The Samaria Ministries; The Miracles

We're going to begin tonight in John chapter 4. So please open your Bible to John chapter 4. And we will look at Jesus ministry in Samaria. Let's take a look at the map. First of all, make sure we get our bearings once again as we look at Jesus moving from Jerusalem to Samaria on his way back to Galilee. Now keep these major areas in mind Judea is the province that encompasses Jerusalem in the surrounding territory. Samaria is north of Judea and then Galilee that will hear often in Jesus' life and ministry is the northern part of Israel. Of course you have the Sea of Galilee here, the Jordan River here connecting both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Now Jesus has been in Jerusalem in and around Jerusalem. He is leaving that area and going back to Galilee and he's going to go through Samaria. Now notice this is the normal route he would go traversing along some of the ridges of the hills in the in the hill country of Ephraim and Samaria up to a place called Sycar which is at the base of two mountains Mount Gerasim and Mount Ebal. Mountains that face each other right there. Mountains that are very important in the history of Israel in several different ways. We won't try to go into all of that right now but a very a number of fascinating events take place in that area but the one we're going to focus on tonight is Jesus talking to a woman at the well. Let's let's look at the text here in John chapter four. The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now what we're looking at is Jesus passing through Samaria on his way to Galilee and he's going to stop in Samaria and talk to a woman at a well but let's let's pause long enough just to grasp what's being said here about Jesus leaving Judea. Why did he leave Judea? What do you see here that would cause him to leave Judea? I want to get out of that area. Okay, had to do with the baptism. What is said about Jesus baptizing that causes him to decide he needs to leave. You see it there? Pharisees right? Pharisees are making some comments about Jesus baptizing more than John okay so the Pharisees are starting to pit the two together. We saw last time that John puts that in the proper perspective when some of his own disciples say well what about this man you introduced on the other side of the Jordan you know he's starting to baptize more people than you and John puts all that into perspective when he says a man can only do what he's received from heaven and it was my place my ministry to be the friend of the bridegroom this is a wedding this is like a wedding the bridegroom has come to win a bride and I'm the best man I'm not supposed to steal the show and so Jesus or John put all that into perspective. Now the Pharisees are getting it on the act and they're saying okay let's pit Jesus and John against each other Jesus is baptizing more people than John and so now it's Jesus that responds he leaves when he hears that he leaves why do you think he did that? We wouldn't expect Jesus to be saying okay yeah I'm supposed to be getting the attention now I'm glad you're not recognizing I'm baptizing more people why do you think Jesus left? To avoid confrontation with the Pharisees okay I think we're on the right path now okay let's let's follow that path a little bit to avoid confrontation with the Pharisees why do you think Jesus would want to do that? Okay it was meek and lowly okay he's not looking for confrontation okay it was the beginning of his ministry wasn't it and to capitalize on this kind of controversy with the Pharisees at this point in his ministry is going to precipitate a crisis and Jesus is operating as John uses this expression several times in his gospel Jesus is operating on the Father's timetable time and time again he will say mine hour is not yet come my time is not yet come and so it's not time for the kind of crisis with the Pharisees that will rapidly lead toward a confrontation that would result in death it's not time for that yet and we'll find even toward the end of his life six months before he dies Jesus will lead Jerusalem go out into the ministry of pariah in the the area of pariah for the same reason it's not time for him to die yet not time for that kind of confrontation that kind of crisis there are a number of times that Jesus will do this even when it's a popularity crisis okay and that's part of what's happening here too is Jesus will not he does not want popularity to build up for the wrong reasons where people are wanting to push him into a political program a little bit later in John's gospel in chapter six everybody's going to want to make him king because he's just fed the five thousand anybody's got that kind of food program will vote for king that's what they're saying in Jesus Jesus preaches a hard sermon that drives him away all except for the 12 disciples and so Jesus does not want to precipitate precipitate some kind of crisis because he's moving on the timetable of the father and I think I think you've got that I think you've got that right you know sometimes Jesus will heal people and you'll tell him don't tell anybody you know don't tell anybody ends for the same reason he's not wanting to precipitate the kind of popular groundswell of appeal that would would you know lift him into power on some social program or something like that that's not why he came and so he's not in it for that he's not doing ministry for that reason okay so Jesus leaves when when he finds that this kind of dynamic is starting to happen he leaves