Making Jesus known

So if you could open your Bibles to John 4, verse 1.

John 4:1

Now, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John,

although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples,

he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

And he had to pass through Samaria.

So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there.

So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.

It was about the sixth hour.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water.

Jesus said to her,

Give me a drink.

For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

The Samaritan woman said to him,

How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman from Samaria?

For Jews have no dealings 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 nothing to draw water with and the well is deep.

Where do you get that living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob?

He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.

Jesus said to her,

Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.

The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

The woman said to him,

Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.

Jesus said to her,

Go call your husband and come here.

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 now have is not your husband.

What you have said is true.

The woman said to him,

Sir, I perceive that you're a prophet.

Our fathers worshipped on this mountain,

but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

Jesus said to her,

Woman,

Woman, believe me,

the hour is coming

when neither on this mountain

nor in Jerusalem

will you worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know,

for salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour is coming,

but the hour is coming,

and is now here,

when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

For the Father is seeking such people 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,

he is who is called Christ.

When he comes,

he will tell us all things.

Jesus said to her,

I who speak to you

am he.

Just then,

his disciples came back.

They marveled that he was talking with a woman,

but no one said,

What do you seek?

Or,

Why are you talking with her?

So,

the woman left her water jar

and went away into town

and said to the people,

Come see a man who told me all that I ever did.

Can this be the Christ?

They went out of the town

and were coming to him.

Meanwhile,

the disciples were urging him,

saying,

Rabbi,

eat.

But he said to them,

I have food to eat

that you do not know about.

So,

the disciples said to one another,

Has anyone brought him something to eat?

Jesus said to them,

My food is to do the will of him who sent me

and to accomplish his work.

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.

Already the one who reaps

is receiving wages

and gathering fruit for eternal life,

so that the sower and reaper

may rejoice together.

For here the saying holds true,

one sows and another reaps.

I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor.

Others have labored

and you have entered into their labor.

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him

because of the woman's testimony.

He told me all that I ever did.

So when the Samaritans came to him,

they asked him to stay with them

and he stayed there two days

and many more believed because of his word.

They said to the woman,

It's no longer because what you said that we believe,

for we have heard for ourselves

and we know that this is indeed the saviour of the world.

It's so good to see you all here today.

If you're into football,

I hope somewhat you've recovered

from the big weekend yesterday.

Yeah.

And thank you to the elders

for giving me the opportunity

to share God's worth with you all today again.

And before we dive in the hood,

why don't we pray together?

Thank you.

Let's bow our heads and pray.

Oh, Heavenly Father,

we have a heart that is so prone to wonder.

And our faith,

sometimes it just goes cold.

So I ask that you would encourage us,

that you may convict us,

may comfort us,

and correct us where needed.

Lord, we're so powerless,

yet you're so good and so faithful.

Lord, please help us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Yeah, so for the past eight weeks,

we as a church have been going through the book of John

and getting to know Jesus.

And today, I would like to share with you all

something that I myself struggle a lot,

and I believe some of us also do,

and that is making Jesus known.

It's not easy.

It was never easy for me.

And I hope today's passage

and also the stuff that I'm going to share

may help us.

Yeah, so our passage today is from John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

It would be great if you can keep your Bibles opened

and follow along.

And I'm going to share two main points.

Thank you.

Yeah, first point, why make Jesus known?

And second, how should we make Jesus known?

So the first is, why make Jesus known?

Well, from God's perspective,

it is mission critical.

It's mission critical.

How do you know when something is so mission critical

to somebody?

Well, you can tell by their words,

and you can also see from their actions.

For example, how determined one is

in pushing barriers to achieve their goal,

or how willing one is to sacrifice

pretty much everything

in order to achieve something.

If you look at Nelson Mandela,

it's not happening, this thing.

His mission was to bring democracy

and freedom to South Africa.

Any South Africans here?

No?

Well, we'll pray for some.

Yeah.

A major sacrifice that he has to make

is what you see in the picture.

He was in prison for 27 years.

But that never stopped him

to fight.

