Author: believersarmedanddangerous

John 5:2-7 (ESV)  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵ One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

This fellow Jesus healed seemed a little unappreciative to say the least.  No “thank you,” no sign of appreciation at all.  He just took up his bed and walked away.  Later in verse 11, the man turns Jesus in to the Jews for healing him on the Sabbath.  Leon Morris, in his commentary on John, describes the man this way: “The man was not of the stuff of which heroes are made. He put the whole blame on the shoulders of him who had healed him.”  Let’s look at the man for a moment:

There was a multitude of invalids surrounding the pool.  This pool area has been excavated and found to be 360 feet by 130 feet and 75 feet deep, not a small wading pool as we see in the movies.  It was probably built as a sort of mote to protect the temple from invaders.  So there was room for a lot of people waiting to get into the pool.  In fact, the Greek word translated multitude is plethos from which we get the English word plethora: an abundance or excess of something. 

Among this plethora of people was a man who had been disabled for 38 years.  From his response to Jesus’ question, “Do you want to be healed?” the man started in on how he expected to be healed.  The tradition was that an angel stirred up the pool, and the first one into the pool after this would be healed.  We don’t see this part in most modern translations. If you’ll look at the quote above, part of verse 3 and all of verse 4 have been excluded.  It’s included in the NKJV and reads this way:

John 5:3-4 (NKJV)  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. ⁴ For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

This passage is not included in the ESV or many modern translations because it does not appear in the earliest manuscripts, those before the third century.  Because of this, most modern translators don’t believe it appeared in the original.  So, they leave it out.

The excluded passage, however, does record the tradition held by the Jerusalem Jews at the time and was no doubt added by a scribe in the second or third century.  Think about this for a second, though.  Does our God really say something like “First one in the pool will be healed?”  God doesn’t make competition a condition for blessings.  He walks up, as Jesus did, and heals whom He would.

Why is this important?

The man was a Jew, no doubt, and probably expect God to heal him at first.  But as the years wore on, the pool became the center of his attention.  He felt if God was going to act and heal him, He would do so through the stirring of the water in the pool

Sometimes, like this man and the pool, we fixate on something, some way we expect God to act when He has a completely different way and time frame to accomplish His will.  We keep looking at the “pool” so long it becomes an idol: maybe the only way God may work in our lives.  So it becomes the object of our attention rather than God Himself.  This man had God in the flesh standing next to him asking if he wanted to be healed, and all he could think of was getting into the pool.

We need to leave ourselves open to God’s working in our lives no matter how He wants to do it.  And, we need to listen for Him to ask “Do you want to ….?”  He might ask “Do you want to serve Me,” and our answer may be “yes, of course, I serve as an usher, a teacher, a pastor” when God had other plans. 

Someone sent me this quote the other day, and I think it fits perfectly here:

“Is your focus on your immediate need blinding you to a greater purpose that God is working out? Would you choose to be patient and simply trust Him? Sometimes God does not answer our immediate prayer because He has something greater in store for us.” Excerpt from “Longing For More of Jesus, My Heart’s Cry” by Anne Graham Lotz

John 5:8-12 (ESV)  Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

Sometimes it is so hard to spot legalism, isn’t it?  We have rules within our faith, but can these rules be broken or bent?  In secular life, there is a hierarchy of laws.  If we hear a child next door drowning and screaming for help, it is perfectly legal for us to trespass on our neighbor’s land to save that child.  So, even our civil laws recognize leniency according to situations and so should the rules of our faith.

In this passage above, Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years.  The problem for the Jewish leaders was He did it on the Sabbath.  Did he break the actual Sabbath law, though? Here is the simple instruction from God on observing the Sabbath: 

Exodus 20:6-10 (ESV)  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.”

