So That You May Believe and Have Life – The Gospel of John
Part 11 – “Bringing Our World To Christ”
John 4:1-42
We live in a world today where people are hurting, wounded, broken, and damaged by what others have done that has hurt them, as well as by personal decisions they made which were self-destructive. As a result, people need what Jesus offers – his healing and his life transforming love, grace and forgiveness.
God wants us to be part of His mission in the world as he wants us to minister to people with compassion, justice and mercy as the Great Commandment teaches us in Matthew 22, and he wants us to share with others the good news about Jesus as the Great Commission teaches us in Matthew 28.
If we want to be a part of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our world today and help bring people to Christ so they can experience God’s love, grace, and healing, then it is going to be absolutely necessary that we break from the culture we live in today, and become part of a culture that is shaped by the Holy Spirit of God.
A sociologist did a study of our American culture and found we have divided each other up into 3 categories of people: “People People” / “Machine People” / “Landscape People”
John 4:1-4: Jesus deals with his disciples’ way of treating people like this by taking them to Samaria…
John 4:5-8: Jesus’ disciples are in town buying food from the people and treating them like “Machine People”…
John 4:9-26: Jesus treats the Samaritan woman at the well like a person…
John 4:27-28: Jesus’ disciples treat the Samaritan woman like “Landscape”…
John 4:31-35: Jesus teaches his disciples about being like him and caring for people, treating them as people of value, and sharing God’s love with them…
John 4:29-30, 39-42: The result of the Samaritan woman encountering the love of God for her is that her testimony leads many people to Jesus…
Application / Takeaway: I cannot walk with Jesus and walk according to the culture that has been drilled into me. And so, like Jesus I will treat the stranger I meet like a person, and I will care about them, seek to minister to their hurts and needs, and share God’s love with them.
We encourage you to take a few minutes today and this week to process this morning’s message. These questions are designed for discussion with your family, a friend, mentor, spouse, and small group. They are also useful for self-reflection.
1. What stands out to you in these passages from the Bible? From the message?
2. What is difficult for you to understand or accept in these passages from the Bible? From the message?
3. What is God saying in these passages and through what we heard in the message about Himself? About people? About you?
4. What examples are there to follow, commands to obey, or promises to stand on from these passages in the Bible, and from what we heard in the message?
