Breaking Down Walls
John 4:1-26
One of my favorite quotes is from Bill Hybels, the cutting edge pastor from the largest church in America he says, “We have never locked eyes with someone that did not matter to God”
He is saying that all people regardless of race, social class or background… matter to God.
Has it ever dawned on you that people are the only things that matter to God? People are the only items you can take to heaven. Everything else is perishable.
Today’s theme is breaking Down walls. Walls that separate you from unconditionally loving other people.
We build walls of prejudism based on the fact that we are lighter or darker complected than other people.
We build walls of pride based against other people’s background, family heritage, or how good or not so good they are in something.
I have never felt it was only physical walls that kept churches from growing. It is these invisible barriers in the hearts of people that keep a church from growing.
Churches are full of people that believe in the Bonsai theory. A Bonsai tree is a small Chinese tree that was on the movie the karate kid. You trim it down to keep it small and manageable. Small clumps… manageable in size.
Small churches are made up of people who prefer to keep their church small and manageable. Any outsider that threatens their power, is ignored or spoken against. And Bonsai people trim and weed their Bonsai church.
These people would rather be big fish in a small pond rather than being a small fishing a big pond.
Walls keep us small.
Walls keep towns small too.
The unification of our schools falls on deaf ears with me.
You must ask yourself. Are the towns drying up because of lack of schools or are the schools trying up because the lack of town.
I have always thought the towns were drying up long before the schools did.
A small town east of Salina, KS Always thought they were friendly. They were. Friendly to themselves.
They had a sign outside the town as you drove in. “ A nice place to visit, an even better place to live.” They did not mean that. At least it was only nice if your family was established there.
But deep in the hearts of the people were signs that hung that said,” Don’t stay too long you threaten my nice little town.”
Believe me you do not want me to go to these public meeting about the schools.
Because I try live on the outside living as a prophet to see and hear the voice of God.
Have you ever considered that the unification is a spiritual matter.
How is that?
When I hear over and over how some students are forced by their parents to go out for sports, yet the same parents leave church attendance an option.
Answer to me this question, or ask your friends from other churches, What good does it do if a student letters in a sport, yet dies and lays in hell? What have you gained?
A truth was sent home to me one day when I went to a school board meeting to support a bible study to be held at the schools. Less than 20 people showed up to support a God-movement, yet you will pack gymnasiums when it has to do with education or sports.
God spoke to my heart that day and said, “ If these people would worry a little less about sports and more about me I would bless their communities”.
It is the invisible walls and signs that will put on that keep our towns and schools small.
When we tore this west wall down , you know why that excited me? It was not the physical wall that came down.
It was the invisibles wall that I heard you tearing down and saying, “ We want people to go to Heaven , we want to make room for outsider in church. This not our church this is God’s. Let’s tear down walls of tradition to make room for God’s children.”
Jesus encounters a woman today in our story that people around here had was built to keep her out.
And out of this story oozes a 2 step example that Jesus models to tear down walls that separate us.
Read with me verses 1-9
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
The well was not the nearest to the residents of Sychar. And at a depth of 10 feet it wasn’t as convenient as the springs in town.
But you could always be assured of the privacy of the well outside of town.
And this woman cherished her privacy more than her convenience.
It’s tough to be stuck in a small town when you have a bad reputation, and her private or not so private life was among the most talked about in the town.
As she approached the well, she passed a band of 12 Jewish men. “They must be in a hurry”, she thought, “for only Jews in hurry would pass through Samaria.”
Samaria was between Judea in the south and Galilee in the North both were Jewish towns.
But Samaria was made-up of a bunch of 1/2 breeds that neither the Jews or the Gentiles had any use for.
In fact, if you were a Jew any contact with a Samaritan made you ceremonially unclean.
Therefore they would not risk contacted a dog on the way to worship. Therefore most Jews traveled across the Jordan a longer route to avoid seeing any dirty Samaritan people.
That is why it is surprising and ironic this one Jewish man named Jesus talked with her by the well. He was not like everyone else. He did not have walls. In fact, he came to break down walls.
This well where they sat was rich in Jewish history. The land had been purchased by Jacob and was given to Joseph on his death bed.
This well and area had become home to the Samaritans since there Assyrian captivity. About 750 years earlier the Assyrians had captured the Northern Kingdom of the Jews.
