Steven Furtick - God Works in Mysterious Ways (03/23/2017)
This Easter sermon focuses on Colossians 1:27, which reveals the «mystery» of «Christ in you, the hope of glory.» Using the story of the Samaritan woman at the well from John 4, the preacher illustrates how Jesus moves toward hurting people, bypasses what we think we want to give us what we truly need, and digs a well of living water within us. The conclusion is that our hope is not in an external bucket but in the internal, transformative presence of the resurrected Christ.
The Mystery of Resurrection Hope
Happy Easter, church. Happy Easter to you. What a great celebration. I believe that dead things are going to come to life in our very midst today. I do. I believe it. I feel it in my heart. I sense God’s presence in this place. I want you to pray with me now. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you with humility in our hearts, knowing that we have no right to stand before you on our own, but we thank you that we can hold our heads high and lift our hands and sing with loud voices because you’ve overcome that which had overtaken us, our sin and our shame.
We thank you for the victory that is already ours, even as we fight battles in this life. We thank you that we are victorious through you. We thank you for what you did for us on that cross. We thank you for paying a horrible price so that we wouldn’t have to pay it and so that we can be reconciled in our relationship with you, our Savior and Lord. We thank you that just when it looked like it was over, like it often does in our lives, that you rose again on the third day. And we stand as resurrection people who believe in resurrection power this day.
So, God, on the authority of your word, now I speak to broken hearts and I speak to broken dreams and broken relationships. I speak to every broken soul in this place and I declare that it shall not die, but live and declare the goodness of the Lord. I speak resurrection life and power this day to every man, woman, and boy and girl who will call upon the name of Jesus. And we believe it is so and it is done. And all God’s people said together, amen. Amen. Clap your hands one more time. Please remain standing momentarily.
Christ In You: The Core of the Mystery
I want to read you one verse of scripture that I’d like for us to gather around and think about today on Easter. And it’s found in the New Testament book of Colossians. You’ll see it on the screen in just a moment. To me, it’s one of the coolest verses in the whole Bible. And to really understand what it means today, I’m going to tell you a story to try to illustrate it. But for now, let’s just read the verse. The scripture is talking about God’s people and how we, as believers in Jesus, we get to see things and experience things that people who came before Jesus could only dream about.
While they were sacrificing bulls and goats and pigeons and turtle doves to atone for their sin, and it could never completely take away their sin. Well, with one stroke, Jesus atoned once and for all, made a sacrifice that counts forever, all time for anybody who will believe in him. And he’s talking about how marvelous that is. Verse 27, he says, «To them,» that’s us, God’s people, «God has chosen.» That means he didn’t have to do it, but he did. How many of you know that God didn’t even have to give you life and you didn’t have to breathe this morning?
«He has chosen to make known among the Gentiles,» and that’s everybody who isn’t Jewish, so God is saying everybody gets in on this. It’s not just one specific people group or one specific geographic location where God has revealed himself. He said he’s made known «the glorious riches of this mystery.» This mystery, this mystery, which is, you want to know the mystery? It’s a great one. I need you to lean in if you want to hear about this mystery. I want to tell you a secret. Come on, lean in. «Which is,» here it is, «Christ in you.» In you. «The hope of glory.»
The hope of glory, which is revolutionary for most of us. We think of God as being up there somewhere, and if we pray enough, maybe he’ll come down and see about us, or we think of God as being out there somewhere, and he is above and he is all around, but this is even crazier. Christ in you, and because he’s in you, if he’s in you, you have hope. The hope of glory. I need you to high-five eight people around you, and as you’re high-fiving them, I want you to tell them, «He is risen.» Will you tell them, «He is risen»? Eight people. It’s the number of new beginnings.
Come on, every location. Come on, Lake Norman, Matthews, Uptown, Gaston, Rock Hill, all y’all, Extension Sites, GTA, University, Concord. He is risen. Listen, hey, I know you’re already sitting down, but I’m going to need you to reverse that posture and thank all of these teams for the incredible worship experience to make our Easter meaningful. Didn’t they do a great job? Come on, they came down from the ceiling and stuff. I didn’t see you come down from the ceiling today. Amen. They do it with excellence and consistency.