To fight against the apartheid

that ruined so many lives.

Upon his release,

he kept working towards his mission.

And despite intense personal,

political, and racial barriers,

he finally became

South Africa's first black president.

Through his determination

and his sacrifices,

we can see

what was critical

to Nelson Mandela.

In the same way,

we can see that

making Jesus known

is mission critical to God.

John 4, verse 3 and 4 says,

John 4:3

He, Jesus,

left Judea

and departed again

for Galilee.

And he had to,

he had to

pass through Samaria.

If we look at this map,

Oh yeah, it's happening.

It shows us

how to get from Judea

to Galilee.

You see from the arrows,

there are two ways.

One is longer

and the other is shorter.

It's obvious

that Jesus

did not have to

go through Samaria.

There are two ways.

So why did John say

that Jesus

have to

go through Samaria?

That is because

Jesus insisted on it.

He was determined

to go there

to make himself known

despite

all the significant

barriers

that he had to face.

What barrier?

Well,

the first one

is racial.

Samaritans

came from

the northern kingdom

Israelites

who married

a bunch of foreigners

that the Assyrian kings

basically assigned

to go live there.

So the Jews,

well,

to the Jews,

Samaritans

are unclean

half-breds.

Second

is religious barrier.

Samaritans

are religious

rivals to the Jews.

This is because

Samaritans

recognized only

five books

of the entire

Old Testament,

the books of Moses,

and they discarded

the rest of the 34.

They built

their own temple,

didn't want to go

to Jerusalem

to worship,

and they worship

other gods too.

The third

is a social barrier.

Samaria.

Basically,

if you're a criminal

and you want to

dodge all your penalty

like parking fines

or whatever,

you run to Samaria.

And then they will

welcome you

and they will

take care of you.

To us,

these things are like

no big deal,

you know,

whatever.

But to the Jews,

the Samaritans

are like parasites.

And Samaria

is like a quarantine

hotel during COVID.

They absolutely

hated their guts.

That's why

the Samaritan woman

was so shocked,

you know,

that Jesus

would ask her

for water.

No Jews

would ever go there

and have any contacts

with any of them

except for criminals.

All Jews

would rather go

the long way

around

to go from

Judea in the south

to Galilee in the north.

But because

Jesus

or making

Jesus known

is so critical

to God's mission,

God was

Jesus who

determined to push

through all the barriers

to go there.

Beside pushing

through barriers,

Jesus also

made significant

sacrifices

to other priorities

that he has.

We can see that

in verses 5 to 7.

After a long

and tiring hike,

you know,

Jesus' disciples

had all went

in the city

to get fed.

But what does

Jesus do?

He chooses

to miss out.

We are talking

about the creator

of the universe here.

Before he became

human,

he was all-sufficient.

He was never hungry,

never thirsty,

never needed anything.

But here,

look at him.

He's tired

and he's hungry

and he's thirsty.

And not only that,

he had to cast aside

his divine dignity

and go up to

the idol-worshipping woman

and beg for water.

If I asked you

to go to a slum

in India

and beg for water,

would you do it?

You may,

if something

is so important

for you

that makes you

need to do it.

And so,

we can see here

that making himself

known

is really

mission critical

to Jesus.

Jesus says

in verse 34,

My food

is to do

the will of him

who sent me

to accomplish

his work.

Making himself

known

according to the

will of God the Father

is food to Jesus.

It's a matter

of life

and death.

If we sing

of loving Jesus

or seeking

to love God

with all our

hearts and soul

and mind,

whatever is

important

or critical

to Jesus

should also

be of critical

importance

to us.

Why make

Jesus known?

First reason,

God's perspective.

It is mission

critical to him.

Now,

let's look at

the second reason

from a human

perspective.

People need

the Lord.

people need

the Lord.

According to

science,

our greatest

need

is water

because 60%

of our body

is water,

right,

Catherine?

Yeah.

We can last

three weeks

without fruit

but three days

tops if we

don't have water.

But to Jesus,

what we really

need is

living water

because without

living water,

what happens?

