"How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through
Your
precepts I get understanding; Therefore
I
hate every false way. Your word is
a lamp
unto my feet and a light to my path."
Psalm 119:103 -105
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Racism in the Church
Part 1
Pastor Dehner Maurer
John Chapter 4
I have preached out of the context of this
scripture many many times, but never
in the
way that I am going to deliver today.
John 4:1Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees
had heard that Jesus baptized more
disciples
than John2(though Jesus Himself did not baptize but
His disciples). [interesting] 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
4 But He needed to go through Samaria.He needed to go through Samaria. Remember that. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is
called Sychar, near the plot of ground
that
Jacob gave his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's
well was there. Jesus therefore, being
wearied
from His jouney, sat thus by the well.
It
was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman
of Samaria
came to draw water. Jesus said to her,
"Give
Me a drink." 8 For His disciples had gone away into the
city to buy food. His disciples went where? To buy food, remember that. It's going to be very important.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him,
"How is it that You being a Jew,
ask
a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"
For the Jews have no dealings with
Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her,
"if
you knew the gift of God, and who it
is who
says to you, 'Give Me a drink,'' you
would
have asked Him, and He would have given
you
living water." 11 The woman said
to
Him, "Sir, you have nothing to
draw
with, and the well is deep. Where then
do
You get that living water?" 12
"Are
You greater than our father notice our father father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank
from it himself as well as his sons
and his
livestock?" 13 Jesus answered
and said
to her, "Whoever drinks of this
water
will thirts again, 14 "but whoever
drinks
of the water that I shall give him
will never
thirst. But the water that I shall
give him
will become in him a fountain of water
springing
up into everlastin life." 15 The
woman
said to Him, "Sir, give me this
water,
that I may not thirst, nor come here
to draw."
16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call
your
husband, [This is a family thing. Uh Oh, go call you
husband ] and come here." 17 The woman answered,
"I have no husband." Jesus
said
to her, " You have well said,
' have
no husband,' "for you have had
five
husbands, and the one whom you now
have is
not your husband, in that you spoke
truly."
19 The woman said to Him, " Sir,
I perceive
that You are a prophet." 20 "Our
fathers worshiped on this mountain,
and you
Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place
where
one ought to worship." 21 Jesus
said
to her, "Woman, believe Me, the
hour
is coming when you will neither on
this mountain,
nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father."
22 You worship what you do not know;
we know
what we worship, for salvation is of
the
Jews." 23 "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.
24 "God is spirit, and those who
worship
Him must worship in spirit and truth."
25 And the woman said to Him, "I
know
that Messiah is coming" (who is
called
Christ). "when He comes, He will
tell
us all things." 26 Jesus said
to her,
"I who speak to you am He."
27
And at this point His disciples came
and
they marveled that He talked with a
woman;
yet no one said, "What do You
seek?"
or, "Why are You talking with
her?"
28 The woman then left her waterpot,
went
her way into the city, and said to
the men,
29 "Come, see a Man who told me
all
things that I ever did. Could this
be the
Christ?" 30 Then they went out
of the
city and came to Him. 31 In the meantime
His disciples urged him, saying, "Rabbi,
eat." 32 But He said to them,
"I
have food to eat of which you do not
know."
33 Therefore the disciples said to
one another,
"Has anyone brought Him anything
to
eat?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My
food is to do the will of Him who sent
me,
and to finish His work." 35 "Do
you not say, ' There are still four
months
and then comes the harvest'? Behold,
I say
to you, lift up your eyes and look
at the
fields for they are already white for
the
harvest! 36 "And he who reaps
receives
wages, and gather fruit for eternal
life,
that both he who sows and he who reaps
may
rejoice together." 37 "For
in this
one saying is true: 'One sows and another
reaps.' 38 "I sent you to reap
that
for which you have not labored; other
have
labored, and you have entered into
their
labors." 39 And many of the Samaritans
of that city believed in Him because
of the
word of the woman who testified, "He
told me all that I ever did."
