SECOND HAND RELIGION

“Now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man is the saviour of the world” Jn 4:42

Many claims have been made for this man and about this man. We have heard volumes about him:

on the TV
on Films such as “The Passion of the Christ”
Church and Sunday School
Books from the De Vinci Code to the Bible itself
From parents and family and friends
Street preaching
Door to door visitation etc

Increasingly the gospel message is filtered and processed through the radio talk shows in bits and pieces and the real and complete gospel message is hidden and we know that half the truth is much more dangerous than none of the truth.
Too often the gospel has become politicised by the political machine.
Thankfully there have been campaigns like t “MakePovertyHistory” which have given the opportunity to the believers to give another aspect, all to often forgotten or neglected- Christian lifestyle and social justice.

Where do we find Christ today? The primary way we see him is through the people of God in the church of Jesus Christ. This “chance meeting” with Jesus begins the fist phase in the developing relationship between the woman and Jesus and so it is with us- we need to be:

INTRODUCED TO CHRIST PERSONALLY

She had the benefit of being with the living Christ but the bible tells us that where two or three are gathered together in His name, he is with them and there you have the church- so we are responsible for introducing people to Christ. We need to speak with the prophetic voice and that means there are times when we will challenge our society and culture and it also means that we will need to provide opportunities for people to see Christ for themselves. All too often all that people get is A SECOND HAND RELIGION when what they need is a FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE. We have never had a new car, not brand new- one of the reasons for that is that we have never been able to afford one but we have also said that it would be difficult for us to justify all that money when a fairly new second hand one would do just as well. Driving a new car is a great experience and there is quite a difference. Hat God offers us and here this woman was offered a first hand experience of the living God- Jesus describes it as the living water- drink this and you will never be thirsty again,.
This woman came to know God for herself and all the friends she brought with her.

Every Christian parent has a responsibility to bring Jesus Christ to their children [Presbyterians believe that this is the particular challenge to parents] but also to those people they rub shoulders with. This calls for a lifestyle and not JUST words. This is what we mean by covenant theology- there is no cast-iron guarantee that because you believe so will your children because God allows people the freedom to make up their own minds and has no desire to pre-programm people and his timescale is not the same as ours but it does mean that what should be guaranteed is that every child of a Christian home will be given every change and every example which will equip them to make up their minds with all the facts. This woman made up her mind and discovered that being a believer was more than a name. Then she brought her friends to meet him.

Merely following the crowd was not for her- she was doing the leading because she had done the thinking and had met the man who changed her life. There is a struggle going on in the world- a struggle for our minds and our attention
The media has its point of view
Our friends have their views
Our society is more concerned with political correctness than with truth and has become the religion of our day
e.g The Student’s Union of Stirling University has decided to give permission to the students to remove the Gideon Bibles from their rooms because they might offend some people!!!

The second phase in this developing relationship is that they WANTED TO SPEND TIME WITH JESUS

As Jesus looked over the land he saw the crowds coming towards him- this is when he said- “The fields are white and ready for harvest”

They were all dressed in white and it looked like the fields were literally white- here we had something of an awakening- something akin to the prophecy he would make later as he told the believers to go into the neighbourhood including the rebel land of Samaria to preach the gospel.

Every now and again we hear of politicians or talk show hosts who rise to the challenge of living with some marginal people- could be like the travellers as was the case with Kilroy Silk or with a poor family or single- parent family and the result is that it changes their views and sometimes their life attitudes- this woman and these people were radically changed by being with Jesus.

It is the responsibility of the church to make to proclaim the word of God but also to live the life of Christ- this is no inner clique or closed shop- rather we are to be an inclusive community- that does not mean that we loose our principles or we allow the world to mould us but that we reach out and make the necessary changes so that people who come into our fellowship feel welcome and comfortable. In a recent survey it became clear that the majority of people in the 21st century are looking for intimate relationships and not just entertainment. Entertainment id necessary and people do flock to the places where they will enjoy themselves but at the very heart they want acceptance and support and true friendship.

