Rev. David Holwick ZB Encountering Jesus in John
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 6, 2015
John 4:4-29
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I. Are you satisfied with your life?
A. Apparently many are not these days.
1) The infamous Ashley Madison adultery website leak.
Some anonymous hacker uploaded all the information
on all the people who joined.
It is a large number - 37 million, mostly men.
It was leaked to the "dark web" but most of the material
is available through search engines now.
Some have found their names and realize someone else
has used their identity.
Other have found their names, and realize their wives
will, too.
A Southern Baptist spokesman thinks that 400 church
leaders will end up resigning.
Families will be broken up.
Some of those who are involved will take their lives.
All of them thought it was anonymous, secret.
Now their secret is out. [1]
2) A woman in Samaria would have appreciated Ashley Madison.
a) She didn't have trouble meeting men.
b) But none of them seemed to satisfy her.
c) That is, until she met a very special guy from Nazareth.
B. Relationships matter a great deal.
1) I performed a wedding in Sparta on Friday.
2) Tyler and Kyra will have theirs in two weeks.
a) They don't spend all that money to be entertaining.
b) It marks a significant point in their lives.
C. There is a spiritual relationship that should matter more.
1) Some of you have this right now.
2) Some of you are still looking....
II. Some of her alienation came from birth.
A. She was a Samaritan.
1) A few hundred live in Israel to this day, perhaps the final
generation.
2) Their story goes back to the Assyrian exile.
a) Northern Israel was defeated and many of the people
were shipped out to other nations. (Ten Lost Tribes)
b) At the same time, foreign people who had been defeated
were shipped to northern Israel.
c) The resulting group had a mixed ethnicity and ended up
with a mixed religion.
3) Religious Jews could not stand the Samaritans.
a) When the southern Jews, the area of Judah, had its own
exile by the Babylonians, the Samaritans maneuvered
to keep them from coming back.
b) Samaritans were haters and heretics.
c) Even though it took them an extra few days, Jews
preferred to walk the long way around that area
instead of going through it.
d) Except Jesus...
B. An unlikely conversation.
1) The disciples arrived around noon (the sixth hour) which
is the hottest time of the day.
a) Women, who did the water chores, usually came in groups
in the morning or evening, when it was cooler.
b) This woman came by herself at noon.
1> Perhaps she wasn't welcome in the company of other
women.
2> Jesus was also alone, but only because his disciples
were off on an errand.
2) He asked the woman for a drink.
a) Very unusual move for a rabbi.
b) The strict rabbis forbade a rabbi to greet a woman in
public.
There were even some Pharisees who were called "Bruised
and Bleeding Pharisees" because they shut their eyes
if they saw a woman on the street.
This meant they walked into walls or tripped over dogs
and got all banged up.
Sermon #21549
c) Jesus liked to break social conventions - he strikes
up a conversation with her.
C. Something she doesn't know she wants.
1) Jesus steers the conversation to spirituality - living water.
a) She can only think in crass material terms.
b) Water needs a bucket and a woman to haul it up.
2) Jesus moves the focus to living water that quenches every
thirst - eternal life.
a) She still doesn't get it.
b) In her mind, he has just promised she won't have to do
chores any more.
c) She cannot or will not see the spiritual side of life
so Jesus backtracks to look at her real issue.
III. Much of her alienation came from her choices.
A. Jesus tactfully pinpoints the source of her problems.
1) His subtle reference to a husband leads to his revelation
that she has had five husbands and is now living in sin.
2) How do you react to people who have been married multiple
times?
a) Being married twice is pretty common.
b) Five or six times? Even a divorced person might form
a negative opinion about them, especially in a
conservative area like Israel.
c) The obvious inference is that they want to find a
fulfilling relationship, but can't make it work.
B. Jesus has gotten her attention.
1) The stunned woman concludes he is a prophet.
2) But she is so uncomfortable now, she forces a detour
by bringing up religion. 4:20
a) Contentious religious issues, that have little to do
with the current topic, are a good way to stop
a conversation.
b) "We have irreconcilable differences, so you should
go home now."
3) Jesus does not evade her question, but uses it.
a) It is not WHERE we worship but HOW we worship that
matters most.
1> In that sense, both Jews and Samaritans were
missing the point.
2> Many modern people miss it, too.
b) Worshiping in "spirit and truth" is ultimate religion.
1> Means worship must come from a genuine heart, not
a hypocritical one.
2> Truth shows that what we believe is important, not
just warm and fuzzy feelings.
IV. The final deflection.
A. Let the Messiah explain it. 4:25
1) This puts it off into the distant, unknowable future
and shuts down the discussion.
2) She doesn't want to face the real needs of her soul.
3) But she doesn't realize who she actually is facing.
B. Jesus reveals himself.
1) That Messiah is standing right in front of you. 4:26
a) Literally, he says, "I am the I AM."
b) This is the same thing God said to Moses out of the
burning bush.
2) She rushes back into town, passing the disciples.
a) It turns out they are as spiritually ignorant as
she is.
b) They focused on the externals while he tries to point
them to the soul.
V. Only Jesus can satisfy.
A. All of us have made bad choices.
1) We look for fulfillment in relationships, or money,
or possessions.
a) It is interesting how common it is for popular songs
to describe romantic love in religious terms,
as if we are in love with a goddess.
b) None of these can give us what we ultimately need.
c) Often, they end up blowing up in our face.
2) The Good News of Jesus is that he offers something better.
a) No matter what we have done, he can forgive us if
we repent and turn back to him.
b) Even though he brought up her sordid past, Jesus
did not condemn the woman or make her grovel.
1> He offered her something better than what she
presently had.
2> All she had to do was put her trust in him.
B. Who is Jesus to you?
1) The woman had an understanding of Jesus that progressed.
2) An ancient Christian teacher named Ephram the Syrian
points out how she saw him:
a) Thirsty man.
b) Jew
c) Rabbi
d) Prophet
e) Messiah
f) Ultimately, the Savior of the World. 4:42
3) Until you reach that final step, you aren't a Christian.
a) We have to appreciate what God is saving us from.
b) This woman knew it, and it seems to lift a burden
from her.
C. The Samaritan woman became an unlikely evangelist.
1) This woman who hid so much, wouldn't hide Jesus.
2) Surest sign he satisfies you - you go and tell others.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Adapted from various news reports and the article “My Pastor Is On the
Ashley Madison List,” Ed Stetzer, Christianity Today, August 27, 2015;
<http://www.donotlink.com/framed?769398>.
Sermon #21549 “A Woman With A Past Finds A Future,” Rev. Dave Wilkinson,
Moorpark Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) of Moorpark, California;
March 12, 2000; <http://www.moorparkpres.org/pages/sermons.html>.
The Ephram the Syrian reference also came from this sermon.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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