This may be your first time at Easter, but we have, I think, 40 worship experiences that we do at all of our locations, and they do it well every time, and I appreciate that faithfulness to the gospel. All right, you may be seated. Most of you are already. I want to preach to you today on the subject, and it’s going to sound a little cliche when I announce the title of this sermon, but I want to preach to you about how God works in mysterious ways.
God’s Mysterious Path to the Hurting
I know you’ve heard that before, but I want to talk about it a little bit in light of Colossians 1:27, which says this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, and I want to share how God works in mysterious ways. Would you turn to the person next to you? I know you don’t probably want to interact with him very much. It’s a little uncomfortable in church, but you’re going to have to talk to him at least two or three more times before I finish, and so I want you to look at him and look at him nicely and tell him, «God works in mysterious ways.»
And tell him, «If you need proof, just look in the mirror. He works in mysterious ways.» I don’t know if you’ve heard that before. I said that I’d tell you a story, and I will. I want to go to John chapter 4, which, while I was preparing, seemed like an unusual Easter text, because usually when you preach Easter, you go to the back of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the end of those Gospels, the part where Jesus physically got up from the grave. And I believe in that. It’s the hope that I rest my ministry on.
But when you understand what John 11 says when Jesus went to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead… By the way, never invite Jesus to your funeral, because he might mess up the whole thing, and they’ve already picked up the casket. So he raises his friend from the dead, and he shares something with the people. He says, «I am the resurrection and the life.» When you understand the magnitude of that statement, you realize that resurrection is not something that Jesus did. It’s who he is.
That means that anything Jesus touches has to get up and live again, and any life that Jesus inhabits has to live again. With that in view, we can say that every Scripture is about Jesus pointing to him, talking about him or directing us his way. And since every Scripture is about Jesus, and Jesus said, «I am the resurrection and the life,» every Bible story is a resurrection story. The whole thing hinges on the resurrection. See, if you think we came to celebrate Easter just as an historic event, you’ll miss the point entirely.
We do believe it was an historic event. If we don’t believe that, we have nothing to celebrate or hinge our faith on. But it’s not meant to be just an historic event. It’s meant to be a personal experience. Amen. Through the person and work of Jesus Christ. So I want to learn about Jesus. Do you like Easter sermons about Jesus? That’s what I’ve worked on, so I think that’s what I’ll do. But I want to tell you this story rather than preach it to you. Maybe it’s not as much of a sermon.
Maybe it’s more of a narrative that I’d like you to find yourself in. And I believe there are some things that God would like to show you in your own relationship with him. We’re going to see the power of one encounter with Jesus Christ, not only for one person, but for everybody that that person would impact. And so in John chapter four, I want to pick up right in verse one so you can get the context. And I’ll be reading from a screen in the back and you can read from the screens up here.
Moving Away from Drama, Toward Need
Scripture says, «Now, Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John.» Now, the John that he’s speaking about is John the Baptist. So when you’re baptizing more people than the guy whose nickname is the Baptist, you’re doing pretty good. And so Jesus is gaining popularity, he’s growing in effectiveness, and people are starting to talk, particularly the Pharisees are starting to talk, the religious ruling class of Jesus' day.
And so religious rumors are starting to circulate about the work that Jesus is doing. Verse 2, it says, «although in fact, it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.» So the religious rumors weren’t entirely accurate. But when has that ever stopped religious people from talking? When has the truth ever gotten in the way of a good religious rumor? In some ways, not much has changed, but they’re talking about Jesus. And you would expect that since he came to save the world, he would capitalize on this opportunity to announce his candidacy as Lord and ruler and Messiah to everyone, because now he’s got traction.
If you are advising Jesus in a PR capacity, you would probably tell him, now’s the time to go on peers. Now’s the time to make some appearances. They’re talking about you. We got buzz. We got traffic. Like, hashtag Jesus, you know, but it says in verse three, and this is strange, «he left.» When he learned what they were saying, he left Judea, which is the base of operations where he’d been ministering from in the south and went back once more to Galilee, which was his hometown to the north.
