A Bold Act of Faith (John 4:4-46)

A Bold Act of Faith (John 4:4-46):

In this small section of scripture we see a man come to Christ, his Child is sick and he has come to ask Christ to heal the child.   This in and of itself is not that uncommon at this point in Christ’s ministry, but this man is told “go home the child is fine.”  At Christ tell him this the man leaves to go home, knowing his child is going to be fine.  He could not see that with own eyes that this child was going to better he just had faith in Christ that he spoke the truth that it didn’t matter where Christ said  all he knew was Christ could heal His child.  He went home happy knowing that his child would be fine.  How many of us would have said no you need to come with me lay your hands my child, or how can you say without seeing my child that they are fine?  Christ desires us to put our faith in Him, that what He says is true and good.   Instead we tend to want to put our faith in what we can hear from others not what we hear from God.  We go around and listen to our friend’s advice before we go into prayer and study Gods word seeking out Gods advice.  This man went to Christ talked to Christ and his child was healed.  Because of this, many in this man’s house came to believe and follow Christ.

Christ is Seeking us Out (John 5-15):

At the end of the last chapter we saw a man who knew of Christ and sought Him out so his son could be healed.  At the beginning of chapter five we see a different kind of story unfolding, there is a pool where people who are sick go and wait for the water to stir because they believe you can be healed when it is stirred.  Christ looks at a man who is there and asks “do you want to be healed?”   The man’s answer is yes, and Christ heals him.  The difference in this story from the other is that Christ was looking for this man, and not that this man was looking for Christ.  This man answered but it was not just an answer but also a complaint.  Of course I want to be healed but no one is here to help me, they all left me and by the time I get there someone else has taken my spot.  I wonder how often we do the same in our own lives instead of going to God and praising Him for all He has done for us we go and complain to him.   God , who had sought us out, sent His son to die on a cross so we could have eternal life and instead of praising Him we complain about what we think He should be or what others need to be doing.  It was by no accident that Christ looked and saw this man, He gave him a physical healing, and then Christ  went looking for Him in the temple so he could heal His soul. 

Notice when Christ finds this man in the temple He gives him a warning, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”  You see God had come and did a wonderful thing in this man’s life, but more wonderful then the physical healing was the spiritual healing that happened, Christ wanted him to know that.  Just like the noble man who came to Christ knew that his son was healed the moment Christ spoke the words, the more wonderful part of that story is that his faith became stronger and more in his household came to know God.  The thing about when God works in our lives we cannot walk away and be the same person, we cannot take credit for either.  We must put our faith in God, that He is going to keep His word to us, that is that we have eternal life through Him, through Christ who Came and died on a cross for our sins.  When we give our lives to God it is no longer about us but it is about God. 

Being a part of Gods Kingdom means Complete Obedience:

Being a part of Gods Kingdom means Complete Obedience:

Some may disagree with me on this but they are wrong, no where do we find in the Bible God saying it is okay to disobey a little.  Throughout the entire bible it demands complete obedience to Gods commandants.  It is through our obedience to God that we show the world who we Serve.  If we did whatever we wanted then what would be the point of serving God, if we could get to heaven just by saying we believe in God or just by reciting a prayer then  we wouldn’t really need God’s salvation at all.  We want to believe that a little bit of sin, a small compromise here and there are okay to live with.  We desire to serve God and at the same time do what we want to do, but Christ tells us this “no one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”(Mathew 6:24).    In book Radical David Platt says, “the gospel reveals eternal realities about God that we would sometimes rather not face.  We prefer to sit back, enjoy our clichés, and picture God as a Father who might help us, all the while ignoring God as a Judge who might damn us. Maybe this is why we fill our lives with constant drivel of entertainment in in our culture---and in the church. We are afraid that if we stop and really look at God in his Word, we might discover that he evokes greater awe and demands deeper worship than we are ready give.  But is this just the point we are ready to give Him what He asks for because our hearts are set against Him.  God’s revelation not only reveals who he is, but it also reveals who we are.”

