Sermon - John 4 - It is Not Business as Usual - Littleby Baptist Church - April 28, 2019

Last week was Easter and today, our Lord is still alive and well. We need to celebrate Jesus every day of our lives. Never stop focusing on Him. Remember that tomb was empty because He loves you and wants to spend eternity with you.

We are going to continue our series on the Life and Ministry of Jesus.

So far in His ministry, Jesus has been performing miracles and saying things like ‘unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Up to this point Jesus has shown that He was not your average Joe doing things the way they have always been done. He had this unique way about Him.

Today we are going to look at the time Jesus spent with the woman at the well…a moment in Jesus’ life that most if not all of us are familiar with.

John 4:4-9

“⁴ He had to travel through Samaria; ⁵ so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon. ⁷ A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, ⁸ because his disciples had gone into town to buy food. ⁹ “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

John 4: 39-42

“³⁹ Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ Many more believed because of what he said. ⁴² And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

We could probably spend a couple of weeks trying to digest everything in these verses and the ones I skipped, but we will save that for another time.

Verse 7 states “A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her,” and verse 40 says “So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.”

This event in Jesus’ ministry continues to show us that Jesus was not following the traditional rules. First off if Jews could avoid Samaria they would. It was the shortest route between Judea and Galilee and was used more than the Jews would like to admit, but it irked them to do it. Samaritans were outcasts, they were not ‘racially pure’, not considered equals and were to be avoided.

Jesus traveled through Samaria, had a conversation with a Samaritan woman, who was an adulteress according to the law, and then we saw in verse 40 that Jesus spent two days with the Samaritans teaching them.

A good Jewish man would talk to the husband, father, or son before he would talk to a woman, let alone an adulteress. He would also take the long way around Samaria if he could, not spend two days eating with, staying with, and teaching them.

Jesus was showing us that it was no longer business as usual.

Let’s look at a couple of other examples.

Mark 2:15-17

“¹⁵ While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him. ¹⁶ When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus ate with sinners… how dare He. This was something that a good Jewish man would never do, yet Jesus did it on more than one occasion… it was no longer business as usual.

Mark 2:23-27

“²³ On the Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry — ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence —which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests —and also gave some to his companions? “Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.”

Jesus defended His disciples who were doing what was considered work on the Sabbath. This was absolutely something that would not have been accepted by a law abiding Jew… it was no longer business as usual.

In Mark 3 we see that Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath when He tells the man to stretch out his hand. The Pharisees and Herodians starting plotting to kill him after that. Based on there reactions, we know that the religious leaders did not like Jesus rocking the boat and showing that … it was no longer business as usual.

The Sabbath day was the Holy Day… but that did not stop Jesus. While keeping the Sabbath as a day of rest is a Commandment that was given to Moses, it was not meant to be followed the way the religious leaders required. Jesus was showing them that it was no longer business as usual. Caring for yourself and others was not against the law and not something that should be avoided.

Mark 7:24-30

“²⁴ He got up and departed from there to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not escape notice. ²⁵ Instead, immediately after hearing about him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she was asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she replied to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ Then he told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.”

Gasp… Jesus healed a gentile woman’s daughter. In Matthew chapter 8 we also see that Jesus healed the Centurion’s servant.

Jesus not only talks to Samaritans and Gentiles, He heals them. That is not something that any of the Pharisees would ever consider doing.

Jesus showed us through His teachings and actions that the rules have changed. He talked to people He was not supposed to talk to. He ate with sinners and stayed with Samaritans. He saw no problem with working to feed yourself on the Sabbath and did not hesitate to heal a man on the Holy Day. He even used His wonder working powers on Gentiles.

Even Jesus’ death on the cross establishing the New Covenant, showed that it was no longer business as usual. His sacrifice on the cross replaced the ritual sacrifices established by God through Moses.

We do not always understand what God is doing and to be honest, we are not meant to.

Isaiah 55:8-11

“⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. ⁹ “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, ¹¹ so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”

We will not understand God’s ways, but we need to trust that He will accomplish His will. Our Job is to have Faith in our Lord and ALL that He does and to Follow Him.

It was not business as usual when Jesus walked this earth, and it is not business as usual today. We are going to be stretched beyond our cultural norms, we may question what God is doing at times, but we need to trust that He is in control.

In some ways it can be scary, but it can also be exiting knowing God will use us in ways we would never expect. When we serve Jesus… it is not business as usual.

This country needs revival, and that starts right here with us and in other Bible believing churches. We need to take a stand and say it will not be business as usual. We cannot spend just a little bit of time in God’s Word and spend minimal time talking to God. If we truly desire Revival we need to cry out to God daily. We need to ask that He bring change to our own hearts. We need to spend enough time in His Word that it changes us. Business as usual will get us the same results we are already getting; we need something different. Which means we need to do something different.

I ask each of you to pray for God to move in you. Ask Him to show you want you need to do to be revived and to bring true revival to this country and the world. Ask Him to show you who you need to be praying for and witnessing to.

For Revival to take hold, for lives to be changed, it cannot be business as usual.

God Bless,

Robert