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June 21,2007; Jesus, Prince of Preachers and Premier Prophet (2 of 12)

Focus Text: John 4.19-26

God’s only Son was a preacher but don’t let that throw you off track; He was nothing like the buffoons and con artists you see today! He was genuine to the core and truly loved the people to whom He ministered. He came to serve and not to be served. Plus, He came with a mission that would not be compromised, a mission directly from the throne room of Heaven. See how this played out in His life as a preacher and a prophet.

We last visited Jesus as He talked with the Samaritan woman (John 4). She asked a pointed question, paraphrasing it she said, “Are we Samaritans right in our approach to worship in Samaria, or are you Jews correct in your contention that Jerusalem is the way?” Jesus did not bat an eye; He simply said (again in paraphrase), “You Samaritans have been wrong and those who worship in Jerusalem have been right.” However, He did not stop there, He went one important step further, a step which piqued her interest and which would pique the interest of any truth seeker. We continue to examine Jesus’ methods as a teacher.

Watch hope and expectations grow as He said, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4.23-24). Once again consider the larger picture. He had just told a woman that her entire Samaritan religious culture had been erroneously worshipping God; a blow under any circumstances. But, He immediately offers hope! The past is the past, but it will not matter! Things are changing and it will make no difference! A breath of fresh air in a world of spiritual staleness and sullied sermons! Jesus did not condemn her – that is as long as she was willing to be honest with herself and the truth. However, He clearly laid the options on the table and that without any apology.

Watch the results! “The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’” (John 4.25-26). The hopelessness of the moment was swallowed up in the expectation of newness and forgiveness. The past was forgotten and the future shone with the brightness of the noonday sun! For the woman, the issue was no longer who was right and who was wrong in past life; it was now simply a matter of Messiah and the glorious message which she knew He came to deliver! Somehow, Jesus was able to turn a situation which could have been personally crushing to the woman into one in which she and all those who listened to her came to Messiah! What a turn-around; what a preacher!

When genuineness attends our lives as well as our teaching and preaching, then and only then, do we begin to be like the One we claim to follow! The charlatans and sleight of hand multi-media messengers of the day do not hold a candle to the One who spoke to the woman at the well! He was, is, and forever shall be, REAL! He offered real hope and real truth; a real preacher!

Questions:

1. What question loomed foremost in the mind of the woman regarding the Jews and Samaritans?

2. What was the real answer to her question? Did Jesus answer her question?

3. How did Jesus redirect her thoughts away from condemnation to hope and expectation?

4. When all was said and done, what question supplanted the one which loomed uppermost in woman’s mind at the beginning? Was Jesus Messiah? What explicit claim did He make? How did that claim tie in to His earlier offer to give her water which would slake her spiritual thirst?

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

Moralism