What do you when life is messy? Do you go into problem solving mode and try to fix things right away? Do you go into denial and try to ignore/avoid the issue? Do you rapidly move on to something else? Or do you just sleep or watch TV, until life becomes “livable” again?

Well, perhaps the first question we need to ask is “how messy?” If it is a small mess, then let’s just clean things up and move on. If it is a big mess, then maybe we can’t clean things up. All we can do is cope. And if the mess is on a much grander scale, well, then all we can do is suffer through it and try to survive.

What do you think are the requirements for God to intervene in the messes of your life? Do you think that there are some minimum criteria that must be met in order for there to be an intervention? This raises some interesting issues that we must be clear about. Because on the one side, there are those who think there are no requirements. That’s what grace is about. We get to do whatever we want and when we mess up, God will take care of us. While this is attractive, it doesn’t seem reasonable. Does this really mean that I don’t have to be accountable for my actions? I don’t have to worry about the consequences?

On the other hand, there are those who think, God will take care of you as long as you are responsible. You do your part and God will do His part. “God helps those who help themselves.” If you don’t do your part, well, then you are own your own. While this is reasonable, it certainly isn’t attractive. Because there are lot of times in life, when we don’t live up to what is required of us. What then? Do we just accept our fate as punishment we deserve? Where is God in all of this?

Both of these scenarios present a flawed understanding of the way the world works. This is why theology is so important. We need to have some accurate understanding of how the world works. We need some basis for setting the foundation of how we will live each and every day. It is in these answers that we are able to deal with life.

We want to deal in truth. We don’t want false hopes and warm fuzzies. Those aren’t worth anything. An inspiring pep talk will last for about an hour or so. Before you know it, you are back to where you were before. Some times raising your hopes makes things worse, because you sink a little lower when you fall back to reality. We want truth. We want something of substance that we can build our lives on. We want something that will stand firm. Otherwise it will only be a matter of time, before life falls apart on us again.

So what is this truth? What is the truth behind the relationship between God and his people? The passage from John 4 gives us some insight.

John 4

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.a)

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.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 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.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”

[1]

When I read story, there are always two things that stick out in my head. One is a pretty minor observation and the other is major. The minor thing is that this woman has had five husbands. This is unusual even by Hollywood standards. I wonder what is going on in this woman’s life that causes something that is so important to go wrong so many times. I remember in high school, I had one friend who seemed determined to find a boyfriend. Her problem was that she wasn’t very good it and she kept picking the wrong guy. For the Samaritan woman, this is much worse. She doesn’t have a dating problem, she has a marriage problem. Five times she has been married. And it looks like she has finally given up on marriage and settled for living with someone. As if she is resigned to the fact that it is only a matter of time before this relationship also ends. And when it does, it will be much easier if she doesn’t have to go through the divorce process.

The major observation that strikes me about this story is Jesus’s approach to the woman. I think in our minds, we picture God meeting with mortal man to be something like Moses and the Burning Bush. Something that is fantastic. Something that is holy. Something that is too awesome to bear. That’s the way it is suppose to be. God is all powerful. He is all knowing. Mankind is puny. Mankind is nothing in comparison. Yet this particular encounter between God and mankind doesn’t begin that way. In this particular encounter, God reaches out in a gentle manner. Jesus approaches the woman in her situation. He doesn’t scare her. He doesn’t rebuke her with a ‘fire and brimstone message.’ He doesn’t even condemn her. He enters her life gently. He enters her life in a way that she can comprehend and grasp. He sits down beside her and asks for a drink of water.

This is relevant to all of us here, because God may be expected to do the same for us. In Luke 15, Jesus uses an illustration to describe God’s heart for his people. He tells a story about how if a shepherd who has 100 sheep and loses one, he will leave the 99 to find the one. God will find a way to enter our lives. It will be in a way that is meaningful for each person here. For me, my encounter with God took place in college. If you had known me back then, you would have known that I was quite proud of academic achievements. It was the center of my life. I felt like there was nothing that I could not do. My confidence in my academic abilities is an enormous part of who I am. You take that away and there is not much left of Tim Tang. When I started my undergrad, the Institute did take that away. The Institute very quickly put me in my place. It wasn’t just humbling, it was humiliating. But when things started to fall apart on me, that’s when God came along side and sat down with me, much like he did with this woman. We didn’t talk about living water. We talked about how he was a God who could be trusted to carry me through the very difficult situations in life. We talked about how he was God who would provide exactly what I would need to make it through each day and that I could trust him.

My first point about the messy life situations is that these are the scenarios where God intervenes. This is where God will enter your life and gently engage.

He won’t let anything get in the way. There were a lot of things preventing Jesus from speaking with this woman. There were nationalistic barriers. Jesus is a Jew. This woman is a Samaritan. Quite simply, the Jews hated the Samaritans. In verse 48 of the same chapter, the Pharisees were looking for a way to insult Jesus. Do you know what was the worst insult they could come up with was? They called him demon-possessed and a Samaritan. The shortest journey from Judea to Galilee is a straight line through Samaria. But there was such a hatred of Jews for Samaritans, that a Jew traveling from Judea to Galilee would walk all the away around Samaria. Jesus should never have even been in the region.

In addition to nationalistic barriers, there were also gender barriers. The culture of time didn’t allow for man to speak with a strange woman in public. If you were a religious leader, there were even greater restrictions against such a conversation. When you think about it, sometimes social barriers are more difficult to cross than physical ones. Not too long ago, we had an outreach event at the church. We gave out free bottles of water and a little tract that talked about the gospel. I found that it was a lot easier to go up to the professionals who were attending conferences at the Convention center. They looked like me, they dressed like me, they talked like me. It was easy for me to approach them. The only problem is they had no interest in my water or the tract. It was only then, that I start to offer my water and the good news of Christ to the parking attendants and the taxi drivers, who accept both gratefully.

Jesus doesn’t let social or culture issues keep him from ministering to this woman in need. With one question, Jesus bridges two immense social barriers. “Will you give me a drink?” God will do the same for all of us here. He won’t let any barrier, social, physical or even spiritual, prevent him from reaching you. Here Jesus builds a bridge by asking the woman a question. Later on in the gospel, Jesus builds a bridge by suffering a torturous, bloody death on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of all of mankind. His death and resurrection bridges the spiritual gap between Man and God. Whatever it takes, God has already demonstrated His will do what is required to save his people.

Once the barriers have been bridged, Jesus then offers her the opportunity for eternal hope. Vs 10 “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.” Then he elaborates “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drink the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Up this point, Jesus has been talking to the woman about a drink of water. Now he shifts gears from asking her to meeting his physical need of thirst. Instead he offers to meet her greatest spiritual need for an eternal life.

You know one of the tough things about being a parent is that there are times when your kids don’t know what they want. Or what they want isn’t good for them. There are times my girls don’t want to have their dirty diaper’s changed, they don’t want to eat vegetables, they don’t want to take a bath or a nap. If they had their way, dinner would be rice, bread, and pasta. They are too young to understand the consequences. And I love them too much to give them what they want. They think they know everything and just wish Mommy and Daddy would do what they ask. This problem doesn’t go away as we get older. We think we know everything about life. And we are kidding ourselves. Mankind is so limited in our capabilities and our comprehensions about the infinite complexities of life. No matter how wise we may think we are, God knows so much more about our needs than we ever will.

There are some problems in life that are obvious. You look at the news and hear the reports of the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, and it is obvious that people need clean water, food, and shelter. When those things are taken away tragic things happen. People suffer terribly. There are other problems in life that just as dire, but far more subtle. Cancer victims will go through decades of life thinking everything is fine. There may be an occasional pain or headache, but it is small enough to be ignored. Then when a minor symptom becomes a major, life intrusive problem, that’s when the individual will finally see a doctor and finally take test that will reveal the truth of their disease.

Spiritual problems are a lot like cancer. Spiritual problems are subtle. They are plenty of warning signs, but we do what we can to ignore them. In many cases, it is because we don’t know what else to do. What can you do about that empty feeling inside of your life? What do you do when something happens that makes you realize your life is meaningless? For this woman, Jesus has to bring the problem out into the open. Vs 16 he says “Go call your husband and come back.” He brings the woman’s attention to the biggest problem that she is aware of in her life.

