In a time when there’s so much divisiveness, we need to go to the Word of God now, more than ever before. You’ve heard me say time and again, everything we need for godly living has already been written in the Word. Jesus was born into a culture where people were divided by race and class. Solomon said there’s nothing new under the sun. So what we’re experiencing today may be strange to most, but it’s always been around.
Jesus dealt with accusations and finger pointing when He moved among certain people groups. He was called names we’d fight over today. But how did He handle it? What examples did He set for us to follow today? The first thing He did was to call a diverse group of people to represent His inner circle. Rich, poor, uneducated, educated, elites and Gentiles. They were all of differing opinions and mindsets. Zealots and separatists. The only thing they probably agreed on was their disdain for Roman rule. We hear they were all fishermen but that’s not true. Simon, Andrew, James and John were the fishermen. The other eight were of varying backgrounds and careers.
Matthew 4 & 10. So we are left to speculate where the Bible is silent. But this we know: they were all different.
Scriptures teach us that there was separation between the Jews and non Jews. The intention of God was never racial but to show non believers the way to God. Israel was called to be an example to all nations of the earth. Their failure to do so has resulted in the chaos we’re now experiencing.
He says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:6 NIV
The failure of Israel is now the failure of the Church. We were chosen to be the Light, but because of our failure to carry out His mandate, the world is being plunged into darkness. When Jesus showed up, He came with a message of reconciliation, but was received with rejection because the heart was hell bent on classism. They rejected His message because He didn’t fit their mold. When He sent the disciples out in Matthew 10, He prepared them for what they would face. In verse 16 He said.” I’m sending you out as sheep among wolves.” These men had probably never encountered the things they were about to face. Change is never easy to accept. Preaching a gospel of love, forgiveness and acceptance under oppression wasn’t going over well. When justice is lopsided, the message of love is met with skepticism. Jesus was about to turn the world right side up or upside down depending on your perspective.
“These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.”
Matthew 10:5-6 NIV
When you read these verses, you’re probably inclined to believe that He was keeping the gospel from the Gentiles. But the Holy Spirit shared something with me which led me to the writing of this message. The Samaritan were half Jews. Mixed marriages, something unacceptable by Jews, produced this group of people. They were ostracized and treated as second class citizens. Jesus did not allow the disciples to go to them because they had their own biases and needed a lesson on acceptance and reconciliation. He chose to break down the barrier Himself. So the message of the kingdom was sent to the Jews first, the original light bearers. You always go back to the beginning whenever you want to move forward. Jesus our example, always!
Let’s pick this up in John chapter 4:
“Jesus had to go through Samaria. He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s Well was there. Jesus sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about six o’clock in the evening. A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” (His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.) The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?” (Jews, of course, don’t associate with Samaritans.)”
John 4:4-9 GW
The work of removing stereotypes and racism can only be addressed by one Man and one Name. The Man Christ Jesus! He didn’t have the disciples handle this, because they couldn’t, without an example and a heart change. Racism runs deep in the heart. Policies can’t and will never change it. Politicians with their best intentions cannot change it. It’s a disease of the heart that will only be changed through true repentance. We’re agents of the sin nature. SIN cannot fix SIN. Listen to Proverbs 14, and I’m going to share different translations for impact:
“God-devotion makes a country strong; God-avoidance leaves people weak.”
Proverbs 14:34 MSG
“Righteousness lifts up a nation, but sin is a disgrace in any society.”
Proverbs 14:34 GW
“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Proverbs 14:34 KJV
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.”
Proverbs 14:34 NIV
“Righteousness [moral and spiritual integrity and virtuous character] exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.”
Proverbs 14:34 AMP
“Righteousness makes a nation great, but sin degrades any people.”
Mishlei (Pro) 14:34 CJB
SIN! SIN! Disgraces, degrades, condemns, reproaches and weakens. Are we there? Yes we are! This is what the sin nature produces. A life without Jesus, not religion, produces what we’ve been seeing and living through. We can put whatever stamp or label we choose, it comes back to one thing, SIN. A life void of empathy and compassion, kindness and acceptance of each other, finds its roots in the sin nature. All of us are guilty of racism in one form or another. Just stop and listen to how we speak to and about each other. A heart in a white house or brown house unchanged by Jesus is capable of doing despicable things.
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
Jeremiah 17:9 NIV
“The heart is deceitful above all things And it is extremely sick; Who can understand it fully and know its secret motives?”
Jeremiah 17:9 AMP
“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, GOD, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”
Jeremiah 17:9-10 MSG
The Heart! Jesus knew this when He went to the place He instructed His disciples not to go to. He knew He had to lead the way to true reconciliation. He not only went to Samaria, He purposefully chose the time when the most rejected person in the city would go to draw water. A woman who had had five divorces and was now shacking up! How low can you go? He was about to turn Samaria right side up. Let’s continue reading. This is going to be a long message so take your time. Break it up into days I don’t care, I’m only the stenographer.