And so this seems strange to us, but verse four is even stranger. It says, «now he had to go through Samaria.» I’m intrigued by two parts of that text. First of all, that he «had to go.» When Jesus, you know, goes somewhere, I would think it’s because he chose to. He’s the boss of the world. So the boss kind of makes his own hours and plans his own itinerary. So to say that Jesus *had* to go somewhere, that gets my attention. But then when it says he had to go *through Samaria*, that takes it to another level because Jesus was a Jewish rabbi.
Jewish people hated Samaritan people. Samaritan people hated Jewish people. It was a conflict that had been brewing for centuries. This isn’t like they got mad at each other last year. You know, my team beat your team. We’re not speaking till next year. This is years and years and years and decades and centuries of racial tension, religious tension, ethnic tension between these two groups. And so most Jews, if they ever had to go from Judea to Galilee, like Jesus was about to go, would walk around Samaria.
It wasn’t the shortest route, but they would actually go out of their way because Samaria was between Judea in the south and Galilee in the north. But rather than go through Samaria and have to bump into a Samaritan, they would go around Samaria, but Jesus *had* to go through Samaria. And here’s why. Because Jesus will always move away from religious drama and toward the needs of people who are hurting. Jesus will always go out of his way to find and minister to people who others will go out of their way to avoid. And I love him for that.
I heard a story about a young lady who had lived a rough life, and most people called her worthless. She hit rock bottom to the point where she decided to go to church, even though she knew she wouldn’t fit in because she was in a small town. The only church she could think of to go to was the one she had attended growing up. She knew that everybody in that church was dressed up and pretty stuffy, and she didn’t have any church clothes, but she put on what she had and went anyway because she was that desperate.
Because life can hit you hard enough that you get to a point where you don’t care what other people think. You just need God. And so it’s like, I don’t say what you want to say, but she came to church, and her shirt was probably a little too low-cut, and her jeans were a little too tight, but she came on in anyway. And when she was leaving the church, she had enjoyed it very much. She enjoyed the singing. She enjoyed the sermon, and she went out the back door, and the pastor was standing there shaking hands.
It was just a little church, and he’d shake everybody’s hand. And when he got to her, he said, «Young lady, if you’re going to come back to this church, before you come back, you need to pray and ask God about what you should wear to this church. So before you come back, do that, if you come back.» Well, she came back the next week. She was kind of embarrassed about it, but she came back, snuck in the back, and the preacher was mortified to see her wearing the same shirt, same jeans, still too much showing.
And he said, well, this is too much. And so this time he met her at the back door a little more boldly, and he said, «Young lady, I thought I talked to you about this. I thought I told you before you come back to this church, pray and ask God about what you should wear to this church.» And she said, «Oh, I did. I did.» And he said, «You did.» And she said, «Yeah, I prayed. And I asked God what I should wear to this church.» And the preacher said, «What did God say?» And she said, «Well, God said he didn’t know what I should wear to this church because he’s never been here before.»
See, God won’t show up or stay around long in a church that’s more about keeping people out than bringing people in. And that’s what the Pharisees were so known for by this point. I’m sure their hearts had started out in the right place, but they had formed a little club where it became more about arguing about God than experiencing God and offering the presence of God to others. So Jesus said, «Y’all can talk all you want about who’s baptized and more and me and John. Y’all can debate. I’m out of here. I got to go somewhere and I got to meet with somebody. I’ve got work to do.»
Because Jesus is always moving away from religious trauma and hypocrites and moving toward the needs of hurting people. So if you’re a hurting person today, if your situation is complicated today, if your life is a little tore up today, if there are people in your life who don’t understand how you could have possibly ended up here today, I want you to know that Jesus is coming straight for you. I want you to know you’re in a church that exists so you could come and experience the presence of God.
The Divine Appointment at the Well
So I’m curious, who is so important in Samaria that Jesus would go there, Samaria, the worst place? I could just imagine Peter when Jesus said, «Come on, boys, let’s go to Samaria,» because Peter was that disciple who was always speaking before he thought, if he ever thought at all. And I relate to him. That’s why I read about him a lot, because I can learn from his mistakes, because I identify with him. But I could just see Peter now. «Wait a minute, Jesus, what area?» And Jesus said, «No, no, not some area. You like that Easter preacher humor? I said, Samaria. Yeah, we’re going to Samaria. I got something to do. I got work to do. I got an important meeting.»