After the Maccabean Revolt, a bit over 200 years before this scene, the Pharisees became the legal arm of the Jewish religious culture.  They spent much of that time creating specific and restrictive rules that were to apply to the Mosaic Law. It was considered work.  Among these restrictions were 39 sets or “classes” of regulations to define what qualified as work on the Sabbath.  In these man-made rules was a rule against carrying a bed on the Sabbath.  Strangely, you could carry a bed if someone was in it but not if it was empty. 

This wasn’t the silliest rule.  There was a rule against throwing something into the air and catching it was the same hand.  The jury is still out on if it could be caught legally with the other hand.  Jesus saw how silly these regulations were and pointed it out a few times to the “Jews” (John’s term for Pharisees, scribes, and Priests):

Matt. 12:11-12 (ESV)  He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

Luke 13:15 (ESV)  ¹⁵ Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?

Mark 2:27 (ESV)  And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath

As with modern civil law, mitigating circumstances should be taken into account.  The heavily restrictive and foolish laws the Pharisees forced on the people were uncalled for and caused great hardship.

Why is this important?

The Jewish leaders who confronted the man who had been healed questioned him about the man-made law he was breaking not God’s Law.  When he explained he had been healed and the man who healed him told him to carry his bed, the Pharisees didn’t rejoice in his healing but then looked for someone else whom they might hold responsible or even arrest for breaking their rules.

This is the great danger in legalism.  We ignore the kindness that might be done, rejoicing in the favor God has shown to another. Instead, we might favor asserting our own authority whether actual or imagined.  It boils down to a problem of pride, of arrogance, and of self-righteousness.  I pray we never fall into this pit which replaces compassion with self-righteousness and tarnishes the reputation of our Lord.

Ever wonder what makes Christianity so different from the other major world religions?  Christianity is so different many Christians deny it is a religion at all.  Of course it is a religion: it consists of a set of doctrines and practices centered around a divine figure, the triune God.  But, what makes it different from the other religions?

C. S. Lewis said what makes Christianity different is grace.  The God of Christianity is reaching out to man.  All other major religions are about man reaching out to God.  I think there is a second major difference.  In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul argues for the resurrection of Jesus as an objective truth.

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

I teach a class on apologetics and many of the posts on this blog are dedicated to Christian apologetics.  Apologetics is simply putting up a good defense for the Christian faith.  The reason we don’t see classes on Hindu apologetics or Buddhist apologetics, or even Muslim apologetics is that Christianity is based on a particular historical event, the the fact of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  Christianity also makes truth claims that can be tested logically and historically.  Eastern religions wouldn’t think of making such claims or basing their beliefs on an event in history or even claim their faith is true.  Christianity invites investigation (2 Thess. 5:21).

The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical event.  Paul says so in the passage above.  In fact, the Jesus’ resurrection is the best documented event of ancient history.  We have no fewer than six eyewitness testimonies of the risen Christ from Matthew, Mark, John, Paul, James, and Peter passed down to us to this day.  These men saw Jesus tortured, John himself saw Jesus die (John 19:26) and they all saw Him raised from the dead.  Nearly the complete New Testament is written by eyewitnesses to the fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection; all but Luke, Acts, perhaps Hebrews, and maybe Jude.  All the other books were written by witnesses to the resurrected Jesus Christ.

There is an unbroken chain of Christians who shared this truth from Paul to the person who told us about Jesus, and Paul argues the resurrection is absolutely true – corresponds objectively with reality.  How do we know the apostles believed it was true?  According to church tradition, all but John died a violent death, many were tortured for days.  Despite this, none denied the truth of Jesus’ deity or His resurrection.

Bartholomew was skinned alive all the time telling those torturing him of Jesus.  Andrew was nailed to an “X” shaped cross and took three days to die.  He preached Jesus and His resurrection to the assembled crowd who came to watch him die.  Thomas was run throw with a sword while preaching about Jesus in India and finished his sermon.  Peter was crucified upside down after first watching his wife be crucified.  Paul was beheaded.

Why is this important?