40 So
when the Samaritans had come to Him,
they
urged Him to stay with the; and He
stayed
there two days. 41 And many more believed
because of His own word.
As you read this, I pray that mindsets are
changed. In Jesus Name.
Jesus was baptizing all these people
and
there was a stir coming on. People
were upset.
Why is He baptizing more people than
John?
But Jesus knew that His time was not
now.
He knew that this wasn't the time that
He
needed to be promoting loud that everybody
needs to be coming. He understood that
there
are times and season. You have to understand
that there are times and seasons in
your
life. There are times when God will
promote
you and there are times when God wants
you
hidden. There are times when God will
give
you friends and there are times when
God
may want you silent. There are times
when
God may want to lift you up front and
there
are times when God may want you behind
and
you can't fight the seasons of the
Lord.
You have got to trust God. He knows
what
the right timing is. He understands
the seasons.
So don't be hurting when you are silenced,
when nobody's listening, when God's
just
asking you to do a small thing and
you're
behind the scenes. Rejoice in that
because
the season will come when He says,
"Move
up front." It's the principle
that Jesus
taught, when he said, "don't go
up to
the front and try and promote yourself,
stay
in the back and wait till they say
to you,
'come forward.' then you come forward."
I struggled with that for years. Nothing
that I had a call of God on my life
and trying
to push it and trying to promote it
and when
I finally stopped, and said, "all
right,
I'll shut up and not say anything,"
then came the time of promotion. When
I learned
of God's timing.
And then He goes on in verse 3 and
says,
And He needed to go through Samaria.
Now
wait a minute, Jews did not go through
Samaria.
But He needed to. They had a little thing I like to call
a "465". See it was very
simple
to go straight through. You could go
right
through to where He was going but they
had
a thing I call the 465. The Jews just
went
around because they didn't go to Samaria.
Why didn't they go to Samaria? 722
BC God's
judgement came on Israel, Assyria invaded
and took a bunch of the Jewish people
and
took them captive and many of the Assyrians
mistreated them, had sex with them,
to dominate
them. There came out of them what the
Jews
called a "dog race". They
were
the Samaritans, they were half-breeds.
And
Jews don't hang out with Samaritans.
They
walk around and you don't dare be caught
in Samaria. The Samaritans worshiped
over
there and and the Jews worshiped over
here
and they don't intermingle. But here's
Jesus
saying, "I need to go through Samaria." So He begins
on His journey to the Samaritan "Dogs".
This is almost like John making a joke.
They
never went through Samaria. See, Jesus
passes
tradition. He passes the cultural mindset
here. Jesus challenged "everything
they
did for year". "This is the
way
we have done it, this is the way we
are as
a Jewish people, we are Abraham's sons
and
daughters" and Jesus said, "ppfffttt on your tradition, I'm going
to Samaria." Many of us still
believe
the black church should be meeting
over here
and the white church ought to be meeting
over here and we sure don't need to
be intermingling
together. They live in their part of
town
and we live in our part of town. We
all do
our own thing. See that's just the
way we've
been. This is the way our Daddy taught
us.
This is the way our Daddy's Daddy taught
us. This is the way our Great Grand
Daddy
taught our Grand Daddy. This is the
way it
is. The black church does this, the
white
church does this, the hispanic church
does
that. We don't intermingle. This is
just
not the way we do it. This is not what
tradition
taught us. Tradition says, "this
is
the way we worship." It amazes
me when
people come in and ask, "why don't
you
do this and why don't you wear a robe."
It's not about tradition, it's not
about
cultural preference here.
Now Jesus comes to the city of Sychar,
to
Jacob's well. He could have just said
a well
but He identified it. He let us know,
"Listen,
this place is so important." He
not
only tells us where it's at, he says
to us
very clearly, this was Jacob's well.
This
was the ground that Jacob gave to his
son
Joseph. He identifies it. We can go
back
and trace this in the Old Testament
to see
exactly where it took place. He needed
to
go there. He went to this well on purpose.