Now, who is he meeting with? Who is he meeting with? Who is so important that Jesus would go to Samaria where he’s hated around people that he’s supposed to hate to have a meeting with him? There’s just one meeting, one appointment that Jesus has in Samaria. Who is it? Is it Trump? Is there a big real estate development? Is Jesus about to develop a Christian hotel so people can come, you know, a Christian amusement park? What’s Jesus about to do? Is he about to meet with Jay-Z? Is it a Christian record label? Is he about to get the word out to Palestine through the music industry? What’s Jesus going to do in Samaria?
Verse 5 tells us. «So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar near the plot of ground Jacob,» that’s an Old Testament character, one of the patriarchs, «had given to his son, Joseph, and Jacob’s well was there.» It was an important landmark for the Samaritans, but it wasn’t just a landmark. It was a functioning water well. It still is to this day. If you go to this part of the world, you can still get water from it today. «Jesus, tired as he was…» I love the fact that he was tired because it reminds me that he was fully God and fully man, so he can identify with me whatever I’m going through.
When I’m lonely, I can remember that he was lonely. When I’m tempted, I can remember he was tempted. When I’m tired, I can remember that he was tired. And as tired as he was from the journey, he sat down by the well. Well, it was about noon. We’ll come back to that detail about the time of day later because it’s not insignificant. Everything in the Bible is in there for purpose. But he sat down by the well. Do y’all mind if I be like Jesus for a minute? I’ve been preaching. This is like the sixth time or so that I’ve preached this message. And I’m going to just sit down and talk to you for a minute.
He’s sitting down, waiting at a well for someone. And in the next verse, we get to see who he’s waiting for. What follows is the longest recorded conversation in all of Scripture between Jesus and somebody else in the whole Bible. And verse 7 tells us who was on the other end of that conversation. Watch this. «When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her…» Any Jewish person reading this would have been mortified by two things. She’s a woman. Most Jewish men didn’t speak very much to any women. They weren’t worth it. You don’t speak to a woman. And a Samaritan woman.
You know, we think of Samaritan… You ever heard of the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible? You ever heard of that story before about the Good Samaritan? Well, to the Jews, that was a contradiction in terminology. That’s why Jesus shared the story was to shock them. Good Samaritan, when they heard that, it’s a paradox. It’s like saying a good Nickelback song. Like, you don’t say that together. Now, here’s Jesus, and he speaks to somebody that most rabbis wouldn’t even look at. Most Jewish rabbis weren’t even permitted to look a woman in the eyes in public. And here’s Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman. How scandalous.
The Bucket vs. The Well
Jesus said to her, «Will you give me a drink?» Verse 8 says it’s because his disciples had gone into town to buy five guys. So, verse 9. Watch the woman’s attitude. She comes back. Who is this woman? What is she like? Why is she so important? Well, «The Samaritan woman said to him, 'You are a Jew.'» Watch your attitude. «And I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.» In other words, you people don’t talk to us unless you want something. Just like all men. You don’t talk until you want something. You want me to go fix you some tea? I don’t even know you. What do you want from me?
You’re going to see in a moment why she was disposed this way. Because all of her life had been about people taking from her. And when life has been like that for you, and you feel like you’ve been taken from and taken from and disappointed and disappointed and let down and let down and let down, there’s a sense in which you begin to approach God as if he’s a taker, just like everybody else. And when all you ever hear about is what God wants from you, you miss the point that anytime he asks something from you, it’s not because he needs it. He’s God. He wants something greater for you. And that’s the case here with Jesus.
Watch this verse 10. «Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink…'» You know, sometimes people get cocky if they think they’re a little famous, and they’ll say, «Do you know who I am?» Jesus is the only one who had the right to say that, and it wasn’t cocky at all. «Do you know who I am? If you only knew who you were talking to and what’s available to you in this moment, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.» «Woman, I’m not asking you for water simply because I’m thirsty. If I were that thirsty, I would hit this well with a stick and make water come out. Moses did that one time in the Old Testament. Jesus could have done a sequel, but the woman still can’t receive it.