We're all

stuck in the

inner thirst

which is

unquenchable

and that

is lifelong.

Always longing

for something

but never

getting enough.

The poor

Samaritan woman

in our story

is a case

in point.

Jesus says

in verse 17,

he already

had five

husbands

but she

still,

she wants

another one,

a de facto

one.

God knows

what's happened

to all of them

but she

needed more

and despite

the shame

that she'll

be copying

from her

community

by having

this sixth

one.

And how

about the

wisest

and richest

man the

world has

never known?

Was he

not the

same?

I'm not

talking about

Elon Musk

here.

It's

King Solomon.

First

King

11.3

says

he has

700

wives.

700

and that's

still not

enough.

You know,

while some

of us

are struggling

with one,

he had

300,

another 300

concubines.

That's

a thousand.

I don't

know how

he does

it.

The

inner

thirst

in a

human

soul

is

indeed

unquenchable

and

you know,

we all

have our

own ways

of expressing

it,

don't we?

You know,

doom

scrolling,

binge

watching,

you know,

the young

guys are

like,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah.

You know,

Netflix,

you know,

it's unending,

right?

And then,

you know,

you have

online gaming,

online shopping,

church hopping,

you name it.

Nothing

is ever

enough.

So what

does Jesus

do?

He offers

the Samaritan

and indeed

the rest

of the world

living water.

Verse 14

says this,

only

this water

would quench

our thirst

for life

and also

beyond.

So what

is this

living water

and how

does it

quench

our thirst?

In short,

living water

is the

Holy Spirit.

John chapter

John 7 · chapter mention

7 tells us,

right?

Jesus

explains it.

Jesus

takes a local

term,

living water,

it's usually

used to

actually describe

clean flowing

water.

It's a common

term.

And living

and clean

water is

still humanity's

greatest need.

So he uses

that term

to help people

understand the

nature of the

Holy Spirit

so people can

relate to him.

We need him

like we need

clean water

water.

In order to

understand how

the Holy Spirit

quenches our

inner thirst,

we must first

look at where

the problem

came from.

When Adam

and Eve

ignored God's

warning and

took the fruit

of the knowledge

of good and

evil,

they did not

just break a

rule.

They broke

God's heart

and also

broke their

intimate

relationship

with God.

Since then,

as a race,

we have been

really suffering

from anxiety

problem.

Separation

anxiety.

Separated from

our source

of endless

joy.

Separated from

the one,

the love of

our life.

We separate it

from the one

we are made

for.

And this

separation is

sometimes called

spiritual death.

Have you heard

that quite a lot

of people,

they got dogs

during the

COVID lockdown?

Anyone heard

of that?

Everyone's like

cat and dog

and everything.

Well,

when the

people,

when the

lockdown is

over,

people go

back to

their normal

lives,

go out

and shop

again and

go back

to work

in person.

You know

what happened

to their

dogs?

They went

crazy.

Right?

They started

chewing up

half the

place.

Why?

Because they

suffered,

according to

the vets,

separation

anxiety

problems.

guys,

that's

us.

To

cure us,

God let

us drink

the Holy

Spirit.

Instead of

being separated

from us,

now He

puts Himself,

His own

presence,

into us.

In that

way,

we can

become less

anxious

inside,

because the

Spirit enables

us to

experience God's

love again,

and His

presence

progressively

quenches

our inner

thirst,

too.

It might

not happen

overnight,

but it

does happen.

People

need the

Lord.

The thirst

of this

life is

one need,

but there's

also another.

The Bible

says that

human also

faces the

thirst of

Hades,

which some

people call

hell.

In Luke

16,

Jesus told

a story

of Lazarus,

a poor

guy,

and a

rich man.

They both

died,

and the

poor guy,

well,

Lazarus,

went to be

with Abraham

in paradise,

and the

rich man

went down

to Hades.

There,

Jesus described

Hades as

a place of

unrelenting

torment,

with burning

flames and

thirsty

tongues.

Why thirst?

Why is

thirst in

hell?