Judea and goes back once more to Galilee now first force says he had to go through some area and on the map it sure looked like it didn't it I mean you got right okay thanks thanks Greg you've got Judea here it's where he is you've got Galilee up here it's where he's wanting to go sure looks like he needs to go right through some area doesn't he but actually he didn't have to go through some area most of the Jews didn't did they we've talked about this before what did the Jews typically do when they traveled between Galilee and Judea followed the river yeah they would typically go down to Jericho and either on this side or even cross Jericho go up and and then come back into Galilee up in here why why did they do that Samaritans and Jews didn't go along too well did they there was a lot of dislike a lot of a lot of antagonism there because of the Samaritans the way the Samaritans came about and they were that area was populated after the northern kingdom went into captivity to to Assyria and the Assyrians brought all kinds of foreigners in they intermarried with the remaining Jews and so the Jews saw this Samaritans population is kind of a half breed population in fact antagonism was so bad that the Samaritans had their own worship center and we'll see that as we get into this this story a little bit but Jesus had to go through Samaria that's not only a statement of you know the Straitest line between two points or the shortest distance is a straight line it's not just a statement about that it's not just a geographical statement it's a it's a divine necessity he's got to go through because of what is going to happen here so verse 5 he comes to a town in Samaria called Psycard near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph Joseph's well was there and Jesus tired as he was from the journey sat down by the well it was about the sixth hour now what we're going to find here is verse 7 a Samaritan woman comes to draw water now what we're going to see here is a great example remember Jesus is our example we are to walk as he walked we're going to find here a great example of two things number one how to use interruptions how to view interruptions and number two how to how to do lifestyle evangelism now some people get all been out of shape by that phrase lifestyle evangelism because they think what's meant by that is all you got to do is live a decent Christian life and everybody will see it and get saved and that is not at all what's meant by lifestyle evangelism when Joe Aldrich wrote the book entitled lifestyle evangelism back around 1981 that was the first real promotion of that kind of thing he was the president of Multnomah School of the Bible and seminary he wrote that book called lifestyle evangelism that term called on what he was talking about was living evangelism as a lifestyle not just not just living a good lifestyle hoping people to somehow catch on and get saved he was saying no do evangelism as a lifestyle rather than a Thursday night visitation program where you make a foray out in the enemy territory once a week and then you stay awake months save people the rest of the week you know rather than that live out evangelism as a lifestyle you know make evangelism a part of the way you live every day of your life you know be ready for whatever opportunities come across your path and whether you're at work or in the neighborhood or in the marketplace or wherever it may be you're talking on the phone to a friend or wherever it may be if God opens the door be ready be ready that's a lifestyle evangelism it's exactly what Jesus does here okay Jesus is tired he sits down at a well to regather his strength while his disciples go into McDonald's to get something to eat and as he's sitting there this woman comes up to draw water now notice this evangelistic endeavor by the Lord Jesus and and there are about five great principles for lifestyle evangelism and let's just quickly quickly note them first of all be open to sense and seize opportunities be open to seize and sense opportunities Jesus is tired from the journey verse six he sits down by the well it's about six hour twelve noon and a Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus initiates the conversation okay he not only sees this interruption in his time of rest as an opportunity he sees it as a place to take the initiative to initiate the conversation so be open to sense and seize opportunities you know I'm convinced that I'm certainly not near where I need to be on this and I'm convinced that most of us are just not aware spiritually of what's going on around us you know we're not really sensing when there's an opportunity when God's brought someone across our path and he's almost knocking us over with come on here's a person right here you're sitting across from in Starbucks or you're you're at wherever or you the neighbor and you're talking over the backyard fence about the mountaineers or about the government or whatever come on let's talk about something else you know we're not aware of the opportunities that God gives us Jesus sensed and seized the opportunity he initiates the conversation second thing he does and as a principle for us start with common ground when lifestyle evangelism starts with common ground it starts with something you have in common with someone else so the conversation the interaction with a person may start on a very normal plane talking about everyday stuff and it's exactly what Jesus does verse seven Jesus says to her will you give me a drink his disciples had gone into