Lift up God

Jesus always cut right across the social standing and zeroed in on the individual. He saw not the status of the individual, but their need. When visitors come here we must make sure we are welcoming. Everyone is of value to God, even those who we may initially look down on. We must make sure that, when a new person comes with a need, our immediate attitude is to welcome them in. As we lift up God and humble ourselves before Him He will draw others to Himself.

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It was interesting that when Jesus was on this earth, the Pharisees found it difficult to come to terms with what Jesus was doing in the lives of individuals. He seemed to know the ins and outs of the law, but more than that, He seemed to know the hearts of the Pharisees.

In this scripture He was invited to have a meal with one of the chief Pharisees.

It was a trap in which they wanted to catch Him out so as to boost their status.

Luke 14:1

Who asked a question, there hasn’t been a question?

Luke 13:11

So this had happened before; Jesus had healed on the sabbath day. We’re going to see the heart of Jesus; he didn’t write people off. This will help us deal with each other and also visitors who will come here.

Jesus answered what they were thinking.

Luke 14:3

I would like to meet that fellow one day. I do think he was put there as a test, because it was on the Sabbath day. They watched Jesus, and Jesus’ heart was to reach out to the man. He knew what they were thinking so He knew what they were on about. It wasn’t a matter of asking him if he wanted to be healed. He took him, healed and let him go. Can you imagine what he said to his friends when he got home? And now Jesus deals with the people around Him and their thinking.

Luke 14:5

They were concerned with their ox or their ass. He had been concerned with an individual who was in need; totally the opposite. We live in a society where you wonder if people are more concerned with animals than with humans. Now they go on into the house for the meal and as they were jostling for seats it was obvious that someone had placed themselves near the table. This was wrong because there were others, more important than him, who should be sitting in his place.

Luke 14:7

The Pharisees were hung up on status. Now Jesus talks, from this situation of the meal table and people jostling for position: ‘whosever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted’.

Micah 6:8

Do justice, love mercy, waLuke humbly. A humility of heart is a key part of being a Christian. There’s a value applied to each individual person. It shouldn’t be that you only talk to someone who has money. As far as Jesus is concerned, every person is of value. So when Jesus talked about not exalting yourself but being humble, it was a very practical thing to do.

James 4:10

What’s your view of yourself? You're in a situation in a company, there are things going on to sort out the workforce, reduction quite likely, is it a panic, or is it that you in your attitude of mind are trusting God? You know that you have been an honest employee and you are working as unto God. He will work things out. Your trust must be completely and utterly in Him in everything.

1 Peter 5:5

So my trust is in God. In my work situation my trust is in God. In a job or church context I’m not pushing myself for a position. If anyone be in charge let him be the servant of all. For a Christian, if you’re working as unto God and are trusting Him He will sort things out. He understands the situation you’re in. There is a humility, which Jesus highlighted here in Luke: there is a difference between someone who exalts himself and someone who humbles himself.

Luke 14:12

He’s just talked about being humble and now He’s saying to the host that when you throw a dinner party it should not just be for your friends every time – people you know will invite you back – you should invite those who will not be able to invite you back. When you make a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind. It’s as if our mindset should be that we do everything as unto God.

We’re not out to do a deal with people or use people. People are to be valued.

We’ve got to be careful that, as a church, we don’t have a situation where there’s one group that never talks to another group. Humble yourselves in the sight of God. If somebody new comes in on Sunday, dressed awfully, we must be careful of what our attitude it toward them. Is it going to be that when God brings in an individual they’re not put to the bottom of the pile because they were not here when the church start, or is it the case that when someone comes in here in need we are welcoming and open? There should be no immediate categorisation of a person. We shouldn’t just talk to our own friends after a meeting. This is about people and God and the life of Christ in an individual.

This is about people being met by the living Christ. Let’s make sure, particularly with new people, that we don’t immediately categorise them or welcome them the first time but then after that we ignore them. From the scripture here, first with the man with the dropsy. Jesus knew what was in the Pharisees’ hearts and He wanted to show that that man was a person, an individual with a need. So Jesus healed them.