Is there

lack of

water?

2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians 1:9

chapter 1,

verse 9,

Paul says,

it is because

the presence

of the Lord

is not

there.

Where the

Lord is

not,

we first.

And that

would have

been us

if nobody

had made

Jesus known

to us.

People

need the

Lord.

One of the

things Jesus

said on the

cross was,

I thirst,

right?

is in

John chapter

John 19 · chapter mention

19.

Have you

ever wondered

why?

It is because

perhaps that

he who had

no sin

became sin

for us.

So on the

cross,

he lost the

Father's

presence and

endured the

agony of

hell that

we all

deserved.

God's

God's

thirst.

And as Sam

said and

quoted,

his soul

thirsted for

the living

God.

Jesus' thirst

on the

cross was

the fulfillment

of Psalm

42.

This thirst

is something

that Jesus

had never

experienced

before,

in eternity

past,

until the

cross.

he suffered

the fire

of hell

so that

our thirst

can be

quenched

and we

can have

God's

presence

in our

lives

now and

forever.

If you

see a

video of

someone

injured,

lying by

the side

of the

road,

and then

you see

all these

cars,

you know,

slowing down,

taking a

look,

and then

driving off,

what would

you do?

You'd be

totally judging

those people

in those

cars,

right?

You'd say,

what on earth?

Why don't you

get out and

help them?

You'd be

disgusted.

People are

dying without

Jesus right

before our

eyes.

Right before

our eyes.

Why wouldn't

we go nuts

to share

about Jesus?

Making

Jesus known

is critical

to God's

mission,

and we

must make

him known

because people

need the

Lord.

God.

That's

our first

point.

Now,

let's move

on to the

second.

There are

so many

ways to

make Jesus

known,

isn't there?

But some

are more

effective than

others.

In today's

stories,

we see that

this Samaritan

woman was

super effective

in making

Jesus known.

Even though

she had a

bad reputation,

she's never

been to church,

never been to

Bible college,

never had

Sunday school

or Bible

studies,

verse 39

says,

many people

went to

Jesus and

turned to

him because

of her

testimony.

So perhaps

we should

really humbly

learn from

this lady

how to

make Jesus

known.

First,

we should

present

Jesus

worshipfully.

You can

follow in

the bulletin

if you want

to fill in

the blanks.

Look with

me at

verse 25.

Oh,

actually,

I didn't put

it there.

Yep,

it's in

your Bible.

Verse 25.

The woman

said to

him,

I know

that the

Messiah is

coming,

who he

is called

Christ.

When he

comes,

he will

tell us

all things.

Jesus said

to her,

I who

speak to

you,

am he.

Then,

speaking to

verse 28,

the woman

left the

water

jar

and

went

away

into

the

town

and

said

to

the

people,

come see

a man

who told

me all

that I

ever did.

Can

this be

the

Christ?

They

went out of

the town

and they

were coming

to him.

The way

this woman

made Jesus

known

was spot

on,

I think,

because she

simply presented

Jesus and

let the main

thing be the

main thing.

all she

mentioned was

what Jesus

has done.

He told me

all that I

ever did.

And she

asked a

question,

which in

the original

text goes

something like,

this could

not be the

Christ,

could it?

It was a

humble

invitation to

explore Jesus

together.

No gimmicks,

no pressure,

no lectures,

no downloads.

Her

tweet,

you know,

or one-liner

was enough

to have a

big crowd

running to

Jesus.

It was not

like what

she knew,

she knew a

lot,

you know,

that helped

turn Jesus,

draw people

to Jesus.

It was what

she didn't

know that

helped people

to go find

Jesus.

To present

the good

news of

Jesus,

there are

only really

two points

that are

truly essential.

Who he

is and

then what

he has

done.

That's what

the Samaritan

women did

too.

The rest

are all

non-essentials.

Let me

share two

examples

of these

two

non-essential

topics

that have

become

popular for

a while

but not

always helpful

in presenting

Jesus.

First

example is

creationism.