Two Stories of obedience Two Different Results and the Same Results:

In Daniel chapter three we read about the time three young Jewish boys did not bow down to the King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.  They instead said that they would not worship any other God, they were given  a few more chances to bow but refused, they were told that they would be thrown into a furnace if they didn’t they instead said, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.  But even if he doesn’t, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”  Notice they told the king if God so choose to do so He could save them, but if He didn’t they were not going to bow to any other god.  As we read on we see that God did save them and they rejoiced.   In Acts 5:17-41, we read about the apostles preaching and teaching about Christ they had already told the Jewish leaders earlier in Acts  “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him (Acts 4:19)?”  This time the Jewish leaders grab them and begin to beat them for talking about Christ, and when they are done beating them we are told they rejoiced in the Lord for being able to be beaten for Him, and continued to preach about Christ.    In both stories we see God being given the glory and people being saved.  Why?  Because both times in these stories the people loved God and were obedient to His word.

Christ said in John 14:15-21, “If you love me, obey my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor,  who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.  In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too.  When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them.”  God doesn’t promise us riches on this earth but He does say if you love me you will obey me, and I will send you a helper who is going to live with you and be with you through the tough times.  I may not heal you on this earth or give you riches on this earth but I won’t leave on this earth forever I will come back and you will come be with me in a new body that does not know sickness or pain.  But you must love me. 

Why is everyone so shocked?

Why is everyone so shocked?

We enter Chapter four with Christ starting His trip to Galilee, but He wanted to needed to go through Samaria.  Why does John make this point that He had to go through Samaria, because this even though it was the shorter path by three days was not one the Jews would take.  The reason being is that they felt the Samaritans were not worthy of them to even look upon.  They looked down on them, and detested their very existent.  That being the case the Jews would take an extra three days to get the Galilee.    This also explains the shock of the women at the well when Christ talked to her and the shock of the His disciples when they saw Him talking with her.   This leaves us with the question, why did Christ go through Samaria to just talk to women, not just any women but one who had been rejected by her own community.  We know she was rejected because she was at the well by herself and it was around noon.  Normally the women would go in the morning or early evening when it was cooler, and together for safety along with catching up with one another.   

Christ wanted to show that He had come for everyone, not just for the Jews, the rich, or the priest.  No He came so all may come to know the Love of God.  He could have gone to the temple and debated with the religious leaders of the time, and gone and handpicked the brightest  of all the Jews to be His disciples when He became a rabbi.  But instead He chose those that had been overlooked, and rejected by society, and He knew who was speaking to at the well that day.  How often do we ourselves over look, ignore those that we feel do not deserve our time.  How often instead of sharing Gods love do we look at someone and say “how could someone like that even deserve to be saved?”   That someone is the women at the well.  She was the one God chose to work through in reaching the Samaritans with His mighty life changing love.

Living Water and true worship:

Christ offers the women water that will quench her thirst; she asks him how do you plan on getting me this water you have no rope or bucket.  But the type of thirst Christ was speaking of was that of one’s soul.  People are looking for peace in their lives, I’m not talking about world peace but peace in their souls.  Many go searching for it and find false religion believing that how they act and what they do will create a karma in their lives, that if they do good things good things will come their way.  This just isn’t true.  The way to real peace in our lives comes through Christ accepting His love and giving our lives to him.  Paul in Romans 6:15-23 tells us we have a choice to come and give our lives to God to no longer live our lives in sin.  We gain peace by giving our lives to God, that doesn’t mean that the tough times hear on earth, go away, that our past is no longer going haunt us.  It means that we have a new Master in God and that our hope is in heaven not on earth.

She asks Christ about Worshiping God, where is the correct place to worship she ask? His answer is “²³ But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”(John 4:23-24)  What is Christ talking here He is saying that true worship isn’t about where the building is located our looks like it is from the heart of those worshipping.  One commentator says “Now those who believe on the Lord Jesus can worship God at any time and in any place. True worship means that a believer enters the presence of God by faith and their praises and worships Him. His body may be in a den, prison, or field, but his spirit can draw near to God in the heavenly sanctuary by faith. Jesus announced to the woman that from now on worship of the Father would be in spirit and truth. The Jewish people had reduced worship to outward forms and ceremonies. They thought that by religiously adhering to the letter of the law, and going through certain rituals, they were worshiping the Father. But theirs was not a worship of the spirit. It was outward, not inward. Their bodies might be bowed down on the ground but their hearts were not right before God. Perhaps they were oppressing the poor, or using deceitful business methods. ^[1]

But why this woman and not someone in better standing?