The truthfulness of Christianity is the reason non-believers challenge it.  You can’t challenge something which has no logical or historical foundation.  Only Christianity is based on this sort of evidence.  So, when someone asks you for reasons why you believe, asks you to defend a particular teaching of the Bible, take heart.  They would and could never make such a challenge of any other world religions.  Only Christianity has these types of critics because Christianity claims to be true can invites challengers to prove it wrong.

I’ve been asked what it would take for me to give up my faith in Jesus Christ.  I always answer, “Prove to me Jesus did not rise from the dead as described in the Bible.”  Sometimes they will say that’s not fair.  Those were all biased writers: they were all Christians.  My response to that objection is “If you saw a man who claimed to be God die a horrible death, pronounced dead by a centurion whose job it was to pronounce people dead, then see the dead man walking around three days later, wouldn’t you be a Christian too?

Phil 4:19 (ESV)  And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

This was Paul’s final prayer for the Philippians before he closed his wonderful letter.  For this week, I’d like to focus on the phrase “according to His riches” in this verse. God gives us lots of things from His riches.  What do you suppose “according to His riches” might mean.  That was my question.  I got to thinking about what the difference between giving from our wealth and giving according to our wealth might be if there was a difference at all. 

Webster says “according” means “in conformity with,” while “from” means giving as a part of a “source.”  When a wealthy golfer is finished with his round of golf, he’ll usually tip the caddie.  Giving the caddie $50 is a tip from his riches.  Giving the caddie maybe $1,000 is a gift according to – in conformity with – his righes.

So, let’s get back to Paul and his prayer for the Philippian church and for us.  He is asking for a greater blessing than just something from God’s riches in glory but to receive riches in glory in conformity with God’s great love and riches.

Delightfully, it turns out there are lots of other “according to’s” in Scripture:

Rom. 8:28 (ESV)  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  Here is another blessing to be used in God’s work, for His purpose.

Col. 1:9-11 (ESV)  And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;  Too many blessings here to list, but to receive all power from God according to His glorious might should certainly wake us up, stand us on our feet, the prompt us to enter the fray.

1 John 5:14 (ESV)  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  This verse has a little different meaning for us.  It is our responsibility to pray according to – in conformity with – God’s will if we want Him to hear our prayers.  We bear the burden to find if God wants us to pray in a particular way.  If we don’t know, we can simply ask the Holy Spirit to pray for us.  That way we can be sure to remain in God’s perfect will.

2 John 6 (ESV)  And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.  And here’s the tough one isn’t it?  We need to walk in conformity with God’s will, with His commandments.

In Focus on the Family’s Truth Project series, teacher Del Tackett said something very interesting.  He said sin is whatever is not aligned with God’s character.  Conversely, the commands of God for us must be aligned perfectly with His will for us.  Want to know God’s will in your life?  Want to pray according to His will? Look into His commands.

Why is this important?

Understanding that God has much more for us than we can ever imagine gives us hope in the deepest trials and tests.  God is always here wishing to bless us.  He is love by nature, and all things He allows in our lives come from that center of His nature.  Can we wish for anything more than Paul wished for the Philippians or the Ephesians, for that matter?

Eph 3:20-21 (ESV)  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The term “Signs and Wonders” appears some twenty times in the Bible.  In the Old Testament, signs and wonders were used by God to show He is the ultimate authority in the universe: He could bring the plagues on Egypt, save Daniel from the lions’ den, even stand with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.  With God, impossible is often just the starting point.

In the New Testament, Jesus used signs and wonders to show who He was, the truth of His message, and His authority:

Mark 2:10-12 (ESV)  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Miracles lent authority to Jesus’ words, but should we base our faith on signs and wonders?  Scripture says “no” for some very good reasons.  Signs can be used by the enemy as well as by God.  They can be used to mislead:

Matt. 24:24 (ESV)  For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Because of the emotion and the curiosity brought by miracles, we can be drawn into becoming a “miracle groupie.”  We can end up seeking out miracles for personal interest and thrill.  We don’t see mature Christians doing this in Scripture.  It is the new Christian and the lost who want their curiosity satisfied.

