In Heart Pursuit -- Pursuing Relationships -- John 4:1-26

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Show Lunchroom clip from Sky High.
That little piece of video tells us a lot doesn’t it?
It is so very easy to put up walls and to avoid connecting to people.

Describing the Biblical Text
This is a familiar text to us as we have read it and even heard it preached from this pulpit
That is the amazing thing about the scriptures.
They are always new and fresh.
They are always timeless and as ready to inform us as they were ready to inform the great church men of the past like the apostle Peter, Timothy, Clement of Rome, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Mordecai Ham, and Billy Graham.
What is Jesus up to in this passage?
He is following a path that is not seen as the appropriate path to follow.
He is pursuing a woman and contrary to pop culture, The Da Vinci Code, and now James Cameron, it was not Mary Magdalene.
Sometimes, Jesus only has to touch one life to make a huge difference in the lives of many others.

Narrate the Contextual application
Do we drive through the bad part of town at night?
Are we anxious to meet people who might challenge our sensibilities or do we avoid encounters that might make us uncomfortable.
Most of us have two or three close relationships that we can name in our minds right now.
Most of us are satisfied with that.
Why break our bubble and leave our comfort zone if we don’t have to?
But looking at Jesus, He had no bubble, no comfort zone, only the desire to connect with people or as He put it: to seek and to save the lost.

Life Application (thesis)
Where does that take us?
As we look this morning at Jesus and His encounter with this woman we see that He is pursuing relationships.
He knows that people are reached through relationships.
Consequently he brought this lesson to life for us.
We cannot be unavailable to the unlovable, the unreachable, the unattractive, or the unsaved.
If we believe that Jesus died for people no matter what their life situation is, then we will go whatever lengths we need to in order to bring them in to God’s Family.
We will explore 3 simple principles that will give us insight into connecting to people from the perspective of Jesus.

SO WHAT!! (Outline)
People are more important than my prejudices (or my preferences).
We know the story behind this text.
Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee and instead of following the tradition of men, and taking the long way around the land of Samaria, He took the shortcut and passed through it. He got thirsty and when He did, he stopped for a drink of water. As he waited, a woman of Samaria came to get water.
We know the story don’t we? She was there in the heat of the day because of her shame.
She could not go to the well when the other women were there because she was what we would call skank.
Now if we consider culture here, we see that in her day, her behavior was stigmatized as immoral.
Today, her behavior would be seen as normal.

Jesus engaged her in conversation in spite of her stigma.
He immediately began tearing down walls of separation.
Her question to Him shows us her surprise doesn’t it. “How is it that you being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”
You can hear the astonishment in her question.
Jesus has just committed cultural taboo. He spoke to a woman and to a Samaritan.

It’s a good thing for Jesus that none of the Pharisees were there. Oh yeah, they were busy avoiding Samaria.
But they would have wanted to kill Jesus. Oh yeah, they did that anyway.
Jesus put Dynamite at the base of the cultural walls and blew them to smithereens.
He did this because he saw one lone immoral Samaritan woman as important.

Does this mean that we need to ask who is important to us?
I think the answer to that is obvious. Certainly we do.
Now remember, we are talking about connecting to people, pursuing relationships.
We need to be looking for people who need Jesus. I want to read a phrase to you and ask if you recognize it: To reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ and to become His completed disciples.
That for those of us who may have forgotten is our purpose statement.
There is a starting point and an ending point.
The gospel begins a process that is ended when we are completed disciples.
But the beginning point of that rests on a connection that begins with the idea that people are important.

Reality has exploded on television. Everything is about that right now. The whole thing began with MTV and their garbage show called Real World where they put TV cameras in a house where young men and women lived together. What came next were shows like Survivor, Who wants to Marry a Millionaire, Joe Shmoe, Endurance for Kids and numerous other attempts at reality.

Why would we have such an interest in the real reactions of people in stressful and uncomfortable situations?
I think it is because we have an innate curiosity to find out if others are like us behind closed doors.
When we see the outrageous behavior of others, we feel better about ourselves.
But you know what else. We don’t like Teflon or silverstone or whatever term you use for the phony front.
When people say that there are hypocrites in church, they are saying that it just ain’t real.
Our second principle is: A connection means that we will be honest with people.

Jesus was just himself at the well with the woman.
Anyone who was there to get water that day could have seen the pain in the life of the Samaritan woman.
Jesus saw her pain and opened up to her.
He entered into a relationship and then began to deal with her needs in an honest and forthright way.
Sometimes when we talk to people, we are so afraid to bring up issues that we stifle our ability to minister because we only connect with people superficially.

Jesus was honest with her.
First of all, he said that he had something for her.
It was living water.
I can see my dad dropping two alka seltzer tablets in a glass when I hear that term.
What did Jesus mean? It was the idea that we would have something in our lives that would flow out. Jesus gives us some help in 7:38-39. He who believes in me as the scripture said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
What is flowing out of our lives?
Is it living water or is it stagnant.
To believe in Jesus is to have a life that affects others because of the Spirit of God who flows out.
When that happens we become blessed by Jesus and filled that we never thirst again.

Jesus pointed out to the woman that she was a sinner which puts her in the same boat as all of us.
It separates us from God.

How would you like to see rivers of living water flow from your soul and to know that you won’t have to worry about your sin separating you from God any more?
You can have that peace and assurance this morning by simply receiving Jesus as your Lord and savior today.
Would you please bow your heads? If you want Jesus, would you pray, “Dear Lord, my sins are bad. They have kept me from you. I want to be close to you and to have my sins forgiven and wiped away. I know that Jesus died on the cross to do that and I am asking Him into my life now. Lord, I give you control of all that I am, all that I do, and all that I have. Thank you for saving me Lord, in Jesus’ Name, Amen

The neat thing about the way that Jesus connected to this woman was he met where she was. He was ready to connect her to God
Connecting people to the Father is our primary job. This is our third principle today.
A few minutes ago, I told you that connection was a process. Jesus was engaging in a simple conversation about water and where to worship.
Jesus said the water was living and the place of worship is simply where God is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth.
It could be the living room, the worship center, the Family Life Center, a cave, or a prison cell.
Jesus said that God really doesn’t care.
What God cares about is true worship.
I love it when people tell me that something makes it hard for them to worship.
It makes me want to ask, “What are you worshiping anyway?”
The hymn that we sing tells us to turn our eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Too many people who claim to be followers of Christ let the tings of earth obscure their vision of Jesus.
We keep our eyes on bulletins, buildings, and budgets so much that we can’t see the savior anymore.
Jesus came to connect people to God so that they would go through the process of becoming devoted completed followers of Him.
As a church we have to define our entry point in the process.
Where do we connect with people?
We have to define what will move people through the process of growth.
Where will people connect with God; with each other; and with the ministries that will bring more people to our point of connection?
We are pursuing people to move through a process.
Jesus pursues hearts and so must we or else we will become that church that Paul described to Timothy, holding to a form of godliness but denying its power.

If we are more concerned with buildings, budgets and bulletins, and not connecting to people, we already may be there.