He knew where He was going. He had
heard
from the Father. And He went to this
well
and as He goes to this well there is
a funny
verse. I love this verse. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore,
being wearied from His jouney, sat
thus by
the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7
A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
It was not by coincidence. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."
That's not good. A jewish man to touch a
Samaritan's cup and drink. We don't
even
walk through there let alone eat or
drink
with them. Communicate with them? Uh
uh.
This is not the way it is. 8 For His disciples had gone away into the
city to buy food.9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him,
"How is it that You being a Jew,
ask
a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"
Now isn't that funny? She knew He was a Jew.
Isn't it funny you go to a white church
there
is a white Jesus with blonde hair and
blue
eyes, you go to a black church there
is a
black Jesus with an afro. He was a
Jew. Guess
how she knew! He didn't wear a sign
that
said Jew. You could tell by the way
He looked,
by the way He dressed by the way He
talked
and by the way He acted. Jesus was
a Jewish.
It's written all over. It wasn't hard
to
tell. If I come walking in you can
tell I'm
a little white short man with a little
bit
of a belly and a weird hairdo that
thinks
he's black but it's easy to tell what
I am.
She knew. What are you doing here and
you
would dare ask me for a drink? I don't
understand
what you're doing here. You can't touch
this
cup. These details are important. When
He
says He stopped at Jacobs well I want
you
to understand something. I am going
to give
you some principles.
The idea that we have that lets pray for
the black church to do their thing
and let's
pray for people to get saved but
we are not
a part of that and let's pray for
the white
church but let's not communicate.
See we
are dividing and we are building
on the division
instead of unity. See there's something
about
Jacob's well. It was a place where
each of
them could identify with because
the Jews
knew that the convenant had been
cut with
Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the Samaritan
people believed the Pentateuch and
so they
also honored Jacob. It was a place
they both
could identify with. They both honored
Jacob.
He didn't meet her at a place where
there
was division. It was a place where
they could
have unity. He brought them to a
spiritual
place. Where they could have identity
and
common ground. The only way we will
build
a multi-cultural church is by common
ground.
Most division starts with disagreement
but
Jesus started with what where they
agreed.
The other amazing thing is that Jesus
didn't
give up who He was to reach her.
He didn't
go into to town and buy Samaritan
clothes
and try and look like a Samaritan
to reach
her. He was Jewish and He knew who
He was
and He wasn't going to give up who
He was.
I don't have to act like you or look
like
you but we are going to do this on
our common
ground. I am so sick and tired of
church
leaders saying you will only reach
who you
are. That's not true. You'll reach
who you
love. That's who you'll reach.
He did not deny who he was. He did not say,
"Hey, I'm color blind."
He knew
who He was, she knew who he was.
God's not
asking you if your black to like
Country
Western. God's not asking us to be
color
blind. If God made you 6 foot tall
with blonde
hair and your skin is as white as
a diaper,
then celabrate who you are. We will
celebrate
in our diversity but we will be unified
in
our common ground that's Christ.
And we celebrate
one another's culture. We'll celebrate
who
we are. In our diversity shares God's
glory.
He doesn't want us to be clones.
Many churches
want to make us clones. You come
in there
you have to look like them, talk
like them
act like them, carry your bible like
them.
"Yes, Brother, Hallelujah!"
You
don't talk like that at home. But
you get
into to church and everybody does
it. We
have this church talk and church
walk and
we go to this church and we all look
alike.
We all wear ties and we all do the
same thing.
We need to celebrate our diversity.
We need
to celebrate that we are red and
yellow and
green and we need to celebrate those
things,
be excited about those things. Diversity
makes us powerful. The diversity
shows God.
God didn't want me to be a 6'10"
black
guy who could dunk the ball. I wish
He would
have. He wants me to celebrate who
I am.
And don't say we are color blind,
we're not.
God wants you to be who you are as
long as
it doesn't interfere with the spiritual
aspects
of it, the spiritual side of things.