Miracles are meant to give credibility to the message of the gospel.  Centering on the miracles, though, in a very real way discounts the gospel.

Jesus had enough of people seeking signs and wonders and told them so (Matt. 12:39, 16:4; Mark 8:12).  Many are drawn at rumors of miracles not for the message but for the “show.”  Even atheists will often ask for a sign to prove Jesus is Who He says He is, make Him their personal bell hop.

The church has lost many followers over the centuries as these folks look for new experiences, new feelings, emotional highs.  Since Jesus spoke against such things, where should we look? It is in God’s Word we find all we need to walk the Christian walk:

2 Tim. 3:16 (ESV)  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not speaking against miracles here.  I’ve seen miracles in my own life including a friend miraculously healed.  In fact, my faith – like yours – is founded on the greatest miracle of all which was performed 2,000 years ago when our Savior raised His own body from the dead.  What’s dangerous to God’s church, though, is faith founded on emotion or seeking signs rather than on the Word of God.

Why is this important?

In John chapter four, we see two distinct groups of people interested in what Jesus had to offer.  I think this exemplifies the church today.  The Samaritans in Sychar believed Jesus was the Savior of the world because of what they had heard from Him (vs. 4:42), and the Galileans (vs. 4:45) were much more interested in seeing Jesus do more miracles.  These were probably the same bunch who saw Jesus do signs earlier:

John 2:23-25 (ESV)  Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Note Jesus didn’t “entrust” Himself to them here and didn’t seem to trust the folks among them from Galilee:

John 4:48 (ESV)  So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

The “you” in both cases in this statement is plural in Greek.  Jesus was speaking to them all, not just one person.

We as Christians have a choice: do we rest our faith on God’s instruction book or on personal experience and the “Jesus Show” many Christians and non-Christians pursue?  The former leads to a much deeper faith and closeness to our Savior.  The latter leads to a shallow faith and disappointment – if it leads anywhere at all.

John 4:48 (ESV)  So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

Just after the story of the woman at the well, Jesus came to Galilee.  There, many greeted Him because of the miracles they had seen Him do at the Passover feast in Jerusalem a few weeks earlier.  They were looking to see another miracle.

While Jesus was in Cana in Galilee, an official came to ask Him to come down to Capernaum and heal his son who was at death’s door.  Jesus seems in the text to be angry about this and speaks the words in the passage above.  If you or I were the official, the boy’s father, we would likely be discouraged at first, but there’s an important nuance in the Greek.  The “you” said twice by Jesus here is the plural.  He is speaking not just to the father seeking healing for his son but to the crowd around him looking for a miracle.  The crowd didn’t get to see their miracle.

The father, though probably discouraged by Jesus’ words “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe,” tried again.  His deep concern for his son was compassionately responded to by Jesus’ words, “Your son will live.”  The father, believing Jesus’ words, went on his way, and we see that at the moment Jesus spoke, his son was healed.

Why is this important?

Jesus had just come from Sychar, a town in Samaria (John 4:5).  We’ve looked at why the Jews didn’t like Samaritans, but it’s important to see what Jesus is saying here.  He’s comparing what has been called The Sychar Revival of people who only heard the message of Jesus and His own people in Galilee who have heard but are still looking for signs and wonders.  While the Samaritans took Jesus’ words seriously (as did the official, by the way) the Jews of the crowd wanted a show.

Another important point of the event is it was the first time Jesus did a miracle without being physically present.  Those who saw Jesus in Jerusalem at Passover and saw His miracles (John 2:23) no doubt saw Jesus touching the sick and lame as He healed them.  Here in Galilee it’s a different story.  Jesus spoke, and the boy miles away was healed.

