The Sexually Captive

Good morning, Watermark Church. It's good to see you guys today. My name is Eric, and

I work here at Watermark Church. You know, I woke up this morning, and I turned to my

wife, and I said, what should I wear today? And she picked this shirt from my closet,

and I said, do you think that will be distracting to people? And she said, no, it's fine. And

then I showed up here, and I think every single person I've talked to so far this morning

has opened the conversation with. So what's up with your shirt? So hopefully that will

not be a distraction to you while I'm talking. We've been going this year through, we've been

following this path in our sermons, and I heard a couple people this week who said that they

didn't quite understand what we've been, what the logic is to how we've been progressing.

So I figured we'd start out today just recapping where we've been, where we are, and where we're

going, and then we'll jump into today's passage. So we started out this year looking at the

book of Deuteronomy, and we said that God's Word shapes God's people into a people who love

Him and love others. And that was what God was aiming for when He gave His people His Word.

But then if you look through the rest of the Old Testament, God's people just failed again

and again and again and again at doing that. And so rather than being this distinctive

people who love God and love others, they tried to blend in again and again and again with the

other nations around them. After a long time, Jesus comes, and Jesus is the true Israelite,

the true one who loves God and loves others perfectly. He embodies what it means to obey these commands

of God, and we can see an example in His life of what our lives are supposed to look like if we are

these people who love God and love others because our lives have been shaped by His Word. And then where

we're going to go is that we're going to see, starting around Easter, that Jesus not only gives us an

example of what this lifestyle looks like, but He also empowers us to live out this lifestyle.

Because what the Bible says is that our sin, our rebellion against God, is what separates us from

Him and keeps us from loving Him and loving others as we're supposed to. And when Jesus dies for us,

He takes our sin onto Himself so we can be forgiven and have a restored relationship with God and with

others. And we're going to look at the book of Acts and see in the early church, how did the community

of Jesus' followers live out this transformed lifestyle? So we looked at how it's supposed to look,

but it didn't quite get to where it was supposed to, the one who perfectly lived it out, and then

how He empowers us to live it out moving forward. And that's sort of where we've been, where we are,

where we're going. And today we're in the middle of a series on, we're calling it Sinners Jesus Met,

looking at different people that Jesus interacted with throughout His life. And today we're looking at

His encounter with the sexually captive, the woman at the well. And what we're going to see is that in her

life of addiction and her culture of shame, Jesus brings a radical, life-changing acceptance to her.

So before we jump into the passage, let's pray that God would speak to us today.

Father, we thank You that Your Word is living and active and powerful and that it impacts us.

We pray that as we look at it today, that we would not leave here the same as we are right now,

but that we would be challenged, that we would be transformed, that Your Word would do surgery on

our hearts, and that we would love You more and love others more because of it. And in Jesus' name,

amen. So today our sermon is going to be a little bit different than what we normally do. Normally we

have like, here's point one, two, three. Today we're not going to quite do that. We're going to spend most

of our time looking at the story and sort of breaking it apart and seeing what's really going on here.

And then at the very end, we'll have maybe one point and one next step. Sound good? Everyone with me?

So what's been happening so far is Jesus and His disciples are doing ministry in this area called

Judea, which is southern Israel. And the religious leaders here, Jesus and His followers are doing,

are reaching lots of people, are doing great things, and they are not happy about it. They want to come in

and start causing trouble. And Jesus and His disciples catch wind of this and say, rather than

deal with this trouble, let's move on somewhere else so that we can keep doing what we're doing.

And they decide to go to an area called Galilee, which is in northern Israel. It's sort of like,

you know, you go from Hong Kong Island up to the New Territories. You have to pass through that area

in the middle. For us, it's Kowloon. For them, it was this place called Samaria. But unlike us,

the people who lived in that middle area were despised and hated by the people on the north

and south. I live in Kowloon, so hopefully you don't despise and hate me. And also unlike us,

they didn't have MTR or cars so that they could just whoosh right through without interacting with

anyone from that area. They passed through on foot, which means that it was quite likely you were going

to bump into some of these Samaritans along the way, which was not ideal. The reason that Jews

hated the Samaritans is because God had long ago given the Jews this command that I want you

to worship me, not other gods. And I know that if you marry people from foreign nations around you,

that with them you will start worshiping their gods. And I don't want that because I love you and I care

about you. And I know that true life comes from a relationship with me. And I want you to be able

to focus on that relationship free of the distractions that foreign gods will bring in.