So she goes off, verse 11, „Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.“ On the surface, she’s describing the physical well, but I wonder if at a deeper level she’s not describing herself. The well is deep, and you have nothing to draw with. Now, anytime you start a sentence when you’re talking to Jesus with this phrase, „you have nothing,“ you’re wrong. They told him that later in John chapter 6. He wanted to feed these 5,000 men and women and children. And they said, „but you don’t have anything to feed them with.“ And Jesus said, just bring your fish and chips to me. I will touch it and multiply it, and everybody will go home with a doggy bag.
Because when you have Jesus, you have everything you need. But the woman didn’t know that yet, and she couldn’t see that because all she could see was the externals. You don’t have a bucket. You don’t have anything. You forgot your bucket at home, and now you want me to help you out. And the well is deep. In fact, to this day, it’s 75 feet deep, even after all the debris that has fallen into the well over the years. It was even deeper then, but she was looking at the bucket. Give me my bucket real quick. Give me my bucket.
This woman came to the well at noon. Oh, I said I would tell you about noon. I want to tell you right now. She came at noon because she didn’t want to be bothered by anybody. Nobody went to the well at noon. Do you know how hot it was at Jacob’s well? You go before the sun comes up, or you go after the sun is going down, but you don’t go at noon. That’s the time where it’s the most crowded, is at dusk or at dawn, but at noon you can go and not be bothered. So this woman, I kind of feel for her, because she went out in the heat of the day so she wouldn’t have to see anybody, and then she meets her maker and doesn’t even know it. Surprise! You have an appointment with God.
Just like how some of y’all snuck into church today, and you came to this church because it’s big enough that you can check it off the list and sneak out, and nobody will know you were even here. Oh yeah, I know these things. And so she comes to the well with her bucket, just doing her daily thing, not looking for a God encounter, not looking to worship anybody, not looking to have her life touched, not looking to have her life changed. And here’s this joker with his legs crossed on a well, talking about, I’ve got better water to give you.
And so she’s looking at the guy, trying to figure out how are you going to give me water without a bucket? Look at verse 12. By now she’s got her hand on her hip. „Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?“ And Jesus is thinking, I know he is. I actually made Jacob. It’s funny you should ask. But he answers her, „Listen, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. Everyone who comes to this well, it’ll satisfy you for a minute. Everyone who drinks from this, this bucket you’re putting down in that well, it’ll only last so long.
But, verse 14, whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them.“ Ah, see the synergy? Colossians 1:27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus says, „You’re so focused on what’s around you that you’re missing what I want to do in you. All you can see is the bucket, but woman, it’s not about the bucket. I want to do something within you that will become a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.“ She came to a well with a bucket. While she was there, she met a well who didn’t need a bucket.
See, I wish Jesus would have told this woman, „Woman, you don’t need a bucket when you are the well.“ She came to a well and she met a well. I absolutely love the Bible. How genius is Jesus? He’s using the well as a prop. He’s not just taking a water break. He came here on purpose. Who is this woman? So important, so important to God in the flesh that he waited on her. Who in the world are you? And who am I that God would wait on us while we run around trying to get better buckets? Maybe if I get a better bucket, I’m not satisfied. I’m not happy. I’m not peaceful. Maybe if I get a better bucket.
Maybe if I get a better man. Maybe if I got a new wife. All you married men need to look real confused right now like you have no idea what I’m talking about. Bring out my buckets. I’ve got more buckets just so you can kind of visualize what I’m talking about. All the woman can see is the bucket. The external thing. Like the thing that’s right here. Oh, maybe here. Maybe if I got a new boyfriend would that bucket work? Will you make me happy? Will you love me? If I have sex with you then will I feel loved? Then will I feel accepted? Maybe if I clean up my life a little bit. Maybe then if I get this bucket.
If I get that bucket if I can clean up my life if I can be a little better I’ll be a little better. I’ll make some resolutions. I’ll do better. I’ll be on timer. Oh, I know what I need. I know what I need. I need a bigger bucket. I need a bigger bucket. I need a bigger house. I need bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, more, more. There’s this bigger bucket but I’m still not full. I got a bigger bucket. I like big buckets and I cannot lie but it’s still not working. Maybe I’ll just live it up. Maybe this bucket. Maybe this bucket. I know I probably shouldn’t be holding it on Easter but I’m trying to get a point across. It’s the pleasure bucket. This bucket. This bucket.
Oh, maybe I’ll downsize my bucket. Maybe my bucket’s too big. Oh, that doesn’t work. I’m going to eat some chicken. It’s a big bucket. I need a bigger bucket. Maybe I had a different bucket, a different style of bucket. Maybe if I color it, maybe if I cut it, maybe if I tuck the bucket, maybe if I tan the bucket. And Jesus says, „It’s not the bucket.“ How many buckets will you go through before you realize that the reason you’re not satisfied is not because you’ve got the wrong bucket. It’s because you’re standing at the wrong well. I’m the real well. He sits by a well so he can give this woman a product comparison.
Listen, you remember those commercials? „I’m a PC. I’m a Mac.“ And they would put them side by side, and the Mac would make fun of the PC. It can’t do what I can do. It can’t bring what I can do. Jesus is saying, „I’m a Mac woman. You’ve been to Jacob’s well, and you’re still thirsty. Why don’t you try this Jesus well?“ And the woman said to him, verse 15, „Sir, give me this water.“ Ah, she finally gets it. Not quite. „So that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.“ She’s still thinking about the bucket. Oh, so you’ve got magic water. Yeah, let me get some of that. I’ll take one. Show me where it is.
The Turning Point: Exposing the Real Need
And I guess Jesus finally gets fed up with her. And he decides, we’ve gone round and round about this long enough, because Jesus will try to show you something, but then if you don’t listen, he’ll go deeper and deeper and deeper until he finally strikes that part in you that you’ve been trying to hide. And so he told her, verse 16, „Go, go, call your husband and come back.“ On the surface, this sounds like a nice invitation. You know, I want to meet Bob. But you’re about to see this woman’s situation, as I told you, is complicated.
And so she tells him in verse 17, the truth, but not the whole truth. „I have no husband,“ she replied. Right. And Jesus said to her, „You’re right. You got that right. When you say you have no husband, stop right there for a minute.“ She’s thinking, boy, I dodged a bullet on this one. That’s why I came out here at noon. I don’t want to have to talk about this. Thank goodness he doesn’t know. But as you’re about to see in just a moment, in verse 18, he goes to that place that she would have wanted to hide.
And he speaks about those things that she would have wanted to forget in order that he might surface her real need. He doesn’t give her what she hoped for, water from Jacob’s well, so that he can give her what she really needs. Water within herself. Sometimes God will bypass what you hope for to give you what you really need. Before I show you verse 18, let me tell you this real quick. They said there was a woman one time who, on her wedding cake, she wanted 1 John 4:18, which was her favorite Bible verse, which says, „There is no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear.“
Favorite verse you want on her wedding cake. And the week of the wedding, the baker called and said, are you sure this is the verse you want on your wedding cake? She said, I’m sure it’s my favorite verse. I prayed about it. And so they were mortified on the wedding day when the cake arrived. And instead of 1 John 4:18, which is one book of the Bible, they had accidentally heard and put on the cake John 4:18. And here’s John 4:18. „The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.“
Come on, let’s give it up for Jesus. He doesn’t let this woman just sneak in and out of the well. Now, he’ll do this to you. He’ll stay after you. Some of you, God’s been pursuing you through all kinds of nonsense, all kinds of foolishness, and he will call out that very place in your life that you don’t want anybody else to see. He will call out that very place in your life where you don’t let anybody else go. But he goes there, because he’s got an all-access pass, and he sits down by this well, and he says, your issue is you’ve been drilling all the wrong Wells in all the wrong places, and you’re still thirsty.
Five husbands shacking with number six. I know about your friend with benefits. And I know that after all this, you’re still not satisfied. And you know what God knows about some of you today in our church? You’re still not satisfied. Religious, but still not satisfied. Popular, but still not satisfied. Making good money is still not satisfied. Still, why aren’t you satisfied? Jesus says you’re drilling in the wrong place. You’re trying to find it out there. We can even do this with religion. Try to find it out there. We make God a proposition. That’s what the woman does.
True Worshipers and Leaving the Bucket
Verse 19, she says, „Sir.“ Instant classic. „I can see that you are a prophet or a stalker. I haven’t figured out which. But let me ask you a question. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.“ What’s she doing? She’s deflecting. It’s gotten too personal. This man at the well is speaking about stuff that she doesn’t want to talk about, so she moves the argument out here. This is what we do with God. Which one is it? Baptist or Episcopalian or Methodist or Catholic or you stand or do you kneel or do you sing?
