37. It Just Got Personal (John 4:39-54)
Posted by:
SeLahGirl on
January 22, 2008 at
1:18PM EST
It just got Personal
(John 4:39-54)
There is just so much that I could pull out of this passage of
Scripture about the woman at the well, but I must move on. Maybe next
time, I'll discuss another facet of her story. That's what I love about
the Word of God, it speaks into every situation no matter what portion
you are reading. It is not just another book, it's not even just
another holy book, it is the breath and Life of God, it lives. Just
like speaking face to face with someone would result in them addressing
the conversation at hand... the word of God is no different. God speaks
to you face to face every time you open it to any one passage. We have
only to listen to the leading of his Spirit and trust him in order to
hear him <3
39Many of the Samaritans from that town
believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me
everything I ever did." 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they
urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of
his words many more became believers.
Here once again we see... the power of His Words.
42They 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."
Ah see here is the
trick. So many people want to tell someone about Christ and then insist
that they believe them. But that's not our job, we were never called to
beat anyone over the head until they accept Christ as Lord. That is not
how Christ works and he gets pretty frustrated when people try to
represent him like that.
The woman told her story. She
shared what Christ did and said to her. She invited them to come and
hear for themselves. That's our role. We testify, God convicts. When
people try to do the convicting -- it comes across as condemnation
every time. God doesn't guilt people into salvation, he woos them into
relationship with him because he genuinely cares for them. That should
be our heart.
When it becomes a strategy, a ritual, a machine, it steps out of his will and fails to look anything like Christ at all.
It amazes me how quickly people/pastors/leaders can base everything on
the strategies of men, how quickly they can confuse their own face with
the face of God, how convinced they can be that they are bringing men
into the kingdom of God when they are actually bringing them into a
kingdom that leads to death.
25"Woe to you, teachers of
the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup
and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then
the outside also will be clean.
27"Woe to you, teachers of the
law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,
which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead
men's bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside
you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of
hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matt 23:25-28)
A title of Pastor or Leader becomes a license to kill in such matters. Farfetched?...
Sadly not. I have seen more examples of such cases than I have of genuine men of God.
Though I HAVE seen genuine men of God, not perfect men, but definitely
genuine in seeking to follow the heart of God -- and I treasure them as
should you.
It has become a sad phenomena among
contemporary cutting-edge pastors that they seek to be eccentric and
they call it revival. It is not being eccentric that has caused the
presence of God to manifest in a generation in revivals past -- it has
been a bold and fearless return to the unapologetic mundane basics of
the Christian faith.
Simplicity... not as a mandate to obey
the pastor or "spiritual authority" (a nice phrase for manipulators to
abuse). Rather, a return to our first love, to Christ rather than to
legalism in any form (no matter how eccentric/trendy emerging church
leaders want to dress it up).
So back to the passage.
Christ remains with the Samaritans two days, answering their questions
and sharing the heart and Truth of God with them. I wish I had been
there. I wish I could have heard it straight from the lips of our
Savior. I wish I could have heard him laughing as he spoke with such
humor and joy, and I wish I could have heard the calmness as he
switched to more serious matters. I wish I could have sat at his feet
(or on the well beside him) and watched the excitement and passion in
his expressions as he talked about the Truth of God. I wish... I wish
so much...
some day.
43After the two days he
left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet
has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the
Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem
at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.
Home. A blessing and a curse. A strength and a stumbling block. Family
are often the ones that don't want your testimony out there. All too
often the things God brought you thru as a child are the last things
they want the whole town to know about. They are raising their kids
there, they are working and living there, just because you are free
from your shame doesn't mean that they are. Home is often not a place
where people want to hear the Truth, whether your birth place or your
church home. Dirty Laundry. Christ would love nothing more than to run
it thru a wash/rinse cycle... but boy will you suffer the wrath of many
if you pull that basket out of the closet.
Don't expect to be popular with anyone when you do what Christ asks of you.
He received no honor among his own country and townspeople for living according to the Truth.