The question remains why did Christ choose to sit and talk with this woman, after all He is God, He could choose whomever He wants to sit and talk to.  But He chose her, I believe for two reasons, one He loved her just like he loves us all, He wants us all to come to Him and talk to Him and know that it is His love and sacrifice that sits us free from sin.  The other is that it is through her testimony that many come to know who Christ is, She went back into town and told others about who He was, they then went and asked Him to come and stay to teach them.  God uses the people that society has given up on, He takes them shows them how much He loves them.  We are to the same we are to go show the love of God to all we meet, we are to go and tell others about who God is.  We cannot just keep it to ourselves we must be obedient and let other know as well. 

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^[1]MacDonald, W. 1997, c1995. Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Jn 4:23). Thomas Nelson: Nashville

It is all about Christ John 3:22-36

There is some disagreements going on with John the Baptist’s followers (John 3:22-26)

We see in these few verses that  Christ and His disciples are getting upset because they realize that Christ is beginning to get a bigger following then John.  It is easy to look down at these men and say how dare they get jealous of what Christ is doing.  After all He is the Son of God, they should have known that.  He was doing the work of God’s kingdom just as John was doing.  But is it not the same in our lives do we not many times look over and see how another church is growing and doing all kinds of things we cannot do, and say why are they growing?  Or how about we bring it a little closer home, do we not look at other people around us and become jealous of what they have, we ask what have they done to deserve all the things they have.  Look at them they don’t even go to church, they are the worst kind of sinners.  Even worse we say they go to church but I don’t believe they even stay awake during the Sunday morning talk.  What is happening is we are no longer focusing our lives on God but on ourselves.  The more jealous we become the more envious we become of that person or group.  We no longer are focused on God but focused on how we are being wronged. 

In Genesis chapter 37 we read how Joseph’s brother were jealous of Joseph’s relationship with their father.  It was because of their Jealousy they came to hate him and sold him into slavery.   It was that fact that they were so self-centered that they could not even see that what they were doing was wrong.  If we begin to look at why we do what we do how much of it is because of an attitude of jealousy or envy.  We speak ill of someone  out of jealousy we think people owe us something because they have more.  It all stems from jealousy and envy.  John’s followers where blinded by jealousy and envy.

Our Focus Must be on Christ and Not on Us (John 3:22-35)

John quickly reminds his followers it is not about him but about Christ.  That he was to prepare the way for Christ.  He was merely the bridegroomsmen’s freind,   he got everything ready and prepared for the Groom then as the guest arrived all the focus was shifted and given to Groom.   He did what he was to do, and was pleased to watch Christ take the center stage.   We often forget in the church that it is not about us at all, no it is all about God.  It is God that saves, it is God that Builds His church, and we are here to put the focus on God.  It has nothing to do with how good we are, none of us on our own are able to save our souls from hell.  Only God is able to do that, yet how many times do we want it to be about us and what we have done to save ourselves?  But only through the love of God are we saved, we must allow God to enter into our lives and take over.  We must no longer think that it is about us, it has never been about us.  It has always been about God and His divine greatness and love. 

John said it best “He must increase and I must decrease.”  How many of if we are truthful with ourselves want that to happen.  How many of us really want to have God increase in our lives and us decrease, it is really not as easy to do as it is to say.  It means that we must give up ourselves and love God, not just love God but give Him our all.  I like how Frances Chan describes what our love for God should look like in his book Crazy Love. “Christians have been taught in church or by their parents to set aside a daily time for prayer and Scripture reading. It’s what we are supposed to do, and so for a long time it’s what I valiantly attempted. When I didn’t, I felt guilty. Over time I realized that when we love God, we naturally run to Him—frequently and zealously. Jesus didn’t command that we have a regular time with Him each day. Rather, He tells us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He called this the “first and greatest commandment” (Matt. 22:37–38). The results are intimate prayer and study of His Word. Our motivation changes from guilt to love. This is how God longs for us to respond to His extravagant, unending love: not with a cursory “quiet time” plagued by guilt, but with true love expressed through our lives. Like my little girl running out to the driveway to hug me each night because she loves me.”   The reward for truly loving God is so much greater than what this world has to offer us.  John told his followers “^33 He who has received His testimony ⁿhas certified that God is true. ^34 ^oFor He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit ^pby measure. ^35 ^qThe Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. ^36 ^rHe who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the ^swrath of God abides on him.”  God has given us a choice we can either truly follow Him believe His word and receive the gift of everlasting life, or we can choose the path that leads to eternal punishment.

Chan, Francis (2008-05-01). Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God (pp. 54-55). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.