John 4:27-42 - ”The Great Vocation” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

Amen.

>> Our Old Testament reading comes from

Amos 9:es 13-15.

Behold, the days are coming, declares

the Lord, when the plow men shall

overtake the reaper, and the treader of

grapes, him who sws the seed. The

mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all

the hills shall flow with it. I will

restore the fortunes of my people

Israel, and they shall rebuild the

ruined cities and inhabit them. They

shall plant vineyards and drink their

wine, and they shall make gardens and

eat their fruit. I will plant them on

their land, and they shall never again

be uprooted.

Out of the land that I have given them,

says the Lord your God. Our New

Testament reading comes from John 4:es

27-42.

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 the town and said to

the people, "Come see a man who told me

all that I had 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 asked 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 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 swer and reaper may rejoice

together. For here the saying holds

true, one sws 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 I ever did. So when the

Samaritans came to him, they asked him

to stay with them and he stayed there

for two days. And many more believed

because of his word. They said to the

woman, "It is no longer because of what

you said that we believe, for we have

heard for ourselves, and we know that

this is indeed the Savior of the world."

This is the word of the Lord.

>> Thanks be to God.

Many moons ago, I went to UIC. I did go

to UVA for one year and realized that's

really cold. So, I transferred.

As I sat and I was really new to faith

at this time, really new. I knew two

things by faith at this point. Jesus was

really cool and they didn't teach you

anything like him like that in church

because I grew up in the church and

Christians were weird. That was my two

takes at that time.

Well, so I had a problem. I really like

this Jesus guy, but I wasn't so sure I

wanted to hang out with any of these

people that seemed to like him, too.

So, I would hide my little Bible inside

a book, my psych book, and I would read

it because I wanted to learn more. And

one day, a pretty young thing walked up,

she was a bit older than me, and says,

"Are you reading a Bible?"

And I, "Oh, boy. Yeah. Yeah." She goes,

"Isn't that Jesus awesome?" And I went,

"Oh, there is another one that's cool."

That's how my brain worked.

Soon she said to me, "Oh no, there's

lots of people here in UIC and all these

people met Jesus last year." Well, I had

just met Jesus the year before. Come

join us. We're in this group called

Inner Varsity Christian Fellowship. So,

I went in and I will say that there was

the crazy charismatics.

There were the dogmatic Baptists. There

was the uh I don't even know what you

call the Presbyterians, the frozen

chosen. Um

there were this group of people all

together but they all got along and

pretty soon what happened is this group

of people started to go out and share

their faith.

They just started sharing it and they

wanted to do things. We started having a

book table on the university where you

could come talk about faith and all of a

sudden all kinds of people on the

university wanted to find out about this

and all of a sudden people started

becoming Christians. It was crazy.

I'll never forget young Peter. He had a

um oh shoot I knew I was going to forget

this very very bad neurological disease.

Anyways um and I'm going it's going to

kill me because as soon as I'm done the

sermon it's going to come to me. Um

anyways Peter was very bitter and

affected his physical ability and um oh

darn see now my brain's thinking. Okay,

tell the story.

And what was fascinating is he we he

came one he was going to go prove us

wrong and he came into this group of us

meeting and there were at this point 80

of us by this point. We started with 30

now we're at to 80. This is like

Christmas. He comes in and all of a

sudden he just balls. He just sits there

and balls. Cerebral palsy.

Bad case of cerebral palsy.

And he's balling and balling. And he

sits there and he goes and and he

couldn't speak well. And he looked at

me. He was trying to understand what he

was saying. He said, "Baptize me now."

Can you imagine that? I hadn't been a

Christian for a year. So, we didn't know

better. So, we baptized them. We forgot

we were supposed to ask somebody who

knew how to do it. Um,

and pretty soon, this place started

growing and growing. Within one year, so

many people had joined this group. And I

largely was just a a a person watching

this. I wasn't the one doing any of

this.

They sent out Interars actually sent out

a group of people cuz this shouldn't be

happening. They told us so they wanted

to know what we were doing. And one of

the underlying implications are, are you

guys a cult?

