Jan 2010

Timothy Nathaneal, a doulos of Christ, and fellow servant in the Way, love you in the truth. Let grace, mercy and peace be with us in truth and love from God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit our helper. I can’t tell you how happy I am to learn that many members of the Phish Bowl family of believers are diligent in living out the Truth, a basic character of His unifying commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) that you conduct your lives in Love. This is the first thing you heard, and nothing has changed. Jesus the Christ came into the world to save sinners, which is the greatest show of love. I am proof of this love-Public Sinner Number One-someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. Now he shows me off-evidence of His endless patience-to those who are right on the edge of trusting Him forever.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love”: Galatians 5:22

“Love is the fulfilling of the law”: Romans 13:10

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love”: I John 4:8

From Absolute Surrender: “When man (Adam) sinned, why was it that he sinned? Selfishness triumphed- he sought self instead of God. And just look! Adam at once began to accuse the woman of having led him astray. Love to God had gone; love to man was lost…

Does that not teach us that sin had robbed the world of love? Ah! What a proof that the history of the world has been of love having been lost! There may have been beautiful examples of love even amongst the heathen, but only as a little remnant of what was lost. One of the worst things sin did for man was to make him selfish, for selfishness cannot love.

The Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven as the son of God’s love. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). God’s Son came to show what love is, and He lived a life of love here on earth in fellowship with His disciples, in compassion over the poor and miserable, in love even to His enemies. He died the death of love. When He went back to heaven, whom did He send down? He sent the spirit of love to come and banish selfishness and envy and pride, and bring the love of God into the hearts of men. “The fruit of the spirit is love”.

I must confess the truth: I do not always live out this love. Recently, there was this young man that had given himself over to sin; deeper and farther than I have seen before. For some reason, he wanted to befriend me. He just wanted to be loved. I tried in the flesh to help him but I did not do it in the love of the Spirit. Instead I thought more of what other cons and the church would think of me! I should have been worried of what Jesus would think of me! I would call him “Gollum” and “creeping little thing” and do my best to avoid him. Where is the love of Christ in this? Jesus, at the 6^th hour of the day, sat and talked to a Samaritan woman. Woe to me!

We start off here, John 4:1-42, “A Samaritan Woman meets her Messiah”. I like to write out the scripture that we are going to cover, but this time I’m going to ask you all to get out your Bible (if you don’t have one, Google, “John 4:1-42”) and read this story for yourself. Keep in mind that all four gospels record this story in part: Matthew 4:12, Mark 1:14, and Luke 4:14, but John records it in full. John 4:1-4 could be called “Jesus leaves for Galilee”.

Verses 4-6 (Strong’s: Hebrew 8111 and Greek 4540) Samaria, the capitol city of the northern kingdom of Israel; “The Northern Kingdom”. Belonging to the clan of Shemer, I King 16:24

*Sychar: A Village one half mile north of Jacob’s well on the East slope of Mt. Ebal.

*Jacob’s well is still there, 100 feet deep, 9 feet in diameter and still has water in it.

The road led through or by the town called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph (Genesis 33:19 and Joshua 24:32). Jacob’s well, was of great worth, not only for its unfailing source of water, but also because it was “Jacob’s well”, the great patriarch.

To get from Judea to Galilee as fast as possible, travelers would have to go through Samaria, but as I study, I can tell you that most Jews, most Galilean Jews, would just as well take the long way around, along the Jordan River. The hatred between Jews and Samaritans had been growing for centuries. The people of Samaria were a mixed group. Seven hundred years before (II Kings 17), King Sargon of Assyria repopulated this area with captives from Babylonia, Syria, Elam and other Assyrian groups which intermarried with Jews who were left there. Because of the intermarriage, Jews considered them to be “impure” Jews. Another cause of this hatred between the Jews and Samaritans was that the Samaritans claimed Jacob as their father, but the Jews denied this. Now the Samaritans had their own version of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah to the Jews) which they held as the Law, but they rejected all of the prophetical writings of what is now the Old Testament. The Samaritans believed that the other writings treated them without respect.

To the Orthodox Jew of the time, a Samaritan was more unclean than a Gentile of any other nationality. In my studies, I have come across some extreme restrictions enforced regarding the two groups.

· The testimony of a Samaritan could not be heard before a Jewish tribunal.

· For a Jew to eat food prepared by a Samaritan was at one time regarded by Rabbinical authority as an offense as great as that of eating the flesh of a pig.

· A Jew could only buy produce from the “field” of a Samaritan. This was cool because it sprang from the ground. It became unclean if it was “handled” by a Samaritan. So grapes and grain might be purchased but never flour or wine.

And don’t forget this good one: “Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” (John 8:45 KJV for fun). “Samaritan” is the cuss word or insult.

Now Samaritans had a great belief in the Kingdom that the Messiah would establish and seem to be less exclusive in their views for whom this kingdom belonged. They also had some social hospitalities:

· A request for water was one that should never be denied, if possible.

· On your own time, take a good look at the story of the “Good Samaritan” and what He is really doing for this hurt man. I would go into this, but I don’t think that anyone wants a 12 page PBM! Just look at how much Jesus did for him.

The Key word study:

Verse 4:4: Christ needed to go through Samaria. It would seem that Jesus had no such bias against the Samaritans as did the other Jews. He had a plan in mind and knew that he had work to accomplish. John 4:43 “Now after two days He departed; Acts 8:5-25 states that Philip, Peter and John visited the city and Acts 15:3 says that Paul preached there. You could say that God likes (loves) the broken and rejected ones.

Verse 4:10: Living water (John 7:37-39) springs from an unfailing source and is ever-flowing. Jesus, of course, was talking about eternal life (Romans 6:23).

Verse 4:14: A fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. The Greek word here pictures a spring of “running” water.

Verse 4:16: Jesus brings up the woman’s husband in order to expose her sin (v. 18).

Verse 4:19-20: After what Jesus told her about herself, she concluded that Jesus was a prophet (Look at I Samuel 9:9). Trying to avoid a conversation about her sin, she then tries to change the topic to a less personal one, to a more general religious one, who one ought to worship. The Jews insisted that the exclusive place to worship was Jerusalem. But the Samaritans had set up a rival worship site on Mt. Gerazim, which according to “their” tradition was where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac and where later on he met Melchizedek. When the blessings and curses were read to the wilderness generation of Israel, the blessings were read from Mt. Gerazim (see Deuteronomy 11:29 and 27:12). Now Deuteronomy 27:4 instructed that an altar be erected on Mt. Ebal, across from Mt. Gerazim. However, the Samaritans changed their copies to read “Mt. Gerazim”, so as to glorify this mount.

Verse 4:22: Salvation is of the Jews means that the Messiah would come from the Jewish people.

Verse 4:24: God is spirit…worship Him…in the spirit and truth: God is not limited to time and space. When we are “born again” that is, born of the spirit, we can talk with God anywhere. The Spirit is not material and earthly such as Mt. Gerazim or Jerusalem. Here Jesus makes worship a matter of the heart. Truth is the will of God, which is what He tells us to live in; it is the opposite of all that is false. Mt. Gerazim: the blessing. On the opposite side Mt. Ebal: the curse. Love vs. hate. Right vs. wrong. You’re either for God or against Him. With God, you can’t have both. He wants all of you. But to stay on point, Jesus the Christ teaches us the issue is not where a person worships, but how and whom! Jesus vs. the world…

Verse 4:25-26: The women believed that the “Prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15” would teach all things when he came (4:26). I AM he: once again we see Jesus using the great “I AMs”, the same words that God used when He revealed Himself to Moses (Exodus 3:16). Here Jesus clearly stated that He is the Messiah, our Messiah!

Verse 4:34: My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me: this food is not simply knowing the will of God, but doing it. It is output. Compare I Corinthians 3:1-3; with Hebrews 5:12-14. Too often we stop with input (words) rather than going to output (action, or even better LOVE).

This brings us around full circle. This young man, this Japard or Samaritan in prison, I did not love. Self won the day. He’s gone, he got himself in a train wreck. But as I sit here, the Holy Spirit has put more Jepards on my heart. See, with God, no failure is permanent. We rent, turn ourselves over to the Holy Spirit to work through us. See I will never be able to love as Christ! But, if I’m willing, Christ can love through me. I just have to die to self daily (OK, hourly. OK! Minute by minute!)

Take a trip with me:

“And He said, the things which are impossible with men, are possible with God” ---Jesus, Luke 18:27

“I was not cautious enough. I did not work my resolutions strong enough”. B.B.S.

“Am I not a redeemed man? Have I not the life of God within me?”

B.B.S.

“Yes, and I have Christ to help me. I can live the Holy life”. B.B.S.

The question then: So how are we to be free to love? Free from the power of sin?

“I need a divine omnipotence to work it in me.” B.B.S.

“It is God which worketh in you; both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” ---Paul, Philippians 2:13

“With God nothing shall be impossible.” ---Jesus, Luke 1:37

So by faith in Him whom I love, whom I live for…I believe He will do this work in me. Philippians 1:6 His Word says so…and I believe!

I write this, dear friends, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a priest-friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus the Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as the sacrifice for our sins, He solved the sin problem for good---not only ours, but the whole world’s. “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to save the world”.