John 4: “Jesus replied to her, “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him for a drink. He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, you don’t have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water? You’re not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it.” Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.” The woman told Jesus, “Sir, give me this water! Then I won’t get thirsty or have to come here to get water.” Jesus told her, “Go to your husband, and bring him here.” The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.” Jesus told her, “You’re right when you say that you don’t have a husband. You’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. You’ve told the truth.” The woman said to Jesus, “I see that you’re a prophet! Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that people must worship in Jerusalem.” Jesus told her, “Believe me. A time is coming when you Samaritans won’t be worshiping the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We ⌊Jews⌋ know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. Indeed, the time is coming, and it is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for people like that to worship Him. God is a spirit. Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will tell us everything.” ( Messiah is the one called Christ.) Jesus told her, “I AM He, and I AM speaking to you now.”
John 4:10-26 GW
We’re going to continue, but at this time I’d like to ask that you allow the Holy Spirit to open your spiritual eyes, heart and mind. We need to understand why Jesus took the approach He did. This is more than healing racial tensions. It’s more than a culture war. This is the heart of the gospel, and why He came. If we miss that, we’ll miss everything. Yes black lives matter! But in Jesus Christ all lives matter! I told my neighbor last Thursday, it doesn’t make a difference whose neck the knee was on, or who was doing the kneeling, it should still disturb us. The heart is and always will be the problem. If you’re reading this thinking you’re not capable of doing such a thing-Think again! Without the indwelling Holy Spirit, we’re capable of much worse. Just think how angry you got when someone cut you off in traffic Or took a parking spot you had been waiting for, blinkers on and all. I rest my case. Anger, rage, it’s all from the heart. True reconciliation begins in the heart, a heart changed through the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s my position and I refuse to apologize for it.
Before the apostles showed up, Jesus knew how long it would take for them to get back. He knows all things. He had the opportunity to have a heart to heart with the despised half Jew. Can you imagine what the conversation would’ve been like had the twelve differing opinions been there? He had the time to bring healing, restoration and clarity to the woman. She was the first person He personally revealed Himself to as the long awaited Messiah. She was waiting for Him, something the Jews were also doing but missed, because of discrimination. They decided how He should be born and where, what His pedigree and background should be. Go read it in the gospels! He couldn’t reveal Himself to them, but He did to her. This wasn’t something the disciples could’ve done, not until they themselves were changed. Let’s continue;
“At that time His disciples returned. They were surprised that He was talking to a woman. But none of them asked Him, “What do you want from her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back into the city. She told the people, “Come with me, and meet a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could He be the Messiah?” The people left the city and went to meet Jesus. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Him, “Rabbi, have something to eat.” Jesus told them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” The disciples asked each other, “Did someone bring Him something to eat?” Jesus told them, “My food is to do what the One who sent Me wants Me to do and to finish the work He has given Me “Don’t you say, ‘In four more months the harvest will be here’? I’m telling you to look and see that the fields are ready to be harvested. The person who harvests the crop is already getting paid. He is gathering grain for eternal life. So the person who plants the grain and the person who harvests it are happy together.
I have sent you to harvest a crop you have not worked for. Other people have done the hard work, and you have followed them in their work.” Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman who said, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” So when the Samaritans went to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them. He stayed in Samaria for two days. Many more Samaritans believed because of what Jesus said. They told the woman, “Our faith is no longer based on what you’ve said. We have heard Him ourselves, and we know that He really is the Saviour of the world.””
John 4:27-36, 38-42 GW
He dealt with her sin problem before He offered the solution. “Go call your husband.” Inner healing comes only through facing the root cause.
Repentance, Reconciliation, healing, acceptance. That’s how Jesus dealt with discrimination. He didn’t just talk about it, He demonstrated how it’s done. As believers in Jesus Christ, we too must demonstrate through our actions and words true unity-If indeed our hearts have been changed. I refuse to have a one sided one size fits all conversation with anyone, but especially with a Christian who still speaks with as much venom as the unsaved. Jesus dealt with all aspects of individual lives but with one purpose: Harvesting Souls for the Kingdom of God. He fed spirit, soul and body. That’s what we should be about, our Fathers business. He allowed the disciples to witness and be a part of the reconciliation and the revival that followed.
After this encounter and the conversation with the disciples, this is what Jesus said to the disciples when giving the great commission:
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
And this before He went back to heaven:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be My witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.””
Acts 1:8 GW
He broke the back of discrimination. He went first, then He sent us. This work is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit! I said in an earlier message, that every time I hear the term “Black church, White church “ I cringe. I also said the church is the most segregated place on Sundays. We, the Church, are the change. We can continue in the old man or the new man. But we cannot represent Christ purely by the house He chose to put us in. He chose the house, we didn’t. It wasn’t meant to divide us but to show His unique ability to make us One. For all I know Adam could’ve been brown and Eve white, Adam could’ve had slanted eyes and Eve oval, Adam curly hair and Eve kinky hair. Just look at us! Differences were not meant to be divisive but to be embraced. But it begins with the heart.
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
It all begins at home. Everything we’re witnessing and hearing began at home. May God help us to examine our own hearts in the light of His Word. May we repent of the thoughts we have had toward each other in this season of unrest. May we be the change, as we bring the message of hope and reconciliation through Jesus Christ alone. If we leave Him out of the conversation the message is dead on arrival.
Father in the Name of Jesus! We admit that true reconciliation, true conversation cannot be accomplished through human efforts alone. We need YOU! We need your heart to effectively break the cycle of hate that has permeated our lives for centuries. You sent Your Son to show us the way. May we repent and turn our hearts towards You so that we can truly learn what it means to love our fellow man. In Jesus Name.
“Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words].”
1 John 3:18 AMP
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant