What is Your Problem?

John 4:5-26

So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

 

Friends in Jesus, our Lord and Savior,

          Good morning.  It’s good to be back with you, again – this time up here instead of in the pew.  As I thought about what I would share with you, today, I chose the Gospel Reading, that was read earlier in the service.  Then, I attended the Bible Study, which Pastor Doug is leading on Sunday mornings, “Challenges for the 21st Century Church.” Even though I wasn’t in the class, last Sunday, he shared with me the topic, “10 reasons Even Committed Church Attenders Are Attending Church Less Often.”  I really resonated with “#8.  Failure to See a Direct Benefit.”  My wife and children as well as members of churches have told me they want the message to be relevant to their lives.  When I worship from the pew, I want the message to help me in my life.  So, I reflected on this Gospel Reading from John 4, included in the Sunday Lenten Readings, and asked the question: “How is this relevant to your life and my life?”

I have 2 initial questions for you: How many of you get water every day from a well?  How many of you have a Samaritan for a neighbor? That’s what I thought.  However, the conversation the Samaritan woman had with Jesus does have a relevant connection for us.

One of the things that characterized my 44 years of ministry is the question that I have chosen for my message, this morning: “What Is Your Problem?”   I don’t mean it as a question an exasperated teacher may ask to one of his/her students, who may be giving the teacher a hard time; or, a parent may say to a child who has taken them to the end of their rope.  People talk about their problems, whether at a Men’s Bible Study Group or a Women’s Gathering.  You children have friends with whom to talk about your problems.  It’s important to talk about our problems to receive the support and encouragement of others. The season of Lent is all about problems: Jesus’ problems, our problems, other peoples’ problems.

Of course, sin – disobedience to God – is the big problem of Lent.  It brought God’s anger and separation from us, since the time of Adam.  Sin continues to separate us from God and His plan for our lives.  That’s the reason for Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection. As Pastor Clayton Vail said last Wed. night, Lent is about completion of the ultimate sacrifice for sin: Jesus on the cross of Calvary.  Lent is not a time to beat ourselves into submission, but to realize the completed work of redemption at the cross: God’s forgiveness in Jesus.

Life is full of problems for people of all ages.  One goal of life is to solve problems.  “John 4:5-26” is about “Problems and how to solve them.”  The initial problem was of a woman who needed to get water.  That’s why she was at a place called Jacob’s well, located 1 mile south of a Samaritan town, Sychar.  It’s interesting that this woman who came to draw water for herself and her family is asked a question by Jesus: “Will you give me a drink?” 

This was “Problem #1 – physical need or thirst.”  The solution was water.  For both Jesus and the Samaritan woman.  We all need water for health and life.  “Problem # 2 was relationships as in sexual sins.”  Jesus asks the woman to go and call her husband.  She says she has none.  He agrees, saying with His all-knowing powers, “You have had five ‘husbands,’  and the man you now have is not your husband” 17b-18a).  Jesus here addresses us as well:  whether living together without marriage or an affair of a married person with someone not their marriage partner are both sin.  As water is the solution to thirst, so seeking forgiveness and refraining from sin are solutions.  “Problem # 3 is a Worship Problem.”  Samaritans in the 4th century B.C. built a temple at Mt. Gerizim and worshipped there; Jews worshipped at Jerusalem in the temple.  How does God want us to worship?  Locations, traditions, formalities are not the answer.  Jesus says that true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in truth.  And finally, “Problem #4 – Doctrine or Bible Teaching.”  Sincerity is not enough. The truth of God’s Word teaches that salvation comes only from the Jews through the Promised Messiah.  We know Him as Jesus, the Savior of the world.

Most of our lives are taken up with solving problems: a doctor for medical conditions; a grocery store for food; a church for God’s forgiveness, guidance, strength.  People who don’t recognize a need are not likely to have their problems solved, whether that be medical health, groceries, or spiritual.  It’s also true if there is a marriage problem, a family problem, or a personal problem.  Half the solution to solving a problem is admitting a need of some kind.  If we seek help, there is often hope for solving a problem.

I’ve chosen for our text, this morning especially 2 verses of John 4, verses 13-14,Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”

Did you see what happened?  Jesus took a physical, psychological, social problem and turned it into a spiritual problem – and solution.  Parents and other teachers sometimes recognize problems of children as “teaching moments.”  Jesus sees a thirst problem and turns it into a teaching moment for the woman at Jacob’s well.  The water jugs filled with water from the well took care of the woman’s problem for awhile.  Jesus takes this opportunity to tell her about some of the problems in her life and her need for the Savior.  He does the same for us. There is a connection between physical, psychological, social problems, and spiritual problems (sin).

The woman didn’t catch on at first.  She responds, “Sir, give me this water, so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water” (John 4:15).  Jesus explains that He’s not talking about a temporary, physical solution but a permanent, spiritual solution.

This is what draws us to worship: solving our problems thru forgiveness, teaching, prayer, and song.

Every physical need reminds us of a spiritual need.  The physical need may be sexual sins as with this woman, or excessive use of alcohol or other drugs, disliking or hating someone, or breaking some other law of God as defined in the Ten Commandments.  Whatever it is, God has His finger on it.  He wants to help us with it.  The question for us is: “Are we ready?”  Are we ready like the Samaritan Woman in her thirst for quenching physical water, “Bring it on!”

Sometimes, we are so busy satisfying our physical needs, like the Samaritan woman, that we forget about our spiritual needs.  As children of God, you know the importance of keeping them in perspective.  The solution to a spiritual (sin) problem: “the gift of God” (v. 10) = “Living water” (v. 10) = “Messiah (called Christ).” “Jesus: I who speak to you am He,” John 5:26.”

“Problem solving for the Samaritan woman: “Give me this water” (v. 15).” “Jesus is the Water of Life.” Problem solving for us: “Give me this water” – Baptism, Communion, Worship, essentials.”

 “Give me this water,” we say to Jesus when we came to Him in baptism for our family members or ourselves.  “Give me this water,” we say when we come to Jesus at the altar for holy communion.  “Give me this water,” we say when we come to Jesus in this worship with our sins, our prayers, and our hymns.  In fact, He wants to solve not just our worst problem, physical or spiritual, but every problem that we have had, do have, or ever will have. As we learned in our confirmation lessons He is ready to give us: “Everything that we need to support this body and life.”  His goal is to prepare our hearts and minds for heaven.

How we deal with our problems is as important as our problems themselves.  J.C. Penny once said. “I am grateful for all of my problems.  After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come.  I grew in all my difficulties.”  That’s precisely our goal as Christians – not to grow away from God, but to grow closer to God through our problems.  In worship we deal with our problems.

Problem solving isn’t just for ourselves.   We are to become helpers in pointing others to Jesus as their Problem Solver.  That doesn’t mean pointing out their faults, or telling them they’re going to hell if they don’t go to church.  It means sharing a personal witness of God’s help in your life.  The Samaritan woman asked of Jesus, “Give me this water.”   She told the Samaritans about what He had to offer her, that He might be the promised Messiah-Savior.  John reports: “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony” (v. 39).

Our society doesn’t encourage us to speak out.  “Live and let live,” it says.  And, “Mind your own business.”  But Jesus asks us to show and tell others, especially the hurting, those with problems, the Water of Life in Jesus.  “Be a sponge soaked in the water of God’s grace for others.”  Peter Marshall once said: God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.

Chaplain Peter Marshall once said: “The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation.”  Jesus only lived to about 30 years of age, but His donation of life is the supreme sacrifice that will never be equaled by more years.  Jesus referred to that ultimate sacrifice of life as “the gift of God” (v. 10).  Jesus describes it as, “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (v. 14).  The term translated, ‘welling up’ can also have the idea of ‘leaping up.’

The news of God’s love in Jesus reaches out to us in our problems and through us to others in their problems.  The woman at Jacob’s well did not find a solution that would end all of her trips to the well.  We will not find a solution that will end all of our needs or problems in this life.  We will experience the water of God’s Spirit “welling up/leaping up” in us with the gift of God’s love, peace, and hope in Jesus to deal with all of our problems.  It doesn’t get any better than that on this earth.

Amen