Meeting at the Well

Read at beginning of service:

John 3:16-21 (NIV)

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

INTRODUCTION

• In the text for today we find ourselves in the midst of an encounter Jesus has with a woman at a well. This encounter has an incredible impact on this woman ? changing her life forever. At first glance, this encounter does not look like anything special, it is Jesus asking a woman to get Him a drink from a well.
• What is about this encounter with Jesus that made an everlasting change in this woman?s life?
• Over the next few weeks (following the youth emphasis service) I?d like to spend some time with Jesus and the woman at the well in John 4 to see what it was that impacted her life.
• You see, this encounter that Jesus had with the woman at the well gives us some insight from the master as how to win people to Jesus!
• Jesus told us that the reason that He came was to seek and save that which is lost. (Luke 19:10)

Luke 19:10 (NIV)

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

• Jesus spent much of His time trying to reach people for the kingdom of God.
• When Jesus ascended into heaven, one of the last things that He told us to do is to make disciples of all nations. He told us that we do that by baptizing them and by teaching them all that He taught.
• Whenever evangelism is mentioned, many people will start squirming in the pews. I used to do the same thing. Sharing my faith with other people was very intimidating to me and I know that it is for many other people.

According to D. James Kennedy in any congregation if 10% of the people will do evangelism, then the church should grow. If at least 10% of the church will not evangelize, then the church will eventually shrink to 10% in size.

Norman Cates shared the humorous story of a guy who prayed this prayer every morning: “Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is.” One day he found himself on a bus when a big, burly man sat next to him. The bus was nearly empty but this guy sat next to our praying friend. The timid Christian anxiously waited for his stop so he could exit the bus. But before he could get very nervous about the man next to him, the big guy burst into tears and began to weep. He then cried out with a loud voice, “I need to be saved. I?m a lost sinner and I need the Lord. Won?t somebody tell me how to be saved?” He turned to the Christian and pleaded, “Can you show me how to be saved?”

The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, “Lord, is this a sign?”

How many of us are looking for a “sign” to be a witness of our faith? (Sermoncentral.com, ILLUSTRATIONS ? EVANGELISM [FEAR OF])

• Evangelism or telling other people about Jesus does not need to be intimidating.
• Sharing your faith with another person can be one of the most fulfilling things that you can do as a Christian.
• I want us to look at six tips by the Master as to how we can reach people for Jesus! ?

I. JESUS WAS READY TO SHARE. (READ VERSES 1-8)

• One of the most crippling attitudes when it comes to sharing your faith is thinking that nobody wants to hear about Jesus! Maybe we?ve attempted it and been shut down or maybe we?re afraid of being rejected and these experiences/feelings bring us to the place where we think, “Oh, nobody really wants to hear about Jesus?” I remember when I worked at a grocery store while attending Bible College I used to have this attitude. I kept thinking that there weren?t any opportunities to share my faith and they probably didn?t want to hear about it anyway. I went to work not being prepared to talk with people about Jesus because I did not expect the opportunity!

  Then one week in chapel at the college, the speaker gave a very challenging and sobering message. He asked two simple, yet, flooring questions ? “Who has been impacted by your faith in Jesus Christ? Do you seize the opportunities God gives you tell people about Jesus?” It was then that I realized the crippling attitude I had about sharing my faith. One day I decided that I was going to ask God to show me the opportunities that I was not seeing. When I asked God to do that, I started seeing the opportunities that I had been missing.

  All around me were people who were looking for answers in life and I did not even notice it!

• Notice what is happening here. Jesus was traveling to Galilee from Judea. When He gets to Galilee, he encounters a woman at a well and asks her for a drink. This is a seemingly simple mundane activity that is a part of life, yet Jesus is going to use this as an opportunity to tell this woman about the gift of God.
• You do not have to get a person into the church building to share with them, not do you have to call in a pastor in to do it. Many of us miss opportunities because we are not ready, open to, and expecting the opportunity.