Well, you know how I would have answered

her now? the lady and gentlemen,

actually there were two that came out is

that I said, "Hey, let's read this text

today and I'll tell you exactly what's

going on." Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

living word. We pray that you'll breathe

upon us, keep us safe, watch over us,

and give us eyes to see and ears to

hear. Amen. Remember

the lady at the well, the one that no

one should talk about. She's a

Samaritan. She's half pagan, half Jew,

basically a Syrian with a bit of the

Torah in it. She runs into Jesus and he

says, can you get me some water? And she

says, uh, why? First of all, why are you

talking to me? That's like that's like a

capital offense.

But he keeps talking to her. And then

she says, well, you don't got anything

to take water. And he talks about the

living water. Remember that?

And then she says,"Well, okay, I don't

that doesn't make any sense." So she's

like, "Okay, but if you can give me this

living water, I'll take it so I don't

have to come to the well." So she's very

physical how she sees this. And then he

keeps going and he says, "Hey, by the

way, where's your husband?" Remember

that

five without any husbands that had

ended, the covenants had ended. The

sixth one, she wasn't even living with

them. And then we knew because we had

read before that he was coming as the

seventh, the perfect divine groom.

Remember that? We saw that in John.

And then he came up to her and said,

"You need to worship." And he gives the

first person a trinitarian worship

formula. He says, "You must worship the

father by the holy spirit in truth."

Who's truth?

>> I am the way, the truth, and life.

first woman who hears about a

trinitarian worship service

and then all of a sudden she walks away

and she says who basically who shall I

tell you they are and he says I am he

tells them he is God she is tells she

her that he is God the one speaking to

her it's an incredible moment to a

nobody

it's unbelievable one of the high points

to someone no one cared about

well he continues today

now his disciples have been off getting

food there's a lot of questions I get

like why would they leave him in Samaria

when Jews got beat up by Samaritans it's

a great question but they did and

they've gone off to this city called

Sakur and just as his disciples came

back they marveled that he was talking

to a woman

why

let me give you a piece of advice that

was common and shared in the first

century Jewish world. Are you ready for

this?

He who prolongs conversation with a

woman brings evil upon himself,

ceases from the words of the law, and at

last inherits gehenna.

You know what gehenna is translated in

our Bible?

Hell.

They weren't into women in the first

century, at least not for that reason.

So they are shocked and of course they

ask the question because remember they

don't think they're talking to God. They

don't think they're following even a

messiah because they call him Raboni.

But no one said, "What do you seek?"

Well, what do you seek? What do you

think they're referring to?

A romantic encounter. That's the way

they assume. That's the only reason why

a guy would talk to a woman in their

world. Or why are you talking with her?

What's your purpose? You shouldn't be

doing this. I mean, you're in their

minds, he's not only talking to a woman

who could lead him to hell, but he's

talking to a Samaritan woman who's gross

and unclean.

And unless you understand racism, you

will never understand their attitude at

this point.

It is absolute disgust.

No one in the ancient world would talk

to a Samaritan woman. He's having a

full-on conversation.

So, the woman, you got to wonder if she

left. I've wondered. You know, you don't

want to read too much into text. I

agree. But when they come, she all of a

sudden leaves.

Wonder why with those attitudes.

So, the woman left her water jar.

Remember, she offered him water. He

says, "I have a living water that you

know, it's it's the Holy Spirit." She

leaves the stuff that she depends on in

this world because she's found the

living water. She leaves her water jar

and went away into town and said unto

the people, "Come

see a man who told me all that I ever

did. Remember they were waiting for the

tahib, the one like Moses, a prophet,

who would come and tell them anything,

everything they ever did." So she's

saying, "Could this be it?" And then but

then she changes it. Instead of calling

him the Tahib, she says, "Can he be the

Christ?" She uses the Jewish term.

It's fascinating because he just told

her salvation comes from the Jews. They

went out of the town and were coming to

him. Now we get back to Jesus.

They're all staring at him and they were

all to bring lunch to him and they are

at least perplexed. Some of them are

judging him by now for talking to this

woman. It says, "Meanwhile, the

disciples were urging him, saying, '

Raboni, eat." That shows they don't

believe in much of him. He's just a

teacher.

