The Gift & The Giver | Sunday, May 16, 2021

So he came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. (John 4:5–8)

How Jesus crossed every barrier to bring living water to a woman in darkness—and what it teaches us about sharing the good news.

We Have Not Lived in Uninteresting Times

It has been said that life is better in uninteresting times. I'm not sure if that's true, but it seems like it could be. The trouble is, we haven't lived in uninteresting times for a very long time. Think about the upheavals of the last twenty-five years: a presidential scandal, impeachment, and censure in 1998; the tumultuous 2000 campaign with hanging and pregnant chads ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court; the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in September 2001; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the subprime mortgage crisis and market crash of 2008–2009 followed by the Great Recession; the unlikely presidency of Donald Trump; and all the craziness of COVID-19.

We are still in that cycle of chaos—political, economic, racial, and global. We're most certainly in interesting times. And it isn't new. Go back further: the economic and political problems of the 1970s; the tumult of the 1960s with political assassinations, Cold War geopolitics, and racial violence; the Vietnam War; the 1950s red scare and Korean War; World War II in the 1940s. Is there ever an uninteresting time? It doesn't seem so, because we live in a broken and fallen world affected by sin—a world that experiences both natural and moral evils and is in desperate need of restoration. In Romans 8, the apostle Paul says the whole of creation is groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Created for Connection, Lost Through Sin

As we try to reorient back toward some feeling of normalcy, we are revisiting familiar themes here at Cross Connection Church having to do with our vision. For those who've been with us a while, this is review—but reviews are sometimes important, especially right before the test. I believe we are in a time of testing and trial. We don't know whether it's a final time of testing, but you need to be prepared, because there are things you'll be tested on.

We were created for connection. God made us to live life in connection with him—the vertical relationship—and in connection with one another—the horizontal. I believe we see this even at the level of being. You have a soul, the real you, where your intellect, emotion, and will reside; but the soul cannot do much unless animated by the body, and connects with God at the spirit level and with others at the body level. We were made to live in connection with God and with one another.

But though created for connection, we lost it through rebellious disobedience—through sin in the fall of Genesis 3. We are born separated from God and divided from one another, yet we deeply desire to be connected. The biblical gospel is the story of how God set out to bring us back into connection with him and with one another. Jesus is the mediator of this reconciliation and the means by which it is possible, because in his body on the cross he makes connection with God and one another possible again. Through his death, Jesus has defeated sin and death.

For he himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation... so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross... Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:14–19)

Called to Carry the Good News

We are called to carry this good news to the world. Our vision is life in connection with God, with one another, and with the world through Jesus. Jesus told his early followers, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15), and to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19)—the Great Commission. If you are a believer and follower of Jesus, then you are called and commissioned to share this good news.

A lot of times the idea of sharing the gospel—what Christians have long called evangelism—frightens us. But it doesn't have to, because sharing the good news is just like sharing about a really good restaurant you ate at last week, your favorite author, or your favorite recipe. Still, it makes some of us anxious. So today I want to give you practical tips from Jesus about sharing the good news, found in one of the great stories of Scripture, where Jesus brought light to someone in darkness.

Jesus Sought Out People in Need

On his way from Jerusalem back to Galilee, the Scriptures say Jesus "needed to go through Samaria." Before going further, consider some key things even at this initial stage. First, Jesus sought out people who were in need. He came to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10), and he went to where lost people would be.

We are surrounded by lost people in need, but because of tribalistic tendencies we tend to avoid them. The Jews in Jesus' day did the same. A faithful Jew traveled to Jerusalem three times a year—at Passover, Pentecost, and the fall feasts. Samaria sat right between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south, but Jews would cut over to modern-day Jordan, crossing the Jordan River to bypass Samaria entirely. Samaritans were an ethnic minority the Jews did not like. My wife and I love to visit Santa Barbara, but I will do just about anything to avoid driving through Los Angeles—maybe you can relate. The Jews did the same with Samaria. But not Jesus. He went to where lost and needy people were. So we have a simple application: if you want to be faithful to the commission of Jesus, stop avoiding lost people.