town to buy food and by the way McDonald's is in one of the notes in your in your margin there but they've gone to buy food but Jesus initiates by saying will you give me a drink she's come to draw water he says would you give me a drink okay now there's nothing threatening about that in in the sense that he's dropping a deep theological truth on her right now he's just starting with common ground you've come to get water I'm thirsty okay this common ground so evangelistic opportunities can begin with very common conversations and that's what Jesus does here well she is shocked verse nine the Samaritan woman said to him you're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan woman how can you ask me for a drink and John adds this explanatory statement for Jews do not associate with Samaritans there again that ethnic cultural distance there these didn't have anything to do with each other and plus in that culture it was not considered appropriate to initiate a conversation with a woman in public and so on two counts she shocked that he would even speak to her but he's initiated the conversation so he he has started with common ground she responds I don't understand why you even talking to me and then notice what Jesus does next and here's the third principle turn the conversation to spiritual things at some point since when it's appropriate to turn the conversation to spiritual things started out by asking for a drink of water you know she's about ready to back off and so he turns the conversation spiritual things verse 10 Jesus answered her if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water now he's he's turning a corner now in the conversation he's moving from a drink of water that you get it well to something called living water okay obviously he's turning to spiritual things she doesn't get it yet as most unsaid people wouldn't and so verse 11 sir the woman said you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep where can you get this living water are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it himself as did also his sons and his flocks and herds Jesus answered everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never thirst okay he's drawing the distinction sharper between natural water that you come back for time and time again and you get thirsty again you need more and what he's talking about this living water is a water that if you drink it you'll never get thirsty again for 14 whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst indeed the water I give him will be in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life so he has turned the conversation to spiritual things he's introducing spiritual topics she doesn't fully get it yet but he has turned the conversation to spiritual things and you see with you and me it may take several conversations like this before people start to understand what we're really talking about but at some point in in a lifestyle evangelism you turn normal conversation towards spiritual things and it may hit a roadblock the first time or the second time or even the third time but it may it may progress and it may generate some questions the further you go so fourth principle point out the person's need at some point when they begin to express interest they need to understand they have a spiritual need and that need is that they are a center okay lifestyle evangelism has often been criticized as not not dealing with people sin you know and that's because sometimes people feel like when you're witnessing the very first thing you have to tell people is your center you know you knock on the door and they come to the door and they open the door you do you know you're center you know and you got to start right there well you don't have to start right there but you got to get that you got to get there at some point you got to get there at some point and so that's what Jesus does next verse 15 the 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 okay she's interested now she's wanting to know more what he's talking about so notice what he does in verse 16 he told her go call your husband and come back uh oh here's a problem verse 17 I have no husband she replied Jesus said to her you are right when you say you have no husband the fact is you've had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband what you have just said is quite true now evidently he has put his finger on the problem with this woman and evidently it is a problem of immorality the indication seems to be is that she's just lived with whoever showed up basically and she's living with someone now who's not her husband so he puts his finger right on the problem in her life before they can go any further before he can really introduce her to the living water she needs to understand she's got a sin problem that needs to be dealt with okay now notice her response and this leads me to the fifth principle and that is keep the focus on Christ because when you get to this point in spiritual conversations people are going to want to dodge the issue and that's exactly what she does first 19 sir the woman said I can see that you are a prophet now basically she's saying you know what you've told me is right you've told what you've told me about my life is right but notice where she goes next our father's worshiped on this mountain but you'd use claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem will you settle this theological question for me where did Cain get his wife you mean you really believe in a flood universal flood you