See
black is only beautiful when it 's
biblical
and white is only glorious when it
agrees
with the Holy Word. If we are celebrating
white power and black power then
we have
missed the principle and we've missed
the
whole thing. I stood this week at
the Civil
Rights Memorial and in museum and
I stood
this week at the pulpit 16th Street
Church
in Burmingham Alabama where the four
little
girls were killed, where the three
white
guys, the Ku Klux Klan idiots took
the 9
sticks of dynamite and stuck them
under the
staircase, where they knew the little
kids
were having childrens church. Where
the parents
were in the santuary worshiping and
they
blew up the children's church and
four little
girls were slaughtered. But as you
looked
at the pictures, the greatest thing
about
the Civil Rights movement was there
was white
people there. It wasn't a black thing.
It
was a freedom thing. We're all equal.
It's
not a spanish thing. We are all equal.
This
is not pro-black power. We are all
equal.
We are all one. We all deserve the
same rights.
We all deserve the same freedoms.
We all
deserve the same chances. There were
a lot
of white people that died during
the Civil
Rights Movement. If you look at the
March
of Washington, there is every culture,
that's
what made it powerful. That's why
it worked.
The spiritual is important here. Jesus is
breaking his culture here. The church
has
an idea that we should stay seperated
because
of our culture but I'm telling you
that's
demonic, that's tradition. Baloney!
That's
not what the church should look like.
Jesus
said in John 17, "They will
never know
that God sent Him until they are
one, then
they will know." I guarantee
when we
do this thing and do it right and
they will
say what is it about the Church that
they
have every culture, every language,
every
nation, every tribe. What makes them
unified.
Then we will have a voice to say,
"It's
Jesus." Then we will have a
voice. You
will see it happen. People desire
it. They
are tired of the stupid stuff that's
going
on. Our Daddys were wrong. Our Grandpas
were
wrong. I love my Grandpa and Grandma
but
they were wrong. They were taught
wrong and
they believed a lie. It was of the
devil
it was not of God. I'm not trying
to be mean
to them but it's ok to stand up and
say they
were wrong.
Now Jesus opened the door of conversation
with her by saying He would drink from
her
cup. He got the right to get in her
business
because He first identified with her. He was first in a place that was a comfortable
common ground and then He said, "let
me drink from your cup." So He's
identifying
with her and she doesn't feel like
He's saying,
"I'm better than you." Don't
you
hate it when someone tries to get in
your
business thinking they're better than
you
and they never really identified with
you
or care about you? Before you get into
my
business you better understand me and
you
better care for me. If you care for
me and
love me I'll let you into my business.
But
if you don't care for me don't even
try.
That ain't going to work. Don't come judging me and condemning me until
you can identify me. You identify with me then you can speak to
me. Identify with one another. That's
where
Jesus had His open door to begin to
talk
with this lady. He said let me drink
of your
cup. Verse 10 is where I love. Jesus
is so
smooth. She knew they called Samaritans
dogs.
He said, "Hey I don't call you
a dog,
I want a drink from your cup."
"Hey,
we're friends here, we're breaking
these
things. Notice, where were the disciples?
Yeah, they were buying food somewhere.
That's
important to remember. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "if
you knew the gift of God, and who it
is who
says to you, 'Give Me a drink,'' you
would
have asked Him, and He would have given
you
living water." . He knew how to slip right in. He knew how
to move from the natural to the spiritual,
right in there man. She had no idea.
He took
the physical and ended up in the spiritual.
If you will look in a conversation
first
you have to identify with people and
love
them. That's why the days of going
and knocking
on doors just isn't going to work.
You just
can't go up to someone and say, "you're
going to Hell." God forbid. Honestly,
you're never going to reach anybody
like
that. You have to bild relationships,
friendships,
with the people you work with. You
have to
show them you care first. Do you know
that's
how Jesus reached people? He cared
for them.
He didn't act like them, He went and
loved
them and new they were hurting. If
we would
do that we could reach people. It's
horrible.
Don't be a bible thumper and start
reading
a bunch of scriptures without starting
out
loving someone first. How many of you
have
had a few bible thumpers you can't
stand?