No Excuses, No Comfort Zones

Second, Jesus interacted with lost people even when he was tired and hungry. The opening verses tell us he was wearied and thirsty, and his disciples had gone into Sychar to find food, so he was likely hungry too. Better said: Jesus didn't look for excuses not to talk with people about the gospel. We, however, are excuse-prone—"I'm busy," "I'm tired," "I don't know what to say," "they might ask a question I can't answer," "I'm not an evangelist, God hasn't gifted me that way." We need to stop avoiding lost people and stop making dumb excuses.

Third, Jesus was willing to step out of his comfort zone to interact with outsiders. The woman he meets had several strikes against her. First, she was a woman—and in that Middle Eastern culture, interacting with a woman not your wife or family was out of bounds. Second, no Jewish man, especially a rabbi, would have dealings with a Samaritan woman; Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Third, as the story shows, she was probably a moral outcast—the fact that she came to the well at midday, not in the cool morning or evening, suggests she was avoiding the normal gathering of women.

If you're going to fulfill the commission, you need to be willing to step outside your comfort zone. I won't lie to you—that isn't always easy. But I can promise you this: if you stop avoiding lost people and are willing to step out, God will enable and empower you by his Holy Spirit. How can I make such an audacious promise? Because God does not command what he does not also enable. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

The First Rule of Persuasion: Reciprocity

So Jesus is at this well, tired, hungry, and a Samaritan woman who is probably a moral outcast shows up. He says, "Can you give me a drink?" A quick side note: evangelism is, at its base, about persuasion. We go to people who don't believe as we believe, trying to encourage them to be persuaded. According to persuasion experts, the first rule of persuasion is reciprocity—the idea that if you do a favor for me, I feel inclined to do a favor for you. By asking for a drink, Jesus employs this rule and starts a conversation.

Then the woman of Samaria said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. (John 4:9)

Most of us might be completely shut down by that. This is the first-century equivalent of "You shouldn't be talking to me—don't you know you've crossed a cultural line?" There were long-standing ethnic, cultural, and political issues dividing Jews and Samaritans, going back literally hundreds of years—about 800 years. But note that Jesus was not distracted by political drama. Let me say that again, because it's important especially at this moment in the United States and the West: Jesus was not distracted by political drama. As this woman incites it, he doesn't take the bait.

Don't be trolled into worthless, divisive, unnecessary conversations. So much of what we get drawn into spirals down into divisiveness with no real eternal value—arguments over politics, strange theological debates, or mere preferences. These are rarely worthwhile. If you're going to fulfill the command to preach the gospel to every creature and make disciples of all nations, do your best, as enabled by the Spirit, not to be drawn into debate about worthless things.

The Gift and the Giver

Instead, Jesus zeroes in directly on the issue. The Gospel of John gives us these private conversations—Jesus and the woman at the well, Jesus and Nicodemus, the lame man, the man born blind—and here he reveals two things she is ignorant of.

Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." (John 4:10)

The woman was ignorant of the gift of God and the Giver of the gift. The Samaritans were a very religious and spiritual people—but they were aimlessly worshiping in the wrong way and missing the point. That's like many people we interact with: spiritual, or "spiritual but not religious," aimlessly focused on things that won't bring them closer to where they want to get. Jesus suggests to her that he just might be more important than she realizes—true of most people we meet, who have opinions about who Jesus is but don't realize who he actually is.

This is a second rule of persuasion: scarcity. Jesus introduces it by saying, in effect, "I have something you need." When we tell people they were created for something more—life in connection with God and one another—or when Jesus says, "I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly," these are issues of scarcity. They cause people to ask, "Am I missing out? What am I searching for? What is it that I really want?" Those are good questions.