The faith of the official is also important.  Capernaum, where the official’s son lay, is fifteen or twenty miles from, Cana where Jesus was.  A friend of mine has been to the area and tells me it gets hot there.  It turns out the elevation of Capernaum is 400 below that of Death Valley, California.  For the official to walk to Cana was a major effort to save his son.  Passover was in March or April.  This was a little later.  The average temperature for Capernaum in May is 95 degrees. Our official walked uphill in this heat to see Jesus in Cana.  This was a loving dedicated father

The official asked Jesus to come down (vs 47) to heal his son.  Jesus had more to do in Cana, so He just spoke to heal the boy.  We aren’t told what prior experience this father had with Jesus, if any, though we are told he believed the word Jesus said.  Like all of us when we seek Jesus, the father came with nothing to offer Jesus but returned with a promise.  A promise from God (in flesh) is a promise you can bank on as the man discovered. 

On his trip home the next day, he was met by some of his servants who told him his son was healed at the same time Jesus promised the boy would live.  The sickness of the boy gave an opportunity to show the power of God.  The text says the entire household was saved as a result.

Sometimes trials come our way and we resist them.  We do everything to prevent them.   Peter has a different view of trials:

1 Peter 1:6-7 (ESV)  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

This official saw first a miracle worker in Cana.  When he arrived home, he saw the work of the real Jesus, God in flesh, Who could simply speak a word and twenty miles away the boy was healed.

Psalm 59:8a (ESV)  But you, O Lord, laugh at them;

I’ve always been interested in what makes people laugh, and I began to wonder why God would laugh and what would He laugh at?

What started me thinking was that the late comedian, George Carlin, once gave a simple explanation of how humor works:  When telling a joke, the person is telling a story.  The person listening thinks they are hearing the same story, but at the punch line, they realize they’ve been fooled.  In the context of a joke, this makes them laugh.  Let me give an example:

A professor and a blonde are just leaving LAX on a flight to New York. The professor suggest to the blonde: “This is a long flight. Why don’t we play a game.” The blonde says “Okay. What sort of game.” The Professor says, “I’ll ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it you pay me fifty dollars. Then you can ask me a question. If I can’t answer it, I’ll pay you fifty dollars.”

The blonde thinks for a minute then says “That’s not fair. You’re a professor, and I barely made it out of high school.” The professor thinks then says “Okay. How about this. I’ll ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it you pay me five dollars. Then you can ask me a question, and if I can’t answer it, I’ll still pay you the fifty dollars.”

The blonde agrees. The professor says “Okay, I’ll start. What’s the speed of light?” The blonde thinks for a minute then opens her purse and hands the professor five dollars. The professor says “It’s 186,000 miles per second. Your turn.”

The blonde thinks then says “What’s green, made out of wood, and runs up hills.” The professor is stumped and hands the blonde fifty dollars. She says “Thank you.” The professor then says “Well. What is it?” and she hands him five dollars.

If you haven’t heard the joke before, the surprise ending may have made you, a human, laugh.  But since God can’t be surprised by what we say, He’s omniscient, what can make Him laugh?  Jokes won’t work on God. So, what could make Him laugh or does He laugh at all.

I did some study and found only the one verse – Psalms 59:8 – that says God laughs.  So, what makes Him laugh if He can’t be surprised?  He laughs when humans think they can get the best of Him, can win against Him and His people.

The full context of the verse I gave above is David speaking to God of his enemies.  David realizes God just laughs as their puny attempts to beat His people when they are doing God’s work.  Then I thought of Saul (soon to become Paul) on the road to Damascas:

Acts 9:1-5 (ESV)  But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. ⁴ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Saul was persecuting the church.  God the Son took this personally and asked Saul why he was persecuting Him.  This tells us God considers an attack on the church as the same as attacking Him.

Why is this important?

When we feel the world closing in on us, when it seems our enemies are getting the best of us, we should remember if we are right with God, He laughs at our enemies because He sees these attacks as attacks against the all-powerful Being and not us. 

God is omnipotent which means He can do anything He wants to do.  For finite man to come against the infinitely powerful Being who spoke and all of creation came into existence is funny to Him.  I think it’s pretty funny myself.