That drive you nuts? Many people have
been
driven away by a few bible thumpers
quoting
scriptures at them. They don't care
how much
you now until they know how much you
care
first. 11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, you
have nothing to draw with, and the
well is
deep. Where then do You get that living
water?"
Good question. 12 "Are You greater than our father?Our father. Notice she identified with Him.
Our father. He identified with her and she knew it 3 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever
drinks of this water will thirts again,
14
"but whoever drinks of the water
that
I shall give him will never thirst.
But the
water that I shall give him will become
in
him a fountain of water springing up
into
everlastin life." And she said, "Sir, give me this drink.
Let me have it. She was hurting and
she said,
"I am hurting, I am willing to
take
this.16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your
husband, Uh oh. Now the conversation has gone deep.
This is a family affair, go get your
husband
and she's going, "Oooohhh!"
Jesus
always has a way of getting to the
root.
That's why when you're praying and
your trying
to tell God, "Change this person,
or
change that person or do this."
He starts
speaking to you and saying, "What
about
when you thought this and what about
when
you acted like that?" "Whoa
whoa
whoa, but Lord what about this person?"
The Lord always take you back. Don't
judge
another until you deal with yourself.
The
fastest prayer you will ever get answered,
if you don't believe God answers prayers
just say, "Lord show me where
I'm messing
up." He'll answer your prayer
by tomorrow,
I promise. 17 The woman answered, "I have no husband."
esus said to her, " You have well said,
' have no husband,' "for you have
had
five husbands, and the one whom you
now have
is not your husband, in that you spoke
truly."
And the one you got now, he's not even your husband. Isn't it amazing that at this
point, Jesus addresses her sin. But
He was
given room because He has identified
with
her, that He was able to talk to her.
19 The woman said to Him, " Sir, I perceive
that You are a prophet." Well, I guess so. He just read your clock. 20 "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,
and you Jews say that in Jerusalem
is the
place where one ought to worship."
If that is not a racial statement, I have
never heard one. Now wait a minute
here,
even though you're a prophet, you people
do it over there and we do it over
here.
Your churches do this and we do that.
This
is the way we have always done it.
This is
the way it is. This is a historical
position.
If you go back and read the history
about
this well, you will see that right
behind
her is Mount Gerizim is right behind her. She says, "This
is the mountain we've always worshiped
at
but you Jews, you worship at a different mount. Not let the white people stay over
there and worship and let the black
people
stay over here and worship and let's
just
keep our segregation. The things that
were
done when they tried to segregate the
schools
was absolutely crazy. The first black
child
who was going to go to one of the Montgomery
schools was beaten. A little kid, beaten.
White grown men beat a little black
boy and
his father. Because this is the way
we've
always done it, go to school over here,
go
to school over there. We're not going
to
mess with tradition. Be careful what
you
let become tradition. Be careful when
you
come into church and you say, "I
think
we ought to do it like this."
Why? Because
that's what your tradition taught you?
Where did you get that idea, we should do it like
that? But that's the way it's always
been.
What if they way you've always done
it was
wrong? Find the Bible and see what
it says
about what your worship. Not about
what your
parents taught you or what your parent's
parents taught you or what your tradition
taught you. See we should be having
a progressive
revelation. That means the Word of
God doesn't
change but we come to a great understanding
of the Word and we grow deeper in the
Lord.
We grow closer to the Lord and we understand
things that they didn't understand
years
ago. The time is now for the multi-racial
church to stand up and raise her voice
and
say, "no more racism!" When
Martin
Luther King Jr. said, "I have
a dream."
I have a dream that the little black
boys
and the little white boys will as brothers,
they will walk together and they will
worship
together. Still today, the most racially
segregated day of the week is Sunday.
Somebody
has to raise their voice. The Church
has
to raise her voice and say, "No
more,
we're not going to do that stuff anymore."
We are going to be the fulfillment
of that
dream and share the vision. "This
has
been our culture, our tradition, it's
been
in our family a long time." Somethings
in your family need to change. I have
the
greatest mom in the world. I love my
mom.