Now Samaritans were inhabitants of some of the most treasured parcels of Jewish land.
Jesus walked this shortcut path because the Pharisees in Judea were making trouble over his disciple’s practice of baptizing His believers.
Jesus watched with interest as the Samaritan woman approached him.
He said nothing as she went about her task of lowering a small pitcher into the well several times to fill her larger jar.
When she finished He asked her, “ Will you give me a drink.”?
She was surprised, he a Jewish man, spoke to her a Samaritan woman.
And is verse 9 “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
He began to teach her as she Him a drink. Sip by sip He began to tear down 7 centuries of walls.
The story continues in verse 10 –15
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Here is the first step for you to break down walls, We see that Jesus…
1.) GIVES WATER REGARDLESS OF YOUR RACE.
Have you ever noticed that water is a universal need. It does not matter if you live on the east coast or west coast, or a black person ½ around the world. You cannot survive without water.
Jesus takes that common sense principle and adds to the fact that we all hunger for living water that will satisfy.
A water that fills ever cavity of your heart that you have been trying to fill with sex, drugs, affirmation, sports, broken relationships. And all these so-called gaterade drinks have left your soul dehydrated and longing for more.
The good news is this: regardless of your race Jesus will fill the jar of your life, if you request.
I have told the story of two invisible doors God puts on the church.
One door is very wide. It is an inclusive door. Above this door is a sign that says grace……….All can fit through this door
The other door is very narrow. And exclusive door.. above this door is a sign that says truth.. you do not come on your own terms.. John 14:6
One year a local man was campaigning for a county position. After his talk I asked for him for a campaign card. He replied, “ I would love to give one but th e copier messed up and makes me look like a GD N*****. I was ticked… I considered writing a letter to the local newspaper and smear his campaign with his racism talk. But I decided to see if this community felt the way he did and to see if they would vote him in. They did. He won.
I called him and told him how he offended me. How he was un proffesional—unethical—and far from Christ like. He said since I was from a large city, it bothered me more but in small towns no one cares about N******. To which I replied. It does not matter because Jesus cares.. And he died for those people who hate without reason.
WALLS……………..
Jesus knew this woman was a Samaritan. He knew he was endanger of a man-made tradition that would declare him unclean.
But if you want to break down walls like Jesus, you must first seek the nod of God over the applause and acceptance of men and women.
Jesus cared more about the content and character of her heart than the color of her skin.
If you do not like people who do not act like you, smell like you, live like you, talk like you, then you are going to be miserable in heaven. Because heaven is going to be packed full of people not like you.
Revelation says, every tribe, tongue and nation will come bow down before him in humble adoration.
Studies show that small churches give more percentage of their budget to missions than local needs than large churches.
At the surface that sounds great, because we know that God blesses us as we give to His church world-wide
But a deeper look at the study was convicting. When further asked in a round about way. Why they gave to foreign missions. It was because it was low maintenance. They could give money around the world, and feel the y did their duty. And they would not have some foreigner sitting in their pew.
· Mike Breax’s is a radical pastor with a shaved head and gottee that pastor s in a upscale church in Lexington KY that runs around 8,500 every weekend. As the church exploded wityh growth one elderly lady said she was tired of finding tattooed boys in her chair. She wanted her church back”
I did not know she had a church, her hands were free from nail scars.
These churches are not ours, It is Jesus’ and his alone.
· Kyle Idle man was a young guy I went to Bible college with. He planted a church in LAS Angelas, One communion service he watched a single mother behind an ex-prostitute in line for communion as a celebrity at the foot of the cross waited behind them for commuion. To which Kyle added “ The blood line washes away the race line”
Aren’t you glad Jesus give water regardless of your race.
The story continues in16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”
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.
Out of this section of the story we watch Jesus breaking down another wall
We learn that Jesus
2.) ACCEPTS WORSHIP REGARDLESS OF YOUR RECORD.
This woman needed to hear that. You need to hear that. When you have made a mess of your life Mon-Sat. God keeps his arms open for you on Sunday.
Even more than that. He holds out his hand to you all week long for immediate forgiveness.
How could he have known her private life. He hadn’t been in town. So he did not hear the rumors. And Jesus never cared about what people say about people.
He only cares about what only God knows. Jesus sees everything bear before him. He knows the naked truth behind our every thought and action.
