Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

There are people who misunderstand Paul’s teachings about works vs. faith. They interpret him to mean that humans have no part to play in their own salvation. They think the word “works” means every form of human activity. So they conclude that in order to avoid trying to earn our salvation humans must remain totally passive in the process. But Paul’s warnings about “works” were aimed at people who were trying to earn eternal life by obeying all the rules in the Bible. His point was to tell them that they must receive God’s gift of righteousness by faith because no one can live a life good enough to earn it. He was trying to stop people from attempting self-righteousness, not demand they become passive. 

The question that confronts most of us when we pray is not whether we believe God can help us but whether He will. We wonder if it’s His plan. We wonder if we have enough faith. We wonder if we might have done something wrong in the past that will block His answer. In fact so many uncertainties rush through our mind that even when we ask for help we assume there’s probably some reason He won’t. Our faith that He can is so undermined by our doubt that He will that we function like those who have no faith at all. Believing that God can do miracles becomes meaningless if I have no expectancy that He will. And it’s this issue of expecting a miracle that Jesus deals with in His disciples in this lesson. 

The biblical feast of Passover is based on the death of a lamb. It remembers the night in which God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt. It’s a deeply spiritual ceremony, and every part is full of prophetic meaning. But the two most essential elements are the blood and flesh of the lamb. The lamb’s blood was smeared on the doorposts and lintel (top crossbeam of a door), and the lamb’s body was roasted whole and eaten. As centuries passed the meal came to include a cup of red wine that above all other meanings was meant to remember the lamb’s blood. It had protected each household from the angel of death who swept through Egypt that night. When the angel saw the blood he passed over that house.

This amazing event is full of spiritual lessons, but here’s the one we want to focus on today: This was a test. Jesus used this event to test His disciples which means, of course, He’ll test us too. He wanted to see how they would respond, or maybe we should say, He wanted them to see how they would respond. What would they do when following God got them into a situation where the need far out weighed the resources available? Would they trust Him to provide, or would they become overwhelmed and turn back? The decision these disciples were being forced to make is the threshold to spiritual fruitfulness. God’s plans are always bigger than our resources… much bigger. And when we arrive at that moment of realization that what He’s asking us to do is impossible, we are being tested. Will we take what little we have, place it in His hands and then move forward, or will we turn back believing that what He’s asking can’t be done?

Those that pass the test move on into a miraculous dimension. What is accomplished through them over time makes no sense at all. Far more people are led to God or receive His care than that person’s limited capacity should be able to produce. The results are unexplainable but undeniable. And everyone recognizes that God must be involved, so the glory goes to Him. 

Would you recognize God if you met Him? How would you know it was Him? And no, we’re not talking about things like a long white heard or brilliant light or voice like thunder. If God became a man, a normal appearing man, would you or I be able to tell that it was Him? What sort of person would He be? What qualities would you expect to find? This is the question that Jesus was asking these leaders. Here was a group of people who read the Bible… a lot, but in spite of all that reading they hadn’t met the God who wrote the Bible. When they read it they saw a book full of rules. So when they actually met God’s Son, someone who was exactly like His Father, they didn’t recognize Him. In fact, they didn’t like Him. 

In the passage we are reading today Jesus is trying to explain to a group of very religious people that if they really knew God, if they had met Him in the pages of scripture, they would know that He had come from God. They had accused Him of blasphemy and arrogance toward God, but the truth was He couldn’t be more humble. He was completely submitted to the Father. The real reason for their hostility toward Him was that they didn’t know or love the God of the Bible. 

Everyone is glad to have God’s help when they need it. No one minds a “helper-God” who can be called on in time of need. When people discuss whether or not God exists, they’re usually talking about a particular kind of God, rather than the possibility that there is a spiritual being somewhere. What people don’t like is a moral God, particularly one who will hold us accountable for our actions. That’s the kind of God “atheists” don’t believe in. If you ask an atheist why they don’t believe, very shortly they’ll launch into a list of accusations against God. How could He allow such evil and suffering? And sooner or later they’ll get to their main point: They can’t possibly believe in a God who would send people to hell. 

Now I don’t believe in a God who sends people to hell either. That’s not the God I read about in the Bible. I read about a loving Father who is doing everything possible to prevent people from going there. But I also believe in a God who is just and who will hold people accountable for their actions in this life. I believe that those who refuse to surrender to Him and refuse to call on Him for mercy will be given the justice they have chosen. I believe that, in large measure, because that’s what Jesus taught. And I believe Him. 