And so the Jews had followed this, had married only other Jews, but the Samaritans

had intermarried and become this mixed half-breed where they were part Jew but part not.

And so for the Jewish people in Jesus' day, the way that the world would have worked is basically,

if you were a Jew, you're like up here. You're great. You're fantastic. If you're a Gentile,

like a general non-Jew, you're maybe like here. You're pretty bad off, but I mean, you didn't

really have too much say in it. So you're not the worst there could be. The worst way down here

is the Samaritans because they started off as God's people, but then disobeyed and became this

mixed up half-breed that's not really us, but not not us either. And so we just despise them.

We avoid them. It was so bad that if there was a dish with food on it and a Samaritan took a piece

of food off that dish, no good Jew would eat anything else that touched that dish because

they just hated each other and wanted to avoid each other and despise each other. And this is the area

where Jesus and his followers are traveling through as we start this story. Jesus and his disciples have

been walking, walking, walking. It is hot. It is dry. They're coming near this town called Sikar.

And as they get outside the village, there's a well, probably about a kilometer outside the village.

And Jesus sits down at the well to take a break while his disciples run into the village to get food

because they are all hungry. And as Jesus is sitting there, it's the middle of the day,

probably about noon. It's hot. It's dry. The disciples head off. And as he waits there for

them to come back, a woman from the city comes out to the well to get water. Now this would have been

a really weird thing to see. Not the fact that someone was coming to the well to get water. I mean,

if you wanted water in your house back then, you had to go to the well to get water. They didn't

have a sink that they could just turn on to get water. You had to carry a big jar with you. You'd dunk

it down into the well. This well was very deep, so you'd use a rope to lower it, scoop up the water,

pull it back up, and then carry it back into the town with you. That was fairly normal. But there were

two things about this situation that were not normal. First off, no one goes to the well in the

middle of the day. This is hard work. This is heavy labor. You want to do it in the cool of the day

so that it's not quite so exhausting. So they'd either do it right in the morning as the sun was

coming up or in the evening after it's cooled down from the heat of the day so it's a little bit easier.

The fact that she's coming in the middle of the day is weird. Also, you don't go collect water alone.

Just like women's trips to the bathroom today, this is something that you did in groups.

And going in groups gave you someone to talk to as you walked along the road.

Going in groups meant that you had safety if someone came and approached you on your way to

the well. You didn't go to the well alone. So the fact that this woman is coming to the well

in the middle of the day at a time when no one else will be there by herself says something

is wrong with this picture. Something is different about this woman than about the normal woman that

you would see there. And what we see is that she's trying to avoid other people. We're going to see

later on in the story this is because of shame from her sexual past. And I can sort of picture her as

she comes to the well. It's hot. She's despising the heat, despising the shame in her life that's causing

her to have to go out in this heat to get her water. And as she gets closer to the well, she sees

something that's not supposed to be there. At first, it's just a blur on the horizon, but she keeps going

and gets closer and realizes it's a man. Now, as a woman, this is exactly the type of situation that

would make you want to travel in groups. Because here's this woman who probably can't really defend

herself. And this man who's presumably fairly strong from years of doing carpentry work.

This is a scary situation, right? If he wants to attack her, she is not able to defend herself. So she

has walked all this way about a kilometer from the city carrying her water jug. It's not worth it to go

back now. She gets to the well and I'm assuming she's just hoping that she can get her water. He will

avoid her. He'll leave her alone and she can go back to the city undisturbed. And as she starts

lowering her water jar into the well, this man says to her, give me a drink. Which, if you understand

what he's been going through, kind of makes sense. He's been walking out in the desert all day long,

like, you're thirsty, you want a drink. But the woman recognizes that something weird is happening

with him as well. First off, no good Jew would talk to a Samaritan. You don't ask a Samaritan for a

favor. That doesn't happen. Second, in this culture, no man would talk to a woman, especially in public.

