God Our Father Part 3 and 4

How can we trust someone that we do not know?  Our relationship with God is based on trust and trust can only be established by knowing the character of the one we are putting our trust in.  In this series of teachings this is what we are learning and strengthening, "God is love."  God doesn't just perform love it is who He is!  Let's look at a couple of Scriptures that declare this.

Scripture:  1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. NKJV

Scripture:  1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. NKJV

In 1 Cor. 13:4-8 we see the description of what the God kind of love is like.  This is a description of how God relates to us and the world.    

Love is God's nature, love is what motivates everything that God does.  In order for all of humanity to get a proper understanding and expression of God's love He sent to Son Jesus Christ to be His representation.  Jesus said in John 14:9.................."He who has seen me has seen the Father."  Jesus is the exact expression of God.  We see this same truth reiterated in Hebrews 1:3 where Jesus is called "the express image of His person."  The phrase "express image" in the Greek means the exact copy.  

This tells us that everything that Jesus said and did is a perfect expression of God's love.  So we should be able to find in the life and ministry of Jesus an example of all of the characteristics of love given to us in 1 Cor. 13:4-8 and this is what we began to do this last Sunday.  

1 Cor. 13:4a states, "Love suffers long and is kind."

• This verse tells us that God suffers long and is kind.  So, what does that mean?  This verse is telling us that God is patient in dealing with the offences and injuries of others.  In addition to this He is also kind while waiting.  This kindness is described as acting benevolently or having a mild manner.  It is described as being tolerant and forgiving under provocation. 
• From these words we can see that God is redemptive in His nature.  He is willing to wait and show kindness in hopes that the object of His redemption will yield to Him in faith. 
• God is patient in dealing with the offences of others or we could say people.  Sin is an offense against God.  How much sin is going on in the world right now today?  And yet God has not destroyed the planet, this is because He is redemptive and in order to be redemptive He must be patient and kind, He must suffer long.

James 5:7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. NKJV
   
Transitional Sentence:  Since Jesus is the perfect expression of God then we should be able to find an example of this patience and kindness in Jesus earthly ministry.
 
Scripture:  John 4:7 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. 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 Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
 

• Jesus approaches this woman and asks for water.  Her response is not one that is unfamiliar to us today.  It is a response from a culture that was saturated with racism and sexism.  The Samaritans were a mixed race of gentiles and poor Jewish people from the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests.  Intermarriages between these two groups produced the Samaritans.  They were hated by the Jews and despised by the Gentiles.  In addition, the Jews hated them because they did not follow their religious system.  So, we can see why she responded to Jesus this way. 
• To be honest if I was trying to minister to someone and they responded this way to me I am not sure I would have tried to proceed.  But let’s remember what we are looking at here, Jesus is a perfect demonstration of patience and kindness.  Jesus knows the heart of the Father and He knows that the winning of this woman is key to unlocking the harvest of souls in Samaria. 
• Jesus (love) breaks down racism and sexism walls.  Racism and sexism happen because of a lack of understanding of God’s love. 

10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift (gracious 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."
 

• Here we see the patience and kindness of God in action.  Jesus responds to this woman’s hardness with redemption.  He speaks by Love (God) to the thirst in her spirit.  Love sees past the external hardness to the heart of the issue.   
• He does not try to correct her; He extends redemption to her through love.  This is God speaking to her and to us!

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 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 thirst 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 everlasting life." 

• Jesus through patience and kindness is moving this woman from a place of hardness to a place of receptivity, to a place of redemption, salvation, and emotional and relational healing.  Jesus expressing the love of God to this woman is paying off, she is opening up. 

15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
 

• Patience and kindness has led this woman from racism and sexism to I want what you are offering.  She is now completely open to Jesus.  Her desire is expressed that she wants this living water. 

16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." 17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."
 

• Jesus now in patience and kindness deals with the sin issues in her life.  I do not believe that as Jesus dealt with this issue that He was hard or harsh in any way.  I believe He dealt with her like you would something very fragile.  Jesus understands her condition, He understands our condition and He is looking to redeem. 
• Love will deal with sin, but it will deal with sin in a patient and kind way.  Walking in love does not mean you abandon truth, on the other hand expressing truth must be done in an attitude of love. 

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.

• Now she shifts gears because she gets nervous.  She tries to go spiritual and talk spiritual, imagine a woman who has been married five times and is living with a man who is not her husband wants to talk theology.  The word of knowledge from Jesus about her relationship problems hit the mark.
• Jesus patiently and kindly answers the questions.  He does not allow the race differences or the sin issue to detract from the truth about salvation that is does come through the Jews. 

24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 25 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." NKJV

• As the conversation progresses she brings up the Messiah and this is Jesus opportunity to declare who He is so that she can put her trust in Him. 

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. NKJV

• Why did God pick this woman?  She would not have been the choice of the religious leaders for a witness, but she was the choice of God.  I believe God chose her in order to show how patient and kind He is. 

• God (love) was declaring through Jesus:
  • I can redeem you from the darkest places of sin.
  • I will satisfy the thirst in your heart.
  • I don’t care about gender barriers.
  • I don’t care about race barriers.
  • I don’t care about religious barriers.
  • I am patient and kind to all for the purpose of the redemption of all mankind.
  • In His earthly ministry Jesus operated in the lovingkindness and tender mercies of God. Then in His death, burial, and resurrection Jesus made the lovingkindness and mercies of God available to humanity until the end of the age!

Ps 69:16 Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. NKJV
 
Ps 103:4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, NKJV
 
Ps 119:156 Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your judgments. NKJV
 
Ps 145:9 The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works. NKJV
 
There is a Scripture in Matthew 5 that speaks to the nature of God being love. Matt 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. NKJV