• In the context, Peter is talking about being ready to share your faith with those who are persecuting you but the principle holds true for every person you encounter ? are you ready for those opportunities that God may bring your way to talk about His son?
• I know that when we belong to Jesus, part of our response to the love that God has shown to us is that we share our faith with people around us. We do not have to force it down people?s throat, but we can look for the opportunities that present themselves each day and we can be ready to tell people about Jesus and what He has done for us.
• And what a shame that there are so many “missed” opportunities that pass us by?

Some time ago an 18-year old girl from Washington state attended a worship service. For the first time in her life she heard the gospel message. The following Tuesday the members of the church received a letter from her. It read:

Dear church members:

Last Sunday I attended your church, and I heard the preacher. In the sermon the preacher said that all men have sinned and rebelled against God. Because of their rebellion and disobedience they all face eternal damnation and separation from God. But then he also said God loved men and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem men from their sins and that all those who believe in him would go to heaven and live with God eternally.

My parents recently died in rapid succession. I know they did not believe in Jesus Christ, whom you call the Savior of the world. If what you believe is true, they are damned.

You compel me to believe that either the message is true, that you yourself don?t believe this message, or that you don?t car. You see, we live only three blocks from your church, and no one ever told us.

(sermoncentral.com, ILLUSTRATIONS [EVANGELISM, OTHER])

II. JESUS TREATED THE WOMAN WITH RESPECT (READ 7-9)

• In Jesus day there was a feud between the Jews and Samaritans that was rooted back to 720 BC with the invasion of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians. To make a long story short, the Samaritans were the ones who were not deported to Assyria. They were left behind and intermarried with the Babylonians and the other foreign people who were imported to the Northern Kingdom (Their story was alluded to in the message I preached from 2 Kings 17:24-41, “?But? Worship”) The quarrel then took place in 450 BC when some of the Jews in exile who had remained faith to their heritage refused to let the Samaritans help rebuild the city walls of Jerusalem which had been destroyed.
• By the fact Jesus even spoke to the woman indicates that He was willing to break down barriers to share His message. There should be no barrier strong enough to keep the gospel out!
• This woman was a person who was despised because of her race. She was also a person who may have been shunned by her community for her immorality. Verses 17-18 bear out that she had moral problems. The well that they were at was over a half-mile from Sychar. She may be going after water so far out of town because she had been shunned.
• Jesus broke down barriers by even speaking with the woman. Isn?t it interesting that the Jewish religious leaders of the day were always condemning Jesus for eating with sinners, tax collector and prostitutes.
• William Barclay in his commentary on John says the following: But there was still another way in which Jesus was taking down the barriers. The Samaritan was a woman. The strict Rabbis forbade a Rabbi to greet a woman in public. A Rabbi might not even speak to his own wife or daughter or sister in public. There were even Pharisees who were called “the bruised and bleeding Pharisees” because they shut their eyes when they saw a woman on the street and so walked into walls and houses! For a Rabbi to be seen speaking to a woman in public was the end of his reputation-and yet Jesus spoke to this woman. Not only was she a woman; she was also a woman of notorious character. No decent man, let alone a Rabbi, would have been seen in her company, or even exchanging a word with her-and yet Jesus spoke to her.
• One of the things that we need to do if we are going to reach people for Christ is that we need to treat people with respect.
• Sometimes people will tell you the craziest sounding ideas, but even if we do not agree with them, we need to treat them with respect. Think about it this way. Every person that we do not treat with respect will be a person that we will not reach for Jesus. Respect is the avenue by which we earn the right to be heard.

In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he go worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned, “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” That usher?s prejudice not only betrayed Jesus but also turned a person away from trusting Him as Savior! (Sermonillustrator.com)

• Now many of you might say to yourselves, “I would never be like that usher in the story” and that may be well said by many of us. But then, let?s think of the times people that we?re a little bit uncomfortable with cross our paths and we assign them the label, “People I?m not going to associate with?”? It is often because of this aspect of evangelism that we miss the opportunities that come our way?
• Jesus showed this woman that He was not above speaking to her.
• The third tip that we glean from Jesus? encounter with this woman and one that goes hand in glove with respect is that:

III. JESUS ACCEPTED HER AS SHE WAS (V9, READ 16-18)

• Who needs the gospel?

