The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 29th March 2009 by Robin Hawkins
"The Woman at the Well"
The Woman at the Well
Reading: John 4:1-42
On Saturday morning, 21st April 1855, Edward Kimball decided to speak to one of his 18 year old Sunday School pupils about becoming a Christian. The young man worked in a shoe factory and Kimball was, at, first, unsure about calling on him during working hours. But he decided to go in and see him. He found him at the back of the factory wrapping up shoes in paper and stacking them on the shelves. Kimball went up to the lad and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. There were tears in Kimball's eyes as he encouraged him to respond to Christ's love. Kimball said that the young man was ready for the conversation so that there and then, he gave himself and his life to Christ.
The youth decided he would gather some derelict young people together. He asked a leading church to send over some Sunday School teachers to tell the gathering about Christ. By his own efforts and hard work of inviting folk, he gathered 1200 young people to come each week and hear the stories of Jesus. His name was D.L. Moody, the great American evangelist of the last century, who eventually held crusades around the world. Because an ordinary Christian told a teenager about Jesus, thousands ended up knowing about Him.
The P. of the Sower teaches us that sowing is a wasteful business. Many won't respond at all, but only 33% of the people who do will become fruitful. But the fruit they produce when they do makes up for all the others many times over. Because it's so wasteful, we need to go on sowing profusely.
In our western world we have so many hang-ups about sharing our faith with others. We read books, go on courses, and still find ourselves tongue-tied with embarrassment. The church in Nepal saw tremendous growth in the 1990's, and a British teacher in Pakistan asked a colleague who had been over there what the secret of the Nepalese success was. "They've got a very simple technique," his friend replied, " they tell others about Jesus."
I don't think these Nepalese were doing this out of a sense of duty, because they felt they ought to. Something of the Spirit of the Gospel had captured their hearts. Their sharing of the gospel flowed out of a heart full of Jesus. They couldn't help but speak of what they had experienced.
At the same time though, Western Christians can often fail to appreciate the cost of following Christ in other parts of the world. The Indonesian evangelist Octavianus, preaching to Muslims in South Thailand, put it plainly: "Come to Christ!" He appealed. "It may cost you your life, but come all the same!"
Jesus preached the gospel to any and everybody; but every so often these divine appointments occurred that always turned out to be so fruitful. We look at these divine appointments longingly, and pray for the same things to happen in our own lives. I suspect that they may happen a lot more often than we realise, but unless we are ready and looking for them, the danger is that we'll miss them. Those of us who've done "BYC" will have learnt how to spot those opportunities and how to make the most of them.
Let's look at what happened here. In v.6 of this chapter, we are told that Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down by the well. Do you ever think that God's a hard task-master? Jesus was tired, but Father still had a job lined up for him to do - a divine appointment with this woman from Samaria.
What was going on here? Was this Father driving his Son on even when he was tired and needed rest? Not at all! This was "food and drink" to Jesus. This was a blessing from Father - His way to restore and invigorate Jesus. We've all known those times when we come in from work, and we're physically shattered. All we want to do is to put our feet up in front of the box - and then we remember it's Life Group or the P/Mtg that night. What do we do? "Hey listen," we think, "we're under grace. It won't matter this once. God doesn't intend us to be put under heavy burdens. Didn't he say his burden was light?" And all the time we forget this principle that doing God's will is food to our bodies - spiritual food maybe, but it's food that refreshes us. So let me encourage you to pick yourself up, and get yourself off to the Life Group. Lo and behold as you engage in the spiritual activity of prayer, evangelism or bible study, you find you come away fresher than you were when you came in!
We need to see these demands on us when we're tired as an opportunity for God to refresh us and bless us. This was not an irksome demand from Father who wouldn't stop driving his Son, even when he was tired. Rather his Father knew that the conversion of this woman would more than restore his Son's energies.
So when did Jesus sense in his Spirit that his Father had lined this one up? Probably when he saw her approaching. I think his heart would have been moved by the careworn troubled features of a woman not at peace with herself. Why was she coming now anyway - it was in the middle of the day - the hottest time. Quite possibly because no-one else came at that time. People knew her lifestyle. She should have been stoned according to the law of Moses. Perhaps that was how they treated her - as one dead. So she was ostracised by the community.
The main point I want make here is that it would have been the easiest thing in the world for Jesus to have done nothing. Perhaps if you or I had been there, we would done just that - nothing! We might have said to ourselves:
"We're too tired!"
"It's too hot!"
"It's my lunch hour." - and the opportunity would have been missed. Jesus had six (good) reasons not to talk to this woman:
He was tired
This person was a Samaritan
It was too hot
She was a woman
It was his lunch break.
She was an outcast.
The fact was that he refused to be held back by any of them, and the result of his obedience was that many were saved.
I believe that all of us have such opportunities from time to time, as Jesus had here. Either we sense in our hearts here's someone we need to talk to, or we're moved by someone's need. What I can't promise is that such opportunities will come at a convenient time. Julie runs her Clinic in our back bedroom. Sometimes I'm working in my office downstairs, and she comes bursting in when I'm busy with an important piece of admin., saying: "Robin, I need you to come and pray with this client of mine. She needs deliverance/healing/to be able to conceive or whatever. Too often it's on the tip of my tongue to say: "Do I have to do it now? Can't you see I'm trying to run a church here?!" I'm not good at responding to the sudden need - but I'm getting better at it!
Let's look at some of the reasons why we might miss such an opportunity, and why perhaps we might not get the same results as Jesus did:
1. We may have to cross social barriers or break taboos
2. Our routine may be upset
3. It may seem illogical (eg Philip & the Eunuch)
4. We're afraid of looking stupid.
5. Unbelief that it's God prompting us thus.
6. Immaturity - we didn't recognise the prompting.
7. We feel tired and have done enough for one day
Let's assume that we mange to overcome all these obstacles; and look briefly at how Jesus made the most of this opportunity.
First he breaks all the social taboos by talking to her at all. Very cleverly, he asks her to do something for him. Oddly perhaps, people are far more ready to do something for you, than to let you do something for them. It makes them feel wanted for a start. Then in v.10, he stirs her curiosity with a rather cryptic comment about giving her living water. This gets the conversation going, and finally she says "Give me this water." At which point, he is able to speak into some of the real problems in her life, by saying: "Go fetch your husband...."Read
Her perception of him changes immediately: "Sir I perceive you are a prophet!" - and then she changes the subject, and goes off on a red herring. But Jesus didn't try to change it back. The sower had sown his prophetic seed in fertile soil. Already it has taken root, and it would produce its fruit in due season - in this case, no longer than two days.
So what's the lesson here? Surely it's that sowing and reaping don't have to take a long time, unlike natural harvests - especially when we use the gifts of the Spirit in evangelism, and don't just keep them in the church meetings. Some seed may take time to grow, other seed will take root, and grow up quickly. But again, don't assume it will necessarily be short-lived. What I think we should do is start seeking to be prophetic in our evangelism. Jesus was, and it cut through months of discussion, debate, and relationship building - all of which have their place, but take a long time - and the fields are white for harvest now. The task is enormous. We need to lay hold of every means the Father has given us for winning the lost. We need to pray for boldness as much as power or prophecy. There's no point in getting a prophetic word out on the streets if we're too afraid to speak it out. But let's remind ourselves of the outcome here because Jesus did have the courage to speak out what his Father gave him. Read vs. 39-40.