18"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If
you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you
do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you:
'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they
will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey
yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they
do not know the One who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to
them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no
excuse for their sin. 23He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24If I
had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty
of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated
both me and my Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is written in
their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'
26"When the Counselor
comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who
goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must
testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
(John 15:18-27)
Some people call themselves by his name but they are ruled by the
spirit of this world (such selfish ambition). People in the church,
even pastors are not infallible. We are to hold each other accountable,
even our leaders. Title and position in the church do not justify
living/leading according to the world's standards. It will never be the
popular thing to appeal with family, friends, church leaders, or
strangers to turn from their sin. They will not honor you, they will
hate you all the more. Are you ready for that? Have you really thought
about the cost? Can you continue to love them, to wash their feet, to
heal the children of their officials (as in the next passage below)?
Why are we so shocked and blind-sided by something that Christ so clearly said would happen?
Why does it hurt so deeply when those you love are the biggest hindrance to your walk?
Why does it absolutely leave you bloody on the ground to know that they
are willing to not only attack you but to kill you to get what they
want?
idk...
But it happens.
How should we
respond? Even when we can see the attack coming, we could run, we could
strike first, we could back down... how did Christ handle it?
46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water
into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at
Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from
Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was
close to death.
48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on
the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living.
52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to
him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
53Then
the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had
said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household
believed.
54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
Jesus spoke the truth, he was always straight-forward and honest. He
didn't sugar-coat it and tell them how wonderful they were, he didn't
drip honey from his mouth to convince them how holy and self-righteous
and Christian he was, and he didn't put on a show to impress all the
bystanders to see him rather than God.
Jesus had a way of
letting people know that he could see how ill-intentioned they were
(especially here in his hometown). He seldom went there because of
their unbelief and dishonorable attitude, not in the sense that he was
arrogant and wanted them to sing his praises. He wanted them to
acknowledge and honor the will and love of God -- to have a right
heart, rather than one of judgment and selfish gain.
This
guy didn't see Jesus at all. He had heard about the possibility of a
cure, so he was going thru the ritual just like Christ was some kind of
doctor or medicine man. He didn't get that Jesus was God who had come
to bring Life and Love and Freedom to an unworthy creation. Not at this
point anyway.
But despite all of this, Christ gave. Christ
did what was right no matter how wrongly they treated him. He
ministered to the need and to what would bring God glory --not with
false humility and a typical patronizing aire. He turned his focus to
the will of God and did not let the will of man and the spirit of the
world hinder the will of God from being accomplished. That is our
example. Not the lame hypocritical model that we all too often see in
Christian circles these days. He wasn't fake, he was brutally honest --
at the same time that he was merciful.
The official in this
story believed after the miracle because it was just so... miraculously
accomplished. Unlike anything he had seen.
I like to think
that he also believed because somehow he was convicted of the dishonor
he showed the One so worthy of honor. I think after the fact, he stood
their shocked and walking back thru the whole incident in his thoughts.
I think he was dumb-founded at how dumb he had been. I think he was
kicking himself that he didn't show greater honor to Christ in that
moment. Here was the one person that had the power to heal his son, and
that cared enough despite his bad attitude and lack of reverence.
I think this man suddenly saw alot of things about Christ and about himself after the fact...
But I also think he somehow knew in that instant that he was forgiven.
I think the brutal honesty and sincerity of Christ showed thru and this
man recognized and understood the character and person of Christ for
the first time. I think it caused a commitment that would never be
shaken. Something so deeply understood that it affected his entire
household.
That is how we should react in such instances. Like Christ did.
And some people will accept it, and some will reject everything we have
to say and everything about us. But if we remain focused on performing
the will of God above our own will, they reject not only us but the God
who sent us. We should pray for them, and we should continue moving
forward to seek out others that God has called us to encounter. Leaving
no one behind, but being unafraid to shift our focus as God leads us
along.
Do not judge them as they judge you... but at the same time keep in mind that pearls are of no value to swine.
1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you
judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you.
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in
your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your
eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You
hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will
see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
6"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If
you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear
you to pieces. (Matt 7:1-7)
We must not judge, We must
be about the Father's business always, We must keep the door open and
the invitation to approach Christ extended...
But there are
times when we must move on and leave people to make some decisions for
themselves. Some people love their sin more than God, and that becomes
a matter between the two of them. We testify, God convicts, but once
they know Him, they have some decisions to make. Things that we are
limited in helping with.
It's important to remember that our walk is about family,
but it's also a personal one.