So, maybe we should laugh at the trials we face, the enemies who seek to damage and destroy what God has built.  Jesus sits on His throne at these times and says “Now that’s funny.”

Have you ever studied a passage of Scripture and “wrung it out” to get everything you can from it, and someone points out something that illuminates the entire passage for you in an completely new way?  This happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

A friend of mine, Don, taught a study on the woman at the well (John chapter 4) and I was privileged to be there.  We’ve talked about the woman here, but Don gave a whole new perspective on the passage for me.  As the story goes, Jesus was tired from His work and sat down by the well to rest.  He had sent His disciples into town to buy food, and a woman came to the well to draw water.  This woman was the lowest of the low in Jewish culture: she was a Samaritan, had been married five times, she was currently living with a man she was not married to.

Jesus spoke with her, though, and convinced her He was the Messiah.  Jesus’ disciples returned with food for lunch as the woman was leaving to tell the people of the town what she had learned.

Most of us view the disciples as the elite Jesus chose to further His work and worthy of His instruction.  If anyone was going to be sensitive to the spiritual needs of others, it should have been the disciples.  But it was the woman, not the disciples, who returned to Jesus with much of the town’s population anxious to meet Him.

What were the disciples doing in town, then?  They were sent there to buy food, but was that the main thing Jesus’ disciples were trained to do?  No, they were trained to share the good news and bring people to Jesus.  Why didn’t they?

I think they were focused just as we can get.  We get our minds so set on something else when there is a whole town ready and willing to hear the good news, and in the midst of this we’re just buying lunch. That’s what our minds are on, and that’s all their minds were on.  They didn’t apparently think of sharing the good news with the townsfolk.

To the Jewish culture, this woman at the well was the dregs of society, not worthy to even speak with.  But Jesus shared with her, and she returned from town leading people to Jesus which was the job of the disciples, wasn’t it.  Verse 38 tells us, Jesus wasn’t sending the guys into town just to buy food.  He knew the people were ready to hear the gospel and wanted to show His disciples what they had missed.  By concentrating on just one thing they missed an opportunity to further God’s kingdom:

John 4:38 (ESV)  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

When we go to the store, have our tires rotated, visit the doctor, pick up our kids at the library, or any other common task, we do the same thing. We become insensitive to those around us. We just want to get in, do our thing, and get out. I’m not sure we should.

Why is this important?

While I don’t think we all need to be street preachers or the obnoxious person in the line at the hardware store, we could certainly try to be more aware of the people around us: share a good morning, start a conversation.  God may have a greater mission for us than the one we think we’re on.  If we pay attention, He will point people out to us, maybe not very often, but what have we lost, a couple of minutes cheering up someone’s day?

Stephen Covey says, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” and he’s right.  Of all the commands God has given us, I believe the Great Commission is at the top:

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I think that’s the main thing.

John 4:35-38 (ESV)  Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

In this passage, Jesus has spoken with the woman at the well, she’s gone into town to tell everyone, and the townspeople are coming to see for themselves.  Jesus had planted the gospel in the woman’s heart.  She, in turn, did the same for the folks in town.  Now they were coming back ready to hear for themselves and to accept Jesus as their Savior. 

There are several steps to a person coming to Jesus for their salvation.  We as Christians often feel the need to “Close the deal” when sharing the gospel, but Jesus didn’t do that here.  He planted, the woman and disciples watered, but it was God who moved in the hearts of the people to accept Jesus.

Greg Koukl’s “Tactics” series on Youtube takes this principle and expands on it powerfully.  He uses this passage to show most people don’t come to Christ through a single act.  They are “fertilized” and “watered” before they reach the harvest.  Paul makes the same point in his first letter to the Corinthian church:

1 Cor. 3:7-9 (ESV)  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

The point Greg and Paul are getting at is we need a lot of gardeners since the “gardening” process, the preparation process, is a long and varied one.  The harvest only comes after the seeds have been planted, fertilized, and tended.