“I have no husband.” She says.

In this response, we see the beginning of the first step to cleaning up a messy life. It is found in a confession of our failures. We must first come before God and acknowledge the mess we have made of our lives. If we choose to live in denial of sins, then we are condemned to suffer the consequences. However, if we acknowledge our sins, then the opportunity for forgiveness arises. Why is this important? Because there will come a time when all of mankind will be reconciled with God. One of two things will happen. We will either have an eternity with God in heaven. Or we will have an eternity separated from God in hell.

John 4:23-24

23 But bthe hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father cin spirit and dtruth, for the Father eis seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”[2]

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”

The time for subtly is over and Jesus tell her who he is. What amazes me is the woman’s response.

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christa?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. [3]

At that point, she is a very immature believer. She has just had her life changing encounter with Christ, but that doesn’t stop her from telling everyone in the town. How many of us keep waiting to tell those around us the good news of Christ. What are we waiting for? There are no prerequisites for saving someone’s life. You just do it. This woman’s efforts are effective.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

When the disciples finally come back, they bring food for Jesus to eat. His response is something for all of us to consider.

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” [4]

It’s good thing that many of us here can apply God’s truth to clean up our own messy lives. But our response should not stop there. Jesus is telling his disciples and us that the world is full of people with messy lives. He wants us to share the same truth that has made such a dramatic change in our lives with those who are in desperate need.

In our culture today, there isn’t a whole lot of room for people with messy lives. When we come across in desperate need, the socially acceptable response is to politely wish the person well and then move on. I do a lot of business travel. There was flight I had from Chicago to somewhere on the west coast, I think it was San Francisco. As I boarded the flight, there was kid who was screaming his head off. As a father, I have a lot of compassion for screaming kids of airplanes. But this situation didn’t make any sense. The plane was still on the ground. There was no air pressure problem here. Yet the kid just kept screaming. It went on and on. Like everyone else, I just ignored and wished it stop. But it didn’t stop. The kid was in the front of the plane around row 5. I was the back around row 30. Given how loud his screams were at row 30, I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to sit next him. How much longer could he go on?

But then as the flight attendant announced that the doors were closing and the plane was leaving the gate, something inside of me changed. I undid my seatbelt and stood up to pull out my carry on luggage. While I was waiting for the flight, I had bought a squeaky monkey toy for Grace at a gift shop. The stewardess saw me standing up when I should have been sitting down and came toward me. Before she could tell me to sit down, I asked her to give the monkey to the screaming kid. A few moments later, there was no more screaming. I was thankful that something so small could make such a difference. Many hours later, we arrived in San Francisco very late at night. As I was standing outside waiting for a cab, there was another couple standing there from the same flight. The lady asked me, “Are you the man with the squeaky monkey?”

When I said yes, she told me that she had learned a little more from the stewardess about the boy who was screaming. Apparently he had been badly burned in a terrible accident. He was in Chicago to see a specialist for his foot. He was screaming because he was in pain. It gave me a whole new appreciation for what the kid was going through. I’m surprised and grateful that such small toy could make a difference amidst such pain.

We are called to be God’s agents in a world in pain. We are called to intervene in the messy lives around us. Don’t just politely “butt out of other people’s problems.” Everyone else in the world is doing that because that is all they can do. We serve a God who take a $5 dollar toy and bring comfort to child in severe pain. No matter what the problem is, our God is big enough to deal with it. It would be irresponsible, even negligent to allow suffering to continue around us, without at least trying to offer the healing that only God can give.

And just think what happens, when we do allow to God to use us? There is no greater satisfaction that comes from knowing that we have obeyed and pleased God. This is why we are here.

When we were discussing this sermon series, one of the verses that God laid on our hearts was John 14: 12-14. This is Jesus speaking.

12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

[5]

Do you believe that? While we driving down to church this morning, I realized something. I was baptized 15 years, 5 months, and ten days ago. In that time, I have known a lot of scriptures with a lot of God’s promises in them. One thing I realized is that it is one thing to know God’s word. It’s another thing to believe it, to have faith in it, and to live it. It’s another thing to experience the reality of God’s promises in your day to day life.

