February 1, 2009

The Effect of Jesus' Word Validates His Claim - Feb 1, 2009

WORSHIP INTRODUCTION:

In his letter to the Roman Christians Paul writes,

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV)

It is the Good News of Jesus, the Gospel, that creates faith and keeps it alive. Today we examine the fourth chapter of John and see how the effect of Jesus’ words on people testifies that He is the Son of God.

SERMON:

May our Creator and Savior bless your hearts with a childlike faith. A faith that trusts in the Father simply because He is the Father. A faith that yearns to follow Jesus with every step. A faith which the Holy Spirit may use to declare His love to sinners we know. Amen.

How come Second Maccabees isn’t part of the Old Testament? How come the Gospel of Thomas doesn’t have a place in the New?

The short answer is – they weren’t authored by the Holy Spirit, so He didn’t include them in His completed work.

When I was in Seminary I looked forward to the class on Canon and Text. The class that would explain how the books of the Bible found their way into the Bible. Some of these books were written hundreds of years apart. Others, more than a thousand years apart.

I had always assumed that there was some special Christian council that was convened which selected the right ones and declared, “These are the books of the Bible”.

But I was wrong.

The Word of God didn’t need the validation of the councils of men because the Holy Spirit remained with His Word. After inspiring men to write His Word, the Holy Spirit stayed with it, preserving it and working in the hearts of those who read it.

Over time, Christians recognized the Holy Spirit’s stamp of approval and the books which were His began to be published together.

Only after the Holy Spirit had convinced Christ’s followers which books were God’s Word did any councils come along with their stamp of approval.

If you want proof that this is God’s book, you gotta read it. Its effect on people proves that it is the Word of God.

The same is true of Jesus. If you want proof that He is the Son of God, you have to hear His words. His effect on people proves that He is the Son of God.

PRAYER:

Jesus, we are here because You love us and have shown us that You are our Great God and Savior. Bless us with clear vision to see our own sins. Bless us with honest and repentant hearts to confess those sins to you. Forgive us and bless us with on-going encouragement and guidance from Your Holy Bible. Amen.

John 4:39-42 (NIV)

39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers.
42They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

“JESUS’ WORD CHANGES PEOPLE”

Perhaps no two apostles were more different and opposed to each other than Matthew and Simon the Zealot.

You remember Matthew. He was the tax collector. He was Jewish born, but his occupation was collecting taxes from his own countrymen - for Rome. Many of his fellow citizens would have considered him a traitor.

On the complete other end of the spectrum is Simon the Zealot. Zealots were the nationalists of Israel. The patriots. The Zealots staged violent rebellions in an attempt to overthrow the authorities of Rome. They wanted nothing more than to drive Rome out of their country.

I don’t have to tell you that Matthew probably didn’t sit next to Simon the Zealot at first.

But these men weren’t selected to be on Jesus’ bowling team. They weren’t gathered together because they had the same interests or the same qualities. Jesus Had brought these men together to learn from Him.

For three years they would follow Him. They would hear His sermons. He would teach them privately. They would see and be part of His miracles. Jesus would change them. His message would change them.

He would bring them together not just by teaching them to know one another. He would bring them together by removing their sins through His cross.

By joining them in loving relationship with God the Father, they would then be able to enjoy a good relationship with each other. He would join them together as one, through their common faith in Him, their Savior from sin.

Jesus would bring a tax-collector and a Zealot together and out of them He would make brothers in Christ.

In the years to come Jesus would break down the barrier that stood between ethnic Jews and Gentiles. They hated each other fiercely. But in Christ’s church they would become one. As the Savior’s apostle says,

“28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28 NIV).

Jesus’ ministry was primarily to the Jewish people because they were the ones who had the Old Testament Bible and could recognize the Christ most easily. But since all people needed the Savior, Jesus sought to serve Samaritans too.

It might not seem like such a big deal for Jesus to speak to a Samaritan woman. But we didn’t live in those times. The Jews often avoided travelling through Samaritan land if they could. They hated each other. We saw it in the woman’s question to Jesus, “How can you ask ME for a drink? You’re a Jew.”

It didn’t take long for Jesus to change this woman’s perception though. She went to the well with distain for Jews. She left with the purpose of telling her village that she had found the Christ, and He was a Jew.

His word changed her. He told her that He was the Christ, and she believed.

But it isn’t just the direct speaking of Jesus that holds power. His word is powerful, no matter who speaks it.

It doesn’t take much reading in the Bible to find out that the people that God concerns Himself with are not remarkable people. Often they are guilty of sins that we would look down upon with a self-righteous eye.

Jacob was a liar and a thief. Moses a murderer. King David a fornicator. Peter was a racist. Paul persecuted people violently because of their religion.

God didn’t choose these people to be His own to be His people because their souls were shinier than the souls of others. Christianity isn’t about remarkable people sought out and found by God like hidden pearls in a sin dirties world. Christianity is about sinners made remarkable by the cleansing blood of God’s own Son.

It’s been said, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.” We don’t come to Him clean, we come dirty. Sinful. Doomed. He takes our sin away. He declares us clean by His Son’s sacrifice. And then He begins to actually clean up the messes of sin in our lives.

The Samaritan woman didn’t have a great reputation in her village. Jesus pointed out her sins to her quite strongly. No doubt others knew of them also. But it was she who left her water jar by the well and went to bring others to His feet.

“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (John 4:29 NIV).

She carried the word of Jesus to the village. She did. And they believed.

39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did” (John 4:39 NIV).

Before they ever met Jesus, they believed because she had carried His message to them. You could say, they met Jesus, before they met Jesus.

It makes me think of what Jesus said to doubting Thomas after he finally believed,

“…Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29 NIV).

The people of Sychar were indeed blessed. Blessed with faith because of the Word of God. The Samaritan woman had gone out to fetch some water, but had returned without her water jar and carrying the water of life.

In his letter to the Roman Christians Paul writes,

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV)

It is the word of Jesus, the Gospel, that creates faith and keeps it alive.

When the citizens of Sychar reached Jesus, they made Him stay with them for a couple days. And as we would expect, He preached and taught to them. And His word continued to produce faith in the hearts of His hearers.

To those that had already believed, His preaching was spiritual food for the strengthening of their faith.

They told the woman,

“…We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world” (John 4:42 NIV).

They told her the message in return.

They told her what she already knew. This is the Christ. It was a simple thing to say, but it was a miracle all the same. They had come to trust that Jesus was their Savior, and they were already seeking to share that message. If not with new people, then with their fellow believers. If not to create new faith, then to strengthen and build up those who believe already.

They pointed the woman from the well to the Savior, and to the source of their new, joint life. All that He was. All that He would do. All that He means for the sinner.

So, what does this all mean for us today?

If His Word changes hearts, then lets make sure to be in His Word so that our hearts are being renewed every day. Molded by His powerful voice.

If His Word has power no matter who speaks it, then let’s speak it and rescue this world.

If His Word sustains faith, then lets tell it back to each other.

If we believe Paul’s Words. If we believe Jesus’ Words. Then let’s not be ashamed of the Gospel. Let’s plug into its power, and share it’s light.

I invite you to pray with me.

PRAYER:

Dearest Jesus, we know your voice. You tell us we are sinners, and You tell us we are covered by Your life. Bring our hearts before you in true repentance. Bring life to our souls by Your invigorating message of free forgiveness and eternal life through Your blood. Teach us to walk in your ways. Teach us to speak only your truth. Teach us to be your sons and daughters. Amen.

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