In fact, some of the rabbis taught that by talking to a woman, you put yourself in danger of going to

hell because you were distracting yourself from the study of God's word. And so a man in this culture

would not talk to a woman, especially a random stranger in public. It was frowned upon. It was not

acceptable. And the third thing that's weird, like I said before, Jews did not eat or drink from dishes

that had been used by Samaritans. And the only way that this woman was going to be able to give this man

a drink is by letting him drink from her water jar, which means that he can't be a very good Jew

if he doesn't even follow that part of the Jewish code. So there's three things really weird about

Jesus' question, and it startles the woman. And so she's so startled, she just says, how is it that you,

a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? She's startled, she's confused, she doesn't quite

get what's going on here. And Jesus, unfazed by the question, tells her that if she really knew who

she was talking to, she would have asked him, and he would have given her living water.

Now, I'm assuming that if you were her in this conversation, that you, like me, would have gotten

super confused at this point in the conversation, just like she did. What the heck is living water?

Where do you get it? Like, you don't even have a jar to get this normal water, how are you going to

get something better than this normal water for me? And, like, the guy who dug this well for us,

his name was Jacob, it got changed to Israel, which, oh, by the way, is the name of our nation.

If the founder of our nation can't give us something better than this, how do you think you're going to

give me something better than this? You think you're, like, better and more impressive than him?

Now, what we all know, but she didn't, is the answer is yes, Jesus is better and more impressive

than Jacob. But she's confused. She's met this stranger who's making some pretty big claims.

She doesn't quite understand what he's saying or why he's saying it. And so Jesus clarifies to her,

the water that I'm giving you is a different type of water than the one that comes from this well.

It doesn't come from a well, but it springs up from inside you, and it leads to eternal life so

that you never have to be thirsty again. It's a big claim. And the woman responds with,

sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come to this well anymore.

Now, on the one hand, that's probably a good response. Sir, give me this water so that I won't

be thirsty again. She's accepting this offer that he's made to her. But then, look at her motivation

for accepting it. She says, give it to me so that I will never have to come to this well again.

Now, why did she want to avoid the well? Well, first off, it's hard work carrying this heavy load

out in the heat. Anyone would want a chance to get out of that. But second, remember, the well was a

social place. And this is a woman who wants to avoid social situations. The well is where all

the women from the town go out to chat with each other, maybe gossip with each other. And she is

more often than not the subject of that gossip. And so if she can have this freedom to not have to come

to the place where everyone's talking about her anymore, she sees that as liberating. She says,

I now have a chance to hide for the rest of my life from the shame that I feel, to never have to

face these people who despise me ever again. Give me this living water so that I can hide from my shame

so that I can be safe and comfortable. And I don't know about you, but I often in my life,

when I am ashamed of something, feel like, just like this woman, that freedom comes from hiding from my

shame, from keeping others from seeing what's truly wrong with me, and hoping that it goes away before

they realize it. And Jesus, again, knows the perfect response to give to her at this moment. He says, go,

get your husband, and come here.

She's wanted to avoid having to deal with the shame of her past, and Jesus instantly, in a moment,

brings her right to the place where she needs to confront this shame. And I wonder if it was you or

me in this situation, what is it that Jesus would have said to us that would have cut straight to our

hearts as quickly as this comment cut to the woman's heart? Would it be something like, go,

get your internet search history, and come here? Go, get the financial records you've been keeping for

your company, and come here? Go, get your helper, and have her come here so she can share about the

way that you've been treating her. Maybe it's something else. But I think for most, if not all of us,

we have areas in our lives that we want to keep hidden, just like this woman did.

We have parts of our lives that we're ashamed of that we don't want anyone else to know about.

And Jesus, in this story, knows exactly the issue that this woman is trying to avoid,

and he brings her to the place where she has to come directly face-to-face with this issue.

So the woman responds and says, I have no husband, which technically is true, but really it's not.

You know, it's like if you're a parent and you say to your kid, like, did you slap your brother?

And he says, no, and technically it's true because he punched him instead of slapped him,

but really he hit his brother, and that's what you care about, right?