I started this morning by asking you when does God intervene in messes of our lives. Do we get to do what we want and God will clean up whatever mess we may make? Or do we have some responsibility in the matter and if we don’t do what God says, well then we are on our own? This past week, I had experience I’d like to share with you. It’s not a big deal on the grand scheme of things, but it meant a lot to me personally.

Last weekend, on Friday night, I knew I was going to have a bad weekend. This past week, there were three major deliverables due. I had to write a proposal for my graduate program. This is a proposal that is so long over due, that my program is ready to drop me for not turning the thing in. I had a business plan for work to turn in. For those of you who may not know a business plan is massive report that is suppose to provide management with everything they could possibly need to know to give a go/no go decision on a new service offering I am responsible for. And finally, I had this sermon.

You know there are some times in life, when things get challenging, I engage. I go at the challenge with everything I have. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but at least I know I did my best. There are other times when the challenges are so overwhelming, that I freeze. Instead of engaging, I sleep because the stress from the situation is exhausting. Even worse, I watch TV to try to forget about the stress, which only makes the situation worse. Last weekend, in the midst of three major deliverables, I froze. All Saturday long, I just slept hour after hour. On Sunday, the girls were sick so we stayed home. I had slept so much that it kind of hurt my back to sleep anymore, so instead I watched TV. I was watching movie after movie. In addition to a ton of shows that I had recorded on my DVR, there was also a DVDs.

Come Monday morning the three deliverables were still there. I had taken bad situation and made it worse. I had no reason or excuse before God. I was complete irresponsible and there was no reason for him to help me. But I know this grace that the Bible speaks of. I know that we serve a God who gives His children gifts they don’t deserve, because of his great love for us. So, as shameful as I was, I prayed, because there was no other way out. I asked God for help that I didn’t deserve. James 1 tells us that when we ask God for something, it is important that we believe, that we have faith. I even had to pray that God would help me overcome my lack of faith.

I wish you could have seen the response. I was so amazed. The first deliverable was the proposal. Early in the week, God nudge me to start with one article, that lead to another article, and then to a third. With those articles, I had the beginning thoughts of my proposal and began to write. It took a lot of effort, but when it was done, I had proposal that I was able to turn in on Wednesday morning. This thing had been hanging over my head for over a year and now the first draft was done. Then God gently nudge me and gave me another starting point for dealing with the business plan. He showed me resources that provided me with sufficient material to satisfy the requirements for this week. And then finally on Friday night, I turned my attention to the sermon. The substance of this message had been weighing in my thoughts for the better part of three weeks. But now, after a personal experience of grace, I felt like I was finally able to write a message, where I can stand in front of you and say these things about God’s grace confidently, because they happened to me this past week.

Now do you think, I’m going to go home this afternoon and just sleep and watch more TV? Of course not. I am a recipient of grace. I hated that position I was in last weekend and I never want to go back there again. I am so grateful that God helped me through such a difficult week. My response to God is not to abuse the grace and see what else I can get away with. No, my response to God is one of “Lord, I’m so thankful. I’m so grateful. What can I do for you? What’s next?”

When was the last time, you experienced His grace? Perhaps it may be time to talk to him about it. We are not called to merely read the Bible and know in our heads what principles are described. We are called to live the reality of these truths each and every day. When we do this, we will live the kind of lives that will glorify God.

Would you please bow your heads? I’d like to give you some time to think about your life. How messy is it? Is it time for this mess to end? Is it time to accept God’s offer to clean up your life? If so, then I invite you to pray with me. It’s a prayer that will confess to God that we have made a mess of our lives. It’s a prayer that asks him for His forgiveness. It’s a prayer that believes Jesus is the Son of God and that his death and resurrection bridges the spiritual gap between mankind and God. It’s a prayer that invites Jesus to be Lord and Savior of our lives. Revelation 3:20 Jesus says:

20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in[6]

Let’s invite Jesus into our lives now and for all of eternity.

Dear Jesus,

We have made a terrible mess of our lives. We ask that You would forgive us for all the wrong that we have done. We believe that You died on the cross to pay the penalty for all of our mistakes. We believe that in your resurrection, we can be saved. We ask that you would come into our hearts and lives. We ask You to be the Lord and Savior of our lives. Thank you for saving us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen