Jacob's Well

Jesus and His disciples were midway through a long journey from Judea to Galilee. The Savior was very tired and very thirsty. The disciples went into town to buy food while Jesus sat at Jacob’s Well, waiting for someone to come along with a bucket and draw Him some water. Then she came along. The nameless woman at the well. She came during the ‘off peak’ hours, possibly to avoid the shame and ridicule of other women. She was the lowest of the low in the Israelite society. First off she was a Samaritan, which the Jews despised. Secondly, she was a woman, which the culture considered second class. Thirdly, she was a tramp, which the world rejected. She had already married five other men and was currently in an adulterous relationship.

After denying The Christ a cup of water, Jesus says to this women at the well, “If you know 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 (Jn 4:10).” In this one swift statement Jesus identifies her ignorance in who He is, the gift He offers and her need of it. Throughout the next several verses, Jesus reveals who He is (the Messiah), the gift He offers (eternal life) and her need of it (her sin). Then something wonderful and miraculous happens, something only God could do. The tramp believes! Into this glorious celebration, the disciples return from the town. Sadly they missed the divineness of the moment and awkwardly looked at the Jesus and the woman and thought to themselves, “Why (is Jesus) talking with her?” With their condescending stares, the woman gets up and returns to the town.



With the trampy Samaritan woman out of the way, the disciples offer Jesus some of the food that He sent them into town to buy. Jesus rejects their food saying, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” Jesus goes on to rebuke the disciples, telling them that the will of the father is to “harvest the crop for eternal life.” You may wonder as I have, “Why does Jesus speak so harshly to his disciples? They were just offering him the food that He told them to go buy!” Here is why I think Jesus was so righteously angry. The disciples had come and gone from the city with no harvesting, yet the women returned to the city, forgetting her shame and told everyone she could find about Jesus. Then she invited them to come back with her to Jacob’s Well and meet Jesus so that they too might believe. Because of her boldness, many there trusted in Jesus as their Savior. You see, the disciples were not doing the will of the Father, but the tramp was. I confess there are many days I live more like the devout disciples than the transformed tramp.

What about you? Which are you? Are you like the religious person who moves throughout the city, telling no one about Jesus and reaping no harvest at all? Or are you like the tramp? Have you encountered Jesus today? Have you realized the desperation of your need as sinner, the majesty of Jesus identity as Messiah and the grace of Jesus gift as eternal life? Jesus says to us, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for the harvest.” Go, reap the harvest, live not like the disciples, but like the tramp. Go, reap the harvest, because you are no longer a tramp, but the bride of Christ, precious, perfect and spotless in His blood.

Perseverance

When I was in high school I started hanging out with a ministry called Young Life. One of the leaders was a college student named Brian. I did not realize it at the time, but evidently every time I said hi to him I would punch him in the arm and every time I talked to him I would brag about my football achievements. As you can imagine, I was probably a pretty annoying and draining guy to hang around. Looking back, one thing amazes me…Brian never abandoned me. Even though Brian probably had plenty of college friends to hang out with and even though I was a bothersome, insecure, big-headed high school kid, Brian still befriended me, still pursued me and still loved me.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to preach from Philippians 1:1-11. If you can recall, we learned that at the cross our heavenly Father forsook His perfect friendship with His Son Jesus, so that we could once again be made friends with God. I would like to think a little deeper on this issue with two questions.
1) Why did God have to forsake His friendship with Jesus? The Bible tells us that God’s standard for friendship with anyone is their perfect obedience to His Word. Needless to say, we have all failed at this, especially in the area of friendship. If you are like me, your selfishness has kept you from being a good friend to ‘difficult’ and/or ‘unbeneficial’ people. It is so much easier to care for people that encourage you or that somehow assistance you in achieving your goals. God had to forsake Jesus because Jesus took on our selfishness and he took on our friendlessness. Not only that, because of us, Jesus then incurred the most horrible punishment ever, separation from the Father.
2) Why should we persevere in one sided friendships (like Brian did)? In Philippians 1:6 Paul says that he is “confident of this, that (God) who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Paul was confident that the Holy God of the Universe, who forsook His most treasured possession to unilaterally begin a friendship with us, would also unilaterally perfect this friendship in us. That He would not only befriend selfish, friendless, difficult and unbeneficial people, but He would also never give up on selfish, friendless, difficult and unbeneficial people. The reason why Brian persevered in friendship with me, was because he understood that God had persevered in friendship with him.
So here is the challenge. Befriend and persevere with a stubborn, exhausting and difficult person, not because it is what God commands, but because it is what God did and is doing with you.

Joy

As many of you know, I am an avid Missouri football fan. This was elevated by my sophomore year of college when I attended a Missouri - Nebraska contest that was voted the college football game of the year. At the time, Nebraska had an 8-0 record, was ranked #1 in the country and had won the national championship 2 out of the past 3 years. Missouri on the other hand, had a 6-3 record and was unranked. With 7 seconds left in the game, Missouri was up 38-31 and Nebraska had one last chance to tie it from the 12 yard line. As time expired, the quarterback threw the ball into the end zone and as the ball reached the receiver, he was immediately hit by the Missouri defense and the ball shot down toward the ground. As you can imagine, the reaction of 70,000 fans was elation and joy. We began to rush the field to celebrate the most amazing win in Missouri history. However, our joy was short lived, the game was not over. Evidently, as the receiver was being tackled to the ground, he kicked the ball into the air (which for the record should have been a penalty) and another Nebraska receiver caught the ‘flea kicker’ to tie the game. In overtime, Missouri fought hard but ultimately lost the game. Needless to say, I saw a swing of emotions. What had been joy moments ago was now disappointment, anger and bitterness. In fact, I was so pathetic that I even entered into a mini depression and even now as I recall this story I have to remind myself that it was only a game.



Why did I lose joy after that football game? Because win or lose, it was a temporary joy, based on a changing circumstance. Now to a certain extent, it is healthy and honest to be disappointed. But there is another type of joy, it is an eternal joy, it is a deep seeded joy based on an unchanging circumstance of God. This joy is no secret and it is offered freely to all because it was purchased for you and for me at the cross. It is a joy of knowing that our deepest needs in life are met, forever. This unchanging joy floods our hearts as we realize our need for a Savior and that through the cross, we have been forgiven of our sins, accepted as righteous, adopted as a child of God and given a relationship with Jesus Christ. According to Galatians 5:22, this joy from Christ is given to all who have surrendered their life to Jesus, without exception and without changing.
So how about you? Would people describe you as a ‘joyful’ person? If so, why? If not, why not? How do we, in the changing circumstances of life, nurture the joy given to us by Christ? It is not by trying to become more joyful or by the power of positive thinking. The answer is even more simple than that. To nurture your joy you must prize Jesus above all else! You see, if we prize Christ above all else, then we not only cherish the One who makes us most joyful, but we cherish the One who is unchanging. We cherish the One who will never leave us nor forsake us.
So how about you? What are the treasures competing for your heart? Look at your planner and your checkbook. Is your treasure money, sports, peace, recreation, a lake house, morality, success, food, rest? What is it? Whatever it is, they are all changing and temporary, except for Jesus. Surrender your treasure to Jesus and make Him your treasure and your joy, because you first were His.
1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.