And that's the nature of her response right here. She says something that's technically true,

but a lie in the message that she's trying to convey by it. And maybe she did this because

she's trying to avoid the shame. Maybe she did this because she just wants to get on with the good

stuff and get this living water quicker. We don't know. But either way, Jesus' response to her

is incredibly unique because he applauds her honesty, yet still confronts her sin.

He says, you're right. You don't have a husband because the five men who used to be your husband

are no longer your husband, and the man you now live with also is not your husband, so you speak

the truth. He doesn't point at her and say, liar! I know you've been married to basically every man

in this city. He says, you speak the truth. But then he confronts her sin at the same time.

And what we see in this moment is that the woman is sexually captive.

You know, I think at her heart, she's just like the rest of us. I think she, more than anything

else in life, craves and longs for a genuine human connection.

She wants somewhere where she can be vulnerable and be accepted. She wants someone that she can

be intimate with and someone who she can love them and they can love her back.

Why else would she try again and again and again at love after it's failed so many times? I think most

people would have given up by this point on the hope of finding love. And yet after her fifth failed

marriage, she still has another boyfriend. Because she wants someone who loves her. She wants someone

who accepts her. She wants a place to be vulnerable. And normally, even if we're not in a romantic

relationship, we have friends that can do this role for us in our lives. But for her, because of her past,

no one was willing to do that. No woman in this town would come near her because of fear that her

reputation would rub off on them. No married man's wife would let her husband anywhere near this woman

for fear that he would become husband number six or seven. No single man would want the stigma of being

around someone like her unless they got some type of benefit from the deal. For her, finding love had

reached the point of being a transaction. And the price that she paid for love, or at least the

appearance of it, was her body. She was trapped, feeling like the only way she could get someone to

even pretend to care about her in the world was through sex. And other than that, there was no way

that she could find anyone to care about her. And I think in our context, it's easy to look at her and

see her as broken and messed up. But at the heart, she's just like the rest of us. She wants someone to

love her. She wants someone to care for her and accept her. But she feels trapped.

Because the one thing in life that she most wants, she can't get, no matter how hard she tries, again,

and again, and again, and again, and again. And every step she takes to trying to find this true love,

someone who will love her and accept her no matter what, actually alienates her further and further

from the rest of society. And I think this is pretty common in our world today. Think about it.

What are the things that you do when you are desperate for love? For me, if I want more attention

from Justine, what I'll do sometimes is act really childish and annoying to get her to notice me.

And the thing about acting like a five-year-old is that when you're three and you act like a five-year-old,

everyone says, wow, you're really mature. This is awesome. And when you're an adult and you act like

a five-year-old, people are like, wow, you're really annoying. Stay away from me. And so my efforts

to try and get attention and get someone to notice me actually drive her away and make her be like,

no, I don't want to hang out with you if you're going to act like a child right now.

But we see this other places too. People want to find someone who will love them.

And so sometimes, as a single, we want to find that person that we're going to be with for the

rest of our lives. But we believe what culture has told us, that you're never going to find someone

who's going to be willing to stick around long enough in a relationship with you to marry you

unless you sleep with them while you're dating. And so there's a strong temptation to compromise

on our sexual standards so that we can find someone who's going to love us.

Maybe if you're married and you have a spouse who just spends really long hours at work,

and when they get home, they're too tired to focus on you, and you want that attention.

And so we nag, nag, nag, because we want to be noticed and think maybe once we're noticed,

then that love will develop again. But it doesn't happen.

Maybe you're a husband and you just get frustrated because you get home from work at the end of the

day, and that one thing you want is sex from your wife. And you think to yourself, I deserve this.

I know I've been there before. Like, I work really hard for this family to help support us

and help us be able to make it financially in this expensive city, and it was a stressful day at work,

and I just want to decompress, and I deserve this.

And when she says no, how do we respond?

I think what we find is that in those moments where we are desperate for love

and we are desperate for attention, we act out in ways that a rational version of ourselves

would never do. But that makes sense for us in that moment,

in that state of mind that we're in, because we crave and long for this attention and being noticed.

And that's exactly what this woman has been doing her entire life,

jumping from man to man to man, hoping that one of them will love her,

hoping that one of them will accept her.

