Sin is at the heart of what is wrong in our lives and no
matter how we try to gloss over it, God sees it anyway. Lesson number five. It
has become commonplace to downplay any preaching about sin. We see grace alone
doctrines which present half the Gospel and the result is a body of weak
believers struggling to digest spiritual milk, let alone move on to meat. Jesus
here tells her to go get her husband, knowing full well she has had five and
currently is living in sin. The woman tries to simply deflect the question and
avoid having to deal with her sin but Jesus would have none of it. Beloved, God
will always cut right to the heart of the matter with us. Sin will always take
us further than we wish to go and cost us more than we were willing to pay. Yes
the grace of God will cover that sin when we stand before Christ for judgment
but there is still the principle of sowing and reaping in the temporal:
Do not be deceived:
God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the
flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit
will reap eternal life. -- Galatians 6: 7-8 (NIV)
We often mock God without realizing it. This is what grace
alone misses. There is still a price to be paid for our sin nature. In the past
six months we saw three mega church pastors fall due to sexual sin in the
Back at the well, the story draws to a close. Jesus having
performed spiritual surgery on the woman's sin issues reveals to her that He is
the Messiah that has been promised. She runs and tells everyone she knows --
which is what should happen when we encounter the one true God! She leaves us
with the lessons God wants us to take to heart today. That we need to seek to bring people together instead of finding
reasons to divide them. That we truly grasp the gift God has given us and
realize that those we should be seeking on His behalf do not grasp that gift
yet. That we actively try to stop making excuses for why we cannot do what God
has called us to do. That we truly understand the spiritual nature of the war
we are in as believers. That we realize that our sin is what holds us back and
there is no hiding it from God anyway. That true grace understands that God is
willing to forgive today -- not just on the last day. This is just one glimpse
of the teachings God has provided for us. The insight into His way of thinking
that is critical for us to navigate this world. There is power in being a believer
in Jesus Christ. Christ died to give us eternal life and the power to live it
now. Let us all learn from the Samaritan woman at the well and tap into the
living water that is Christ in us today.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- May 23, 2013
