February 24, 2008 - 3rd Sunday in Lent
Self Nurture

Scripture: John 4:5-29 NRSV
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back."

The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"

The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 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 proclaim all things to us."

Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?"

Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,
"Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"



THE HEART OF THE MATER

A woman called her friend to ask how she was feeling. “Terrible,” the other woman replied. “My head’s splitting, the house is a mess, and I can’t wait for the kids to be in school. And it’s too hot.”

“Listen,” said the caller, “go lie down. I’ll come right over to straighten the house and watch the children until your headache goes away. By the way, how is Sam?”

“Sam?” the hurting housewife asked. “Who in the world is Sam?” “Your husband,” came the answer. “But my husband is Bart, not Sam.”

The woman who called gasped and stated, “I’m sorry, I must have dialed the wrong number.”

After a long pause, with a note of sadness and despair, the desperate other woman asked, “Does that mean that you aren’t coming over?” (P. 103 Devotions to Leave You Smiling.)

Jesus came over – from Israel to Samaria – and met a woman and gave her the conversation of her life.

Jesus knows where we are spiritually. There is no escape from his penetrating stare. It was said that the great preacher Charles Finney had an unbelievable gaze. People tried to hide from his look, but they could not. I suspect Jesus was the same way.

Jesus gazed upon several barriers present in this lady’s life – the barriers of race, gender and status for starters. Jews did not associate with Samaritans. They were believed to be traitors, a belief that went back hundreds of years when the Assyrian Empire invaded the Northern part of Israel – including Samaria. It was thought that the Samaritans collaborated with the enemy. In addition, Jewish rabbis did not talk to women in public - much less a woman who was alone – something that a self-respecting woman would not do in the middle of the day at a well where many men would typically be present. Last, the woman also had the social stigma of being divorced – not once but five times. Beyond that, she was living with a man that was not her husband. Her status in her religious world was shaky at best. And, she widens the divide when she brings up a difference in doctrine. Samaritans believed in a different location as the center of their worship.

Jesus breaks down these barriers by offering the living water. Everyone needs the living water. It was an offer that the Samaritan woman could not refuse. Jesus gets to the heart of the matter –starts gently, moves slowly and compassionately to the grand finale. Before he was done, nearly the whole village would come and meet the Messiah – God’s anointed savior!

Imagine if you will that you loved grape juice. Imagine that you were driving through the vineyards of California – grape harbors as far as the eye could see. Imagine that you stopped in a restaurant for breakfast and ordered pancakes and grape juice. “I’m sorry,” the waitress says. “I can’t bring you any grape juice. Our juice machine is broken.” You once again notice that there grape harbors everywhere around. You knew that there were grapes in the kitchen. The problem - no juice! No way! You are surrounded by thousands of gallons of juice. The problem is that the restaurant had become dependent on a machine to make it.

Sometimes Christians are like that. They may be surrounded by Bibles in their homes, but if something should happen to the church, they would not be spiritually fed. The problem is not the lack of spiritual food. The problem is that many Christians have not grown to the point to where they know how to feed themselves.
So how do we get spiritual nourishment for ourselves? You have to do 5 things:

1. You have got to plan to feed yourself.

I bought a used Lincoln town car a few years back. It was a great car – the smoothest ride of any vehicle that I had ever owned. I had a problem with it for a while. I had to unhook the battery cable to get the car to stop running. I think that I had a problem with my fuel injector switch. Sometimes I would forget to reattach the cable before restarting it. I had all that power under the hood, but a loose connection kept me from putting that power to work! Sometimes that is a good description of our Christian walk – all that power of God available, but our connection to God is too lose. We must connect to both devotion and prayer. Let me stress that we need both! Some Christians neglect the Word and seek only a prayer life. The problem is, without reading the word, there is often little to form and shape their prayers. Often such a Christian will drift into error.

Other Christians boast extensive knowledge of the Bible, but they are bone dry. They bring no refreshment through an active prayer life. Strong spiritual lives require both a strong knowledge of the Word of God and an intimate daily relationship with Christ through prayer. And you must balance knowledge with humility. There is little worse than someone who thinks they know everything!

2. You need to have a few simple resources. You need a good Bible translation that is easy for you to understand. You need a pattern for prayer. There are several ones available. I use ACTS: Adore God, confess my sins, Give God thanks and share my supplications (requests).

Another one that I use from time to time is the Fiver-Finger Prayer. Fold your hands as if you were going to pray. Watch how our own hands remind us what to pray for. Your closest finger is your thumb. This stands for those who are closest to you – your spouse, kids, parents, siblings, grandparents, dear friends, etc. Your next finger is your index finger. It is the pointing finger and stands for those who are teachers-school, Sunday school, and preachers. Your middle finger is the tallest finger and stands for those who are in authority-president, governor, mayor, congress and the senate, as well as police officers (you will see the names of two police officers on our prayer list). The fourth finger is the weakest finger. Ask any pianist. It stands for those who are sick or hurting. The last finger is the smallest finger and reminds us that we should pray for ourselves. It, being last and the smallest reminds us that we should not think too highly of ourselves. That is why we pray for the other needs first. But, realize, that we should pray for ourselves. Jesus did (see John 17).

3. You have got to have accountability – a mentor, an accountability group, a partner to encourage you and to support you. Remember, there is no sudden triumph to spiritual maturity. It comes little by little – baby-step by baby-step.

The Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique. The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished with his torch still lit. The winner of the Christian race is the one who endures, not the one who is the quickest or the best.

James wrote, (James 1:12) “Blessed is the one who perseveres…because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”