Sometimes the church has felt the need to entertain people and often people will flock to the mega churches but what they really lack is accountability and individual care.

The third phase in this relationship is when they MAKE THE COMMITMENT TO JESUS

Now we know for ourselves and KNOW that this man is the saviour of the world
If they KNOW- not think or hope or guess
If they know for themselves then the next step is easy and straightforward.- If this man really is the saviour- the one who has brought shalom or complete peace then they need to commit themselves to him. In making this decision and commitment they become part of the solution to the world’s problems and they become the people of God They listened to Him and they watched him and concluded that he was the real thing- now they could see that he was the Messiah.
Let me ask you- have you discovered Christ for yourself?

Our hope today for Christian is that he would decide for himself one day – that he would be Christian in more than name- too many of us are Christians by name but not in fact- too many of us have only had a second-hand religion when we could have a firsthand experience of Knowing Jesus Christ personally.

This man was more than a prophet
More than a teacher
More than a controversial character
More than a holy man
He was and his and always will be the Son of god who offers us life in all its fullness
Do you want to be more than a Christian by name?
If you do then you need to commit yourself to him personally today.

Safe spaces

Here is a big question for those who are living and working on the inter-faces of places like North Belfast- how are local fellowships going to teach their own members, never mind those who share the same community space, how to live together in an agreed, peaceful yet plural space? We are given the ministry of reconciliation and are to be the light in the world; we are responsible for demonstrating lives which are, as far as [possible, at peace with all men. How do we begin to create safe spaces where people from different backgrounds can talk and argue and learn from each other and about each other? How are we to be tolerant and yet hold to our own views of the bible and society and how to worship and live? For too long thew churches have been PERCEIVED as part of the problem, now it is time to be seen to have and be part of the solution.

INNER STRENGTH?

What do you think of the Guinness adverts? I think they are very good. Do you remember the one of the lone trekker making his way, in the freezing cold conditions across the Antarctic? This was based on a true story about an Irishman called Tom Crean. During his 1910 - 1913 expedition with Scott, Tom demonstrated his inner strength by successfully completing a 35 mile solo walk in 18 hours to save the life of one of his fellow explorers. Tom battled through driving wind and terrible freezing temperatures, with only a wax jacket for protection and a few biscuits and chocolate bars for nourishment. He managed to keep going thanks to his extraordinary strength of character, his incredible bravery and his dream of returning home to Annascaul in County Kerry and opening his own pub.After 15 years of outstanding service and bravery, Tom finally returned home and achieved that dream by opening the 'South Pole Inn' where he lived out his days. The commitment of Guinness of time and money is impressive-The ad which features 25 extras in the 'South Pole Inn' took nine months to produce. It was directed by Tarsem who has also directed adverts for Levis, Nike and Coca-Cola, the music video for REM's 'Losing My Religion', and also the feature film 'The Cell'. The implication that we are supposed to appreciate are that this inner strength came for his belief in the black stuff and the thought of drinking it kept him going to the very end. Where does your inner strength come from? How you spend your life will determine the person you end up being. The Apostle Paul says, “Don’t drink too much wine for that cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him.”

