Break the walls down part 2

John 4:15-26

Break the walls down pt 2

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

Last time, A Samaritan woman comes alone to draw water from the well Jesus had stopped at. The disciples had been sent into town to buy food. Jesus asks they woman for a drink, as he had no equipment with him to draw from the well. The Samaritan woman is shocked that anyone is speaking to her much less a Jewish man. She has come by herself to draw water, which we will address in more detail shortly, but if you were a woman drawing from a well alone there was no good reason why you were in that circumstance.

With one simple question Jesus breaks down two walls. The wall of cultural prejudice and the wall of gender prejudice. He then offers her living water that quenches the soul eternally.

The woman responds “Give me water that I may not thirst.” Some view this passage as the woman mocking Jesus or being sarcastic. I think in light of her circumstances this is not the case. I thinks she’s stunned to have another adult talking to her. I thinks he senses something different, something unique about this strange Jewish man that is not only taking the time to talk to her but ask her for help. She wants to know more. She wants to understand. It’s as if she is saying “Jesus if there is anyway you can make my life better, I will take it!”

This is how it starts in our walk with Christ. We have to realize that His way of doing things is better than ours. Now I want to be clear about something. I’m not talking about building a better mouse trap. My first youth camp was to Atlanta for this Christian music festival appropriately named Atlanta Fest. We were in the hotel room after some wonderful Rock N Roll and Worship settling down for the night. One of the guys was thirsty and he didn’t want to pay the $4 for the bottle of water in the fridge. There were no water fountains or drink machines in our section of the hotel we were staying at. There was only an ice machine. The guy comes out of the bathroom with a cup of water and goes I got my water! He had gotten a cup of ice from the ice maker and then spent the last 20 minutes using that tiny hotel hair dryer to melt the ice until it became water. I looked at him and asks “Why didn’t you just fill it with the water from the sink?” His response? “Shut up!”

When I say Jesus way of doing things is better that’s not really what I’m talking about. I’ve talked about my salvation experience plenty since I got saved in Feb of 1998. I didn’t’ walk an aisle or pray a prayer. I didn’t make a deep heartfelt confession where I poured my entire heart out. I simply had a moment of brutal honesty between myself and the Lord where I said, “Lord, my way of doing things is not working. I am going to try things your way now.”

What’s His way? God’s Word! Love God, Love your neighbor. Do Justice. Love Mercy, Walk Humbly. All things by His grace. She realizes her life is a mess and maybe this guy can help.

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

¹⁷ The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’

What is Jesus response here? It’s very telling honestly. He doesn’t say walk this aisle, pray this prayer, fill out this good deeds check list and make sure you put your 10% in the offering plate and I’ll think about it. He also doesn’t gloss over the circumstances that she is in. In fact, He deals with the directly and immediately.

We can’t evangelize solely on all the gifts of God. In fact that quickly slips into prosperity gospel the whole “naming a blessing yourself, wealth and power, strong healthy teeth, a spot at the beach and story book romance.”

You want to know one of the quickest ways to spot false doctrine? They never mention sin or the fact that we are sinners. Jesus immediately gets to the heart of the problem, as He always does.

Within the two months of salvation God removed a lot of ungodly things from my life. I knew these things needed to go but I was powerless to get rid of them in my own strength. By the grace of God I was gradually able to let these things go. It was painful, but it was also worth it. To this day I neither miss those things nor regret making those decisions. You can’t come to Christ and not be confronted with your sin. It just doesn’t work that way.

 ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

What does Jesus say? He says you’ve had 5 husbands and you’re currently living with a man that isn’t your husband. This sounds like a plot to the young and the restless! I’ve read a ton of theories and conjecture as to why she was married so many times. Some put the entire onus on the woman and paint her in as negative a light as possible. Some place the entire onus on the men, or society as a whole.

The bottom line is that we don’t know, because the scripture doesn’t tell us. In fact, I think a big part of this story is that we don’t know so we won’t focus on the wrong aspect of the story. We all love a good scandal don’t we? And 2020 has not disappointed on that front! This story is not about the woman’s scandalous past, it’s about her scandalous salvation!

¹⁹ 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.”

What’s telling her is the woman’s response. When we are confronted about our sin we typically respond with anger and defensiveness. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business!” “Well that’s my opinion and anyone that doesn’t like it can *!&&@”  My personal favorite is “Well where in the Bible does is say that?” Then you are shown and the response is “ Well I don’t care I’m going to do it anyway!” Then we wonder why our lives are such a mess.

She realizes that what she has suspected is true. This man is from God. She doesn’t yet realize the full truth of Christ but she is headed down the narrow way for certain.

She then asks a question that may seem like she is trying to change the subject. It’s not. She asks a very legitimate question. One about how you properly worship God.

Samaritan worship was a combination of Judaism and the various religions from all the Assyrian captives that had been forced to settle the land that became Samaria some 500 years prior. It was the largest source of contention between Jews and Samaritans. It’s no different than today with those multi religious services. Where officials of various religions take turns teaching the same congregation. The whole every religion is a different path up the same mountain to get to God is a lie. I know that’s unpopular, the truth often is, but Jesus says Himself in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life and no man gets to the Father expect through me.” I didn’t write it nor am I going to argue with the God who did.

She wants to know the truth about God and she knows she can get that from Jesus.   

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

²⁵ The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Jesus pointed her to a time when worship would no longer be focused on places (neither Jerusalem nor Mount Gerazim). The greater work of Jesus would bring a greater, more spiritual worship. With these words Jesus described the basis for true worship: it is not found in places and trappings, but in spirit and in truth.

To worship in spirit means you are concerned with spiritual realities, not so much with places or outward sacrifices, cleansings, and trappings.

To worship in truth means you worship according to the whole counsel of God’s word, especially in light of the New Testament revelation. It also means that you come to God in truth, not in pretense or a mere display of spirituality.

She says, “I know that Messiah is coming, He who is called Christ, and when that one comes He will declare all things to us.” She wants to worship from the heart in truth. She knows the Messiah is the presenter of that Truth. Jesus says to her, “I who speak to you AM He.” There’s no “He” in the original language; it’s an I AM statement, the name of God. “I who speak to you AM.” The One speaking to you is the I AM.  The incarnate Christ is revealed. She has sought the truth and she has found the living embodiment of truth, the Logos of God. Twenty-three times in the gospel of John we read “I AM.” Seven times He says “I AM” something: the Bread of Life, the Branch, the Way, the Truth, the Life--all references to His eternal Godhood. He reveals Himself to her.

The world at the time would have said there’s to many walls that separate Jesus from this woman. Jesus says “ I AM” and every wall is broken down immediately and a scandalous woman, receives a scandalous salvation. Whatever walls may be between you and God presently just know a word from Him breaks them all down.