LOVELINESS WITH LONELINESS IS LIFELESSNESS

LOVELINESS WITH LONELINESS IS LIFELESSNESS
A WOMAN NEEDS MORE THAN BEAUTY TO BE TRULY HAPPY
“Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.”

John 4:1-42
4:1 When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3 He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 There came a woman of Samaria 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 The Samaritan woman therefore said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the 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." 11 She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. " 15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw." 16 He 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; this you have said truly. " 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. 22 "You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 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 (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." 27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He had been speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?" 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city, and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. 31 In the meanwhile the disciples were requesting Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." 32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." 33 The disciples therefore were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. 35 "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages, and is gathering fruit for life eternal; that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 "For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.' 38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done." 40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world." NASB

Introduction:
NO QUESTION ABOUT IT: THE SAMARITAN WOMAN WAS ATTRACTIVE
SHE HAS HAD 5 HUSBANDS. The language indicates that she got divorced by all of them since the right to divorce was the right of a man and not of a woman. John 4:17 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; this you have said truly. " 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 "
We don’t know why she was divorced by the men. But one thing we know is that the men found something in her that they did not like. Even poor cooking was a reason for a divorce.

NO QUESTION ABOUT IT: The Samaritan woman was lovely but lonely
Every divorce proceeding brings some kind of a public disgrace upon a woman especially after five divorces and in a community where everyone knows what is happening in the lives of others in their community. You remember why Joseph wanted to divorce Mary in a private manner when he discovered that she was pregnant? Matthew explains that it was not Joseph’s intention to disgrace her. In the case of the Samaritan woman, men wanted her but men left her with her self-esteem lower than before.

NO QUESTION ABOUT IT: The Samaritan woman was desperate for fulfillment
Abandoned by 5 men, she decided that the sixth one would not be her husband but a temporary cure for loneliness. The Lord said that the man she was living with at that time was not her husband.
Maybe this is people how people have treated you. When you were useful, you were their friend. When you suffered losses, you lost your friends. People do this to us, they make us feel wonderful and then they make us wondering what really happened.

Let’s face the issue:
Maybe in many ways, you are like the Samaritan woman. People liked you then but they have abandoned you now. Your happiness was replaced by loneliness and your loneliness was replaced by emptiness. There really is no certainty for the future.

THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA WAS DESTROYED BY 3 SPECIFIC WEAKNESSES IN HER LIFE
Like the woman of Samaria, your life can also be destroyed by your own weakness. We don’t have to. We ask this question then:
WHAT 3 WEAKNESSES WERE PRESENT IN THE LIFE OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AND HOW WAS SHE ABLE TO GET OUT OF THESE?

I- SHE ALLOWED OTHERS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER
John 4:18. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
One man took advantage of her; then another one, then another one, then another one, then another one and finally this one with no commitment at all as indicated by the fact he was not married to her.

II- SHE ALLOWED HERSELF TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AGAIN AND AGAIN
John 4:18. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.“
Every divorce is a painful event for a woman. The certificate of divorce was also a social certificate that something was wrong with her. She has had 5 certificates of divorce.

III- SHE WAS NEVER IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS BEFORE
John 4:10. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
She was never in the presence of Jesus and she does not even know Him; “If you knew who it is that asks you for a drink…”

Let’s Summarize: She was destroyed by 3 weaknesses:
I- SHE ALLOWED OTHERS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER
II- SHE ALLOWED HERSELF TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AGAIN AND AGAIN
III- SHE WAS NEVER IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS BEFORE

You know how she got out of these weaknesses?
She was in the presence of the Lord
She was reminded about the problem of her life.
She was instructed about the prescription for her doctrinal error which led to the change in her life. (God is a Spirit…)
She clearly received the “water of eternal life” because she became a powerful witness for the Lord

TRY TO UNDERSTAND HER UNUSUAL BLESSEDNESS
Very few people actually became believers through a personal (one on one) and prolonged witnessing by the Lord. On record, the Samaritan woman was one of those very privileged few.
Broken and burdened, she got blessed.

HOW SHOULD YOU RESPOND TO THIS?
In the presence of Jesus, you will find the answer and meaning to life.
In the presence of Jesus, the burden becomes a blessing.
In the presence of Jesus, the loveliness is given a new and a true meaning. Lovely because loved by God. Important because accepted by God.

NOTE THIS:
THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING IS IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS.
OBEDIENCE AND A PRAYERFUL LIFE WILL BRING TO THE PRESENCE OF JESUS.
IN HIS PRESENCE THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLE