Revealed As: Worth Following

Revealed As: Worth Following

From the teachings of James MacDonald

John 4-12 Authentic Revealing

Every verse and every word in the Gospel of John matters.  We want to follow the true Christ, the living Christ.  Because of that we are seeing how he was revealed here.  All the books in all the world cannot contain all the things that Jesus did.  So the accounts of Jesus' life that John picks here are the ones that will lead us to the place of believing Jesus is Christ, the Son of God.  And the goal is that by believing we would have life in his name.

Better than your birth, first kiss, first home, better than any of that is the moment you turn from sin, open your eyes and see that Jesus is who he declared himself to be.  When he revealed the message as worth following, it declares he is worth it.  

1A) Jesus knows me better than I know myself.  My heart is deceptive. John 4:25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  She only accepted the first five books of the Bible so she knew a messiah would come.  He says very simply that he is the one.  ²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” ²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”  They had such immense respect for Jesus so they did not ask why he was speaking to the Samaritan woman.   ²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.  She went to tell the people that Jesus told her all that she ever did.  It's not a description of fact but feeling.  She felt like Jesus told her all that she ever did.  She felt that way because she has things that she regrets and now someone knows.  That isn't the total of her, but Jesus put his finger on the things about her life that she regrets the most.  The greater pain is the publicity of the things you regret.  It's just so crushing to have everyone know.  She's not offended or angry.  The experience was so positive, she can't wait to share it and runs to tell others so they can have the same experience.  When Christ puts his finger print on your life, all your self loathing, self condemnation, judgement, all of it evaporates in the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  And when you begin to experience what it is for him to know you, when you begin to experience what it is for him to love you, you will not only want him to open every closet in your life, but you long for the people you love to experience the same thing.  Truth!  It's such good news.  He loves us perfectly.  We didn't earn his love through good behavior and we can't forfeit his love through our own failures and disappointments.  That's Jesus Christ revealed as we are following.  

Living in the light of the things you have learned and can do differently given the circumstances of a new chance again.  It's wonderful to go into a new place and meet new people.  It's the darkened view of one another.  It's the focus on the negatives that causes love to be diminished.  While we all struggle with that as human beings, it's good to be reminded that Jesus Christ does not struggle with that.  Over and over the Psalmists said His love endures sin.  

2A) Jesus has food to eat that truly satisfies.  So she goes and tells the others that a man has revealed all that she has ever done, and they come out of the town to him.   ³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”  ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”  ³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”    In verse 31 the disciples were referring to him as Rabbi, which refers to him as a teacher.  Saying lets eat and get it over with.  He says I have food to eat that you don't know about.  Their response is like why did we walk in there and back if you already had food.  They did not eat without Jesus because of their respect.  The disciples were always keyed in to the now.  Jesus taught them that fishing for men was not about the fish.  Not Casting your pearls before swine was not about the pearls or swine.  So when he said I have food to eat that you don't know about, they knew he wasn't talking about food.  

"The disciples' constant focus on the here and now made the teaching of Jesus hard to understand."

The fact that they were always in the here, now, us, made it hard to understand.  My food is the something that satisfies something temporal.  Here's what feeds me.  What feeds me is to do the will of my father that lives in heaven, to accomplish his work.

5 Things that Don't Satisfy our Soul

1. Food- It does not fill what my heart satisfies.
2. Experience- When I finish college, when I get married, when I get that job.  Have you ever planned and saved for the vacation that you dreamed of and to find at the end of that you are strangely hollow?    
3. Money and possessions-  The harder we try to set up possession for ourselves, the less we will have it. The harder we try to buy or attain what we want the more difficult it comes.  
4. Relationships- When that one relationship gets healed.  And we keep suspending our satisfaction in the hope that something temporal will feel and fill the longing in our souls.  
5. Entertainment- A lot of built up expectation for pleasure that doesn't ultimately deliver.  

John 4:24 Influenced us about worship.  ³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.  Nothing thrills the soul of a Christian than seeing another person come to Christ.  Nothing is better than that.  ³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.  Maybe it is a neighbor or co-worker that you want to bring to church or God.  That is our work.  The person who reaps is the one they bring to Christ.  The one who sows is the one who brings them to Christ.  They may worship together and rejoice.  Don't say I'll do it someday.  Say I'll do it now.  You may encounter someone now that needs Christ in their life.  One sows another reaps.

3A) Jesus reveals himself as a response to my faith.  Why don't you read the Gospel of John, every time you see the word believe, underline it.   ³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.  ⁴² They 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.”  So they are believing because of what she said.  Then they believed because they heard for themselves.  Everyone has to come to the place where they make it personal.  Where you put your belief in Jesus Christ as your savior.  If you were to die tonight and came to the gates of heaven, and they asked you why you should be let into heaven, you would say because I believe in Jesus Christ.  You wouldn't say because I am awesome.  You wouldn't be because I'm better that others.  You would be like because you believe I am forgiven because of Jesus' death on the cross.  Acts 16:31  They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”  Some people really don't know what they will be saved from.  Saved from God's wrath.  We are sinners by nature and we are sinners by action, so we come into this world condemned.  It's only a thread that keeps the unbeliever from falling into hell.  They believe they are being saved from themselves, but their hearts are deceiving them. If you reject what God has offered that would be foolish.  Everyone needs a savior.  When I am convinced of it's value, then I will believe.  This is what many say.  Here's the problem, belief in Jesus Christ is the tasting.  You need to step out with your faith and ask for forgiveness from Jesus Christ.  When you step out by faith and have one true heartfelt tasting, you will know the Lord is good.