know and that's where people will start heading when they start getting a little uncomfortable with the spiritual nature of the conversation they'll raise some theological issue to try to get you to solve it that's exactly what this woman did with Jesus will you solve this longstanding dispute about where we're supposed to worship if you're a prophet kind of sounds like you are I believe you're a prophet will you solve this for me this theological debate well Jesus is not um this courteous here in any way he does address her question very briefly Jesus declared believe me woman of time is coming when you will worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem use Samaritan's worship what you do not know we worship what we do know for salvation is from the Jews and Jesus is entirely correct here obviously he would be but the Samaritan worship was inappropriate unbiblical the Jews worship was that which was in the train of what was handed down from the Old Testament verse 23 yet a time is coming and now is come when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks God is spirit and his worshipers must worship and spirit and in truth and very gently Jesus is leading her right back to the main point of how you approach God verse 25 the woman said I know that Messiah called Christ is coming when he comes he will explain everything to us Jesus declared I who speak to you M. He okay so he's right back to Jesus to who he is and that's the central part of the gospel who Jesus is and what he's done for us so he keeps the focus on Christ when when you do get to the point where you're beginning to share spiritual truth with people and they begin to take the conversation in any number of different directions for you to solve all the theological disputes they've ever heard about since the time they grew up keep the conversation on Christ always get it back to Christ and who he is because you know you can run all kinds of rabbit trails and you can show your theological brilliance and never went a soul to Christ and so get back to Jesus and who he is Jesus is a perfect example here of lifestyle evangelism taking an interruption in his schedule and seizing it as an opportunity to to use some common ground to draw the interest of this woman toward a spiritual truth and then and then progressing right on to who he is beautiful example of witnessing of lifestyle evangelism now before we go into what happened with this woman and what the result of the story is the end of story is any comments or questions have been talking too much well I think he is I think he's already anticipating this living water that God gives this gift of eternal life that if you receive this you'll never thirst again later in John 6 he said you'd never hunger again you know this is eternal life he's talking about I think that's the gift okay good question anybody got the answer there were some physical differences not markedly but she probably she probably recognized he was not a local he was traveling he was on the main highway she may have just assumed he was a Jew I'm not real sure how she would recognize him as a Jew maybe accent I don't know Southern accent no he was from the north he was in Galilee so I don't know Yankee accent I don't know any other questions well she would know that it's certainly a shocker yes I mean obviously later in the conversation she recognizes this is not this is not your average person he is she thinks he's a prophet okay she knows there's something supernatural about him and then he leads from that to the Messiah but how she would recognize him as a Jew may have been a number of things I mean she obviously would know he was not from around her area confidence confidence okay that could have had something to do with it Dana okay all right the very dress then the the nature and color of the garment that Jesus would have worn would have identified him as a Jew okay good I wasn't aware of that good point okay the other questions okay quickly what happens verse 27 this is really fun very interesting the disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman again that just culturally that was not normally done but no one asked what do you want or why are you talking with her and and so at the point that they come back she leaves verse 28 she leaves her water jar goes back to the town and said to the people come see a man who told me everything I ever did okay it's not that he had gone down through her whole life history but from what he had told her she knew he could she knew he knew he knew everything about her and so could this be the Christ could this be the Messiah so verse 30 they came out of the town made their way toward him and in the meanwhile verse 31 the disciples are talking with Jesus Rabbi eat something but he says they might have food to eat you know nothing about then the disciples said to each other could someone have brought him food okay the disciples are almost as clueless as she was about the spiritual nature of what's happened here all they're thinking about is the food and and he's got food that they don't know anything about did someone else bring him some food how did this happen verse 34 my food said Jesus is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work okay he's beginning to teach them spiritual lessons too it'll be you know over three years and they will not grasp a lot of what he's teaching them don't be critical some of us have been saved 30 years and we're still struggling to grasp the very beginnings of what Jesus taught right so don't be critical of the disciples but he he will patiently introduce spiritual truths to them you know like there's something more important than food and that is to do the will of God or 35 do you not say four months more and then the harvest I tell you open your eyes and look at the fields they are ripe for harvest there's been a lot of debate about what Jesus was talking about there probably he's talking about the spiritual harvest you know they're concerned about food he's concerned about the spiritual harvest they're concerned about you know maybe as they were walking along the road up in Samaria the disciples were commenting about the stage of the crops and you know okay about four more months harvest looking like pretty good harvest coming along and Jesus is saying there's a harvest walking out of the town right now towards you I'm talking about a spiritual harvest and he goes on to explain verse 36 even now the reaper draws his wages now he harvests the crop for eternal life this is an eternal harvest so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together thus the saying one sows another reeps is true I sent you to reap what you've not worked for others have done the hard work and you've reaped the benefits of their labor there's a spiritual harvest people coming out of town and you're going to reap a harvest in this place that you didn't sow any seed for there's a great spiritual principle there isn't there and it is that that God uses different people along the way in different stages to to accomplish his work some people sow seed and never see much of a harvest some people come along and reap a harvest and think man I must be really great but it's been a whole pattern of things that have happened up to that point that have led to that harvest none of us can take credit remember what Paul told the Corinthians um yeah what did he tell the Corinthians of a palace sowed I watered palace for you know we're both involved as what he said but God gave the increase yeah it was God who gave the increase and so we can never take the credit for any increase or any harvest it's God who brings the harvest God uses some people to sow God uses some people to water God uses some people to reap but it's always God that gives the increase see yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be very quick that you'll be in Nazareth. And you raise an interesting point, Steve. And that is the people that Jesus ministered to early, one of the most significant ministries he has early is not to the Jewish people. But I think there's a bigger thing going on here in John's Gospel. And that is the first three encounters that Jesus has with people is number one, Nicodemus, a Jewish teacher, a Jewish scholar, a rabbi, number two, a Samaritan woman. Okay. So you've got a Jew, a Samaritan. And the third one is going to be next in chapter four, which is Roman nobleman. So you've got a Gentile. Okay. Jew, Samaritan, Gentile. First three people Jesus interacts with in the Gospel of John. Now, John is a very theological gospel. We've already talked about that. 92% of John, his material, does not happen in the other gospels. He's very selective in what he pulls out and puts together because he has a theological purpose that he tells us about in John 21 verse 31. And that is, you know, there are many other signs that I could have put in this book. But these I've put here so that you may know that he is the son of God and that believe you may have life in his name. And John is very selective in putting together events for theological purpose. And I think right now, and it's an interesting point that you raised, he's, John is picking out, people from every ethnic group represented in mankind right now, at least in this part of the world, the Roman world, to show that his ministry and the gospel is universal. And so it's very interesting how John puts all this together. But great, great story here about the Samaritan woman and man, I hope to get a lot further than that tonight, but there's just so much good stuff here. Let me stop and our time is up. Let me just stop by saying Jesus arrives back in Galilee in verses 43 to 45. He gets back to Galilee after several days, couple days of being there in Samaria, continuing to give them more. Okay, he would explain more about who he was, why he was there, who the Messiah was, he gave them. And many Samaritans came to know the Lord, verse 39, and 40 and 41. But Jesus gets back to Galilee and that's where we'll pick it up next time. Next time what I want to do is take a little break to talk about the miracles of Jesus. We've already seen him, he's done a lot of miraculous signs into chapter 2. Nicodemus said, we know you're a teacher, come from God because nobody could do these miraculous signs, except for you. We don't know what miracles he did in Jerusalem, but he did a bunch, evidently. And so we're going to take a little pause in the chronology and just talk about miracles and what Jesus did, why the miracles were done. Okay, your kiddos are hanging from the ceiling downstairs waiting for you, so we better close, let's pray. Father, thank you for this time together and thank you for the life of our Lord. Lord, we have seen certainly tonight the example of taking an interruption and turning it into a revival. I pray that you'd help us to be more sensitive to how you can do that. Help us to see the potential in what we may think is a chance encounter to bring many people eventually to you. Lord, help us to live with spiritual eyes in Jesus' name, amen.