She has been faithful but there is
somethings
she taught me and did that were goofy.
And
some of those things just had to change.
My mom taught me that if I ever came
to Indianapolis
and got on 465, I'd never get off of
it.
Because she came to Indianpolis one
time,
got on 465 and drove around it about
4 or
5 time and drove back an hour and a
half
back to Connorsville because she couldn't
get off. So when I'm sixteen years
old and
I've got my driver's license and I
come to
Indianapolis, I'm scared to death to
get
on 465 cause I may never get off. And
somebodies
got to say to my mom, "That's
wrong."
It's real easy. Just look at the signs.
It's
not hard. She's a great mom but. .
. . .
. . 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe
Me, the hour is coming when you will
neither
on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem,
worship
the Father." I like that, WOMAN! I can only imagine saying
that to my wife, "Woman!"
I'd be
in trouble. He's saying that there
is a day
coming when your tradition will mean
nothing.
We're going on past that. We're going
to
have a deeper relationship with the
Lord.
We're going past where we were. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know
what we worship, for salvation is of
the
Jews." 23 "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.Butthe hour is coming when true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Not by culture and tradition. Maybe you grew up in a Presbyterian Church,
maybe your family has been in the Presbyterian
Church for 300 years like my family.
But
it is time I say I need to find out
how I
need to worship, when I need to worship,
what I need to worship, what the bible
says,
not what they taught me. I am not slamming
the Presbyterian Church. I don't need
to
listen to the tradition. I need to
listen
to what the bible says about worship.
And
maybe the white church has always done
it
like that, and maybe the white church
was
wrong in doing it like that. "You have to
wear a tie when you come into God's
House."
This isn't even God's House, you are God's House. Do you wear a tie when
you go to bed too? We have these traditions
that cultures have taught us. Some
of them
are sacred cows that need to be shot,
give
them a good burial and move on. Some
people
think that if there isn't screaming
and shouting
and everybody running around that they
haven't
had church. Well, you did a bunch of
hooping
but you didn't learn anything. And
some churches
are so dead and so quiet that you're
just
proud of yourself that you didn't go
to sleep.
I'm serious. I can remember going to
church
and being proud of myself that I didn't
go
to sleep and thinking God is happy
with me
today because I stayed awake throught
the
whole thing. I didn't learn tiddlywinks.
And I've watched some crazy things
on TV.
Some of those TV preachers they are
crazy.
I have watched some of these churches
they
are hooping and going crazy and you
are just
staying, "what just happened?"
"I don't know what happened but
that's
the way we've always done it so that's
they
way we have to continue to do it".
They
day is coming when you will not worship
like
that. I love how Jesus brings this
out in
verse 21 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe
Me, the hour is coming when you will
neither
on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem,
worship
the Father." This is what He's saying, "Woman the
time is coming when God will only go
to church
where they are worshiping in spirit
and in
truth and if they are not worshiping
like
that My Father won't be there. There
may
be a bunch of people there, there may
be
a big building, there might be a bunch
of
noise going on but if it's not being
done
in spirit and in truth it's not where
the
Father is. Because the Father is going
to
be where they are worshiping in spirit and in truth. A truth not in to tradition and not into
culture. God is a spirit, He's not
material.
Spirit means a right heart, a right
attitude
and truth means right information.
Not the
way you like it. Can I be honest with
you?
Worship service was not made for you
to come
in and listen to the music you like
so you
can be happy and you will be blessed.
When
did you get that idea that's what worship
was about? I thought worship service
was
about coming to give Him glory and praise and honor. "But that's
not the way I like to do it."
It's not
about you. I love the story in Galations
2 where Peter is hanging out with the
Gentiles
eating pork chops. And then here come
the
disciples saying, "What are you
doing?"
"It's and unclean meat, you're
with
an unclean people!" They freaked
out.
See Peter's already been through this
Acts
10 situation where God brings down
this food
and he sees this food and Peter says,
"Ooh,
get that away from me." and God
says,"Don't
you dare call unclean what I call clean."