And so when this woman finally gets around to responding to Jesus' comment,

she changes the subject completely,

because she does not want to deal with this issue of her life.

Have any of you ever found it's way easier to have a really deep theological discussion

about something that has nothing to do with your life

than it is to deal with a really simple question that goes straight to your heart?

I find that.

And this woman does exactly that right here.

She says, okay, this just got way too real, way too fast.

This is way too uncomfortable right now.

We can't talk about this anymore.

And so what her version of this is,

is, oh, okay, I see you're a prophet.

You know things about me that you wouldn't have been able to know otherwise.

So I have a question for you.

The Jews say that we should worship here.

The Samaritans say that we should worship here.

Who's right?

You tell me, because you're a prophet.

And Jesus, again, brilliantly responds to her.

And he's not distracted again.

He says the hour is coming and is now here,

where it's not here or there,

but it's going to be how we worship God that matters, not where.

And something really interesting about his response,

when he says the hour is coming,

in the book of John, that always refers to the cross.

What he's saying is,

I personally am going to do something so big,

so powerful,

so world-changing,

that it's not going to matter where we worship God anymore.

It's going to matter how we worship him.

And how we worship God needs to be in spirit and in truth,

which, again, is an interesting response,

because truth is the one thing this woman is trying to avoid in this moment.

And the woman, seeing that she's not getting anywhere,

says,

well, you know, there's this guy coming.

He's called the Messiah.

When he comes, he can tell us all about it.

Like, let's ignore this conversation,

just move on with life.

And Jesus' response is stunning.

Now, I love the ESV translation of the Bible,

but I feel like it doesn't quite get the fullness of what Jesus is saying right here.

It does an okay job.

It says,

I who speak to you am he,

which technically, yeah, he said that.

But something like the New Living Translation gets this much better.

It pulls out more of the nuance of what Jesus is saying.

And it says,

I am the Messiah,

with the words I am in capital letters.

Now, here's why that's significant.

Because in the Old Testament,

God's covenant name,

by which he related to the people of Israel,

was,

I am.

And in this moment,

Jesus is saying to the woman,

not just this guy that you're talking about is me,

but he's saying,

I am the Lord of the universe.

I am the God of the Old Testament

that you've been reading about.

I'm not just a man.

I am God.

And normally in a conversation,

if someone makes that type of a claim,

you think they're crazy.

But the crazy thing about this conversation

is that when Jesus says this,

the woman believes him.

Now, at this moment,

the disciples come back,

sort of startled that Jesus is talking to a woman.

You can sort of imagine a conversation between them.

Peter's like,

hey, who's that talking to Jesus?

And John's like,

I don't know.

I wonder what they want.

And Andrew's like,

hey,

a new friend.

And then,

I don't think he was really like this,

but I sort of picture in my mind,

Judas just like in the back,

like hands in his pocket,

scuffling along,

like,

he's talking to some random stranger.

He never talks to me like that.

And as the disciples arrive,

the woman leaves.

She goes back into the town,

and she starts sharing with everyone there

about this man that she has met.

Two super interesting things about this.

First,

she leaves her water jar at the well.

The task that she had originally come to do

is no longer as important to her

as the task of going and sharing with people

about this man that she has met

because he has changed her life.

But the second and even more amazing thing

is the message that she brings to the village.

Look at this transformation in her life.

She goes from going to the well by herself

in the heat of the day

to avoid people

and avoid the shame of her past

to running around the middle of the village

screaming out,

guys,

come here.

meet this man.

He just told me

everything that I have ever done.

The woman

who more than anything else

wanted to hide,

wanted to not be known,

all of a sudden is boasting

in the middle of the town

to everyone who will listen

that someone knows

everything

I have ever done.

And how does that transformation happen?

Why is it that she's so different?

It's the power of grace in her life.

I'm sure that for her whole life

or at least since her first divorce,

everyone who found out her story

has shunned her.

Everyone who met her

has tried to avoid her

as soon as they found out

what type of a person she was.

And then along comes Jesus,

the man who knows everything

and yet still loves her.

You notice his tone of voice

doesn't change

once it comes out

that she's had five husbands.

His offer of living water

doesn't come off the table

once she lies to him.