If someone comes here, is healed and never comes back, that is fine. But it is a problem if someone comes here and finds they can’t fit in because it is such a clique. We need to bear in mind how Jesus sees people. That is easy if we let ourselves be open to what God wants us to do. Don’t talk to people just to be polite when you’re really rather taLuke to someone else. We need to be aware of this because there are going to be more and more people who will come here.

That’s not me making a claim. God said that when we lift people up He will draw others to Himself. We need to be prepared to tell others about our faith. We have to share what is inside us to people in need. Jesus cut right across the social standing and ‘claim for status’ and zeroed in on the individual. I know that the heart of everyone here is to be that way. All I’m doing is to show that as we lift God up and are humble ourselves before Him, He will draw others to Him. Why is that a good thing? Because that is why Jesus came. Time will end when the church is made.

You and I are part of that church. I want to encourage you to be that living witness God wants you to be in this place. I want there to be such a welcome for any visitor that comes here. And then the next time they came, lets be welcoming too.

It is wonderful what God is going to do here.

Living Waters

Summary: There are two types of people in life: those who view life as a drudge, who are stagnant, and those who have the living water of God inside them. Jesus Christ came to this earth so that we might have that living water inside us, the living water which springs up unto everlasting life. He came for everyone, even for a Samaritan woman who had written herself off. God is speaking to you, by His Holy Spirit, as an individual. He wants to give you that living water: don’t push it aside, respond to Him.

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There was a time when a lady had made a mess of her life and the people who knew her knew the way she lived. In her own mind it was as if life had become a drudge. There was a certain framework to life, but there was something inside her which meant that she was never satisfied. She thought that she would be satisfied in a certain way, but it was as if her life was stagnant. She knew about religion and the fact that her people had certain ways of seeing things. She even knew where she should have worshiped and the scriptures her people believed in. These people only had the first five books of the Bible. But this all seemed irrelevant to her. The stagnant nature of her life was something which she thought was just way she was.

If you were to compare stagnant water with water that is alive, vibrant and flowing the difference would be considerable. Your life is either one that is stagnant, and it concerns you that it is, or it is a life where the life of Christ is flowing through your veins. What you are going to hear today? For those of you who have become stagnant, it is a word which will transform you on the inside.

When Jesus was on this earth He demonstrated the specific people He wanted to get hold of. He came to do Father’s will. Time and again He blessed the whole multitude, but He also centered on specific people. God constantly zeroed in on the individual. God is speaking, individually, to you this morning.

Matthew 10:5 – 7

The twelve were told specifically to go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. When Jesus was going to Samaria, and came to the city of Samaritans, the disciples were aware that this was a place where they were not supposed to be reaching to people.

John 4:1 – 4

That was the route. He was due to go through the area where the disciples believed, from what they had been told, that they were not supposed to be talking to people.

John 4:5 – 8

The disciples had come to the city with Jesus but had left Him to buy some food. So Jesus was now on His own. The one thing that God rejoices to do is to talk to you on your own - Jesus and you, one-to-one. It gets that personal when it comes down to what life is all about. It is you talking with Jesus and addressing the situation you are in, in your life. It is to do with Jesus changing you in your life.

John 4:9

Two prejudices He cut right through there: Jesus was talking to a Samaritan and He was talking to a woman. It does not matter what prejudices you came here with. You may have come wondering why you are in church again because it is always the same.

Jesus Christ is talking to you as an individual.

John 4:10 – 12

The Samaritan woman knew that as far as they were concerned, the Jews had got it wrong; Mount Gerazim is where they should have been worshiping, not Jerusalem. Her thought process was: ‘Here’s a man who is a Jew, who is talking to me when He shouldn’t be, and is asking me for water when He has nothing to draw with.’

John 4:13 – 14

So, if we are talking about stagnant water as opposed to living water, the source of that life is Jesus Christ Himself. Your response to the circumstances in your life is crucial. Circumstances are all about you discovering more about the love of God as He reveals His answer to you on time, every time. It is a gift.