But he said to them, "I have food to eat

that you do not know about." Now, how

does everyone so far think in this

world? Nicodemus, you must be born from

above or born again. He goes, "How can

that be? I can't go inside my mother's

womb, right? You must drink of this

living water." The Samaritan woman, he

goes, she goes, "Well, how are you going

to get it? Everything's physical. They

can't think spiritually.

There's one main reason why that is. Do

you know?

They don't have the Holy Spirit yet, do

they?

I have food to eat that you do not know

about. Now, I love the disciples.

So, the disciples said to one another,

"Has anyone brought him something to

eat?"

They do not present well. I heard

somebody say to me one time, you know,

the gospels, Emory, they were written by

uh these disciples uh because they

wanted to create a hero figure to

worship in the first century. I said,

nobody would have written this and made

themselves look like such morons

if they didn't believe it.

You remember that other part where Jesus

looks at him and goes, "Beware of the

yeast of the Pharisees."

And they look at each other and go, I

think they're talking about their lunch.

That's in there. You can look it up.

Has anyone else brought him something to

eat? What John's showing us is the

disciples are no better than Nicodemus.

No better than the woman at the well.

They're all actually equals, even if

they don't think they're equals.

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do

the will of him who sent me and to

accomplish his work."

So the food that God is given that he

speaks about. And from now on when you

look at food, it's all about doing God's

will, the eating of the bread.

And he humbled you. Oh, sorry.

My food is to do the will of him who

sent me and to accomplish his work. Now,

what is he doing there? He's saying food

is something worth more, right? It's

more than the bread itself. Well, what

did I tell you before? The tahib

is the deliverer that the Samaritans

believe in, who they say is in the line

of Moses. Well, all Jesus is doing is

showing him them that he's in the line

of Moses. Because look at this. Moses

says, "And he humbled you and let you

hunger and fed you with mammon mamma

which you did not know, nor did your

fathers know that he might make you

known that man does not live by bread

alone."

So this man they're waiting for is

supposed to be a follower of Moses.

Moses says, "Bread ain't it. There's

something more man can't live by." Jesus

just says, "My bread is more than the

bread you said because it's the work

that God does." And he's pointing right

to the fact that he is the follower of

Moses. He's much more.

But man lives from every word that comes

from the mouth of the Lord.

And Jesus goes back to them. He's now

told them that this bread that they're

bringing them for lunch is not the bread

that he ultimately needs. And he flips

over into harvest. That's where the

bread comes from, right?

Do not do you not say yet there are four

months then comes the harvest. In other

words, this is a proverbial saying.

Every four months we lay down the seed,

then the harvest comes. It's just a

saying. But Jesus says, "Behold." When

he says, "Behold," by the way, he's

telling you to open your eyes beyond to

what your vision can see. Do you see

what I'm saying? He's asking you to look

past your vision to look like he does.

Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes

and see that the fields are white for

harvest.

By the time Jesus is talking to the

Samaritan woman, the fields were not

white. So what must he have been talking

about?

Samaritan women,

Samaria,

Nicodemus,

all of the harvest, all of the Jews.

Because the harvest he speaks about is

not the physical harvest. It's the

harvest of souls

already. The one who reaps is receiving

wages and gathering fruit for eternal

life. There's so much debate about who

this one is that's reaping and is

receiving wages and gather gathering

fruit for eternal life. Some people say

it must be Jesus. Maybe it's the

disciples. Here, I got a question for

you. Could it not be

a terrible, awful Samaritan woman?

Who's the actual one sharing?

Who is the one reaping right now?

The one you absolutely don't think

should,

right?

So that swer and reaper may reupjoice

together. Who's the sewer? Jesus Christ,

the father and the spirit.

Who's the reaper? The Samaritan woman.

Then he goes back and he flips on. For

here the saying holds true. One sws and

another reaps. This used to be a saying

to show how unfair the world was. The

one who sws often didn't get what was re

reaped.

I sent you to reap for that which you

did not labor. He's saying to the

disciples now, they haven't done it yet.