Some gospel

tracks,

which I

loved,

like Two

Ways to

Live,

and I've

used that

a lot.

It uses

creation as

the first

point to

introduce

people to

Jesus.

But you

can really

get stuck

on that

point

alone.

You know

two ways

to live

really takes

ten minutes

to complete.

I've spent

one hour

on the

first point

on creation

alone.

Why?

Because people

in our

generation,

that's the

past 80

years,

exclude

Don maybe,

grew up

with Darwinism,

the theory

of evolution,

which by the

way had been

rejected by

over a

thousand

PhD biologists

for over

20 years.

But most

people don't

know that.

They think

that the

theory of

evolution is

truth.

It's like

one plus

one equals

two to

them.

So they

would fight

you to

the end.

Winning a

debate on

creationism

almost never

wins people

to Christ.

Beside,

Muslims also

believe in

creationism,

right?

And it

doesn't mean

they would

believe in

Jesus,

not all

of them.

So we

can point

people to

Jesus first

and then

let Jesus

correct their

understanding of

creation over

time.

In his

perfect timing,

we can be

patient.

It is their

faith that

will drive

them to

seek

understanding,

not the

opposite.

Another

example of

non-essential

topics that's

becoming

unhelpful in

in presenting

Jesus is

heaven and

hell.

Heaven and

hell.

Non-Christians

used to

believe in

heaven and

hell because

it was part

of people's

upbringing,

part of the

culture,

part of the

stories that

they grew up

with.

So it was

useful to

include in

the gospel

presentation

heaven and

hell.

But studies

have shown that

it's no longer

the case.

our generation

thinks that

heaven and

hell is

just like

superstition.

It's a

myth.

The younger

generation would

rather believe in

the multiverse,

you know,

parallel universe,

right?

You know,

there are many

worlds and

many earths,

yeah?

You know,

why is that the

case?

Well,

they grew up

with it.

You know,

that's the stuff

they grew up

with, you know,

Spider-Man,

you know,

Avengers,

the flesh,

right?

Yeah,

that's what they

want to believe.

They don't

believe in

heaven and

hell.

Well,

the apostles

in the Bible

don't seem to

see heaven and

hell as an

essential point

when they

present Jesus

as well.

So let's

keep the

main thing

the main

thing.

And by the

way,

you cannot

prove heaven

and hell

actually exist.

It says in

the Bible,

but you can't

really prove it.

What you can

really prove

is that Jesus

actually died on

the cross

and rose again.

That is

historically

undeniable

fact that

you can

prove.

People

nowadays

find all

the isms

in Christianity

offensive.

Like, you

know,

Calvinism and

all the isms,

right?

Young people

nodding,

yeah,

I like that,

thank you.

But surveys

have shown that

people are

actually quite

positive about

Jesus himself.

They just

don't know

how Jesus

is different

to other

religious leaders

or how

he's relevant

to their

lives.

We should

leverage

this positive

attitude

towards Jesus

and learn

from this

Samaritan woman.

Humbly

present Jesus

and invite

people to

explore him

together.

We can say,

I don't know

everything about

Jesus,

but I can

hear some

people say

that he's

pretty amazing.

How about

we find out

together?

Right?

Explore him.

Meet Jesus.

This approach

that's as

old as the

Bible may

not be as

efficient as

thumping the

gospel onto

someone with

four to six

Bible verses,

but it can

be more

than effective

than you

think.

Besides

content,

I also want

to share

something about

the attitude

we need

when presenting

Jesus.

Worshipful

might be a

helpful adjective

here because

as Jesus

says in

verse 23,

the true

worshippers

will worship

the Father

in spirit

and truth,

for the

Father is

seeking such

people to

worship him.

So what is

worship?

What's

worship?

Is it just

singing a few

songs and

listening to

a sermon

and pray?

Well,

let's say

one day you

went to this

op shop,

okay?

You got a

painting that

you like for

20 bucks.

Something like

this.

Looks like a

bunch of

people working

in the

Hunter Valley

in the

vineyard.

Yeah.