Be My Vision

Here we have a man of vision- a man who can see more clearly, can see behind the obvious and behind the world of culture and prejudice. Jesus was not afraid to challenge the cultural and religious norms when he thought it necessary-he had spent quite a time with this woman- something which ran counter to what the rabbinic leaders had taught for any yearsHere are some of the things they said“each time that a man prolongs converse with a woman he causes evil to himself, and desists from the Law, and in the end inherits Gehinnom [hell]”by rabbinic standards Jesus was shatteringly unconventional in talking to this woman at all but he never shrank from destroying any of the barriers that stood in the way of a personal intimacy with God.If you ever get to visit Rome you must, I am reliably told, visit the Sistine chapel in the Vatican- there you will see the work of Michael Angelo who spend weeks on his back painting the ceiling- one of his works is about the creation of Adam – it is a picture of God reaching out to his creation to bring him life- God wants you and he wants me to have an intimate relationship with him- hence his initial creation and the enormous lengths that he has gone to win us back to fellowship- he has brought forgiveness and new life and given them to us at the cost of his own life.Perhaps you have experienced the pain of being ignored! When the disciples returned from getting the food for the hungry, thirsty and weary Jesus, they must have seen him talking to the woman but they passed no remarks- they just ignored her and they did not even criticise Jesus- v27 “But no one asked, “what do you want [speaking to the woman]? Or “why are you talking to her? [Speaking to Jesus]This was true to form as good Jews who refused to pay any attention to Women, Gentiles or Samaritans. The pain of being ignored is much worse than open hostility- by ignoring her they were refusing to acknowledge her value as a human being.But it was very different with Jesus- he not only spoke to her, he opened the conversation- something which was against Rabbinic principles-“let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not even his own wife”Maybe you know the pain of being ignored? Have you ever been somewhere whre you were just ignored?Have you ever felt left out of the conversation or experienced one of those handshakes where there was no eye contact or warmth at all?What would you do if you went to a church where no one ever spoke to you? Eventually you would walk out the door and never return and all too often that is how outsider feel when they are made to feel like outsiders. Part of our mission statement is to be “attractive to our community” so we need a love which is like charity, it begins at home but doesn’t stay there. When the disciples returned the woman vanished. Had she experienced the hostility of the disciples she would have just taken the hint and vanished but she experienced the acceptance and affirmation of jesus and so she fled, leaving her water pot sitting at the well, and returned later with a crowd of people.Jesus saw a woman who needed him but he also saw an OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE God.V32,34 “I have food that you know nothing about.”“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work”This was beyond the understanding of the disciples- they wanted him to eat something but he saw his real food as serving God. Just as the woman found it difficult to understand about the spiritual water so they find it difficult to understand what he was assaying about the bread of life. For Jesus this service meant going to the cross and to death to die for you and meServing God meant reaching out to all men and women- Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans and even Samaritan women! This woman was marginalised by reason of her birth and lifestyle but Jesus was not willing that she should know only rejection- he wanted her to know life.Our calling is to reach out to all people also-not just to those who agree with usnot just to the respectable and the respectedbut also to the publicans and the sinners.As Jesus looked at the scene before his eyes he saw that the harvest was ready for bringing in. We know that the woman went away with much to think about and later we see that she went and talked to her friends and told them all about Jesus- so many of them made the journey back to see for themselves. It is just possible that when Jesus looked in front of him he could see them making their way back and to complete the picture they were all dressed in white- that is the way they dressed and so when he said the “fields are white and ready to harvest” he had this literal picture in his mind.Here then is a window of opportunity- they wanted to know more about Jesus and so the disciples were being given an opportunity to reap where they had not sown- the time would come when the followers of Christ would once again experience what it was like to sow and have someone else do the reaping but for now this arising of Samaritan interest called for reaping. At first it was because she believed that they believed but then that faith became their own faith So Jesus spend a few days with them teaching and instructing them.Jesus was a man of great vision and that is why the woman responded to himAnd that is why we respond to him but just think for a momentWhat would have happened if she had only met the ignorance of the disciples- in fairness they were men of their time and culture and we too are people of our culture and time but Christians are called to be DIFFERENT.Peterson says that when they returned the woman “took the hint” and went awayIn response to Jesus she went away to tell others all that she had experienced.- she was so excited that she forgot her water pot and Jesus was so excited that he forgot all about His hunger and thirst and weariness-Can we get excited about doing God’s will?Do we want to live our lives as God would have it?Do we long to engage with people about the gospel message?Are we so excited that we care little what a person is theologically?Are we going to be different to the culture of our time?Do we long for an intimacy with God which will result in better relationships with other people?Jesus had a vision which allowed him to see beyond class and culture- we need to pray for this kind of spiritual eyesight.