Mark 2:16-17 (NIV)

16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

• There is therefore an important thing to make note of: Jesus was willing to take His message to ANYONE who needed it.
• It is odd that so many Christians are like Lucy in the old Peanuts cartoon:

Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “I would have made a great evangelist.” Charlie Brown answers, “Is that so?” She says, “Yes, I convinced that boy in front of me in school that my religions is better than his religion.” Charlie Brown asked, “Well, how did you do that?” And Lucy answers, ” I hit him over the head with my lunch box.”

• We have to make sure that we do not get so involved in fixing people that we forget to share the message with them.
• When a person becomes a Christian, Jesus will change them into what He wants them to be with the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Dick Staub shares the following illustration in an article he wrote for Discipleship Journal, “Please Pass the Salt: What We Can Learn From Jesus About Engaging Our World”:

Many years ago I attended a birthday party for my gay friend and co-worker, Julian. Sixty gay men and four straight women had gathered to celebrate in a high-rise penthouse with a dramatic sweeping view of San Francisco Bay. Greeting me warmly, Julian exuberantly kissed me on both cheeks (something that never happened at the office, I assure you). I took a deep breath and ventured into a scene that was well outside my comfort zone. I chuckled quietly, asking myself a familiar question: “What in the world am I doing here?”

Actually, I knew why I was there. I had prayed with some friends about this occasion just a few hours earlier. I?ve always thought of events like Julian?s party as “wedding feast of Cana” situations. AS so often happens when I follow Jesus into the world, opportunities appeared. Because I listened as the partygoers told me about their journeys, by 2:00 AM five of them were gathered with me in a corner talking about spiritual things. (Dick Staub, “Please Pass the Salt: What We Can Learn From Jesus About Engaging Our World” from Discipleship Journal [Issue 122 Mar/Apr 2001], 47)

• Share illustration of interviewing couples for marriage?
• Being accepting of people does not mean that we accept the way they act or ignore things that need to be addressed. Notice that Jesus did address a problem that this woman was having in her life (vs 16-18).
• Accepting people means that we will not thumb our nose at them or look down on them like they are sub-human. People can tell how we feel about them be the way that we interact with them. Jesus treated this woman with respect by speaking with her and by asking a favor of her.

IV. JESUS INTERACTED WITH HER (11-13, 16-18, 20-24, 25-26)

• Throughout this encounter with the woman, Jesus asked questions, listened to answers and answered her questions.
• Jesus did not enter into this conversation with a “canned” presentation. Jesus interacted with her.
• Whenever we want to share the gospel with people, we have to do it in the course of normal conversation. Joe Aldrich wrote a book called “Lifestyle Evangelism” in which he encouraged people to share the gospel out of a natural conversation. He said that we earn that opportunity by living for Jesus every day.
• Jesus did not go into some memorized speech; He spoke with her. (Jehovah Witness? ILLUSTRATION)

Singapore Story

One Singaporean said to three Christians eating in a hawker?s stall, “Do you happen to be Christians?” They asked, “What makes you think so?” He said, “Well, you seem to be quite different from most people I know. That make me think you are Christians. But, you don?t act like the rest of them I have known.” They asked, “Really? How did the other Christians act?” He said, “Like they were tigers perched in the tall grass beside the road, ready to spring on me with their claws!” (Sermoncentral.com)

• Many times we are not too eager to share Jesus with people because we are afraid that they will ask questions. Do not be afraid of that. One thing you can do is learn some things for yourself and the other is say that you do not know, but ask if you can find out.
• Too many of us are afraid to admit we do not know something and that stops us from sharing Jesus with people.
• Jesus took this woman from asking for a drink to talking to her about her life and about the kingdom of God. In a couple of the upcoming sermons we will examine some of the interaction between Jesus and this woman.
• Jesus interacted with this woman. He asked, listened and answered her questions.