The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob...?" (John 4:11–12)

Jesus has sown seeds of inquiry to trigger deeper talk. She assumes his limitations, assuming she knows exactly what he means—that the gift is purely material—and she invokes the patriarch Jacob, a common ancestor to both Jews and Samaritans.

Living Water That Satisfies Eternally

Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:13–14)

The gift is not material—not water from an earthly well or earthly bread. If you seek the things of this world, you will ultimately not be satisfied. But if you drink of Christ and what he gives, you will be fully satisfied, not only in this life but into everlasting life. And not only that—you'll become a source of life-giving satisfaction for others, able to share this living water.

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." (John 4:15)

What Jesus offers sounds very good, and she asks for it. But he doesn't immediately give it, because he had said, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is who is speaking to you." You've got to know the gift, but you've also got to know the Giver before you can receive it. So now Jesus must reveal who he really is.

Don't Be Afraid to Offend

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." (John 4:16–18)

That's a little awkward—and it teaches an important point: don't be afraid to offend, because our message is in some respects offensive. Before a person can experience the saving grace and forgiveness of Christ, they have to acknowledge their lostness and their sin. Jesus' response reveals he is more than a Jewish man at a well on a hot day.

The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." (John 4:19–20)

The Samaritans worshiped near Mount Gerizim; the Israelites worshiped in Jerusalem at the temple. She gives Jesus a kind of prophet's test: sort this out—who is right?

"I AM Is Speaking to You"

Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.... God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:21–26)

The interesting thing is that in the original Greek, verse 26 literally reads, "I AM is speaking to you." If you've read from Genesis through Exodus, you know that in Exodus 3 Moses asks God who is speaking from the burning bush—whom shall I tell my countrymen sent me? God says, "I AM WHO I AM... tell them that I AM has sent you." Jesus mirrors those exact words. When she says the Christ will reveal all things, he answers, "I AM is speaking to you." He is saying, "I am the Christ."

He has now revealed both the gift—living water that satisfies eternally—and the Giver—his true nature.

Becoming an Evangelist

The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to him. (John 4:28–30)

She left her water pot—an indication that she found what she had been looking for. And immediately she became an evangelist. She says, "Come and see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"

Don't be shy about sharing with others what you've found in Jesus. If you have discovered the good news of life more abundantly—living water, the bread of life, the path of life, the gate, the door, whatever metaphor you choose—and you've tasted that Jesus brings connection with God and one another and life everlasting, don't be shy. That's what we're commissioned to do, and that's what we as a church are all about. Jesus has reconciled us to God, made it possible to be at peace with him for eternity, and given us new life forever. Once we have tasted of that, we cannot be shy about sharing it.

What Even Science Confirms

It's interesting—this last week I was listening to a psychiatrist, a doctor who trained and was a professor at Oxford University. He was talking about how science has discovered three very important things humans need: connection to one another, connection to this world (getting out into nature), and connection to a body of like-minded people who worship and share the same values. This man is not a believer, and yet he was saying we need to be connected to one another, to God, and to the world.

This is exactly what we find when we come to the pages of Scripture and to the gospel. It's what we as a church want to share with the people we interact with—our neighbors, family members, coworkers, friends: that the way we experience life, and that more abundantly, is to be brought into connection with God, with one another, and with all that God has made. That is where we truly fulfill the purpose for which we were made. So if you are a believer—if you've trusted Jesus Christ—then don't be shy about sharing this good news of what you've found in Jesus.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray that you would cause these things to be in our hearts—and not just in our hearts and minds, but on our lips, that we would share them with other people. I pray for anyone watching right now that you would give us opportunities this week that we have a hard time getting out of, that we cannot deny; and that when we have those opportunities, we would share the good news of who you are and what you've done in our lives, so that they might know this life and life more abundantly that we have with you and in you—that they might experience connection with you, with one another, and with all that you have made. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.