Gospel – Page 8 – Michelle Lesley

Originally Published July 26, 2012

*Yes, I know I spelled it wrong in the title. That was on purpose. See the cows? :0)

If, this far into the game, you don’t know about “Chick-fil-A-gate” –as I’m calling it– you must have been living in a cave over the past few weeks. Without internet access, newspapers, cable TV, or, especially, social media.

In a counter response to the homosexual community’s response to Dan Cathy’s response (you’re following this, right?) to an interviewer’s questions, former governor/presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee created a Facebook event called “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day”. Basically, he’s encouraging all who agree with Mr. Cathy’s position on traditional marriage to support him and the restaurant chain (and make up for any business he has lost from the pro-homosexual community) by showing up at their local Chick-fil-A next Wednesday (Aug. 1) and buying some chicken.

In the broad scope of things, this day of appreciation is a nice idea, but one that will quickly be over when Chick-fil-A employees mop up and lock up at close of business. For better or worse, the whole brouhaha will soon blow over and people will go back to their lives.

Or will they?

You see, I’m betting that in a counter-counter response to the Chick-fil-A supporters, there will be some pro-homosexual groups of protesters who also show up. (Don’t hate on that. As long as they aren’t breaking any trespassing, traffic, etc., laws, they are well within their Constitutional rights to do so.)

That’s why I say there’s more at stake here than just chicken.

What if you had a chance to impact one of those people for eternity? What if you could play a part in making next Wednesday the turning point in someone’s life? What if you could be the first person ever to show someone what real Christianity looks like?

As nice of an idea as it is to throw Chick-fil-A some love, Jesus didn’t command us to support businesses we agree with. He commanded us to carry the gospel.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;” Matthew 28:19-20a

If we walk into a Chick-fil-A next week, past a group of people who are dying in their sins, and ignore them, are we any better than the priest and the Levite who left a beaten and bloody man to die in the road rather than rescuing him? Even if they aren’t conscious of it themselves, these people have been battered, bloodied, and enslaved by Satan.

And we’re going to “pass by on the other side” to buy a chicken sandwich?

“Go and do the same” as the one who showed mercy, said Jesus.

Take them a cooler of iced down cokes. Tell them you love them. Ask them if there’s anything they need. Show them you love them by taking the time to take an interest in them, personally. (Nobody feels loved if they think they’re just a notch on your spiritual belt.)

And share the gospel.

You might get laughed at or cursed at or mocked, but there’s no greater way to show mercy than to show someone the Savior.

Your chicken sandwich could change somebody’s life.

Forever.

Faith, Gospel, Salvation, Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday ~ Risque Business: Or, How an Adult Product Company Provided Some Very Interesting Content for my Blog

February 19, 2015March 25, 2015 Michelle Lesley

Originally Published July 21, 2012

I received a hilarious e-mail today. Was it a video of a cute and bumbling puppy? No. A clever joke or anecdote? No. A funny political cartoon? No.

It was actually a piece of spam from an up and coming …shall we say… “adult” products company.

Normally, I would just roll my eyes that my spam filter didn’t catch it and simultaneously click delete, but due to the fact that there were no pictures in it nor a subject line that would raise a red flag, I didn’t realize what it was until I started reading it.

This company wasn’t trying to sell me one of their products, they wanted me to review one of their products.

On my blog.

Which sent me into hysterical fits of laughter.

The company wants to provide me “with the opportunity to write interesting content for [my] site.” And, “If this project goes smoothly, there are probably other ways we could work together as well.”

Do tell.

No, on second thought, don’t.

Sorry, my friend, I’ve already got the most interesting content on the planet for my site.

I’ve got a God-man who came to earth, lived for three decades without ever committing a single sin in thought, word, or behavior, turned water into wine, healed blind eyes, deaf ears, crippled limbs, and broken minds, fed tens of thousands of people from one plate of food, and spoke the wisest words that have ever been uttered.

And to top that all off, He willingly let His own community butcher him. Why? For billions of rebellious people who hate Him. So that He might set them free and rescue them from an excruciating eternity.

Oh, and then there’s that bit about Him coming back to life.

My reply to the spam e-mail I received was this:

I’m just curious, have you actually read my blog? Take a look and let me know whether you still think it’s a fit for your product: (web address)

I truly hope my e-mail makes it through and is actually read by someone. Because it turns out that “Brian” at the adult product company was right. They did give me the opportunity to write interesting content for my site: the Gospel.