V. JESUS WAS CONCERNED FOR HER

• What motivated Jesus to speak with this woman? Was it so that He could just get something from her? Was it merely the drink of water from the well?
• Why do we share the gospel with some people and not others?
• Jesus spoke with this woman because He cared for her. He cared about her eternity. Who are you concerned for?
• Jesus was willing to cross any barrier He needed to share the Kingdom of God with this woman because of his compassion for her?
• We must be concerned for people. Our motivation for sharing the gospel with people needs to be because we are concerned for them, no other reason. Their race, social class, looks nor anything else should play into it.

A “Sunday Times” journalist named Matthew Parris ? a man, who is by his own confession, not a Christian ? wrote an article that should give us a glimpse into why as Christians we should be a people with concern for the lost:

The New Testament offers a picture of God, who does not sound at all vague.

He has sent His Son to earth. He has distinct plans for each of us personally and can communicate directly with us.

We are capable of forming a direct relationship, individually with Him, and are commanded to try.

We are told that this can be done only through His son. And we are offered the prospect of eternal life ? an afterlife in happy, blissful or glorious circumstances if we live this life in a certain manner.

Friends, if I believed that, or even a tenth of that, how could I care which version of the prayer book is used?

I would drop my job, sell my house, throw away all my possessions, leave my acquaintances and set out into the world burning with desire to know more and more and, when I had found more, to act upon it and tell others.

Far from being puzzled that the Mormons and Adventists should knock on the door, I am unable to understand how anyone who believed that (which) is written in the Bible could choose to spend their waking hours in any other endeavour.” (quoted in Sermoncentral.com)

** Two ladies were sharing lunch together when one said to the other: “I don?t know many Christians, but somehow I can?t help regarding them as hypocrites.”

Said the other, “But your sister-in-law, she lives in the same house with you; surely you must acknowledge that she is a devoted Christian.”

“That?s just it,” was the laughing reply. “She has a very lovely disposition, and she devotes her life to missions and Sunday schools, but she has never said a word to me about becoming a Christian. It?s only make-belief with her about souls being in danger. You need not tell me! I know that she is fond of me, but if she believed all that, don?t you think she would not have said something?” (quoted in sermoncentral.com)

• If a person is lost, we need to be concerned for them no matter who they are, what they look like or how much or how little money they have. And yet how much of that concern is evident in our daily interactions with the people we encounter?

• The last tip from the Master that we will look at today is:

VI. JESUS SAW HER FOR WHAT SHE COULD BE (15-18)

• What do you think Jesus saw when He saw this woman? A woman from a hated race who had a bad reputation? A sinner who needed to burn in Hell for eternity? A woman who was not worth giving the time of day to?
• Jesus saw what this woman could be.
• How many times have we written people off because of what they are?
• I have known many Christians who are willing to write people off because of what they are because they cannot see what they can be in Jesus. (house renovations illustrations)
• Do you realize what a person can be in Jesus? This woman had NOTHING going for her. Jesus gave her something that changed her life!
• When we deal with people in our everyday lives, make sure you look at them for what they can be with Christ, not at what they are now.

CONCLUSION

There is a story I came across that is a real life encounter a person had that exemplifies the practice of the example Jesus set in his conversation with the woman at the well. It is a meeting of more modern sort and one that would perhaps solidify the kind of witness we too can have in this world:

In his marvelous book, The Kingdom of God is a Party, Tony Campolo tells this story?

Campolo was attending a Christian conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since there was a six-hour time differential between Honolulu and his hometown in Pennsylvania, on his first night there Campolo experienced some confusion in his sleep pattern. He woke up about 3 o?clock in the morning and couldn?t get back to sleep. So he got up, got dressed, and left the hotel where he was staying, searching for a place to get something to eat. Eventually he found a tiny coffee shop that was open. Here is his description of what happened there:

The fat guy behind the counter came over and asked me what I wanted. I told him I wanted a cup of coffee and a donut. As I sat there munching my donut and sipping my coffee at 3:30 in the morning, the door suddenly opened, swung wide, and to my discomfort ? in marched 8 or 9 provocatively dressed and rather boisterous prostitutes. It was a small place and they sat on either side of me. Their talk was garrulous, loud, and crude. I felt completely out of place. I was just about to make my getaway when I heard the woman next to me say, “You know, tomorrow is my birthday. I?m going to be 39.”