See the day was when we did that but
now
we are going to worship in spirit and
in
truth and we've moved past that. So
the amazing
thing is that Peter's eating pork chops
with
the Gentiles and here comes the Jewish
people
and the bible says that Peter backed
up.
His Hommies just come in and he don't
want
to be going there. It says it there
in Galations
2. Then it says even Barnabas, my man
Barney,
even did it. Barney! the encourager!
Racism
will even make a good man bad. "I
may
hang out with you and talk with you
but now
that my hommies come around I . . "
And they have got away with it except
that
Paul came in and Paul said, "Peter
I
rebuke you" and called him to
the carpet.
We know the scripture in Galations 2:20 "I have been crucified
with Christ; it is no longer I who
live,
but Christ who lives in me; and the
life
that I now live in the flesh I live
by faith
in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave
Himself for me.". And that is only said in the context of
it's not about racism, we died to that.
It's
not about culture, we died to that.
It's
not about Jews and Gentiles, we died
to that.
It's not about being American, we've
died
to that but we are one in Christ. It's
no
longer my culture that I identify with
it's
my Christianity. It's no longer my
hommies
that I identify with it's my faith.
It's
no longer my family tradition I identify
with it's my faith. I died to the things
that are tradition. I died to the things
that are tradition and I now live to
my spiritual
life. I am a Christian above all things
in
my life. Christianity is not coming
to church
and sitting here and raising your hand
and
throwing some money in the offering
basket
and walking out and living like a heathen
in the world. That's not Christianity.
I
know the churches may be packed doing
that
but that's now Christianity, people.
That's
religion, that's culture, that's tradition.
Christianity is "everyhwere I
go Christ
is in my life". Christianity means
that
I no longer live my own life but I
live my
life for Him. I no longer choose my
own things
but I choose the things He wants me
to do.
I live for Him. He is my God. He is
my saviour.
He is my Lord. What does Lord mean?
It means
boss. There's a really thought poem
but I
love it. It goes, " You call me
Lord,
obey me not. You call me Master, serve
me
not. Call me Saviour, love me not.
If I condemn
you, blame Me not." Many will
say unto
Me on that day, "Lord Lord didn't
we
cast out devils, didn't we go to this
church,
didn't we do this, didn't we do that?"
and He will say, "Depart from
me you
workers of iniquity for I never knew
you."
Did it not say if you want to follow
Me,
pick up your cross and follow Me daily?
It
may mean you need to lose a few friends.
Iit may mean you need to quit listening
to
some of that music you have been listening
to. 25 And the woman said to Him, "I know
that Messiah is coming" (who is
called
Christ). "when He comes, He will
tell
us all things." . Isn't that funny? She's saying, "I
listened to the prophecy series, I
know the
Messiah is coming." "I heard
it."
"I heard about Him." 6 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to
you am He." Now remember what I told about back in verse
8, where did the disciples go? They
went
to town to buy food. 27 And at this point His disciples came and
they marveled that He talked with a
woman;
yet no one said, "What do You
seek?"
or, "Why are You talking with
her?"
They come walking up after walking 5 miles
to the nearest to the say Church's
Fried
Chicken. They ordered the number 4,
Chicken,
fries and a Coke. Can you tell I've
been
there? And brought Jesus something
too. And
then 5 miles back and they find Jesus
there
talking to this Samaritan Dog. They
say,
<whisper> "What in the world
is
He doing?" "Can you believe
this?"
It's not that she's a woman because
He's
already healed the woman with the issue
of
blood and they didn't throw a fit about
that.
He's been talking and hanging out with
Mary
and Martha and they weren't upset with
that.
It must have been that she was Samaritan.
It makes you wonder why Jesus sent
them away.
Probably because they were racist and
He
knew He would never reach her with
a bunch
of racist people standing around so
He just
got rid of them. We've had many people
come
to our church and say they want to
be a part
but deep down they have racism and
they leave.
