|
LENT 3
YEAR A EXODUS
17:1-7 ROMANS
5:1-11 JOHN
4:5-42 FEBRUARY 23, 24,
2008 John 4:5 So he came to a
Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given
to his son Joseph. Where and when
is the right place to worship? Is the right time for worship on Saturday
evening or Sunday morning? Do we worship at 8:30, 11:00 or some other
time? Maybe we worship on Sunday evening or Wednesday night. What is the
right place for worship? Places of worship was one of the topics of
discussion for Jesus and the Samaritan woman. There were also other things
to talk about. There was the topic of drawing water and providing living
water. There was the topic of marriage and the issue of who was greater;
Jacob or Jesus. For the disciples the issue was not about worship,
marriage or water. Their biggest concerns were Jesus talking with a
Samaritan woman and Jesus refusing to eat the food they brought. As you
can see there is so much in this lesson for us to consider. For me the
main thought running through this Bible lesson is a follow-up from last
week. It is about worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth. It is about
entering the If you were here
last Saturday evening you heard about Nicodemus and his difficulty
understanding spiritual things. Jesus told him that he must be born from
above. Nicodemus could not grasp that thought. He thought of physically
entering into his mother’s womb and being born a second time. Jesus was
referring to being born of the spirit and being born into a new
relationship with God. There are some
differences between the woman and Nicodemus from last week. The obvious
difference is that of male and female but there are others. Nicodemus was
a Jew and the woman today was Samaritan. Nicodemus is a righteous Pharisee
who is supposed to know about the things of God. The woman is considered
to be immoral and an idolater. Nicodemus recognizes that Jesus is from
God. The Samaritan woman recognizes Jesus as first a Jew and then a
prophet and finally as the Messiah. Nicodemus comes at night but the woman
comes at noon. In the sermon for last week I was raising a possibility as
to why Nicodemus would go to Jesus at night. It could be that going at
night was really talking about the darkness of not understanding about the
things of God? Maybe what John talks about is the lack of understanding of
this Jewish leader as being darkness. We know that in John’s gospel
darkness is the opposite of the Light Jesus gives. Jesus is the Light of
the world. A couple of
Wednesdays ago we read that it was night when Judas went out to betray
Jesus. We do not know
what Nicodemus did with the words of Jesus. We do not know if he came to
understand or if he continued in darkness. We do know that he was one of
those to claim the body of Jesus after the crucifixion but otherwise there
is no word about what became of him. The Samaritan woman, on the other
hand, became a witness. She was with Jesus at noon, in the light of the
day. Could it be that at noon the woman sees the light of Jesus? She
returned to her town and told the people that she found someone that told
her everything she had ever done. She told about Jesus and about his words
and the people came out for themselves to meet Jesus. They met him and
they also believed. According to
Jesus, the right place to worship had been in The Samaritan
woman went and did what is supposed to happen when the official organized
service is over. We call it evangelism. Our purpose in hearing the word of
God is to understand the truth and then go and tell. You are to go and
tell others what has been revealed to you by God. Jesus talked to his
disciples about the harvest that was ready. The truth is that the harvest
was on its way to Jesus and the disciples as they spoke together on that
mountain. The people from the town were coming to where Jesus was and they
needed to be harvested. They would be harvested because the woman went and
told. The people were ready to receive what Jesus was
giving. How can you and
I bring in the harvest? There are many around us in need of the word of
God. Rick Warren in Purpose Driven
Church presents an interesting twist to our thinking about the ripe
harvest: The problem with many
churches is that they begin with the wrong question. They ask, "What will
make our church grow?" This is a misunderstanding of the issue. ... The
question we need to ask instead is, "What is keeping our church from
growing?" What barriers are blocking the waves God wants to send our way?
What obstacles and hindrances are preventing growth from happening? [pp.
15-16] There are
congregations with 300 members who might ask, "Why don't we have 800 or
1000 members?" One answer might be, "There aren't enough people around for
us to grow that large." But truth is that there are many unchurched people
in this area. There are lots of prospective members around. Some might
answer, "We are too new. We've only been here for 25 years.” There are
many reasons for congregations not growing. The biggest reason for
churches not growing in numbers is that people are not going and
telling. Our Savior’s has
about 500 members on the membership list. What is the main purpose of this
congregation? What is our major goal? You might say that a major goal is
membership and spiritual growth. I have heard many of you say we need more
people. Others say we need younger people. How would you like to be part
of a 1000 member congregation? I have also heard responses to a question
like this. "I don't think I'd like that." "No, we don't want to grow that
large." Is our mission to spread the gospel to an unbelieving world or is
it survival. If our main concern is about themselves and feeling
comfortable in a "not-too-large" congregation we will not go out of our
comfort zone to go and tell so that others will also come and see
Jesus The biggest
hindrance to the growth God wants to give our congregations is that there
aren't enough workers like the Samaritan woman who are willing to tell the
whole city about Jesus. We are not willing to invite the people to come
and see. We are not willing to testify to what Jesus had done for her. One
of the issues facing the congregation is worship times for Sunday morning.
What time is the best time for worship? Some say 8:30 or 9:00. That way I
have the rest of the day to do something else. Others say 10:00 or 10:30.
I am not a morning person and it is easier for me to get here. There are
all kinds of reasons for what is the right time for worship. Most of those
are based on personal preference. It is better for
us to consider what will help us grow. Will having a worship service at
8:30 or 9:00 help us attract younger families? Will it mean others will
stay away? How about worshipping later? What will that do for us? The most
important part of this discussion is not what I want but what the Lord
wants. If we worship in spirit and truth we worship when the Lord tells us
to. We have compassion for those that need to come and see. We go and tell
them what Jesus has done and we invite them to come. We do not demand our
way but we insist on God’s ways. The woman went
and told the people in the village. Because she did her evangelistic duty
many more people came to know Jesus as Messiah. You already know who Jesus
is. You know he is the one to follow. You are to go from this place to
tell others about this person that told you everything. Jesus is your Lord
and he met you in this place today. Now go out from here to tell the world
that Jesus is the Christ. AMEN
|