SJG IV–The Master and an “Outcast” #fb #dumcMY

Pastor Daniel Ho, 02/04/2011

DUMC is the overall champion of the 2011 Interchurch Sports Carnival.  It came in last in 2010.

DUMC has given RM50k in aid to Japan. A total of RM 83,641 was collected for Japan.
The text of the sermon is taken from John 4:1-42. I put it at the bottom of the post because of its length.

Pastor Daniel painted a situation where a reject entered a church. Would the church accept him? The more important question is would Jesus accept him.

Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman.

Jews don’t talk to Samaritans. Back in 722 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered and captured by Assyrians. The Samaritans were half-Jews and half gentiles.

Jesus broke all barriers, He wanted to go to Samaritan regions. He broke all kinds of prejudices. DUMC runs streets ministry because they believe everyone is precious in God’s house.

Place of engagement (v6)

It was at Jacob’s well. Jesus paused during the journey. It was noon. Many gathered near the well. The secret to evangelism is to hang around where people hang around. The pastors gather around 1 hour before and after the celebration. They look for unfamiliar faces and engage them. Pastor Daniel encourages us not to look for empty tables when we go to restaurants.

 

Point of conversion (v7)

Find a place of connection. New people are important. Seize the opportunities to talk to them because we may only meet them once a lifetime. Every second counts in the encounter.

We can start by talking about the things we enjoy in our work. Ask about the problems they have in their job. Share our own problems. Don’t keep asking questions without sharing. Make a trade-off.
Ask how they resolve problems. Then we share how we solve problems … as a Christian.

Another way, talk about children.

Go to playground. Get to know the parents and connect to them.

Seek all opportunities of engagement and find common points to talk about.

 

Perspective of the woman (v9)

The woman knew clearly Jews didn’t talk to Samaritans, more so a woman. Her prejudice and perspective showed, yet Jesus surprised her.

 

Promise of the Savior (v10)

Jesus told the woman he could give living water. Yet, the woman interpreted it as a fresh spring water. Jesus then explained further about the water that would quench her thirst forever.

 

Plea of the woman (v15)

Her mind was still on the temporal and earthly than the eternal and heavenly.

People are trying to muzzle the word of God. The enemy is trying hard to try to curtail the truth and real freedom that is available in Jesus Christ.

 

Pointedness of the Savior (v16)

Out of the blue, Jesus told her to bring her husband. It is bad enough to talk to Samaritan, it’s worse talking to a Samaritan woman. Talking ta Samaritan woman in public is simply not acceptable. Jesus told her to continue on, she needs to bring her husband. This is to protect her and Jesus himself.

 

Pain of the woman (v 17, 18)

During the days, women had no rights. They depended on men for mercy, support and all kinds of things. She was abused and exploited and taken advantage of. This is a crime against women happening even today just to feed the sad passion of men. She was at the mercy of man number six who was not even properly married to her.

Jesus was not condemning her. He unearthed the hidden pain to heal her.

All of us have hangups in some ways. Unless we are willing to confront it, these things in us can prevent us from blossoming into the man / woman God intended us to be  - we cannot live fully and freely according to the design of God.

Jesus did not come to condemn but to restore.

 

Pretense of the woman (v18, 20)

When Jesus touched a painful part of her life, the woman quickly switched it to another topic. When a painful part of our life is addressed, it is so easy for us to avoid it and run away from it. If we do that, we will not have freedom. God has designed for every of us to live a wonderful life. The eternal life is not just about the duration but also the quality. Don’t shortchange ourselves. We must stop the work of darkness.

 

Proclamation of the Savior (v21-26)

Jesus took it one step further and declared who he was. It is one very rare occasion Jesus declare his identity, his deity. He reached out and shared the love of God truly and totally.

 

Profession of the woman (v39)

The woman believed. She trusted in Christ. She became excited.

We must pray for wisdom. We must pray for courage as well. Our witness and testimony are to important. It’s criminal if we don’t share.

Questions for discussion

1. What is your attitude towards an ‘outcast’ of society? In what ways have you helped an ‘outcast’ or a downcast (someone weighed down by great burdens in life)? What has been the result and how has that helped you in your faith?
2. In your friendship with your pre-believing friends or relatives what is the most difficult thing that you encounter? What are some common questions and doubt they have and how do you answer them? Share a success story you have?

Joh 4:1-42  The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John,  (2)  although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.  (3)  When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.  (4)  Now he had to go through Samaria.  (5)  So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  (6)  Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.  (7)  When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"  (8)  (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)  (9)  The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )  (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."  (11)  Sir, the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?  (12)  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?"  (13)  Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,  (14)  but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  (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."  (16)  He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."  (17)  I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband.  (18)  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."  (19)  Sir, the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.  (20)  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."  (21)  Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  (22)  You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.  (23)  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  (24)  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."  (25)  The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."  (26)  Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."  (27)  Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"  (28)  Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,  (29)  Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?  (30)  They came out of the town and made their way toward him.  (31)  Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."  (32)  But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."  (33)  Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"  (34)  My food, said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.  (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.  (36)  Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.  (37)  Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true.  (38)  I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."  (39)  Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."  (40)  So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.  (41)  And because of his words many more became believers.  (42)  They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."