly, no other boat joined it.
Some were already overloaded, but in virtually every other boat, those already saved rowed their half-filled boats aimlessly in the night, listening to the cries of the lost. Each feared a crush of unknown swimmers would cling to their craft, eventually swamping it.
"I came to seek and to save the lost," our Savior said. And he commissioned us to do the same. But we face a large obstacle: fear. While people drown in the treacherous waters around us, we are tempted to stay dry and make certain no one rocks the boat.
2. We need as a church, and as Christians in general, to see that we were sent here on a rescue mission.
A. From a spiritual standpoint, there are people all around us that are drowning.
B. We have a choice, we can act like the people in the other lifeboats, more concerned with our own saftey and comfort, or we can be like those in No. 14 and turn around and look for people to rescue.
3. Many of us choose not to share our faith with others because we are afraid or insecure. But be encouraged my friends because we have been given an evangelism handbook...it's called the Bible!
4. In our text today Jesus shows us how to witness to people. We witness to people by being willing to...
A. Be Vulnerable
B. Be Real
C. Be Honest
5. Let's stand together as we read John 4:1-26.
Proposition: We can be good evangelist's by just being willing and available.
Transition: The number one thing you need to be willing to do is...
I. Be Vulnerable (1-9).
A. Had To Go Through Samaria
1. The Pharisees got a little uptight when they heard that Jesus was baptizing more people than John.
A. In their minds it was bad enough that they had to deal with John, who had already called them a bunch of hypocrites and told them to repent.
B. Now they not only had to deal with him, but they also had to deal with this new upstart preacher from Nazareth.
2. John tells us, "So he left Judea and returned to Galilee."
A. John doesn't say that the Pharisees did anything against Jesus, but it is unlikely that they saw Jesus growing popularity as a good thing.
B. Nevertheless Jesus doesn't want to give them any reason for a confrontation at this time.
C. He knew that eventually there would be a clash with the Pharisees, but it was too soon for that now.
3. Here is where the story becomes really interesting. John says, "He had to go through Samaria on the way."
A. What exactly does John mean when he says "he had to go through Samaria?" Did he really have to go through Samaria?
B. Most strict Jews disliked the Samaritan's so much that they would go out of their way in order to avoid them.
C. In going north to Galilee, Jesus took the less-preferred route through Samaria.
D. Samaria had a long history of tension with Judea. In Jesus' day, harsh racial and cultural conflict existed between Jews and Samaritans.
E. Jews normally avoided Samaria by first going east to Jericho, then following the Jordan Valley north (NLTStudyBible).
F. So why does John say he "had to" go this way?
G. Well in much of John's writings the phrase "had to," or "must" referred to mission.
H. So Jesus deliberately chose to go through Samaria because he had a specific mission in mind there.
I. His going there was for the purpose of outreach. He was willing to go where no one else would because the people there needed to hear the Gospel.
4. As he went, "Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water..."
A. The well had some form of wooden or stone wall, which created a seat for weary travelers.
B. The fact that John depicts Jesus as tired shows his true humanity.
C. Although John shows Jesus full deity he at the same time shows that Jesus was also completely human.
D. The fact that this woman was at the well drawing water at noon is very unusual because this task was usually done at sundown.
E. The most logical reason for this was that she was a woman with a bad reputation, and she came to the well at noon to avoid the other woman in town who would have scorned her for the life she lived.
5. As the woman came to the well "Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. 9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
A. She was surprised that Jesus asked her for a drink of water, but why?
B. It was not an uncommon request because woman in this culture generally did the drawing of water.
C. The reason she was surprised was that it involved using this Samaritan woman's drinking utensil, and most Jews would consider this a means of defilement.
D. Jesus was using this opportunity to tear down walls that could keep this woman from receiving the Gospel.
E. He is crossing many boundaries. In this world men rarely speak to women in public, even if they are married to them. Single men never speak to or touch women at any time.
F. The surprising thing is not that Jesus would ask her for help with a drink; rather, it is that he would ask her anything (Burge, NIV Application Commentary, The – John: From biblical text...to contemporary life, 142).
G. Jesus was willing to come out of his comfort zone to minister to a woman who was in desperate need of new life.
B. Out Of Your Comfort Zone
1. Illustration: A young girl once consulted with her minister. "I cannot stick it out any longer. I am the only Christian in the factory where I work. I get nothing but taunts and sneers. It is more than I can stand. I am going to resign." "Will you tell me," asked the minister, "where lights are placed?" "What has that to do with it?" the young Christian asked him rather bluntly. "Never mind," the minister replied. "Answer my question: ‘Where are lights placed?’ " "I suppose in dark places," she replied. "Yes, and that is why you have been put in that factory where there is such spiritual darkness and where there is no other Christian to shine for the Lord." The young Christian realized for the first time the opportunity that was hers. She felt she could not fail God by allowing her light to go out. She went back to the factory with renewed determination to let her light shine in that dark corner. Before long, she was the means of leading nine other girls to the Light.