So when

you got

home,

right,

you realize

it doesn't

go well

with your

furniture

and your

wall color

and all

that,

so you

stuck it

in your

bathroom

wall,

right?

Like,

you know,

it's empty

there,

put it

there.

A couple

of months

went by

and one

of your

cousins

came and

visited

your house.

After

dinner,

you know,

got a bit

full,

had to use

the bathroom.

He goes

in there

and he

comes in,

comes out,

basically kicking

and screaming.

Apparently,

she's an

art auctioneer

and this

painting,

she says,

is by who?

Van Gogh,

right?

You guys

know your

art,

I should

have done

better.

It's worth

over $100

million.

It's going

to pay

off your

mortgage and

pay off

everything else

for the rest

of your

life.

But you

have no

idea how

to take

care of

this thing.

It's too

valuable and

there's mold

growing on

it.

It's in the

bathroom.

So your

cousin got

you connected

with some

art restoration

expert,

get the

mold off,

get all

your environment

set up,

climate control

throughout the

whole house,

and have

security in

place,

you get

insurers,

you've spent

tens of

thousands of

dollars,

right?

And then,

most importantly,

you took the

painting outside

your bathroom,

you're stuck in

your living room,

you change all

your furniture,

you repainted

the house to

go with this

painting,

right?

Yeah, and it's

like a full-time

job looking after

this thing.

But you love

it.

You stop

watching TV,

you know why?

Because you're

staring at this

thing all the

time.

You're so happy

with it.

Everything else

can wait

because it

is so

important to

you.

And this,

my friend,

is worship.

That's worship.

Worship in

English, and you

know English

better than me,

the word comes

from worth and

then ship.

It's like

fellowship,

friendship,

worth,

ship.

That's where

the word came

from.

It's worship.

It's expressing

worth.

Whether you're

Christian or not,

everybody does

it.

You know,

we express

worth of what

is or who

is most

important to

us.

That's the

attitude we

need when

presenting Jesus.

We do it

because of

His infinite

worth.

We do it

because He's

worth me

rearranging the

whole life,

all of our

life, and

spending all

that we have,

energy,

money,

time,

whatever,

in order to

present Him

and make

Him known.

And isn't

that what we

saw in the

passage today

as well?

Look at

verse 28.

The woman

at the

well was

supposed to

get water.

What did

He do?

He left

her water

jar in

order to

go make

Jesus known.

What's she

going to

drink or

cook with

or clean

with for

the rest

of the

day?

She can't

just turn a

tap on and

have water

coming in,

you know.

She needs

water.

We don't

know how

the rest

of the

day went

for her,

but she

probably

didn't

care.

What we

know is

that she

is worshipping.

She is

worshipping.

She is

becoming the

kind of

worshipper

that God

seeks.

In his

book,

Our Guilty

Silence,

John Stott

says that

worship

involves

witness,

and witness

involves

worship.

You cannot

divorce the

two.

And I

quote,

Worship

that is

pleasing to

God will

inevitably

send us

out to

bear witness

of the

name we

have sought

to honour.

He also

wrote,

and I

quote,

that worship

which does

not beget

mission is

hypocrisy.

How should

we make

Jesus known?

First,

we need to

present Jesus

worshipfully.

second,

we should

also pray

for his

presence

intentionally.

This point

is about

making Jesus

known in a

big way.

In John 4,

a spiritual

awakening

appears to

have happened

or taken

place.

Some people

call it a

revival.

It began

with one

woman meeting

Jesus,

then verse

39 says

many Samaritans

believed in

Jesus because

of this one

woman's

testimony.

And then

verse 41

says many

more believed

in him.

That's an

explosion of

followers.

What

happened?

Well,

verse 40

happened.

Please take

a look.

In the

Bible,

it says

they prayed

for Christ's

presence

intentionally.

What is

intentional

prayer?

Well,

the initial

group of

Samaritans

who believed

in Jesus,

based on

that woman's

testimony,

were in

town.

They were

in the

town,

inside the

city.

Jesus was

at the

well,