“Touch the Life of One Person”

Meditation on John 4:1-42

March 1, 2015

     ^4:1Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” ²—although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— ³he left Judea and started back to Galilee. ⁴But he had to go through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar or Shechem, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. ⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” ¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” ¹⁹The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” ²⁷Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” ²⁸Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” ³⁰They left the city and were on their way to him. ³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?”³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. ³⁶The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” ³⁹Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed because of his word. ⁴²They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.

***

       I was talking to Lynn Miller of the Friends of the Presbyterian Education Board last August about a girl named Adeela Younis. Adeela, a teenager now, lives in Pakistan. Her mother is a sweeper. Her father is a laborer. Her family has barely enough money to survive. Adeela would not have been able to get an education if our church had not sponsored a scholarship for her to attend the Christian Girls’ High School in Sargodha, one of many schools of the P.E.B. In Pakistan, few girls are educated. Many people do not feel it is necessary to educate girls. Some actually see the education of girls as detrimental to the moral fabric of society. Women aren’t permitted to drive and may not go out in public at all without a male family member escort. Marriages are arranged. Domestic violence against women is common. Most young women in Pakistan are not free to choose the life they long to live.

    It is hard to say if women in Jesus’ time were as oppressed as those who are oppressed in Pakistan today. But women have been oppressed in all times and places when they fail to submit to the rules of  “respectable” society. Respectable people would not have spoken to the Samaritan woman at the well in Shechem, in the land of Israel.  After all, she had had five husbands and was not married to the man she was living with! That’s why she was drawing water at noon, instead of early in the day, as was the custom of other women. She wanted to avoid those who would look down on her, ridicule or shun her. Perhaps keep her from drawing any water at all.

     But Jesus spoke to her. He knew about her past and her present situation, and still initiated an intimate exchange. He sat down by the well and asked her to give him water, rather than drawing it himself. The woman, greatly surprised, said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 

     And Jesus invited her to know Him and his salvation. He said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

     This meeting at the well would lead to a totally new life for the Samaritan woman. Our God of second chances, who looks upon the heart and not the outward appearance, our God of mercy who does not hold our past against us, would use her to do great things for Him. The Samaritan woman would bring the good news of Jesus Christ to her own people.

***

    I am not sure how our church first learned of the Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan, where Presbyterian missionaries in the 1800s began sharing the faith and transforming young lives through education. But our Sunday school began to sponsor an educational scholarship for Adeela several years ago. Then, when the Sunday school decided to support Heifer Project, instead, I felt a burden to continue helping Adeela. Without our financial support, she could not continue her education. She would also not be nurtured in the Christian faith. Adeela’s family is Muslim, the religion of most people who live in Pakistan.

    I told the adult Sunday school class, Presbyterian Women, and Session about Adeela and her needs. They agreed to help her--first with a day scholarship two years ago, and then, when I spoke with Lynn Miller last August, with a residential scholarship of $750 when household obligations kept her from completing her studies and the PEB recommended that she come and live in the boarding house.

    Why would our church give that much money to one person, a stranger, a member of another faith, living amongst those whom many Americans would consider our enemies? Because Christ calls us to disciple “all the nations.” He gives us hearts of compassion as we consider how God has blessed us so much--so that we may be a blessing to others. We know that God loves Adeela and has a plan to use this young lady we have never met for His purposes.

     Adeela has dreams of being a science teacher. If she became a teacher in one of the Christian schools in Pakistan, she would be positioned to touch and transform the lives of numerous young people struggling in poverty and hopelessness.

    Friends, God has a plan to use us to touch the lives of countless people. We can’t possibly know what the Lord has planned or whose hearts and lives have already been touched by our ministry. But if you ask Adeela Younis’s teachers, they would say that Adeela’s life has already been transformed by our commitment to helping one person, one stranger, rise above her difficult if not desperate situation. For this one person will be empowered to work to transform her society, just like the woman at Jacob’s well, long ago.

     Our calling is to simply keep on seeking to serve the Lord and people in need, guided by the Spirit, walking in Christ’s self-giving ways.

    Let us seek to be a blessing to our neighbors near and far, without judgment, fear or condemnation.

    Let us seek to touch the life of just one person today.

Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you for the ministry of the Presbyterian Education Board, which has transformed countless lives and brought hope to those living in despair.  Protect the students, teachers, staff and volunteers as they seek to help some of the poorest people in the world. Empower them with strength, wisdom, and all the resources they need to continue their work. Stir other churches and individuals to want to become involved with the PEB, giving financial and prayerful support and traveling to the schools for hands-on ministry. Thank you for your many blessings to us, especially the blessing of our assurance of salvation through belief on Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Guide and empower us to be a blessing to others, to never grow weary of doing well, to share what we have been given, and to be joyful to be used for such an important work--building your Kingdom, one person at a time. In Christ we pray. Amen. 

“What Must I Do to Be Saved?”

    

Meditation on Acts 16:25-34

Feb. 22, 2015

      About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

  ***

     A single guy decided life would be more fun if he had a pet. So he went to a pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet. After some discussion, he finally bought a talking centipede, you know one of those bugs with 100 legs. The centipede came in a little white box to use for his house. The single guy took the box back home, found a good spot for it, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to church with him. So he asked the centipede in the box, “Would you like to go to church with me today? We will have a good time.”

     But there was no answer from his new pet. This bothered him a bit. He waited a few minutes and then asked again, “How about going to church with me and receive blessings?” But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet.

     So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. The guy decided to invite the centipede one last time. This time he put his face up against the centipede’s house and shouted, “Hey, in there! Would you like to go to church with me and learn about God?”

     This time, a little voice came out of the box, “I heard you the first time! I’m putting my shoes on!”

      My mom sent me this story in one of those group emails. And I loved it--but probably not for the same reasons that others thought it was funny. I loved it that it was a “single guy” who thought life would be more interesting with an unusual pet, and that the first thing he decides to do with his pet is invite it to church! Couldn’t he just have brought the centipede there in the little box, without telling him where he was going or asking him if he wanted to go?

     And then I thought….

     Wouldn’t it be great if all we needed to do to get people to come to church was to ask them if they want to come and learn about God, have a good time, and receive blessings? And wouldn’t it be nice if the only excuse people ever gave for not coming to church was that they had 100 shoes to put on?

       Christians often have these kinds of conversations--not about taking talking centipedes to church, but why some people, particularly young adults-- in their 20s and 30s--often choose not to attend church. Some say it’s because people are too busy with their jobs, school, families, sports, and other activities. But then there are lots of busy people who are also committed to serving the Lord and His people through their church. I think for some people church isn’t enjoyable or meaningful. Some may have been hurt by a church in the past. But maybe the saddest thing I hear sometimes is that people don’t go to church because they don’t think they need to. They are “saved” because they believe in Jesus. Some may point to passages such as this one in Acts, which deals with the question of what one must do to be “saved.”

      And what do Paul and Silas say? Believe. “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved--you and your household.” Well, what does that mean--that all we must do is “believe” and that our household will also be saved?

***

      The background for this passage in Acts is that Paul and Silas cast a demon out of a slave girl, who was making a lot of money for her owners by fortune telling. With the demon gone, the so-called “gift” of fortune telling is also gone, so goes the owners’ hope of getting rich off the slave girl. The owners get angry and cause a riot in the city that leads to Paul and Silas’s being attacked, arrested, and thrown in jail.

      That night in jail, Paul and Silas are singing hymns, praising God, and there is an earthquake. They are miraculously released from their chains. The jailer is poised to kill himself rather than be executed for the prisoners’ escape on his watch. But Paul stops him from taking his life. He calls out in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer falls down at their feet, trembling with gratitude, knowing that this is a supernatural event. He knows the God of Paul and Silas has intervened to save them, but instead of running away, they reach out to their jailer--their enemy--with kindness and mercy. This act of love touches the jailer’s heart and persuades him that their God is the only true God. He longs to have the assurance of salvation that Paul and Silas have through their faith. He asks them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