2. Fulfilling the Great Commission requires us coming out of our comfort zones.
A. Romans 15:20 (NLT)
My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard...
B. We need to be willing to go to places that are uncomfortable for us.
C. We need to be willing to talk to people that make us uncomfortable.
D. We need to be willing to do things that make us uncomfortable.
E. We need to be willing to say things that make us uncomfortable.
F. But when we are willing to come out of our comfort zones and be used by the Holy Spirit, souls are saved, lives are changed, and eternity's are altered.
Transition: Let's come out of our comfort zones so that the Gospel made be heard.
II. Be Real (10-15).
A. Living Water
1. Jesus has already started a conversation with this woman, which is interesting in and of itself, as we have already mentioned, but it is also curious as to how he gets the conversation going.
A. He starts the conversation by using something that everyone, but especially in his society, can relate to...water!
B. They needed water to drink, cook, bathe and farm.
C. Without water we die.
D. So Jesus uses this common denominator to open the door.
2. So Jesus says to the woman, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
A. Jesus immediately uses the conversation as an opportunity to tell this woman about the gift of God.
B. The word that Jesus uses for gift here is the only time it is used in any of the four Gospels, and it stresses the freeness of the gift.
C. Jesus was offering her a chance at a new life, and if she had known the reality of the situation, that the one she was talking to was the one that God had sent into the world to save it, she would have asked Jesus for help.
D. The fact that Jesus was offering her living water bears this out. In Israel, a land that frequently experienced drought, people were keenly aware of water sources and water quality.
E. Springs and rivers that ran all year were few, so the land relied on cisterns to catch and store the winter rains and wells to tap underground water tables.
F. In Jewish culture, "dead water" referred to standing and stored water.
G. "Living water" referred to moving water, as in rivers, springs, and rainfall.
H. Such water was precious because it was fresh. Because it came directly from God, it was used for ritual washings.
I. The distinction between "dead" and "living" water explains why the woman of Samaria was so perplexed when Jesus offered her living water (4:12).
J. Samaria has no river. If Jacob had to dig a well there, how could Jesus offer superior water?
3. So naturally the woman begins to question Jesus about this "living water." She asks, “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
A. This woman us a little oblivious as to what Jesus is telling her. He is talking about spiritual matters of the heart, and she is talking about water.
B. In her mind Jesus was in no position to give her water of any kind.
C. The well was about 100 feet deep, and Jesus has neither a bucket nor a rope with which to draw the water out.
D. Furthermore, she sees Jesus as just an ordinary man, and ask him "who do you think you are? Are you greater than Jacob?"
E. The people of Jesus day had a great reverence for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and for Jesus to claim to be greater than they seemed impossible to this woman.
4. So Jesus says to her, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
A. Jesus' response contrasts the temporary result of drinking water from the well with the permanent consequences of receiving water from him.
B. Water from Jacob's well might quench your thirst, but it could not prevent you from becoming thirsty again.
C. The living water that Jesus gives is such that those who receive it are permanently satisfied.
D. The living water becomes in them a vigorous stream issuing forth in eternal life.
E. The idea of a fountain is brought out in the vigorous "springing up."
F. The life that Jesus gives is no tame and stagnant thing. It is much more than merely the entrance into a new state, that of being saved instead of lost.
G. It is the abundant life, and the living Spirit within people is evidence of this (Morris, 232).
B. Reaching People Where They're At
1. Illustration: Christ met unbelievers where they were. He realized what many Christians today still don’t seem to understand. Cultivators have to get out in the field.
According to one count, the gospels record 132 contacts that Jesus had with people. Six were in the Temple; four in the synagogues and 122 were out with the people in the mainstream of life. J.K. Johnston
2. Witnessing like Jesus means meeting them where they're at.
A. Mark 16:15 (NLT)
And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.
B. Jesus met people in their comfort zone.
C. Jesus talked to people in ways that they could understand and relate to.
D. Jesus ministered to people in their area of need.
E. If Jesus did met people in their comfort zone, then we need to meet them there.
F. If Jesus talked to people in ways that they could understand, then we should too.
G. If Jesus ministered to people in their area of need then we ought to do the same.
Transition: Jesus was also not afraid to...
III. Be Honest (16-26).
A. You're Right!
1. So far Jesus has dealt with spiritual truth based on illustrations that the woman could related to, but not he gets to the heart of her problem.