Jesus said, verse 21, „Woman.“ I love how we never know her name. It allows us all to be this woman. The longest conversation in the whole Bible between Jesus and someone, and we never even get her name. We just call her the woman at the well. When I was telling my friends what I was preaching on this week, I said, I’m going to preach on the woman at the well. We can’t even call her Martha. We can’t even call her by her name. What if people talked about you that way? What if they just called you… She’s a woman at the well. This is weird. You marry at Target because you go there every Tuesday. The woman at the well.
But the purpose of this story is not that we would know the woman’s name and that we would know who she was, but that she would know and we would see through her eyes who Jesus is. „Woman.“ I used to think he yelled it, „woman,“ but now I think he spoke it in tender tones. „Believe me…“ Oh, he’s still sitting down. „A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.“ Jesus said, „I’ve heard every religious argument and all of your denominations are wrong. You’re all wrong. All of you are just guessing. Trust me, I’ve been to heaven. You’re all going to be a little surprised when you get there about who gets in and who doesn’t.“
„You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet,“ there’s a very famous verse. „A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.“ God says, „I’ve had it with your pretend religion. I’ve had it with you just coming to church just to get something off of your list. I’ve had it with you pretending like you know me and honoring me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. I want to come in. Christ in you. I want to come in. I want to come into every area of your life.“
„I want to be the center of your priorities. I want a real worshiper, a true worshiper who will worship me in spirit and in truth. I don’t need you to be perfect. I don’t need you to have all the answers. I need you to be honest. I need you to admit your need for me. I need you to open up your heart. I need you to let me in. I need you to stop running. I need you to stop running to other men and other women and other things and other systems trying to be satisfied. Yet a time is coming and has now come, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father sees.“ Hmm. I thought we were supposed to seek God, but it turns out he’s the one seeking us. He came to the well for you. For you.
The CEO of the universe came down to earth. He *had* to come to earth for you. „God is spirit,“ verse 24, „and his worshipers must worship in the spirit and in truth.“ The woman said, „I know that Messiah,“ she’s still holding her bucket, „called Christ is coming.“ This is hilarious. The Bible is so interesting. Some people say the Bible is boring. No, the Bible isn’t boring. You’re boring and you’re not reading it right. The Bible is hilarious. „I know he is coming“ because we always want to put our relationship with God out in the future when we get our act together. „I know he is coming. And when he comes, he will explain everything to us.“
Jesus. He declared, „I, the one speaking to you, I am he.“ I’m the one. God’s saying to somebody today, „I’m the one. I’m the well. I’m the one you’ve been looking for. I’m the one. You’ve been spending your whole life trying to find, but you didn’t know where to look. I’m the one. What your five other husbands couldn’t give you, I can give you. I’m the one. What a lifetime of pursuing pleasure could never do in your soul, I can do. I’m the one. The peace that you couldn’t get, no matter how much money you pile up, I can give it. I’m the one. I am peace. I am life. I am joy. When you get me, you get everything you need. I am the one. I am. I am. I am he, and I am here, and I am now, and I am willing, if you will just believe. I’m the one.“
„Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman, but no one asked, 'What do you want, ' or 'Why are you talking with her? '“ They knew Jesus works in mysterious ways. Then, key verse in the story, „leaving her water jar.“ I love it. Who she met at the well became much more important than what she came to get from the well. She left her water jar and she went back to the town and said to the people, the same people that she had tried to avoid by going to the well at noon, she went back to get them, and she said, „Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.“
He opened my heart. He exposed it. „Could this be the Messiah?“ She’s not certain about everything yet. She hasn’t fixed her life. She hasn’t had time to correct her behaviors. But she has enough faith to take that first step and leave that bucket. And a strange thing happens in verse 30 because sometimes God will use the most unlikely people to reach others. So don’t ever think God can’t use your life or your kid’s life, no matter how far gone it seems. And in verse 30, it says that these people, they came out of the town and made their way toward Jesus. They followed this woman to meet the one that she had met.