He engages her,

he accepts her,

he loves her,

even though he knows

everything

that she has done wrong.

He revealed

the deepest,

darkest parts of her life

that she didn't want

anyone else to see

and he was still

talking to her

like a normal person,

still showing her love.

And my guess is

that he was the first person

since at least

her first divorce

that treated her

in that way.

And when that happened,

she realized

that freedom came

not from hiding,

not from isolating,

but from being fully known

at her darkest and worst

and yet still fully loved.

And it says that

many people from the town

came out

and believed in Jesus.

So I want to look at

one truth from this story

and one next step for us.

And the key truth

that I want us to see today

is that Jesus reveals

her sin and our sin

for the sake of healing it

and restoring it.

You know, I, a lot of times,

am just like this woman.

When I sin,

I feel that the best way

to deal with it

is to hide it

until it goes away.

Hope that it gets better

without anyone else

finding out.

And my experience

in my life

has shown me

that this leads

to feelings of shame

that eat me away

from the inside.

You know,

when I first moved

to Hong Kong,

I started struggling

with a little bit

of depression

because I was,

I was sad

because I was,

you know,

had no one

that I knew here,

I had no one

that I could talk to

about everything

that I was going through.

And in that moment

when I started

to feel that,

this voice in my head

said,

Eric,

you shouldn't be

feeling these things.

You work at a church.

You can't let people

know about what's

going on in here

because they will think

that you are really,

really messed up.

So you need

to hide it.

You need to bury it

and hope that it goes away.

And maybe someday

when it's gone away,

you can talk to people

about how you used

to deal with this.

But until then,

you can't say a word

to anyone.

And so I did.

I hid it.

I buried it.

I hoped that it would

go away.

And what happened

is that the,

I'd go out

and I'd talk with people

and I'd have this big

smile on my face

and as soon as the people

were gone,

I'd feel this emptiness

inside that would just

eat away at me.

And this shame

from knowing

that I was being

a fake

with everyone

that I was interacting with.

And it got worse

and worse

and worse

until God finally

brought me to a point

where he said,

Eric,

you have to deal with this.

And I started sharing

with people

about what was going on

and in that moment

was when I started

to find freedom

from everything

that I had been experiencing.

It was in that moment

that I realized

people don't just love me

because they know

some fake version of me.

People love me

even though they know me

at my worst.

People love me

not because they think

I'm better than I am

but just because

they love me.

And the scariest,

darkest parts of me

that I'm afraid of,

they still love me

through those moments.

And it was liberating.

It was life-changing.

And you know what

the crazy part is?

Even though I've been

through that experience,

I still tend towards

hiding in isolation

when there are things

in my life

that I'm ashamed of

because it's so pervasive

and so prevalent,

this belief,

that freedom comes

from isolation

and hiding in my mind.

And what this woman

shows us

is that freedom

comes from being

fully known

and yet fully loved.

Pastor Tim Keller

in his book

The Meaning of Marriage,

he has this quote.

It's brilliant.

He says,

to be loved

but not known

is comforting

but superficial.

Basically,

if someone loves you

but they don't know

truly who you are,

it feels good

but it's a little scary

because you're always worried

they're going to find

something out

that makes them

stop loving you.

Then he says,

to be known

and not loved

is our greatest fear.

That's exactly

what this woman

had lived out

her entire life.

The people in her village

knew everything about her

and that was precisely

why they avoided her

and hated her.

And that's what all of us

I think fear the most

in life

is that someone

will find out

everything there is

to know about us

and precisely because

they know the truth

they will avoid us,

they will hate us,

they will not love us.

Keller says,

but to be fully known

and truly loved

is well a lot like

being loved by God.

It's what we need

more than anything.

It liberates us

from pretense,

humbles us

out of our self-righteousness

and fortifies us

for any difficulty

that life can throw at us.

It's exactly what Jesus did

for this woman.

He said,

I know everything about you

and I still love you.

That's what he did for me

and that's what he wants to do

for all of us.

He wants us not to keep hiding

but to bring our sin

into the light

so that he can heal it.

And it doesn't matter

what the sin is

that we're hiding from.

