When did you learn the truth about Santa Claus? I have to be careful here, lest I betray something in the sermon that I should not, but I¡¦m sure that all of you remember the day. For me, it had to do with the Easter Bunny. I happened to see some Easter baskets on the stairs one evening before Easter, and after I figured that much out, the rest just seemed to fall into place. I guess at 16 I was wise enough to figure things like that out.
We¡¦re a long way from Christmas, although if you drive down Darrah La. in Lawrenceville you will actually see some Christmas lights up and burning. That¡¦s crazy. But the whole Santa thing¡K it¡¦s great to get presents, but there is a hook. You are supposed to be good to get them. You know, the old ¡§He sees you when you¡¦re sleeping, he knows when you¡¦re awake, he knows if you¡¦ve been bad or good so be good for goodness¡¦ sake¡¨ thing. I wonder if that causes trauma for kids. This guy sees everything you do in a day, a week or a year? Wow. Not sure I can handle that kind of pressure.
Last week we looked at the story that has become known as ¡§the woman at the well¡¨, and I told you that there was far too much material here for only one week¡¦s study. Last week we considered two principles. The first is that God has a way of arranging divine appointments. It was no accident or coincidence that Jesus and that woman are together at the well in Samaria. John tells us that Jesus had to pass through Samaria, which is a bit of an overstatement unless you understand that he was keeping a divine appointment.
The second principle we looked at is the fact that religion is not the answer. Not the answer to what? It¡¦s not the answer to anything, unless you plan on working out your guilt for the rest of your life. Religion destroys people, while Jesus gives abundant life.
But this week we have several more things to consider. And if you are really spiritual and are taking notes, the first point is this:
Being known by God is inescapable.
Oh-oh, the ¡§he sees you when you¡¦re sleeping¡¨ thing. That¡¦s a tough one.
13Jesus answered, ¡§Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but 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.¡¨
15The 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.¡¨
16He 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. 18The 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.¡¨
This has been the most bizarre encounter that this woman has ever had. She shows up at noon, in the heat of the day, so that nobody will see her or know her story. A Jewish Rabbi is there. Not good. He talks to her. Not good at all. She begins a banter about religion, he responds with some kind of talk about a special kind of water. Then he says the thing that she had most dreaded, the thing that had her out there in the heat of the day to begin with. He asks about her husband. Of course she has none, but she does have a past and a present. Something that she would not be excited for Santa Claus to know, much less a Jewish Rabbi.
How about you? What is true in your life that you don¡¦t want Santa Claus to know, much less the God of the universe?
It is said that D.L. Moody once ran an ad in the city newspaper that said, ¡§Everything has been discovered, flee at once.¡¨ And half of his friends left town.
You and I really are desperately wicked. Oh, we clean it up real well and we look pretty good in church. But that¡¦s the outside. The inside is not so great, is it? Jesus said to the Pharisees, who, by the way, were much better folks than you and I are,
¡§You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men¡¦s bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.¡¨
In Genesis we are told that ¡§every inclination of our hearts is evil from childhood¡¨. Jeremiah is told by God, ¡§The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?¡¨ The list goes on and on, and there is nobody here who would dare to dispute it if we are honest.
After Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God in a garden. Jonah tried to hide from God on a boat. Every time I read those stories, I find them amusing. And I¡¦m sure that you do, too. Hide from God? Please! We know far better than that. But yet¡K don¡¦t we? Don¡¦t we cling to the idea that somehow, some way, neither Santa nor God will figure out what we do in secret, and what goes on in our hearts?
I¡¦m sure you¡¦ve all played hide and seek with a little child. When they put their hands over their eyes, they can¡¦t see you and they really think you can¡¦t see them. What a great image of what we do! We cover our own eyes, and think that somehow we¡¦ve hid ourselves from God.
My friends, this is the simplest, most obvious truth you will ever hear preached. Being known by God is inescapable. If God is God, there is nothing that is not known by him. We can try to hide. We can rationalize our sin, we can trivialize our sin, we can try to convince ourselves that we have not been found out. But we have. Jesus knew that woman¡¦s story, every detail. And He knows yours and mine. The only real issues are, how will He respond, and how will we respond?
Here¡¦s the great news. And it¡¦s our second point this morning:
Being known by God is liberating!
How could that be true? How could it be that God knows everything you¡¦ve ever said, done and thought, and that is somehow liberating? Well, unless you understand God¡¦s incredible grace, you won¡¦t understand it at all. You see, paraphrasing Romans 5:20, ¡§The bad news is that your sin is worse than you think. The good news is that God¡¦s grace is bigger than you can imagine!¡¨
There¡¦s a divine irony in play here. The greater your sin, the greater God¡¦s grace. That¡¦s not to say, as Paul does in Romans 6:1, that we should sin so that grace might increase. But the fact is, the more you have to be forgiven for, the greater God¡¦s forgiveness you receive. So what is it exactly that we should fear?
We get just a small taste of this in a healthy relationship. Intimacy means being known. And it¡¦s intimacy that we desire. But being known is scary, sometimes even terrifying, mostly because we fear that we will be rejected if we are truly known. That¡¦s why marriage is such a joy and such a difficult thing at the same time. We do this tug of war, wanting to be known, and not wanting to be known. We can¡¦t be fully loved if we are not fully known. But we hold back, thinking that if we let our guard down and allow someone to truly know us, it might not turn out the way we hope.
But God¡¦s grace is so much greater than that! It really is incredible as you read the pages of Scripture, that people who are in love with God do not fear being known by Him. Listen to what David said. Remember, this guy was the King of Israel and he proved to be an adulterer and a murderer. I doubt there¡¦s anyone here in his league in terms of sin. This is from Psalm 139:
1O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in¡Xbehind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths,„T you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
I think that passage is incredible. God, you know everything there is to know about me. And such knowledge is too wonderful for me. You are everywhere, and your right hand will hold me fast.