When we share Christ with others, we feel we need to have that person on their knees or we have failed.  That’s not true.  Think of how many people you have spoken to over the years about the Lord and how many have come to Him.  I’m sure I’ve spoken to hundreds of people over the 47 years since I met our Lord, but I’ve seen fewer than a dozen come to Him.  Most of that “harvest” was due to someone else’s work before me.  I just was given the privilege of being used by the Holy Spirit to reap what the others had sown.  Most of our labor as Christians is used in the planting and watering process.

Often those with whom we’ve been able to share have heard the message before but needed some clarification or needed to be reminded of the gospel once again.  We may never know what God is doing in the hearts and minds of those with whom we’ve shared.  Maybe they go home and God just keeps poking them, reminding them of their need and of what they heard from us that day.

Why is this important?

Understanding this does a couple of things for us.  It takes the heavy burden off our shoulders to hit a home run every time we share Christ, and we should be happy to “put a pebble in the shoe” of the person we’re talking with.  If gardening is the goal, then success is most often achieved. If we overpower someone with our witness, they can walk away confused and uncertain of what they heard.

I used to teach an adult Bible class at our church in California.  After that class, but in the same room, was another adult class.  As a practice, I would write a sentence or two on the board knowing the next class would see it and maybe discuss it with the teacher.

The statement I got the most feedback on was “We are not here to save people,” and we’re not.  That’s God’s job.  Our job is to inform people of what Christ has done for them and how to take advantage of God’s offer.  This is almost always done in small pieces, short opportunities, but God does the major work.  All we are to do is just say something.  Give people something to think about.  If the person is interested, of course, the conversation can take as long as needed.

When we share, we should keep it short.  If the ground seems fertile and the person wants to know more, by all means share more.  Otherwise, just put that pebble in their shoe, let go, and let God.

Eph 5:18-21 (ESV)  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

God is in favor of interaction.  In the passage above, He assumes we will interact with fellow believers.  He, the one true God, even chooses to exist in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  God’s perfect order is for persons to commune with one other.  We see this in creation:

Genesis 2:18 (ESV)  Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.

It’s not good for man, or woman, to be alone.  We all have a need for the input of others.

The Greek word for Church, ekklesia, means “assembly” and is translated as such in Acts 19:32 when describing a confused mob:

Acts 19:32 (ESV) Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

I’m not trying to compare the church with a confused mob, though sometimes . . . . I’m just pointing only to the fact ekklesia refers to a group of people.  Jesus sees His church as one with Him.  Like a true Bridegroom, He sees an attack on His church as a personal attack on Himself. We see this best when He speaks to Saul on the road to Damascus:

Acts 9:4-5 (ESV)  And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.“

Notice Jesus said Paul was persecuting Him.  Our communion with Jesus is such that Jesus sees any attacks on us as a personal attack on Him.  We are His church, His bride.

The Bible uses other endearing words to describe us.  We are God’s fellow workers, working beside Him to be used in His plan:

1 Cor. 3:8-9 (ESV)  He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

But at His resurrection, Jesus uses my favorite term for His disciples; He calls us His “brothers:”

John 20:17 (ESV)  Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

Why is this important?

Our God is a God of interaction with His people and expects interaction among His people.  We are not to be lone Christians but are to be a part of a whole, the body of Christ.

All the communication devices we use today, often without thinking, also reduce our fellowship with others.  Texting, emailing, social media don’t give us the same interaction as with personal one-on-one conversations.

If your Christian life does not include frequent interaction with other Christians, you are missing out and so are they.  After Covid, many Christians stayed home and watched church services on television. Sadly, that habit became too hard to break.  Many are still at home and missing out on the needed interaction with other believers.  Their lives are not as full as God would like. 

We’ve all heard, “I don’t need church.  I like to commune with God in the great outdoors” and similar “reasons” to not join others in God’s assembly.  God didn’t design the church for loners.  We are important to one another.  For more on this, see our blog on the church.