Her friend responded in a rather nasty tone, “So what do you want from me? A birthday party? What do you want? You want me to get a cake, and sing happy birthday to you?”

“Come on,” the woman sitting next to me said, “why do you have to be so mean? I?m just telling you that it?s my birthday. Why do you have to put me down? I don?t want anything from you. I mean, why should I have a birthday party? I?ve never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?”

Campolo says, When I heard that, I made a decision. I sat and waited until the women left, and then I called over to the fat guy behind the counter and asked him, “Do they come in here every night?”

He answered, “Yeah.”

“The one who was sitting right next to me, does she come in every night?”

“Yeah,” he said, “that?s Agnes. Yeah, she comes in every night. Why do you want to know?”

“Because,” I replied, “I heard her say that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you say we do something special for her? What do you think about throwing a birthday party for her right here in the coffee shop?”

A cute kind of smile crept over that fat man?s chubby cheeks. “That?s a great idea.” He said. “I like it. That?s great. Agnes is one of those people who is really nice and kind. I don?t think anybody has ever done anything nice and kind for her.”

“Well, look,” I told him, “if it?s okay with you, I?ll be back here tomorrow morning at 2:30. I?ll decorate the place. I?ll even get a birthday cake for her,”

“No way!” he replied. “The birthday cake, that?s my thing. I?ll bake the birthday cake myself.”

At 2:30 the next morning I was back at that coffee shop. I picked up some crepe paper and other decorations at the store, and made a sign of big pieces of cardboard that said, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” I decorated that diner from one end to the other. I had it really looking great. The word must have gotten out on the street, because by 3:15 that morning every prostitute in Honolulu was in that place. There was wall-to-wall prostitutes ? and me.

At 3:30 on the dot, the door of the diner swung open and in came Agnes and her friend. I had everybody ready?When they came in we all jumped up and screamed, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” Then we sang to her. And you know, I?ve never seen a person so flabbergasted, so stunned, so shaken. Her mouth fell open, her knees started to buckle, her friend had to offer her arm to steady her, and I noticed she had started to cry. When the birthday cake with all the candles was carried out, that?s when she lost it. She started sobbing.

Harry the fat guy behind the counter, gruffly mumbled, “Blow out the candles, Agnes, blow out the candles.” Then he handed her a knife and said, “Cut the cake, Agnes, cut the cake.” Agnes looked down at the cake, and without taking her eyes off it, she slowly and softly said, “Look, Harry, is it okay with you if I, I mean, if I don?t ? what I want to ask, is it okay if I keep the cake for a little while? Is it okay if we don?t eat it right away?”

Harry shrugged and answered, “Well, sure, Agnes, that?s fine. You want to keep the cake, keep the cake. Take it home if you want to.” “O, could I?” she asked. Looking at me, she said, “I just live down the street a couple of doors. I want to take the cake home, okay? I?ll be right back, honest.”

She got off her stool, she picked up that cake, and she carried it out of the diner like it was the Holy Grail. She walked slowly toward the door, and we all just stood there, speechless. When the door closed behind her, there was stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, I broke the silence by saying, “What do you say we pray together?”

Looking back on it now, it seems more than a little strange that a sociologist from eastern PA would be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But I prayed. I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation. I prayed that her life would be changed, and that God would be good to her. And when I finished, Harry leaned over, and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said, “Hey, you never told me you were a preacher! What kind of preacher are you anyway? What church do you belong to?”

In one of those moments when just the right words come, I answered him quietly, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.” Harry thought for a minute, and then almost sneered as he answered, “No you don?t! There is no church like that. In fact,” he concluded, “if there was, I?d join it.” (quoted in Sermoncentral.com)