And, Brian, if you want to discuss this interesting content more, get in touch and we’ll chat. I believe you have my e-mail address :0) “If this project goes smoothly, there are probably other ways we could work together as well.”

New Testament, Sunday School

The Believin’ Bereans and the Thessalonian Thugs ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 11-30-14

November 30, 2014April 5, 2019 Michelle Lesley

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 48 ~ Nov. 23-29
Acts 15-19, Galatians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1Corinthians 1-4
The Believin’ Bereans and the Thessalonian Thugs

A large part of Acts is devoted to describing how Paul traveled around Asia and Europe preaching and planting churches. Today, we’re going to look at two places he went, Thessalonica and Berea, and their two very different responses to the gospel.

Acts 17:1-9- Thessalonica

Jews vs. Gentiles (1-2, Romans 1:16)
In the days of the early church, one of the apostles was known primarily as the apostle to the Jews, and one as the apostle to the Gentiles. Do you remember which was which? Peter preached mainly to the Jews, and Paul preached mainly to the Gentiles. But as we can see, there was some overlap for both of them.

When Paul arrived at a town with a synagogue (a local “mini-temple” in towns distant from Jerusalem) he started his preaching gig there– to the Jews. This mirrors what we studied back in October, when Jesus sent the disciples out to preach. First, the messiah was God’s promise to and through the Jews, so it was only right to give them “first dibs” on the gospel. Second, this was a period of rapid growth for the church, and converted Jews, with their background in the Old Testament could become competent teachers and preachers much more quickly than Gentiles who had no biblical training at all. Paul emphasizes this concept later in Romans 1:16:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The Substance of the Sermon (2-3)
In verses 2-3, what does Paul draw from to convince the people that Jesus is the Savior? Does he tell them about his phenomenal personal salvation experience on the road to Damascus? No. He “reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” (2) This is something that’s extremely important for us to grasp and remember as we share the gospel with others today.

The gospel isn’t true and necessary because we personally experience life change from it. The gospel is true and necessary because God says it is.

People can experience life change from Weight Watchers, or a near death experience, or Mormonism, or Buddhism. But the life change they experience doesn’t save them and doesn’t prove that these things are true. This is why, when we evangelize, Scripture should take center stage and personal experiences of how Christ has changed our lives should play a supporting role.

The Mixed Response (4-9)
The encouraging news of this passage is that some of the people Paul preached to heard the gospel and believed it. Sometimes, we are reluctant to share the gospel with people because we’re afraid they will reject it (or us), but we should always keep verse 4 in mind– what if they actually believe it?

The remaining five verses, however, describe the opposite response to the gospel. Now, keep in mind, Paul is preaching to Jews…in the synagogue…from their own Scriptures. These are “church people,” if you will. If anybody should have received with joy what Paul was saying, it was this audience. Instead, they rejected the plain teaching of Scripture and basically ran Paul and Silas out of town on a rail.

Though we don’t usually experience rejection to this extreme today, it is a good reminder to us that there are still unbelievers in the church who will reject the plain teaching of Scripture. And, if there are enough like-minded unbelievers in a particular church or denomination, they will run off pastors, teachers, and denominational leaders who stand firmly on Scripture, and will codify rebellion against Scripture into their core beliefs and policies. This is why we have “churches” today that have homosexual bishops, female pastors, accept evolution, etc. Faithful, active church membership does not automatically guarantee that a person is saved.

Acts 17:10-15- Berea

Second Verse, Same as the First (10)
Sometimes, God closes a door and opens a window. Sometimes He slams the door and throws us through the window. Regardless of His method, we end up in the yard with a new place to share the gospel, and that’s exactly what happened to Paul and Silas.

Again, they started out by preaching the gospel in the synagogue.

An Enthusiastic and Responsible Response (11-12)
It’s easy to see why Paul said that the Jews of Berea were more noble than those of Thessalonica. He had three reasons:

1. “They received the word with all eagerness.”
These Jews loved God’s word and were hungry for it. Hearing Scripture taught wasn’t a burden or a duty for them, it was a joy.

2. They were “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”
These Jews had the godly wisdom to know that, if what Paul was preaching was truly from God, Scripture would back it up. They did not just gullibly take every thing Paul said at face value. They did their homework and dug into the Scriptures to make sure Paul wasn’t pulling a fast one on them.

