“Building For the Next Generations”
Date: September 7, 2003 A.M Service
Place: Allendale Baptist Church
Text: John 4:5-14
Introduction
Harold Myra says; “In addition to the saints in Scripture, we have nearly 2,000 years of history that can and should be used as challenges to piety and faith. We Christians have been so concerned about avoiding the worship of the saints that we often have bypassed a rich heritage, a rich heritage of faith. Just as the book of Hebrews gives a roll call of believers, so we can look to countless examples of equally courageous lovers of God.
It is good for us from time to time to be reminded the privileges and benefits that we enjoy as ours. But many of theses privileges and benefits are not ours by achievement but by inheritance.
Remember the children of Israel who came into the Promised Land and occupied houses which they did not build, and ate from orchards they did not plant or tend, and drank from wells they did not dig.
We too are enjoying things we have not earned, but are ours by the grace of God and the labors and sacrifices of those who have gone on before us.
Surely as they labored they did not realize that they were building for the next generation and the next.
Maybe it was with them as it was for Jacob, that godly patriarch, whose obscure, seemingly unnoticeable labors held such great significance.
In one of the most familiar stories told in the Gospels, tells us that Jesus and His disciples were journeying from Jerusalem to Galilee by way of Samaria. There Jesus sent His disciples on ahead of Him and He made a noonday stop by the wayside and “Jacob’s well was there.”
Reading of Scripture
What may seem to be a casual observation has more than a casual significance.
What is remarkable to see in this story is that this well had been there for about 1700 years.
For seventeen centuries this well had been fulfilling its purpose; providing water for household needs and refreshing weary and thirsty travelers.
This wayside well, which is still intact today and which has blessed the world for some 4000 years, is a fitting symbol to the life of its godly builder.
This morning as we look at the topic of “Building for the next generations”, we can see three things that pay tribute to the godly builder of this wayside well.
I. His Work Has Endured.
“Now Jacob’s well was there” verse 6
First we see a…
A. Reflection of the character of the builder.
When we see a piece of work that is neat and sound we know without being told that behind it was a soundness of character...
To think of the conditions, Jacob probably built this wayside well under great difficulty.
To dig a well 90-100 feet deep, mostly through rock is no small task.
This shows us the fortitude it must have taken to build with the crude facilities and tools of 4000 years ago.
Possibly Jacob could have gotten by without building a well at all. He could have been like some of the tribesmen in ancient days that settled on new land with their camels, goats and donkeys wherever there was grass and water and remained there until the grass was all eaten and the water all drank; then moved on.
My dear friend isn’t that what some are doing in our families, our communities and yea our churches today? Never building anything that will last; not building anything of a legacy to impact the next generations.
Next we notice a…
B. Reflection of greater wisdom than the builder ever realized.
If only Jacob could have known that someday his Lord would be traveling that dusty road and would stop by that wayside well to make use of it.
Several years ago at a Baptist convention in New Jersey, the chairman noticed in the audience and old gentlemen who had been for years the Sunday School teacher of Charles Evans Hughes, the young boy who would one day become Chief Justice of the United States and the first President of the Northern Baptist Convention. He had for many years without any idea, built into the life of a man that would influence our country from the highest judicial bench in the land.
Let me stop and ask this question to parents today: what are you building into the lives of the children God has so blessed you with?
Christian; what are you building that will last and endure for generations to come?
So His Work Has Endured
And next…
II. His Work Has Never Ceased To Be A Blessing
“There came a woman of Samaria to draw water” verse 7
A. The Samarian woman was a symbol of many generations that benefited from the well that Jacob built.
* Again for over 1700 years, generations had benefited form the works of this godly patriarch.
* A life lived well will never cease being a blessing to others.
* Someone has said; “A life well lived may be likened to the course of the sun as it passes overhead doing its days work, without the benefit of applause and with hardly an appreciation of its beauty.”
* As we study the life of Jacob more closely we come upon passages of Scripture that make us blink.
* In his weaknesses he was much like us. But as we view that life in full perspective we realize that it was a life of noble dimensions. A life lived to the glory of God and a blessing to the next generation.
Also we notice…
B. Jacob himself was not without reward.
The satisfaction of a work that will never cease to be a blessing is its own great reward
My dear friend, when God is in the effort there is an even greater blessing; an element of eternity in the service.
I can think of no greater task; no greater calling; no greater job I could do than to be involved and allowed by God to be a part of His work.
Can you even phantom the idea that a holy God would allow someone like you and I to be used by Him; to be a part of His work.
His Works Has Endured
His Work Has Never Ceased to be a Blessing
And last…
III. His Work Brought Comfort To the Lord Jesus.
“Jesus… being wearied with His journey, sat thus by the well.”
A. Jesus not only visited the well that Jacob built, but also made practical use of it.
* Jesus rested on the curb of the well and asked the Samarian woman, “give me a drink.”
* We can only presume that He did receive a drink and was refreshed by the water from the well.
* Then we know the exchange of words and conversation on the water of life; the spirituality of all true worship and then Jesus giving His own identity as being the Messiah.
* It a sense, as Jesus ministered to the woman and those she shared her testimony with, that 1700 year old wayside well became a pulpit that the Son of God the Living Word might bring salvation to those that would hear and believe.
B. We see here in this wonderful old story that Jesus takes notice of the good work that blessed the lives of others.
* No service is too humble; no work is too obscure; and no job is too trivial and nothing goes unnoticed by the Lord.
* Mark 9:41 Jesus said; “I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”
* Matthew 25:40 says; “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
C. Many others had received a blessing because of Jacob’s work.
D. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says; “Therefore my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
There is an old poem that says:
“Build it well whatever you do;
Build it straight and strong and true.
Build it tall and build it broad,
Build it for the eye of God.”
As Jacob came to the close of his life, with his family by his side, it was not the well he dug, the fortune that he had gained or the family he had raised that he remembered. It was that awesome night at Bethel, some 97 years earlier, when God came into his life.
The one thing that gave eternal significance to Jacob’s works was that God worked with him.
So my dear friend, when we build with God, we build for the next generation; we build something that will endure; something that will never cease to be a blessing to others, and something that will bring comfort to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Invitation
Some of you today have not entered into that personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. You need to come this morning and receive His forgiveness by faith in His death, burial and resurrection.
Some here today are not building anything that is lasting because you are not faithfully following and serving the Lord. You need to come and recommit you life to Him today.
My prayer is that each one of us will respond as God has spoken to us through this message today.