Don't you be fooled. We've been called
names
and persecuted and told it's just not
going
to work. But I will tell you, if you
cannot
love your brother or your sister, you
cannot
love God. If you have racism in your
heart
you need to grow up and you need to
get on
your knees and repent before God Almighty
cause you may be white and steretype
and
think that black people are bad people.
I
want to tell you, you are ignorant.
There
are people of every race that are rude,
mean
and crude and will hurt you. But you
are
Christian and we should love one another
and we need to get rid of all the stereotypes
and all the stupid stuff thats out
there.
We sould know that we need to reach
the whole
world and help them and love them.
Maybe
people wouldn't do the things they
do if
we loved them and helped them and encourage
them. Here's a piece of wisdom, hurt
people,
hurt people. Somebody that has been
wounded,
they will probably try and hurt you
because
that's what they know. That's why we
are
a hospital, we heal people. We should
take
people lives and change them by the
power
of Jesus Christ and then they are different. 30 Then they went out of the city and came
to Him. 31 In the meantime His disciples
urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
And He does one of these things that He's
always doing and He says, " I
have food
to eat that you do not know."
You'd
think it would have been fun walking
with
Him. Cause this is one of these things
were
He's God and He's Man and this statement
just makes no sense to them. If I went
to
Church's Fried Chicken and bought you
food
then what happened. Did someone beat
us there
and back? What happened? Who fed Him?
And
they're scared to say anything. 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another,
"Has anyone brought Him anything
to
eat?" They said to one another, isn't that funny?
They don't say it to Him. 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to
do the will of Him who sent me, and
to finish
His work." 35 "Do you not say, ' There are still
four months and then comes the harvest'?
Behold, I say to you, lift up your
eyes and
look at the fields for they are already
white
for the harvest! And they are thinking what does the harvest
have to do with the food we brought
you from
Church's Fried Chicken? Come on! Wouldn't
you have thought that? Lord, we're
talking
about lunch here not about the harvest!
6 "And he who reaps receives wages,
and gather fruit for eternal life,
that both
he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice
together." 37 "For in this
one
saying is true: 'One sows and another
reaps.'
38 "I sent you to reap that for
which
you have not labored; other have labored,
and you have entered into their labors."
And they are just thinking we just asked
you about lunch, that's all we said!
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city
believed in Him because of the word
of the
woman who testified, "He told
me all
that I ever did." Now wait a minute. Woman! He only told you
how many husbands you ever had and
I have
water that you have never drank before.
And
isn't it funny she goes and tell the
men.
She already has a "man" problem.
But what He said was so alive in her,
she
tells the men and they say, "take
us
to Him." The greatest thing about
this
right here is that it shows that no
matter
how much you have screwed up, you can
still
be a vessel unto God. The greatest
thing
is maybe you have really flopped and
messed
up your life, this lady did too but
it was
not too late. He still used her. He
was still
drawying her. He still reached out
to her.
So the last thing he said to the disciples
was look up for the harvest is white
so they
look up and what do they see? The woman
coming
with the men, the half-breeds. They
come
walking and He says, "there is
the harvest."
No longer will we only reach the Jews.
No
longer will we reach only our kind
but the
harvest is ripe. There are people that
are
desiring a multi-cultural church and
know
that it's the right thing but they
are scared
to say anything. It's up to us. I am
just
saying to you today to lift up your
eyes
because the harvest is plentiful. They
are
all around you. They are hurting and
wounded.
They are destroyed and dismayed. They
think
God is mad and that He hates them.
You have
to go identify with them, drink of
their
cup and love them. You have to reach
out
to them. 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him,
they urged Him to stay with the; and
He stayed
there two days. 41 And many more believed
because of His own word. So He says the harvest is ripe and then there
are these men and he goes and stays
with
them and they get saved. Isn't it amazing.
He should have even walked throught
there
but He went and stayed with them. We
need
to rethink our traditions and what
we have
been taught. Maybe you have enjoyed
it but
is it in spirit and in truth? . . .
. . .
. .