In our day and age of so many false teachers permeating the media, it is imperative that we follow the example of the Bereans. Don’t listen to that TV preacher just because what he says sounds good to the ear. Don’t assume that Bible study you’re considering buying is true to Scripture just because it’s on the shelf at a Christian bookstore. Be a good Berean. Do the homework– it’s never been easier! Google the pastor or author and find out if he/she has a track record of proclaiming sound doctrine. Compare what you’re hearing or reading to Scripture (in context), and see if what you’re being taught is really what God’s word says.

3. “Many of them therefore believed” (Mark 1:14)
There’s nothing more noble than hearing the gospel and believing it. That’s exactly what Jesus said to do in Mark 1:14: “repent and believe in the gospel.”

The Rest of the Story (13-15)
I wanted to end the lesson with verse 12, because I’m a “happily ever after” kind of gal. But this is the Bible, not a Disney movie, and the reality is that wherever the gospel flourishes, Satan will be hot on its heels to attack.

The unbelieving Jews who had caused such a ruckus in Thessalonica heard what was going on in Berea, and they didn’t like it. So, they traipsed roughly 50 miles down the road (a trip which probably took 2+ days) and started causing the same kind of trouble in Berea. We can expect the same kind of results today. When we preach the gospel, we will often face opposition.

When we share the gospel, we can be encouraged and spurred on by the fact that sometimes people will believe it. At the same time, we must be prepared for the opposition Paul and Silas, and even Jesus faced. But, like them, we will eventually get our happy ending. Jesus promised:

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:11-12

New Testament, Sanctification, Sunday School

Persecution 101 ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 10-19-14

October 19, 2014April 5, 2019 Michelle Lesley

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 42 ~ Oct. 12-18
Matthew 8:14-11:30, 12:22-14:36, Luke 8:1-9:17, 11, Mark 4-6, John 6
Persecution 101

Last week we took a look at this pattern:

God—>God calls and trains His people—>God’s people minister the gospel to others

We saw it across various contexts of the Bible: the “macro,” or overall theme from Old Testament to New, the “micro,” or the way God works in our personal lives, and the “messianic,” or the way this pattern applied to Jesus’ own life. This week’s reading was another example of this pattern, the “ministerial,” or the way it applied to Jesus’ and the disciples’ ministry.

In this week’s reading we saw that Jesus’ ministry started with Jesus, Himself. Next He called out and trained His disciples through many parables and healings. Today, we will be looking at the passage where He sends them out to minister the gospel to others. In His final training session before Jesus sends out the twelve, He wants to make sure they’re ready for what they’re about to face.

Matthew 10:16-39

Go Ye Therefore- 5-13 (10:7-8, 5-6, Mark 1:14-15, Isaiah 35:5-6)
Jesus is sending out the disciples. What is He sending them out to do? Verses 7-8 tell us that their ministry was two-fold: first, they were to preach, just as Jesus did (Mark 1):

the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

Second, they were to perform various signs and wonders. Notice that the signs and wonders are secondary to the message of the gospel. Wasn’t the gospel enough? What was the purpose of the miracles? When Jesus perfomed miracles, the miracles were both a fulfillment of prophecy (Is.) to help the Jews to understand that He was the promised Messiah, and they also authenticated His message of the gospel to the gentiles and others who weren’t familiar with the prophecies. Street cred, in other words– if He can do that, what He says must be true, and we’d better listen. The miracles the disciples were to perform were to serve the same purpose– to point to Jesus as the Messiah and to give credibility to the gospel message.

Who were the disciples sent to? Jesus told them not to go to the Samaritans (half Jew, half gentile, as we studied last week) or the gentiles, but “rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Why? Because He didn’t love gentiles and want them to hear the gospel? Not at all. We saw last week that He had already been to a Samaritan village to preach the gospel. And, of a Roman centurion (a gentile) whose servant He healed, Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith,” and went on to say- to an audience of Jews- that there were many gentiles who would make it to Heaven while many Jews would not.

Jesus sent the disciples to the Jews because that was the order God had ordained- first the Jews, then the gentiles. Why?

1. His promise was to the Jews, not the gentiles. God had promised that the Messiah would come through the Jews and to the Jews. All of Jewish history and ceremony had been pointing to this moment in time. God had been laying the ground work through types and shadows and prophecy for millenia. It was only right that Messiah should be revealed to them first.

