January 21, 2018
Evening Service

This morning we began telling the story of Jesus and the woman at the well.  This is one of those perfect stories about Jesus’ life that we can learn so much from.  He didn’t conform to what everyone else did, but did things His way; the right way.  He did not avoid Samaria, but found it “necessary” to travel through there.  He did not judge this Samaritan woman to be unworthy of His message, but found her thirsting for it.  He then revealed to us some great truths inverse 24.

John 4:24 God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.

·        We broke that down and looked at what worshipping in “spirit and in truth” really looks like in our lives.  It is true, genuine, sincere worship that comes from our heart and our soul.  We come to Him with a thirsting soul and He is able to satisfy it.

·        The story doesn’t end there, so let’s continue.

 

John 4:27-30 And upon this His disciples came and marveled that He talked with the woman. However, no one said, “What do You seek, or why do You talk with her?”  (28)  The woman then left her water pot and went into the city and said to the men, (29) “Come see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Is this One not the Christ?”  (30)  And they went out of the city and came to Him.

·        When you meet Jesus, you can’t keep it to yourself.  Remember in chapter 1 Andrew ran to get Simon Peter and told him, “We have found the Messiah.”  News this great needs to be shared.  By speaking to the sole woman at the well, Jesus now gets an opportunity to speak to a majority of the town.  He also uses the opportunity to teach the disciples that are traveling with Him.

 

John 4:31-34 In the meantime His disciples were asking Him, saying, “Master, eat.”  (32)  But He said to them, “I have food to eat which you do not know.”  (33)  Therefore the disciples said to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat?”  (34)  Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.”

·        Here again we see Jesus speaking on the spiritual realm and His listener thinking on the physical realm.  His spiritual food came from doing the will of His Father.  He is energized by ministering to others and spreading the Good News to this world.  His soul had been well fed by times of intense prayer and fasting.

·        We too must account for our spiritual nourishment.  It is vitally important that we have a regular diet that includes prayer, Bible study, and church attendance.  These things nourish our soul enabling us to be “doers of God’s word and not hearers only.”

·        Jesus continues teaching us to keep our spiritual eyes open.

 

John 4:35-38 “Do you not say, “It is yet four months, and the harvest comes?” Behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white to harvest already.  (36)  And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to life eternal, so that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  (37)  And in this is the saying true, One sows and another reaps.  (38)  I sent you to reap that on which you bestowed no labor. Other men labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

 

·        Jesus now uses a comparison with the upcoming crop harvest to reveal to the disciples that the spiritual harvest is already upon them.  We too need to look around us and see the many souls that are thirsting for a better way of life; and we have what they are thirsting for. 

·        The wages He speaks of are the satisfaction of doing God’s will.  There is nothing like the feeling of being where God wants you to be and doing exactly what He has called us to do.  It is contentment like no other I have ever experienced.  To be present and help guide someone to make their choice to follow Jesus is indeed a great reward in itself.  To just look into to their eyes and see that they want what Jesus has to offer. 

·        Jesus says this reward is for those who plant as well as for those who are able to reap.  The planters sometime may never know what a bountiful harvest the seeds that they had sowed produced.  (Dana story)  The seeds you sow in others’ lives may not come into focus until heaven.  (Thank you song by Ray Boltz reminds me a stories Peggy often told of former Sunday School students)

 

John 4:39-42 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed upon Him because of the saying of the woman, who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”  (40)  Then as the Samaritans had come to Him, they begged Him that He would stay with them. And He stayed there two days.  (41)  And many more believed because of His own word.  (42)  And they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your saying, for we have heard Him ourselves and know that this is truly the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

·        Unlike Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman boldly testified about meeting Christ.  Jesus by investing in the life of one sinful woman changed the lives of a whole community.  Imagine how she felt as those from her city basically thanked her for sharing Christ with them.  He stayed with them for two days where most devout Jews would not have even traveled through.  Wouldn’t we beg Him to stay with us as well?  To be in the very presence of God would be indescribable.

 

John 4:43-45 And after two days He departed from there and went into Galilee.  (44)  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own native-place.  (45)  Then when He had come into Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast; for they also went to the feast.

·        This was a 3 day journey walking form Sychar to Galilee. The word used for “received” in verse 45 suggests that they accepted Him as a great healer from the miracles they had seen at the Passover, but not with the saving faith as the Samaritans received Him.

 

 John 4:46-54 Then Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  (47)  When He heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and begged Him that He would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  (48)  Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”  (49)  The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”  (50)  Jesus said to him, “Go, your son lives.” And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went away.  (51)  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives.”  (52)  Then he asked of them the hour when he began to get better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”  (53)  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole house.  (54)  This is the second miracle Jesus did, when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

·        This nobleman had made a trip of 20 miles from Capernaum to ask Jesus to heal his son.  This is the first level of his faith being put it into action.  The second level was required when he chose to simply believe Jesus’ word that his son was healed and not insist that Jesus return home with him. 

·        This reminds me of the story of Naaman in 2 Kings.  He was a leper and was told by Elisha to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed.  He could not believe that it was that easy.  He had trouble believing simply upon the prophet’s words.  He wanted some kind of big to do with Elisha calling upon the Lord and a waving his hands to heal him.  It was his servant that had enough faith to convince him to simply obey and he was healed.

·        The nobleman’s faith was verified when he returned home to find his son was healed the very hour Jesus spoke the words.  John said “he himself believed and his whole household.”   He asked, believed and then received the results.

·        There are times we must act in blind faith; totally trusting God at His word.  It is a 3 step process; God said it, I believe it and that settles it!

 

What did we learn about Jesus in chapter 4?

·        Judge no one to be unworthy of our investment of sharing the gospel with them.

·        He was always looking for “teachable moments” with His disciples.

o   Spiritual food and the fields ready for harvest.

·        He revealed to us that God is a Spirit and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

·        He is seeking those who will worship Him.

·        He invested time with the people of Samaria.

·        He is to be believed by His word alone.

 

How do we apply that to ourselves?

o   Don’t be in such a hurry all the time.  Take time to invest in others and share your faith.

o   Learn something from everything that God does.

o   Make certain our worship is coming from our heart and it is truly sincere.

o   He is seeking us, so He should be easy to find.

o   Know God’s word and act upon it to be true.

 

Lord, thank You for Your Word and help us to receive it into to our lives to change us into the men and women You desire us to be.