If I’m coming into a church and I know I’m only here because it seems the right thing to do and my attitude of mind is stagnant, there is something wrong. God is saying to you that He is giving you what will be in you: the living water of life. It is water that springs up to everlasting life. It never stops springing up. It helps you know the right things to say to people. He’s there all the time.

If you feel guilty, it is that fountain of life springing up that banishes that guilt. When you see a fountain, it goes up, it goes down; here we’re talking about a fountain that does not come down. This means that in your life, the circumstances of your life are progressing to the end when you will see God face to face.

Today, God will show you that He is going to make something of your life better than you could ever have thought. It is a case of Christ’s life progressing in your life until you meet Him. Everything revolves around us reaching out to others so that they will have the life of Christ within them. There are people out there with no hope: they need Jesus Christ. What we are going to see in this church is the realisation, by you, of Who’s inside you. It is that living water inside you that communicates the life of God to others. You can stop analysing what’s happened in the past and instead focus on going forward in God with that living water inside. It is going to be God working through you.

John 4:15 – 18

Jesus knew all about her. Her sins were laid bare. To her, her past was something that haunted her. She never seemed to be able to get things right. She also seemed to get involved with the wrong people and each time she thought it was her.

It might be you’re not a Christian; Jesus Christ is speaking to you. Jesus is here to say to you that He is that living water, the One that you need. Jesus Christ is the One that will take the power of sin from your life. He has paid for the penalty of your sin. I don’t need to convince you about sin in your life, and this women did not need convincing either.

John 4:19 – 24

She wanted to know where the true place was to worship. Jesus replied that it is not to do with the place, it is to do with Jesus Christ and you as an individual. It is one-to-one. God is a spirit and we have to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

When I come into church I am coming here to open up my heart to sing and to take knowledge of the words I am singing because I am in communion with my Creator. I come here to join with my brothers and sisters to praise Him. There is a linking from the life inside me with the Scripture so that I know that this is the way I am going to understand God more. Faith comes by hearing His Word.

John 4:25

The Samaritans only had the first five books of the Bible. In Deuteronomy it was prophesied that the Messiah would come Who would tell them all things. The woman knew about this prophesy.

John 4:26

Sitting on a well, in the middle of a day, this woman was talking to the Messiah. The same Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit, is talking to you this morning. It excites me to know how God is going to develop that life in you and through you during the next few weeks. Stagnant water does not produce life. Viewing life as drudgery, or being in a situation where you wonder what is the point, needs to be discarded. We get rid of that point of view by concentrating on the words here: “I that speak unto you am He.” It is a case of you, engaging with Jesus Christ, one-to-one.

The disciples had been getting the food – that time was sufficient for Jesus to communicate with this lady – then the disciples came back.

John 4:27 – 34

When He was talking to the lady, Jesus knew that that was His work. The Gentiles had not yet had the Gospel preached to them. But Jesus knew that what He was going to do would have an impact, not only on the lady and the Gentiles, but on you today. His mind was probably so caught up with what He’d been talking about that He’d forgotten to eat. His meat was to do the will of His Father.

John 4:35 – 38

The disciples were thinking about what He was saying and could not figure it out. He was talking about fruit and the fields. He was talking about the joy that was going to be set before Him when He went to endure the cross. The joy was the Church, the bride of Christ. The fields are white, ready to harvest.

John 4:39 – 40

It was a joy to Him to be involved with people. He died that you might be set free. That means to have that living water inside. That living water affects how you react to situations in life. He is your provider and Saviour.

John 4:41 – 42

Today, you know for yourself that He is your Saviour. God has been speaking to you. You might push it away but He will come back because He loves you. Life is about living to the full and life can only be lived to the full when Jesus is on the inside. Jesus came for you, as He came for one Samaritan woman who had written herself off.

Put this into your situation today. This coming week are you going to continue in the viewpoint you know is wrong? Or are you going to let God, by His Holy Spirit, change your thinking?

Isaiah 12:2– 4

There’s living water flowing. To be involved with God is not stagnancy. To be involved with God is to be involved with the One who is life. You need to communicate to your children and to others what I’ve been saying today, by the way you live. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I am not going to be dismissive of Him. I’m going to embrace the One who has done everything for me.