Imagine if you’ve been promising your child since the day he was born that when he turned 16 you’d buy him a car. Over the years you talked about it together, looked at pictures, visited car lots, and finally picked out the perfect one. Then, on the day of your son’s 16th birthday, you run into a random 16 year old on the street and buy him a car first. Even if you immediately thereafter drove your son to the car lot to buy him his car, would that be the right way to do things?

2. At this point in history -Jesus’ earthly ministry through the birth and spread of the church- we’re looking at very rapid Kingdom growth. Teachers and preachers are going to be needed, like, fast, to shepherd these thousands of new Christians, most of whom are clueless gentiles.

If you work at a computer company and you’re launching a completely new type of software that you want to make accessible to as many people as possible as fast as possible, are you going to hire field representatives who have a professional background in computers or someone who’s never used a computer before?

Same idea here. The Jewish people already had a background in “messiah-ology.” Once saved, they could be up and running as teachers and pastors much faster than your average gentile.

Good News, Bad News- 14-25 (John 3:19)
God is sending out His people (the disciples) to tell His people (the Jews) that He has kept His promise and sent Jesus, the long awaited Messiah. Plus, they’re going to heal a bunch of people and do other miracles. What Jew in his right mind wouln’t be overjoyed at this awesome news, right?

So, what’s all this stuff about the disciples being hated and persecuted and charged with criminal activity? That’s not the way people usually respond to someone who’s bringing them good news. But God’s news isn’t good news when you don’t love God, and these Jews didn’t. That’s why Jesus referred to the people He was sending the disciples to as “lost sheep.” They were just as lost as any gentile.

1. They loved darkness rather than light (Jn.). The good news of the gospel is bad news when you love your sin and don’t want to give it up, because the gospel requires us to forsake our sin -all of it- actually admit that we’re scum, and fling ourselves on the mercy of Christ for forgiveness. It’s only by the gift of God’s grace that we’re able to do that.

2. They wanted the idol-messiah they had fashioned in their minds, not the Messiah of Scripture. Many in Israel were expecting and/or hoping for a messiah who would come in, conquer Rome, sit on David’s throne, re-establish the theocracy of Israel, and bring them back to prominence and prosperity. In other words, just like the woman at the well from last week, they wanted the temporal stuff, not the eternal. A Christ who would set them free from Rome and poverty, not a Christ who would set them free from sin.

That’s why, to many people the disciples preached to, the good news was bad news.

Fear Not- 26-39
Jesus is delivering a pretty sobering message here. When the disciples preach the gospel (now, and in the early church era), they’re going to be: shunned (14), turned over to the courts (17), flogged (17- and they’re not too far from seeing this happen to Jesus), dragged in front of kings and governors (17), betrayed to the enemy by family members (21), hated by all (22), fleeing for their lives (23), slandered (25), executed (28), and alienated from their closest family members (35-36). That’s a tough row to hoe, but Jesus wants them to understand that what many of the Jews are expecting -Messiah will re-establish the kingdom of Israel and bring peace (34)- isn’t reality, and when they tell people that, things are going to get ugly. He hasn’t come to bring earthly peace, instead, standing with Christ will be the hardest thing they’ve ever done.

But what is their response to this persecution supposed to be? Are they to give up, retaliate, cower? No, Jesus tells them to do two things:

1. Don’t be afraid of them (26). The worst thing they can do is kill you. If you’re going to be afraid of something, fear God and fear denying Him (28).

2. As long as you’ve got breath in your body, you preach the gospel. You preach it loud and you preach it long (27). Do. not. stop. no matter what.

Why? Because God loves you. He values you. He’s going to take care of you. And He’s in control.

The Demands of Discipleship Today
There are Christians today in countries like North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, and other areas, who understand all too well what Jesus was warning the disciples about. They experience the same things on a daily basis. Those of us born in America have very little grasp of just how blessed we are to be able to worship God openly, freely, and without much real persecution.

But the times, they are a-changin’. Fast.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the last couple of years, you’ve seen stories about the Bible, prayer, and Christianity being systematically removed from and prohibited in public places. We’ve seen Christian bakers, photographers, and t-shirt company owners sued for declining to provide their services for homosexual “weddings,” rallies, and other events. Just last week, we saw Houston officials subpoena sermons and other materials from pastors in an effort to bully them into silence about their homosexual agenda.