Who labored? the apostles, right? Sorry,

the prophets,

the Old Testament. Ultimately, who

labored? God. And he's got them there

ready to labor. I sent you to reap to

others that have not labored. Others

have labored. And you have to, it says,

enter into their labor. He's now saying

to the apostles, now it's your turn to

start to sew the seeds for eternal life.

The only lady right now who's reaping

for eternal life is down talking to the

Samaritans, the very people that they

think she shouldn't he shouldn't have

talked to.

And he's saying to them, "It's now your

turn to actually do the work. This is

how I work." And the fields are white.

How did the disciples do in that

challenge?

Not very well. They don't do well at

all. They don't have a whole city come

back to them. You know why?

I'll give you a hint.

You have to

have the spirit.

And she's something's happening to her

to go down and do it. And this is the

greatest part when he's quoting this

reaping and sewing. He's pointing to the

endtime moment, the esqueological feast.

He's saying that what she's doing is

what he the Amos promised. Behold, the

days are coming, declares the Lord, when

the plowman shall overtake the reaper,

and the treader of grapes, him who sws

the seed. The mountain shall drip sweet

wine, and all the hills shall flow with

it. It's one of the most beautiful texts

promising a feast in the end. And he's

saying, "You woman, this woman is the

one doing it." They didn't understand.

Well, let's see what happened.

Many Samaritans from that town believed

in him because of the woman's testimony.

Can it be any more clear who the reaper

is?

He told me all that I ever did. I love

the way that said because all he told

her was her marriage failings, whether

it was divorce or widowhood. The fact

she was living outside of the covenant,

right? Then that's all he said, right?

But sometimes, if we're honest, there's

one thing that really represents

everything we've done. That's the thing

that sits and hangs over you when you

wake up in the morning, when you go to

bed at night.

That's the stuff. And that was the

everything she had ever done because

that's what was keeping her from God.

So when the Samaritans came, he told me,

"So when the Samaritan came to him, they

asked him to, and this is a beautiful

word, abide with him."

Later on in chapter 15, Jesus will say,

"Abide in me and I will abide in you."

This word abide in with him means more

than just hang out. It means live

relationally close.

come into our family, open the doors.

The Samaritans of all people, the people

who the Jews said were perpetually

unclean.

There wasn't one disciple who was

sitting there going, "Let's hang out

with these guys.

They're sitting on the outside because

they were good Jews.

Nicodemus wouldn't even have walked

through there."

And they all come up and they say, "Hang

out with us, the unclean."

This is powerful stuff, you guys.

So when the Samaritans came to him, they

asked him to abide with them, and he

abided with them two days. He says,

"Abide twice." What have I told you

about twice?

That's serious stuff. That's the point.

And he stayed there two days. You know

what the number two means? True witness.

They sent him out by twos. Remember the

disciples?

Two always means authentic witness in

Hebrew numbers, numerology.

They stayed there for two days. And many

believed because of his word. She came

and shared and she began and he finished

the harvest

cuz that's the way it always needs to

be. And then they said to the woman, "It

is no longer because of what you said

that we believe. For we have heard for

ourselves

the living word, the water, everything.

You see it?

And we know that this is indeed this is

a Samaritan talking about a Jew.

How radical this is because the

Samaritans absolutely hated the Jews.

This is indeed the savior of the world.

How many other times do you think you're

going to see that in John's gospel? That

proclamation.

The Samaritans make the most unreal true

proclamation in all of John's gospel.

Savior of the world.

This is an incredible story.

This is a story about somebody who

should not have been doing this who

happens to run in to the right person

and all of a sudden she can't believe

the truth that he has thrown upon her,

the gift, the grace and she drops the

very water jug that she was carrying

because for her there's something better

than water alone.

And the disciples come back and they

say, "Yeah, come on and eat." And he

goes, "Dude, I've got something so much

better than loading my stomach right

now. Way more filling

right now. You're seeing the harvest

come in."

And I don't believe they could see it

because racism is a horrible thing.

Sexism is just as bad. And these guys,

that's all they knew. And it was normal.

But it doesn't end in bad news. They all

come back up and they call him the

savior of the world. And there you have

a mini revival.

I'll tell you why you can believe the

Bible is from God. No one in the first

century would have written this story.

A, nobody would have believed it. Two,

they would have just been offended by

it. A Jew going to a Samaritan, a man

talking to a woman, Jews claiming that

about God,

Samaritans, there would have been no way

they would have accepted this.

And the main reason why is they would

never expect the people used in this

story.

You see, it's not who you'd expect again

and again in the Gospels, but nowhere

more than this.

So the first thing they did when they

came and asked us what we were doing, I

was on the leadership team of that group

at this time.

They started asking us who was the

leader. We didn't have a leader.

They asked us the formula. Did we use

the four spiritual laws? That was a big

thing. Billy Graham, remember that?

We didn't even know what that was. Most

of us, I didn't even know. They asked me

what my denomination was. I didn't even

have one yet. I was a free agent.

I went late in the seventh round. Um,

you see what they couldn't see is there

was no formula to it.

People just were excited.

People just had life in them. These kids

were just going around and sharing with

kids. And all of a sudden they'd say,

"Well, you did you have like weekly

worship nights?" Dude, we had worship

almost every night.

Well, how'd that work? Well, somebody'd

say, "Come to my house and do it." And

about 40 people would come.

And it happened.

I remember they said, "Let's have a

prayer group. I'll never forget this all

my life." So, I you couldn't wait to go.

There was something in the air. God was

so close. You felt like you could touch

him. That membrane between heaven and

earth was so loose.

So, so skinny. And we all sat around in

this forest. It was sunny. you, Vic, all

of these secular university students.

And by the way, they didn't like

Christianity any more then than they do

now.

And as we're praying, somebody I got to

read this scripture. And he reads that

very scripture. It says, "The spirit

will do what it was like the wind

through the trees." And all of a sudden,

I swear in my life, a gust of wind and a

quiet day came whipping through the

trees.

You're like, "Oh." The worst part though

is you realize later, life isn't always

like that. You get those moments. So,

you're still sitting there waiting, show

me another thing. Doesn't always happen.

But this incredible truth came and the

thing they couldn't get their mind

around is who it was coming through. It

was coming through somebody with

cerebral pausy. That guy brought more

people into this Christ centered area

than any of them. And nobody could

understand him.

Peter, that was his name.

forget the girl's name. I'm going to

call her Nope. Because somebody might

now have whatever.

I'm thinking it's Cheryl. Cheryl, you

know the lady who I met? She had a kid

at like 15 years old.

So, her kids started coming up and no

one cared. No one judged her. The kid

just started coming up to university and

doing prayer groups with us.

Nobody that was the right one to do it

did it.

Lesie Nubigan. And so what was hidden

from the wise and understanding

Nicodemus is revealed to these spiritual

babes. And while scribes and Pharisees

stand aside, the pagan world flocks into

the kingdom.

There's something true about this.

We weren't very religious. We hadn't

figured out how to be.

You you have to learn to be religious.

But when you're first running to Jesus,

I'll tell you one thing. Everyone could

let their laundry hang out. Everyone

could be authentic because nobody really

cared because everyone else was a piece

of garbage.

And people just prayed and sang

God is not ashamed to be identified with

the parts of you that you think you need

to hide. Amen. Was our group.

I'll tell you what, it was a wonderful

time. It was a bubble.

It was an incredible bubble.

And the other thing is, everyone did it

because they loved it.

There was no, "Oh, there's Emry the

preacher

or or Mike the Elder or or or Jason the

worship leader." There was who was there

at the time?

And so, someone would lead and whip out

a Bible and start reading it. Oh my god,

they don't have a degree. Are they

Calvinist or not? H

how much Bart have they read?

And as people would read, they would

listen because we practice the

priesthood of all believers. This very

beautiful reformed doctrine that we

don't practice

that says y'all are priests.

That's Bible 101.

If you believe in Jesus Christ, if

you've been baptized, if you take this

wonderful communion, which we're not

doing, I just realized,

you are a priest. You know what a priest

means? He intercedes with heaven and

earth,

with those on the outside and God's

people.

And we were praying for those neighbors,

and we were praying in those halls and

in those dorms, and we would be having

prayer studies in the middle. If you've

ever lived on a dorm, anybody lived on a

dorm?

There were you have to try it once

and we were doing this stuff right

there.

And when did we do it? When whoever

happened to be there led it.

Priesthood of all believers

and we got the work of the Lord. But we

didn't think it was work.

That's the craziest part.

I didn't say, "Hey, Cheryl or Peter,

you've got to go down to the hub it was

called." We have a hub here, too, by the

way.

And and you got to go down there and

evangelize.

Got to evangelize.

Pages. I got pages and books.

Evangelize.

They just say, "Hey, Emry, do you know

what I want to do?" I said, "What? I

want to go down to the hub and talk to

people." Well, let's go.

That was it. That was the plan.

And I know it sounds insane, but people

went, "Hey, I want to hear more.

We all had just encountered God or a lot

of us. And even the ones who'd grown up

in the church once they'd been around

this group, many of them said, "I like

this Jesus." Started getting baptized.

It was crazy.

And then I read John Kelvin and he

nailed what happened.

It is a nature of faith that we want to

bring others to share eternal life with

us when we have become partakers of it.

We had tasted the living water.

We had abided with the living God and we

couldn't imagine how we could keep that

from someone else.

Does that make sense?

>> It was actually exciting.

It was crazy.

I never forget the guy who came to see

who we were. He decided, well, I'll

teach you guys a course in evangel. He

wanted to teach us a course in

evangelism.

I want you to think about that.

For the last year and a half, I'll let

you know the numbers now. We went from a

group that on paper was 80, but was 30

people that would actually show up to

490 people signed up in a year and a

half. And our things would have over 400

people.

And he was going to teach us how to

evangelize

cuz there's a system.

You imagine the Samaritan woman, she's

sitting there and she's drinking her

water and then she looks at Jesus and

goes, "Okay, give me the four spiritual

laws. I got some friends."

Come on. You must have an evangelistic

explosion program.

Oh, hold on. I'll go to seminary. I'll

get my degree and then I'll come back.

It's funny, isn't it?

That's modern Christianity.

It was the best time in my life. And I

love the fact I got to tell you about

poor old Pat. Pat was the lady who was

supposed to lead this. She started off,

she was a little Anglican lady.

Now, there's nothing wrong with

Anglicans. I actually happen to like

them.

They're not known for this.

And this stuff started to happen. And

she kept going, "Oh, no." Oh, and she

would always light candles. Just you had

candles lit. Just

what? How do I stop this?

And Pat, we would take her to these

things and she would watch and she would

get so excited. It was so funny because

Pat, her 60s came out. Anybody know the

60s?

A little bit of that Jesus people came

out of Pat.

My point being is it didn't fit.

But why didn't it fit? because maybe we

as the church have forgotten what we're

supposed to be.

Christopher Wright,

it is not so much the case that God has

a mission for his church in the world

as that God has a church for his mission

in the world.

Mission was not made for the church. The

church was made for mission, God's

mission.

In my 25 years of ordained ministry,

it breaks my heart to tell you guys that

we've spent way more time trying to put

programs together.

Way too much time trying to keep the

institution going

and way little time

hanging out with Jesus.

There's nothing wrong. I love Sunday

morning service. I love our small

groups. But if we don't take time and

abide with Christ and invite people into

that, it will feel, and you probably

felt this yourself, programmatic,

lifeless.

We need to seek Christ.

We need to seek like we did back then.

Now we're more mature. And trust me,

there was some crazy stuff during that

time, too. I make it all sound shiny,

but there were hormones and everyone was

in their 20s.

I don't have to say anymore, do I?

But I tell you one thing, God breathed

on that place for a year and a half. I

don't know what happened after cuz I

graduated, frankly.

But there was something I learned from

that I've tried to bring in my ministry

and it is the Samaritan woman. Look for

her. Breathe on her. Give her the power

to go and share.

Make her truly important because she is.

And when the Samaritans come, celebrate.