2. He says, "Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. 17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”
A. Jesus' request that she go and fetch her husband has no apparent connection with the conversation.
B. It is Jesus using the opportunity to bring the woman's sin into the open.
C. He is met with the blunt response that she has no husband. Jesus' reply is devastating.
D. It shows that he knows all about her marital misadventures.
E. He knows that she has had five husbands and that the man with whom she now lives is not her husband.
F. We have here an example of Jesus' more than human knowledge that John brings out from time to time.
G. This does not down play Jesus' genuine humanity, but it indicates that there was revealed to him all that was needful for his ministry (Morris, 233).
H. Jesus does not shy away from dealing with the hard issues in her life.
I. People may not like to hear the truth, but sometimes what they like and what they need are two different things.
3. Then the woman, obviously uncomfortable from being called on the carpet, tries to change the subject. “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. 20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”
A. What Jesus has just said has forced this woman to realize that he is no ordinary man.
B. She gives expresses this by calling him a "prophet." The function of a prophet in the Scriptures was usually to tell forth a message he had from God.
C. But there is evidence that among the people of this time a prophet was sometimes held to have a special insight into people.
D. It is possible that the woman was already moving toward the idea that Jesus was the Christ.
E. The Samaritans acknowledged no prophet after Moses other than the one spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:18, and him they regarded as the Messiah.
F. Deuteronomy 18:18 (NLT)
18 I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him.
G. For her to speak of Jesus as a prophet was an indication that she was thinking in these terms (Morris, 235).
4. In response, Jesus again gets to the heart of the matter. Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
A. Jesus refused to be drawn into an argument. Rather, he solemnly predicts that a time is coming when worship will be possible in neither place.
B. There may be a reference to the troubled times that lay ahead for the whole region of Palestine.
C. The Samaritans worshiped, but their system of worship was incomplete and flawed because it had no clear object.
D. Because the Samaritans only used the Pentateuch as their Scriptures, they did not know what the rest of the Old Testament taught about worship.
E. The Jews, with whom Jesus explicitly identified himself here, did know whom they worshiped, for they had the full revelation in the Old Testament Scriptures.
F. These Scriptures revealed that salvation comes through the Jews, for the Messiah would come from the Jewish race.
G. The message is: “You are demonstrating a good quality in desiring to worship, but your worship is misdirected; the perfect object to be worshiped, the Messiah, has come.”
H. The living water that comes from Christ and is ever present in the believer makes the idea of continual worship a possibility.
I. Worship becomes, at least in part, the enjoyment of our relationship with Christ wherever we are at any moment (Barton, Life Application New Testament Commentary, 390).
J. True worshipers worship "in spirit and truth."
K. The "spirit" here does not mean the Holy Spirit, but it is the human spirit that is in mind.
L. One must worship, not simply outwardly by being in the right place and taking up the right attitude, but in one's spirit.
M. The combination "spirit and truth" points to the need for complete sincerity and complete reality in our approach to God (Morris, 239).
5. Then Jesus shows her what her really needed. "The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus told her, “I AM the Messiah!”
A. Talk of a new kind of worship must have reminded the Samaritan woman about the coming of the Messiah.
B. Her comment was only loosely related to what Jesus had just said. She probably uttered it with a sigh, revealing her uncertainty about an unknown future.
C. The Samaritans believed in the coming of “the Prophet” predicted by Moses, whom they called “the Restorer.”
D. The Samaritans may have also heard of the coming Messiah from John the Baptist who had been baptizing in northern Samaria.
E. They, like the Jews, probably did not consider “the Prophet” and “the Messiah” to be the same person.
F. Either way, both groups were expecting someone who would be a political liberator.
G. They could not accept the idea that the long-awaited one would be a suffering servant before he would become the conquering king (Barton 390).
H. It wasn't better drinking water or a theological argument about where to worship that this woman needed, she needed a Savior.
B. Truth In Love
1. Illustration: There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: "I wish you would explain to me something." "Well, what is it? I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher."
"What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all." Macready’s answer was this: "This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction" (G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, p. 36).
2. Don't be afraid to tell people the truth.
A. Ephesians 4:15 (NLT)
Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
B. Nobody really enjoys confrontation, but sometimes it needs to be done.
C. We don't do people any favors by turning a blind eye to their sin.
D. They doesn't mean judge, belittle, or condemn them, but it does mean that we are honest with people about their sin.
E. I love you but I don't love what you are doing.
F. We need to speak the truth in love, but we have to be willing to speak the truth.
G. Sin is sin and we need to be willing to call it what it is.
Transition: Are you ready to witness like Jesus?
Conclusion
1. In our text today Jesus shows us how to witness to people. We witness to people by being willing to...
A. Be Vulnerable
B. Be Real
C. Be Honest
2. Acts 1:8 (NLT)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
3. Are you ready to be his witnesses?