From Meeting the Well to Becoming a Well
She came to a well. She met a well, but this is my favorite part. She became a well. That’s why she didn’t need her bucket anymore. Now she’s carrying water. And once God’s grace flows to you, then it can flow through you. And she wasn’t ashamed to tell everybody, „I met a man. I know I’ve done some stuff, but I met a man. I know I need a lot of help in my life, and I’ve got to make some progress, but for now, I just want you to come see. I met a man. I’ve been to the well.“
Now I know why Jesus had to go through Samaria and sit down by a well. He didn’t go to sit down by a well. He came to Samaria to dig a well in this woman’s heart. That’s why he had to come to earth, and that’s why they had to pierce him in his side, and the water and the blood flowed, because he had to dig a well for us to be cleansed and forgiven. That’s why God had to bury him in the ground. That’s why God dug out a grave to bury his own son in the ground for three days, because God was digging a well. Because when he came up from the ground He stood down in resurrection power and was glorified in heaven. He sent down his spirit to come live in us. God was digging a well.
That’s why you and I have to go through some things in our lives. That’s why sometimes we have to be disappointed and hurt, and that’s why sometimes people have to walk away, and that’s why sometimes we can’t make sense of everything because in those times God is digging a well. He said, „I’m more interested in what I’m doing within you than what’s happening around you. I want to dig a well in your life. You’re not alone. I’m the man who knows everything you’ve done, and I saw you in the first marriage and the second marriage. I saw you on that road, and I’ve met you, and I’ve been waiting for you, and I want you to drink from this well.“
Your Response: The Invitation to the Well
Let’s pray together at all of our locations. Heads bowed, eyes closed. No one moving around. Lord, I’ve preached the message that I believe you put on my heart to the best of my ability. I pray that now, by the power of your Spirit within, that people would respond in obedience to what you’ve spoken. With our heads bowed and our eyes closed, I know that this message today was for everyone, but it was also for a particular person who has been digging all the wrong Wells. Listen, today, God is inviting you to receive the salvation that only Jesus Christ can bring.
If that’s you today, and you’re ready to experience this new beginning that only Jesus can offer here on Easter and have Christ in you, the hope of glory. Maybe you’ve believed in him, and maybe at one time you were living for him, but to be found in him and to have him in you is the only hope that is worth having. So today, if God brought you here to hear this message, and it’s your moment to give your life over to God, and God is speaking to you, Jesus is standing, saying, „I’m the one. I’m right here. It’s me. I’ve loved you your whole life, and I’ve followed you here, and I want to come in now and take complete control.“
If that’s you, I’d like to pray with you now. We’re all going to pray out loud as a church family at all of our locations for the benefit of those who are praying this prayer, either for the first time or coming back to God. Let’s pray together out loud, church family. There’s nothing magical about the prayer, but faith is the access point by which we receive God’s grace. Praying together, everybody repeat after me. „Heavenly Father, I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe he died on a cross to forgive my sin. I believe he rose from the dead to give me life. I give you my life. I turn from my sin. Save me, Jesus Christ. I call on your name. I will follow you all the days of my life.“
Everybody looking this way, if you just prayed that prayer with me, when I count to three in a moment, I would like you to stand to your feet. Campus pastors, you can join your congregation now on your stages. And when I say three at all of our locations, I would like you to stand. If you just prayed that prayer, whether you are coming back to God or coming to God, be like this woman who wasn’t ashamed to declare what God had done in her life. Make a public profession of your faith today and say, today I’m calling on the name of Jesus and I’m believing on him as my savior.
If you’ll stand on the count of three, we’ll nail this down and make a declaration to the devil that this is a new beginning in your life. Don’t be ashamed or afraid or hesitant. On three, please stand to your feet and remain standing. We have a gift for you on the count of three. One, two, three. Please stand now. Come on, everyone. Let’s celebrate. Absolutely amazing. You can still stand. Stay standing. Another gift for you. Stay standing. Come on, church. Help me celebrate the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, sir, in the back. God bless you. Come on, help me praise God. Don’t stop clapping. Let’s celebrate a new life, new hope, new beginnings. Our God makes all things new. Come on, stand to your feet all over this church. Help me celebrate the amazing grace of our God, a God who came for you. Be glorified! Be glorified! Be glorified! Thank you, Jesus! Jesus is over.