And in the number one thing you do is

not make it about you and your programs,

but about Jesus Christ who they have to

abide with to get life.

Because I'm telling you guys something

that I will tell you. He really is the

savior of the world.

We forget this. We are so caught up in

politics right now. We forget that there

is a savior of the world that is not

currently in power locally.

We have a savior of the world who has

conquered the world and has already won.

When they said those Samaritans, he is

the savior of the world, what they

actually did is said, if you look

closely, that all of those empires are

nothing.

Because guess what? The Romans called

themselves,

savior of the world.

The savior of the world was applied to

many, the Caesars at the at exactly the

times of Jesus was at work. and John

later writing his gospel

particularly in the time of Hadrien,

Julius Caesar, Claudius, Vespian, Titus,

Terasian and others. The savior of the

world was for them the political power.

The savior of the world in John's gospel

is no longer expected from political

saviors but from the crucified and risen

Jesus. He won.

He is in authority. Everything else is a

lie. And I don't care what your politics

are.

Do you know how many people are wasting

their life over the stuff that's going

on south of the border?

When we have the living God here with

the living water here now,

it is idolatry.

And we have to end it

because ours is the King of Kings. And

when we worship these other guys, it is

a mistake.

Now, when I was leaving UIC,

I thought everything was going to be

wonderful.

That I was continuingly going to walk

six feet off the earth, having little

prayer groups with wind through trees.

There's a reality that happens.

Life still goes on.

You know that Samaritan woman, she's

going to leave that place and she still

has five relationships that ended and

she still has to deal with a guy she's

living with.

Those Samaritans who came up that hill

and fell in love with Jesus, they're

still going to have to deal with the

fact that they are hated

and that they hate.

Peter,

he was always going to have to deal with

a cerebral pausy.

Cheryl was always going to have to deal

with a child that she had at 17 looked

sideways by people.

All of us

had to leave that place with reality,

but we were changed.

It wasn't that the reality ended. It was

that we had been changed inside. And I

know many of these people to this day,

and they follow and love the Lord. And

their lives haven't been easy

because our Lord and Savior not only

meets us and gives us life, he's the one

who suffered like us.

He's the one that walks like us and we

can get through it because he's been

through it.

The world values power, comfort,

success, and recognition.

Jesus frees us to value grief,

sacrifice,

weakness, and exclusion.

The church should be here

for one reason.

To have a place where people can

encounter Jesus,

whether they're going through good times

or bad.

To drink the living water, to eat the

bread.

This is why we should exist. not to keep

the walls going or dull the programs.

And my prayer is that you and I taste

that and that we become a little more

like the Samaritan woman, a little more

like Cheryl

who just loved Jesus so much we have to

tell somebody about him.

And then when we're here and we're

worshiping together and bad things will

happen, we have a God who promises us

he's going to see us through.

And here's the most incredible point.

All those 400 people

in UIC

one day

are going to see the savior of the world

face to face because of that.

All of you now who believe,

you're going to see the savior of the

world once face to face.

seek him,

abide in him, and Lord, please, Mountain

View, let us allow those to come in who

are outside.

And let us drink that water,

eat that bread,

live in that hope, and share it when it

feels like it's truth to those around

us. So on that day we see the Lord and

Savior of the world face to face.

I'm going to end just by saying this. I

often thought about Peter and his severe

physical ailment

and he was the most excited one which

was really too bad he couldn't speak

well because he probably would have been

a great evangelist.

And I think of that day because of the

little Cheryl shared with Peter out of

the excitement that one day

that body will be resurrected.

And one day he'll hear those words,

"Well done, my good and faithful

servant."

That

>> is worth living for.

>> That is worth dying for.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

amazing grace.

We thank you for your love.

We can't recreate the old, but we know

you can breathe life and new today.

We are thirsty.

We are hungry.

We want to fall in love aresh with you.

May your presence rest here now by your

Holy Spirit.

May you, the one who touched the

Samaritan woman and Cheryl and Peter,

may you who have touched so many in this

world.

May you touch us Aresh

and make us a people who love you

and live for you.

Amen.