You and I have been invited into a relationship with the One who created heaven and earth (Ps 8), with the One who formed us in our mother’s womb and knows our thoughts before there is a word on our tongue (Ps 139), with the One who understands the deepest groanings in the human heart (Ro 8:26-27). We’ve been offered the opportunity to consult with Him before we make decisions, to heed His warnings that there is danger ahead, and to be given wisdom to solve the most difficult problem or heal the most troubled relationship. 

The problem is that the right answer, His answer, is often different from our answer. What we would do, what we think is right, whom we would trust is often very different from what He would do, what He thinks is right and whom He would trust in that particular situation. And that difference of opinion creates a real tension inside us. Time and again we’re forced to choose between what seems right, or at least necessary to us, and what seems right to Him. Now you would think that choice would be easy. Of course He knows the better way! But oddly, in the moment when the choice must be made it is usually not easy at all. It requires us to accept the fact that He knows something we don’t and to trust that He is telling us to do this because He loves us, that it’s for our good or at least for the good of someone else. There’s no escaping this reality. Ongoing submission is the very essence of our walk with God, and it will be forever. We must be correctable.

Faith is a choice, not a feeling. It’s not the ability to talk myself into believing that something has already happened. It’s choosing to believe something will happen because God said it would. There are certain people with very energetic personalities for whom faith seems to come easily, but I don’t think a person needs such a personality to please God. Because faith is a choice, not a feeling. It’s a decision, not an emotion, which means it’s possible for anyone to have faith. We need only to listen to Him and then do what we would do if what He said were true. 

That sounds simple and it is, but being simple doesn’t make it easy. Choosing to believe can be much harder than it sounds because His voice isn’t the only one we hear. There are other voices that press us to do what they tell us to do. And to add to the confusion, in such moments the emotions inside us swirl like a storm. What God says may actually produce painful emotions, and in the middle of the storm we look for choices that will relieve that pain. The danger is that relief can be found in some situations by choosing to believe that God won’t do what He said He would do. Sometimes our will and our emotions seem to have minds of their own. Even though our will chooses to believe that God will do what He said He would do, our emotions still seem to believe He won’t. 

People generally come to God for one of two reasons: either their life has ended up in shambles and they’re left with no other option, or they find themselves in a situation where the presence of the Holy Spirit becomes so strong that their resistance and confusion melt away and they rush into God’s arms. In other words most people turn to God either because they’re desperate or because they’ve been awakened by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

What Jesus taught His disciples before the crowds of Samaritans arrived at Jacob’s well was that they were about to see many turn to God because a miracle would take place. Large numbers of people were going to quickly come under conviction and surrender to God. The time between hearing and believing would be miraculously shortened to such a degree that those who were presenting the gospel would end up working side by side with those who were helping people receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord. The disciples were about to be part of a quick work, so Jesus was preparing them so they would understand what was happening; and at the same time He was cautioning them to remain humble in the midst of such amazing fruitfulness. In Judea Jesus had already begun seeing great fruitfulness (Jn 4:1), but in the future that fruitfulness would only continue to increase; and His disciples needed to know why it was happening, and they needed to know how to react when it happened. They needed to understand that the huge ingathering of souls that would begin in a few minutes was the result of the power of God, and so do we. 

Jesus saw the moment: they had stepped into a “divine appointment.” The people there were ready to hear the gospel. This woman was ready, the city of Sychar was ready, but He was exhausted and in a hurry. He had only stopped to rest and get something to eat. What would He do? Would He explain the condition they were in and politely postpone, promising to come back at a more convenient time? After all He still hadn’t eaten anything, and He and His disciples had been walking for hours, possibly through the night.

When we read such passages, you and I need to remember that Jesus was as human as we are. The Son of God came from heaven to become a man with a body like ours. So He was as hungry and tired as you and I would be in that situation. He felt the way we would feel if we had gone without food and walked until we had to stop. Yet Jesus saw something in that moment that His disciples didn’t see. He saw what God was doing in that place and realized that meeting this woman wasn’t an accident. So His love for people and His desire to give them eternal life caused Him to set aside His own needs and trust that the Holy Spirit would sustain Him until He could finally eat and rest. The disciples were standing there offering Him food, but He didn’t touch it. Instead He began to prepare Himself spiritually while a stream of people poured out of the city rushing toward Jacob’s well.