Turning Religious Reluctance-6

TURNING RELIGIOUS RELUCTANCE-VI—John 4:1-42

Turning the Religious Lost

Attention:

This past Friday July 20, 2018 we ate with our oldest daughter, her husband, & their sons—our 2 grandchildren— at Cuban Mojos in Crawfordville. We thought it would be a good cultural experience for them to try some Cuban food.

However both grandchildren 11 & 9yrs. thumbed their noses at the food. One complained about the pickles on his authentic Cuban Sandwich. The other complained about the ‘smell’ of the pulled pork which he was not used to.

Their Dad made one of them eat a complete bite of the entire Cuban Sandwich without picking the ingredients off & eating them separately.

The boys were ‘religiously’ & pick-ily reluctant, but we sought to win them over nonetheless!

The laborious efforts of turning around the boy’s reluctance to try new foods.

What parent hasn’t gone thru those trials?!

Everybody has a religion—right or wrong!...

Everybody has a belief system to which they subscribe—right or wrong.

Even atheists have a religion & are religious people.

These may be Reluctant to turn, But by the power of God, they are turnable nonetheless!

*We are all called to serve God in spirit & in truth, AND to...“Go therefore & make disciples of ALL the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit, teaching THEM to observe all things that I have commanded you; & lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”!(Matthew 28:19-20)

Jesus divulged/bore witness of/ His Messianic identity to a reluctant/hesitant but religious woman.

God’s people bear witness of Messiah’s/Jesus’ identity to reluctant religious people.

How/When will God’s people turn the reluctancy of the religious?

OR--What will turn that religious reluctancy around?

Some insights toward turning religious reluctance to God.

The last time we looked in these verses we found that,

Turning religious reluctance to God requires...

1. SERVICE Insight(:1-3)

2. CONSEQUENTIAL Insight(:4-6)

3. COMPASSIONED Insight(:7-8)

4. BLIND/UNHINDERED Insight(:9)

5. POSSESSIVE Insight(:10)

6—Turning religious reluctance to God requires...

TRUTHFUL Insight(:11-14)

Explanation:(:11-14)Arrogance/Decisive

:11—“The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, & the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?”

“The woman” misses Jesus inference openly noting that in her estimation, there was no way for Him to have “living water.”

•Her conclusion is much like that of Nicodemus’ who supposed that being born again would require entering a second time into his mother’s womb to be re-born(Jn. 3:4).

She called attention to the fact that Jesus had “nothing” with which to “draw” out water from the “deep” “well”(75-100 ft.).

*Yet, she is wise enough to suppose that there may be some aspect of Jesus’ meaning that she is misunderstanding. She thus asks Him “where” He would possibly obtain “living water.”

After all, Jesus MAY carry Himself with some degree of authority & DEFINITELY speaks with some degree of authority(Jn. 7:31-32, 43-46).

Jn. 7:31-32, 43-46—“And many of the people believed in Him, & said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?” The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, & the Pharisees & the chief priests sent officers to take Him.”.....“So there was a division among the people because of Him. Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests & Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”

“Woman”(See :7, 9, 15, 17, 19, 21, 25)—gunh—Noun Fem.—

“Sir”(See :19)—kuriov—Noun Masc.—1) He to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord. Kuriov has a wider meaning[than despothv], applicable to the various ranks & relations of life & not suggestive of either property or of absolutism. Strong—from kurov(supremacy); Supreme in authority, i.e. as noun--Controller; by implication--Mr.(as a respectful title).

“Have/Hold”...“Get/Hast”(See :17, 18)—ecw or scew—Verb—1) To have, i.e. To hold—1a) To have(hold) in the hand, in the sense of wearing, to have(hold) possession of the mind (refers to alarm, agitating emotions, etc.), to hold fast keep, to have or comprise or involve, to regard or consider or hold as; 2) To have i.e. Own, possess; 3) To hold one's self or find one's self so & so, to be in such or such a condition; 4) To hold one's self to a thing, to lay hold of a thing, to adhere or cling to. Strong—including an alternate form scew; (used in certain tenses only); a primary verb; To hold(used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remote; such as possessions; ability, continuity, relation, or condition).

“Nothing”—oute—Adverb—1) Neither, and not. Strong—Not too, i.e. Neither or nor; by analogy--Not even.?