Jesus is big enough

and powerful enough

to see it

and still accept us

because in his death

he has already paid

the price for it.

Jesus doesn't love

some idealized version of us.

He loves us

with all of our sin,

with all of our crap,

with all of our issues.

That's why he died for us

because we are messed up people

and he still wants

to love us

and accept us.

So what we see

is the woman's been

looking to this husband

for something that she could

only ever truly,

fully find

in the Messiah.

He wants to give her life.

He wants to be the place

where she can be

fully vulnerable

and still accepted,

fully intimate,

fully loved

and known

and accepted.

and he wants to be

that place

for each and every

single one of us today.

And again,

he is the only one

who's able to do that

perfectly

every single time

because he

has already paid the price

for all of it

through his death.

And the other thing is

that he's given us

a community

of his followers

to help us

as we follow him,

which leads us

to our action step.

I know it's far easier

to hide

and pretend

that the shame

and guilt

in our lives

don't exist

than to deal with it.

You know,

one thing I noticed

is that when I want intimacy,

it's far easier

to get physically naked

with Justine

than to get

completely emotionally

vulnerable with her.

But God wants us

to find

that place in him

where we can be

fully known

and in the community

of his people

where we can be

fully known

and we can be

fully accepted

and loved.

And I don't know

what it is

that you're struggling

with today,

but I know

that on your own

you're not big enough

or strong enough

to handle it,

but Jesus is.

So it may be

something sexual.

It may be

an addiction

to pornography.

It may be

just these feelings

of inadequacy

because of the way

that your spouse

interacts with you

and treats you.

It might be

a struggle

with same-sex attraction.

It might be

that you regret

giving up your virginity.

It might be

non-sexual.

Maybe it's depression.

Maybe it's

these feelings

of guilt

over decisions

you've made

at your workplace

or in relationships

with your friends.

But regardless

of what your struggle

is,

the path to freedom

comes not through

hiding and isolating

and hoping that it

goes away,

but through being

known and being

loved and still

being accepted.

So what we're

going to do is

after service,

we're going to have

a few staff people

appear over by

these banners.

Chris will be there,

Henrika will be there,

Sylvie will be there,

and I'll be there.

And if you feel like

you have been hiding,

have been isolating,

and you want someone

to talk to about it,

we will be available

to talk to you.

And if you say,

like,

I have to run off

right after service

or I don't really

feel comfortable

talking to you guys

about it,

my encouragement

to you,

my challenge

to you,

is sometime

this week,

call your community

group leader

or someone

from your community

group and share

with them about

what's been going

on in your life.

In fact,

I would encourage

you,

if that's what

you're planning

on doing,

pull out your

phone right now

and put a calendar

reminder in there

so that you can

remember,

because I know

I have a tendency

as soon as I get

out that door

to forget.

So help your phone

to remind you,

use it for good,

not evil.

And use your phone

to remind you,

call someone,

a friend,

a community group

leader,

to talk to them

about what's

going on in your

life.

Because God

gives us freedom

not as we hide

our sin and

brokenness,

but as we bring

it into the light

and let him

heal us.

And he's given

us the community

around us

to help us

in this process.

So this week,

let's learn to find

this freedom

in confession,

trusting that

the blood of Jesus

is powerful enough

and strong enough

that he can still

love us

and accept us

no matter what it is,

that we have done

and that he is

strong enough

to heal all the

wounds from our

past.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you

for your love.

We thank you for

the power of the

cross to forgive

sin,

to make us new,

to take away

this need that we

feel to isolate

ourselves,

to take away our

shame and our

guilt,

to give us new

life,

to give us hope.

God, I pray that

we would be like

this woman,

that we would be

people who see

the beauty of being

fully known and

fully loved and

find that as a

liberating truth in

our lives,

that you would

empower us as we

experience that

forgiveness to go

out into our

worlds and share

with the people

around us how

great and powerful

and intense your

love is for us.

I pray for anyone

here who feels

like they need to

confess something

but is afraid,

that you would

give them the

boldness to step

up and share with

someone today or

this week about

what's been going

on in their lives

and that through

this you would

help us grow as a

people who love

you and love one

another.

In Jesus' name,

amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.