God wishes to search us and know us. In fact, God has searched us and does know us! Remember the little kid who hides behind his hands? But if we understand God¡¦s grace, that intimacy is liberating. God knows our worst, and forgives us anyway. As Paul says in Romans 5, while we hated God, while we were his mortal enemies, God died for us. And if He did that while we hated Him, how much more will he love us now that we love Him?
You see, that¡¦s what we need to understand. The war is over. God never did hate us, but He hates sin. And Jesus took that upon Himself. You can be known without fear. The Scriptures remind us that ¡§perfect love casts out fear¡¨. God¡¦s love is a perfect love. It has nothing to do with who you are or what you have done. It has everything to do with who God is. Let me repeat that just in case you missed it, because this is really important: God¡¦s love is a perfect love. It has nothing to do with who you are or what you have done. It has everything to do with who God is.
So we can be known, without fear. And somehow the woman at that well understood that. I don¡¦t know if it was something Jesus said¡K he may well have said lots more than John records for us. It may very well have been the look in his eyes. But after a brief rabbit trail where the woman began to argue religion ¡V something we do when we encounter God and are uncomfortable ¡V Jesus revealed his identity to her. He told her that he is the Messiah. And the woman ran back to town to tell everyone her story.
It is rather remarkable, isn¡¦t it? This is the only place in Scripture where Jesus declares his identity. He affirmed it to Pilate, Peter and the other disciples, but here he pronounces it. To a woman. To a Samaritan woman. To a Samaritan woman who had both a sinful past and a sinful present. Who gets the good news? Not religious folks, not ¡§good¡¨ folks. The folks we¡¦d least expect and the ones we¡¦d least like to have it. That¡¦s good news for you and me, too!
Does that say anything to you? It should! God¡¦s grace is like that. God¡¦s knowledge of our hearts sets us free. He has searched us, known us, and loved us. And that is why David says that this knowledge is too wonderful to understand.
And lastly,
Being known by God produces action.
What was the woman¡¦s reaction after Jesus confronted the fact that she was living in sin? She ran back to the town. That much might be understandable. Running away from God is something we do when we don¡¦t understand His love or His grace. But this was different. She ran back to tell all about her encounter with the God who knew her.
It is an interesting detail that John recalls here. She left her water jug. Why would such a small detail get included in this narrative? I don¡¦t think it is a small detail. Remember what happened when Peter was fishing and had caught nothing?
This carpenter from Nazareth tells the professional fisherman what to do. And Peter hauls in the catch of a lifetime. And then what does he do? He leaves the fish, the boat and the hired hands to follow Jesus. What did he want? Fish. What did he get? Fish. What did he leave? Fish!
It¡¦s like that with Jesus. The woman came for water, and left her water jug behind. Whatever it is that you are looking for this morning, Jesus will give it to you. And if you truly encounter him, you will leave that behind because He is what you are looking for, not the thing you thought you were.
The woman ran to town and said, ¡§Come see the one who told me everything I have ever done!¡¨ Everything? Wow, I bet there were some nervous men in Sychar that day! But somehow she was able to actually communicate God¡¦s grace to them as well. John tells us that the whole town came out to see Jesus! People who also had sin to hide. And yet they come streaming out to see this Jew who apparently has the words of abundant life. John tells us, ¡§Many believed in him because of the woman¡¦s testimony.¡¨ Being known by God produces action.
Was it her passion and excitement? Certainly. Was it the story of what had happened to her? Of course. Was it her courage? Undoubtedly. And even more than those, it was the movement of God¡¦s Spirit in that town. But don¡¦t miss the point here ¡V she was known, her life was changed, and she was moved to action. If you have been known by Christ, if your life has changed, how have you been moved to action?
My friends, what this woman did was remarkable. She did not go back and pick low hanging fruit. She went back to sinners like herself. She went back with a bad reputation and with precious little credibility! But she did go back and testify to what Jesus had done in her life. And how God used her makes Billy Graham look like a boy scout. A whole town turned out.
You and I have lots of advantages over this woman. And yet, only a very small percentage of those who say that they are Christians will ever share their faith with another person. I got a call last night from one of the college kids that Jen and I worked at the YL camp where we served this August. He and most of the other kids from our Summer Staff are involved in sharing the love of Christ with teenagers. They are in mission because God changed their lives and they want to share that with others. And the tragedy is, they will end up being among the 5-10% of the folks in their churches who ever share their faith or witness a conversion. Why aren¡¦t we moved to action like this woman was?
Jesus said, ¡§Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.¡¨ That¡¦s a command with a promise attached, not an option. IF you follow me, I WILL MAKE YOU fishers of men. It begs the question, if you are not fishing for people, are you perhaps not following him?
The last thing to note is that after the woman shared her testimony with the town, and after they came out to meet Jesus, something else changed. They said that they now believe not only because of the woman¡¦s testimony, but because they encountered Jesus themselves. We share and preach, and God uses that. But at some point faith needs to be your faith, not your family¡¦s, the church¡¦s, the culture¡¦s.
My kids each have needed to embrace God¡¦s love and grace for themselves. They may have believed because of Mary¡¦s and my testimonies, but at some point they need to appropriate that grace for themselves. And as they have encountered Jesus for themselves, they have done that.
You can sit here in church and say you believe what I am preaching. You can enjoy the sermons, affirm the creeds and beliefs, and still not have encountered Christ. But Jesus is ready and willing to be encountered by you. He is sitting by a well, ready to keep the appointment he has made with you. I pray that you will encounter him there. Amen.