Real persecution is coming to America at breakneck speed. And in the same way that the disciples were persecuted by both gentiles and the “lost sheep of Israel”, we will face persecution by both the world and those who claim the name of Christ, but actually follow a messiah-idol of their own making. Those of us who stand with the true Christ of Scripture and His word will be shunned and rejected by our closest family members- even those who claim to be Christians. We will be hated and slandered. We will be arrested, prosecuted, and even executed by both lost people and church people.

But Christ’s message to us is the same as it was to the twelve. Keep preaching the gospel. Preach it loud, preach it long, and preach it with your dying breath. Love Me more than your family, more than your reputation, more than your very life, because I care for you. How could we fail to stay true to Him after all He has done for us?

Christian women, New Testament, Sunday School

Well Aware ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 10-12-14

October 12, 2014April 5, 2019 Michelle Lesley

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 41 ~ Oct. 5-11
Matthew 4-8:13, 12:1-21, Luke 4-7, John 1:15-John 5, Mark 2-3
Well Aware

This week, we looked at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. First, with Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness, we saw God prepare Jesus for ministry. Next, we saw Jesus call his disciples -all good Jewish boys- and train them for ministry. And, finally, we saw the disciples assisting Jesus as He minstered to both Jews and gentiles. This pattern:

God—>God calls and trains His people—>God’s people minister the gospel to others

was a great picture of where we’ve been (the Old Testament) and where we’re going (the church era).

Where We’ve Been– In the same way Jesus’ ministry started with Jesus himself, the Old Testament starts with, “In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1) Next, God makes Himself known to His chosen people (Israel), and trains them in His ways. In the New Testament, He uses His chosen people to minister the gospel to the gentiles.

Where We’re Going– As we get further into the New Testament, we’ll see that the way God deals with us is mirrored in the structure of the passages we read this week about Jesus’ early ministry. It all starts with God, who calls each of us out, saves us and prepares us for ministry. We then minister to both God’s people -through our service in the church- and to those who are outside of God’s family -through evangelism.

All of which brings us to where we are, a story that follows this same pattern. We are all on one side of today’s story or another: the people of God, or the people God is calling out to. The woman at the well, or the well woman. And, of course, everything starts with Jesus.

John 4:1-42

It All Starts with Jesus
1-3 (John 3:30)- Although John had just said, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease,” John’s ministry was still going pretty strong at this point, and Jesus’ brand new ministry was exploding. Two large and growing groups with unconventional ideas did not escape the notice of both the Jewish and the Roman officials, who would have been all too familiar with the Maccabean Revolt (as well as lesser uprisings). In order to ward off any official attempt to clamp down on either John’s or Jesus’ ministries to preclude a perceived impending revolution, Jesus took some of the heat off by traveling north to Galilee.

4-5 (2 Kings 17)– This is where knowing your Old Testament comes in handy. Do you remember anything about Samaria from the Old Testament?

When the nation of Israel split into the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah), Samaria became the capital of the northern kingdom. Second Kings 17 describes how, due to Israel’s idolatry, God allowed the northern kingdom to be overthrown by Assyria, and most of Israel to be taken into captivity. Afterwards, “the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel.” (2 Kings 17:24) Eventually, some of the exiled Jews (as well as some Jews who had been left behind in northern Samaria at the time of the exile) returned and intermarried with these gentiles. The “pure” Jews of the southern kingdom (Judah/Judea) considered the Samaritans unclean half-breeds. Judeans hated Samaritans, wouldn’t have anything to do with them, and even went out of their way, when traveling north, to go around Samaria instead of through it, even though that was a much longer route.

So, Jesus’ simple act of passing through Samaria on His way north was actually a fairly weighty statement that would have raised some eyebrows even among His disciples. He didn’t hate the Samaritans and didn’t consider Himself unclean for passing through their area.

6-7– “The sixth hour” was noon. Jesus and the disciples had likely been traveling -on foot, of course- since early morning when it was cooler, and stopped during the heat of the day to rest and eat. John indicates Jesus’ humanity here by telling us that He was physically tired.

7– Drawing water was woman’s work, but noon was an unusual time to draw. All of the women usually came out around the same time in the morning and/or early evening (when it was cooler), so it was a time to socialize as well as get a chore done. Maybe this woman was so ashamed of her lifestyle that she wanted to avoid the other women, or maybe she just needed some extra water that day. Whatever the reason, it was God’s perfect timing.

