Breaking Down Barriers and Building Up The Wall (pt. 2)
Sermon – 27 June 2004
Last week I began a mini series of sorts. The title of the sermon was Breaking Down Barriers and Building Up The Wall; the main text was from John 4 where Jesus has a rather significant encounter with a certain woman of ill repute at Jacob’s well.
It is a remarkable story in that many from this Samaritan town of Sychar come to faith in Jesus through this encounter.
Last week I began dealing with the various barriers that Jesus crossed over and in fact broke down in ministering to this woman. Through this encounter Jesus illustrates the lengths to which we must go in ministering the love of our Lord and the hope of the gospel.
We covered two significant barriers that Jesus broke down in ministering to the Samaritan woman.
1. Geographical Barrier – Jesus broke down a geographical barrier through his crossing into Samaria in a day when Jews avoided Samaritans. They would intentionally circumvent Samaria in traveling form Judea up to Galilee or vice versa. For as the scripture says in John 4:9 For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
2. Ethnic Barrier – Jesus broke down the ethnic barrier by willfully and intentionally thrusting himself into the circumstances of this woman, in spite of the long held animosities between Jews and Samaritans
Jesus broke down these and at least four more that we will discuss. Jesus did this with purpose and intent that we might follow in his footsteps as we go out into the world.
Galatians 3:26-29
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
If the Church of Jesus Christ is ever to attain to her fullest potential she must overcome these barriers through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The unfortunate reality is that many of these barriers not only exist between the church and the world she is trying to reach but – they exist in many ways within the church itself.
Jesus made a ground breaking statement in John 13:34-35…
34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
In addition to these first two barriers (geographical and ethnic) that Jesus tore down and that we must tear down there were more…
1. Cultural Barrier –
John 4:6-8
Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."
Due to the historical background of both Jesus and this Samaritan woman there was the potential for a real clash of cultures here.
Culturally speaking, the Jews and Samaritans both came from backgrounds with strong ideals and beliefs.
Jesus understood this and willingly transcended the cultural barrier that existed between them.
Not only so but as the gospel began to spread from Jerusalem Jesus’ Apostles and Disciples began to do the very same thing…
Acts 10:34-35
Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.
Now Peter did not come to this conclusion or to the point of even preaching to the house of Cornelius on his own…
Acts 10:9-15
About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13 Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."
14 "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
The early disciples did not even realize (although they should have) that the gospel was not only for the Jew but for the Gentiles as well.
Acts 10:28
He said to [the house of Cornelius]: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
This illustrates the point to which things had gone for Peter mentions “our law”. The law he speaks of here is not the Law of God as found in the scriptures – rather it is a reference to various passages from the Talmud and other rabbinic writings that forbade Jews and Gentiles to eat together.
There was to be no mixing with other cultures!
Erich Remarque’s book, All Quiet on the Western Front tells of a remarkable encounter between two enemy soldiers during the Second World War. During the confusion of an infantry attack a soldier plunged into an out of the way shell hole. There he found a wounded enemy. The sight of the man moved him so much that he gave him a swallow from his canteen. Through this bit of human kindness a certain brotherly bond immediately sprang up between them. The bond became deeper as they tried to chat a bit. The dying man obviously wanted to talk about his wife and children on whom his last thoughts centered. He pointed to his shirt pocket. Understanding the gesture correctly the German soldier extracted a wallet from it and took out a few family pictures. The gaze of the wounded man wandered over them with sadness and infinite love. The German soldier was deeply touched at that; minutes ago he would have stabbed his enemy with his bayonet; minutes ago all of his battle instincts were unleashed, as was natural in an attack. And now one of the enemy lies before him - and is no longer an enemy; he is simply a man, a father and a husband, one who loves and is loved, one who defended his home, and who must now bid farewell to everything he holds dear. All at once the German soldier is confronted by that other man in a completely different way. It suddenly becomes clear that the friend/foe relationship is by no means the only one, but that behind it, or above it, there is an immediacy to the other person - who lives, as I do, in a house amid loved ones, and who, as I do, has his joys and cares. Instead of having to change his own feelings the other person was changed for the German soldier, and for that reason only he then changed his own way of reacting. Source: Helmut Thielicke, Being a Christian When the Chips are Down
You see…we are in the midst of a war that is raging all around us. There are multitudes that are in the camp of the enemy – and they are wounded, hurting people.
We have to remember that our fight is not with them – our fight is with their slave master.
We must not allow differences keep us from touching people’s lives or making the effort toward unity with our brothers and sisters in the faith.
2. Religious Barrier –
John 4:19-20
The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."
NKJV
As I mentioned last week, the religious barrier that existed between the Jews and Samaritans was due mainly to the occupation of the land by foreign peoples under the Assyrian empire’s rule.
During this time Jews intermarried with the inhabitants of the land and began to practice a religion that was a cross breeding of true worship of Yahweh and paganism.
This is one of the larger factors for the hatred of the Samaritans from the Jews.
Some of the greatest crimes committed against humanity have been in the name of religion – yes, even in the name of our Lord!
Millions of Christians were put to death in the Dark Ages by Rome in her effort to keep unity. In Spain alone between 300,000 and 400,000 died in the Spanish Inquisition.
And one does not have to go back to the Dark Ages to see a demonstration of this principle. In the 1940s and 1950s, hundreds of Christians died at the hands of Rome in Columbia, South America.
—Homer Duncan
The sad reality is that there are still travesties occurring everyday in the Name of our Lord.
My years in ministry with Transport For Christ were a time in which I saw the Body of Christ working together in ways I had never seen. There was everything from conservative Mennonites to fiery Pentecostals and everything in between. But we all shared a common faith and were working toward a common goal – winning souls to Jesus Christ and making disciples.
Even so, there were those who still would come along to the chapel with wrong attitudes toward Pentecostals.
We simply cannot have any such attitude as believers and expect to be fruitful for our Lord.
We must be willing to work with other born-again, evangelical believers to advance the kingdom of God.
And we must do so without sacrificing our doctrinal integrity…
1 Timothy 4:16
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them…
3. Historical Barrier –
John 4:12
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"
NKJV
We already know that there was a long running history of animosity between the Jews and Samaritans.
Unfortunately, the same holds true amongst many within the Church. There are all manner of issues that cause this division within the Church.
As I mentioned last week, when Pastor Mark tried some years back to bring pastors together for prayer he was met with stiff resistance. He was told by some that “if so and so is there I will not come”.
1 John 2:9-11
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
Even our own Assemblies has historical barriers that are in the process of being broken down. ,
Is it no wonder that the Enemy is able to keep so many Christians ineffective and unproductive in the Name of the Lord?
2 Peter 1:5-9
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
If we truly want to see a revival we must break down the walls that have been built up over the years.
Cultural Barriers
Religious Barriers
Historical Barriers