      Paul and Silas tell him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” But the story doesn’t end there. There’s more to being saved for Paul and Silas than just saying the words, “I believe.” To be a Christian, one makes a commitment of the mind and the heart. After they tell the jailer to believe on the Lord Jesus, they begin to teach him and his family the faith and what it means to be Christ’s follower. Paul and Silas “speak the word of the Lord” to the jailer and “all his household.” Then, the new believer shows his embrace of the faith by his willingness to make sacrifices and dramatic changes in his life. He is willing to take huge risks to follow the Lord. He begins to serve those who were his prisoners, who are now nurturing him in the faith. He will never be able to return to his old job or his former life without penalty of death. This is a prison guard with a family--not a wealthy man! The persecutor who chained Paul and Silas in their cells has become the healer who washes their wounds. He opens his home to them, brings them to stay with him and his family. He “sets food before them,” feeding them at his table. And he takes another important step to show his repentance from his old ways and his new commitment to the Lord. He and “his entire family” are baptized “without delay.”

      The passage ends with the jailer and “his entire household” rejoicing because he had become a believer in God. The dramatic changes in the jailer’s life have brought the family joy--and not fear! This is what Paul means with the promise of salvation for “you and your household.” It isn’t an automatic thing, that if you become a believer, all of your household will be saved. What it means is that the jailer, becoming a true believer, is then led to share his faith with his household. So he brings home Paul and Silas and they teach the faith to the entire extended family. And they become believers, too! Then, Paul and Silas baptize them all to new lives in Jesus Christ, empowered and guided by the Spirit.

***

   Today, it is our joy to baptize baby Drake Randal Freiborg and welcome him into the Church. His parents, Zach and Amanda, are baptized believers who have been raised in the faith. They love the Lord, and they want Drake to know and love the Lord, as well. They understand that baptism is the beginning of their child’s faith journey. It is a necessary first step, but it doesn’t guarantee that Drake will be “saved.” For as Paul and Silas tell us, we must “believe on the Lord Jesus.” But “believing” requires a deeper understanding of the faith and doesn’t mean one just says the words, “I believe,” as if it is a magic formula. Believing is a matter of both heart and mind; true belief leads to sometimes dramatic changes in one’s attitudes, behaviors, and life. A child’s growing faith will be evident by the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, kindness, patience, gentleness, self control, and so on). For the Spirit dwells within every believer from the moment they are baptized.

     Zach and Amanda--and Drake--will need our help to raise Drake in the faith. To bring up a child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord takes an entire community of faith. It is challenging work. It is up to us to pray for them and reach out to them to see how we can be an emotional and spiritual support for them in the years to come. For the promises the family and the church make at a child’s baptism are promises that last a lifetime.

     And someday, when Drake is a teen or young man, he may decide that he doesn’t want to go to church anymore. That he doesn’t need to go. He might even quote from this passage in Acts, when the jailer asks Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?”

     Friends, I pray you will have the confidence of faith and enough love for Drake and his family to reach out to him with kindness, patience, and gentleness.  I pray you will remind him that being a Christian is a matter of the mind and the heart! And that there is more to being a follower of Christ than just saying the words, “I believe.”

Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, thank you for baby Drake and his parents, who were raised in the faith! Thank you for blessing our church with young families! Help us, Lord, to be a blessing to them! Help us to demonstrate the good fruits of the Spirit in our lives and be role models for the next generation. May we always be loving, joyful, kind, patient, and gentle with others, even those who question and challenge our faith. Empower us to walk in Christ’s ways, to be more like your Son, and to be confident in the good plans you have for us as individuals and as your church. Give us courage and compassion to reach out to people who don’t know your gospel of grace, people who don’t have a church home and may feel they don’t need one. Forgive us for when our faith has been merely words and not demonstrated by acts of kindness and mercy, like those Paul and Silas showed for their jailer, their enemy. Lead us to pray for all who don’t understand that being a Christian means so much more than just saying, “I believe” or even just going to church. May your Spirit fill us to overflowing and stir us to love and serve you with all our hearts and minds. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.