Yet he chooses to not hold our record against us..
He wants us to worship Him in “sprit and in truth.”
Truth here is not in regard to proper beliefs or doctrine. If proper doctrine saved us then each time we were wrong on an issue heaven would be in jeopardy.
The truth here is that God longs for worshippers that come to Him just the way they are. No false pretenses. No fake faces. No hypocrisy.
Charles Swindoll, in his book Growing Deep in the Christian Life, tells the true story of a man who bought fried chicken dinners for himself and his girlfriend to enjoy on a picnic one afternoon.
He was in for a surprise because the person behind the counter mistakenly gave him the wrong paper bag. Earlier, the manager had taken the money from the cash registers and placed it in an ordinary bag, hoping to disguise it on his way to the bank.
But when the person working the cash register went to give the man his order, he grabbed the bag full of money instead of the bag full of chicken.
Swindoll says, “After driving to their picnic site, the two of them sat down to enjoy some chicken. They discovered a whole lot more than chicken — over $800! But he was unusual. He quickly put the money back in the bag. They got back into the car and drove all the way back. Mr. Clean got out, walked in, and became an instant hero.
By then, the manager was frantic. The guy with the bag of money looked the manager in the eye and said, ‘I want you to know I came by to get a couple of chicken dinners and wound up with all this money here.’ Well, the manager was thrilled to death.
He said, ‘Let me call the newspaper. I’m gonna have your picture put in the local paper. You’re one of the most honest men I’ve ever heard of.’ To which the man quickly responded,
‘Oh, no. No, no, don’t do that!’ Then he leaned closer and whispered, ‘You see, the woman I’m with is not my wife. She’s, uh, somebody else’s wife.’” Swindoll closes the story by saying, “Harder to find than lost cash is a perfect heart.”
God is looking for people who have made a wreck of their lives and come to him as children asking for forgiveness. And being truthful about the condition of their lives and souls.
That IS THE GOOD NEWS. THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT. GOD HAS COME TO TEAR DOWN WALLS SO HE CAN EMBRACE YOU AND SO YOU CAN EMBRACE HIM.
This woman came into uncomfortable territory. It’s difficult to become suddenly transparent when what’s inside is so ugly.
She tried to think of a question. Any question to get Him off the subject of her sex life.
So she tried to debate over worship and where the proper place of worship was.
Jesus gently responds with what her heart was really asking. God is worshipped wherever you take him. He did not force her into the temple but brought God out of the temple.
Not that God was ever confined to a temple built by hands but rather, he was only confined with imaginary walls.
Jesus said, “you Samaritans worship what you do not know.” Jesus was inviting her regardless of her past to worship a God that was personal. To worship a God she could call Father.
If churches would realize this it would change the way they do ministry.
I heard about one church that does this in hays this week.
· Oil changes for single moms--- It went on CNN and AP press.
· Shoe box blessing for XMAS
These people did not ask them how they got in a bind. The only told them what could get them out.
That GOD would not hold their past against them.
He not only wanted to give them everlasting water. But he desires for them to worship him because he loves to be with his kids.
Conclusion:
I want to close with this simple illustration. A friend tells of the day he visited his son’s school as a classroom observer. What he remembers most is a teacher’s use of an obstacle course as an object lesson. She randomly placed chairs in an open area of the classroom. She then selected a volunteer to help make her point. The student was given time to walk through the course to memorize each obstacle; he then was blindfolded.
Immediately, the teacher put a finger to her lips to quiet the other students then quietly removed all the obstacles. The boy began to search around the room, zigging here and zagging there, arms outstretched. Slowly, he made his way through obstacles which now only existed in his mind.
The obstacles that prevent us from worshiping God are most often imaginary. God has removed all of the obstacles that could prevent us from being the people He wants us to be. Yet, the reality is that our progress is much like the progress of the student: fearful, erratic, and slow.
I want to encourage you to continue to pursue an authentic worship experience with God. Remove the walls that exist in your lives, so that it may never be said of us – these people come near to God with their mouths and honor Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him.
----Ephesians 2:14
2,000 years ago like a copper wire stretched between the batteries of heaven and Hell sparked a flame of love that would burn down walls that separate us.
The only walls that exist are the ones you put up.. Because Jesus demolished them years ago on the across.
What walls can you tear down today?
Comments or question contact me at newlife@nckcn.com