The Woman at the Well
7-27– This was a woman who knew which rung she occupied on the social ladder, and it wasn’t anywhere near the top. Not only did the Jews hate the Samaritans, and would sooner have died of thirst than drink water their dirty hands had handled, but Jewish men did not speak to women of any sort in public. Furthermore, a rabbi (or teacher of Scripture, which Jesus was considered to be) would never have defiled himself by conversing with an adulterous woman (which Jesus already knew her to be). So this woman probably jumped out of her skin when Jesus asked her for a drink. He didn’t hate her. He didn’t look down on her. He didn’t think she was untouchable. How many people in this woman’s life do you think treated her that way? Do we treat people the way Jesus treated her?

Never one to waste time on chit chat, Jesus immediately transitions (10) from His temporal, physical need, to her spiritual need. He might be thirsty, but she needs a Savior, and that’s more important to Him. Can we say the same as we interact with lost people from day to day?

Jesus begins to talk about spiritual things, but she’s still focused on the physical. “How can I get this magic water so I won’t be physically thirsty or have to come haul water anymore?” (15) She doesn’t get it. All she wants is for Jesus to make her earthly life better. She wants her physical needs taken care of and she doesn’t want to have to work. And that’s all many people today want, too, and what they’re promised by hucksters masquerading as Christian pastors and teachers. “Come to Jesus and you’ll be wealthy and everything will go your way,” they promise.

But that’s too small for Jesus. Does He provide for our needs? Yes. But, all too often, that’s where our desire stops. He wants infinitely more for us, just like He wanted for this woman.

There was one thing standing in the way of that, though. Her sin. Since she wasn’t grasping the water metaphor, Jesus goes for the direct approach and calls her on the carpet. She’s had five husbands, and it’s not because she’s been widowed five times. Now, she’s cohabiting with someone. Jesus just lays it out there and lets it hang in the air. Her secret from this stranger is out in the open. She’s convicted. She doesn’t know what to say. Why not change the subject to a religious debate? That doesn’t hit quite so close to home. But Jesus puts her questions in perspective and brings her back around to the real question at hand. Forget all these unimportant questions about which mountain is the right one to worship on. God wants true worshipers, and if you want to be one of them, you have to worship Him in your spirit -not just with outward actions- and in truth -in agreement with Scripture. (24) And what was the truth? She needed forgiveness and only He could offer it. She was a sinner, and He was the Savior. She got it.

The Well Woman
28-42– The woman at the well had been transformed. No longer sin sick, she was now a well woman. One of God’s chosen people. And what do God’s people do when Jesus makes them well? They go out and tell others so those people can be made well too. And that’s exactly what this woman did. She told them about Jesus.

And what did she tell them? Jesus made all my dreams come true? Everything in my life is going to be great now? No, she said, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.” (29) What had He told her? He had told her about her sin, and here she was, boldly and shamelessly telling others about it. There’s only one way that sin has no more power to shame us, and that’s when Jesus sets us free from it. When we turn from our sin and trust that the death, burial and resurrection of Christ paid the penalty for our sin, we are clean before God, and there is no more reason to be ashamed. She had been set free, and she wanted others to be set free, too.

And this is exactly what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples. (31-38) Quit worring so much about food and other temporal things, guys! Open your eyes! Don’t you see that there’s a field full of souls out there -just like this woman- ready to receive the gospel and be harvested into the Kingdom? Let’s get to work!

So they did. The woman told the people about Jesus and brought them to him. For two days, He taught the people, assisted by the disciples. Many of them believed and were saved. And now we’ve come full circle, because, for these people, too, it all started with Jesus.

Well, Women?
This week we’ve seen Jesus minister to a number of people who were outcasts: a leper, the man with the withered hand, the paralytic, the demoniac, and the prostitute would all have been considered unclean people to avoid in Jewish society. The centurion was a hated Roman, a gentile. And here is an adulterous Samaritan woman. What is Scripture telling us as Jesus ministers to these people? Jesus loves the unloveable. He will touch the defiled, the untouchable. We don’t have to be clean before we come to Jesus. He cleanses us. We don’t have to be good before we come to Jesus. He gives us His righteousness if we repent and trust in Him. This is Scripture’s message to all the women at the well.

To the well women, the disciples, those who have trusted Christ and been forgiven, the message is GO. Boldly, unashamedly, tell everyone of the Savior who has the power to set them free from the shame of sin. Look around, the fields are white unto harvest. Go out and bring them in, that they, too, might be set free. GO.