6: Discipling Sinners
Key Passage
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 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.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
John 4:7-8, 16-26
Devotional
Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well gives us great hope as imperfect people. We all have repeated habits of sin and struggle that we would rather not reveal. This woman's sinful past was particularly profound - her five failed marriages and her current out-of-wedlock relationship could make her a social pariah even today.
It's refreshing to remember that Jesus didn't come for the "healthy," but for the "sick" (Luke 5:31). In a world sick with sin, this is a beautiful reminder to us that we can stay on the journey of discipleship even when our sin struggles and habits trip us up. God promises to restore us in a "spirit of gentleness" (Galatians 6:1). In a moment, we can be transformed by a revelation of Christ and empowered to live a new and fresh life.
One profound reality about the woman at the well is the end of the story. She becomes an evangelist!
So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?"
John 4:28-29
God intends not to just rescue us from sin, but to give us significance in His Kingdom. "He has saved us and called us to live a holy life" (1 Timothy 1:9). While we will all need to meet Jesus profoundly for our restoration and recovery, Jesus desires to deploy every last person who follows Him in the journey of discipleship and discipling others.
You are not disqualified! Continue to pursue a revelation of Jesus that transforms your life, and you will continue the journey of discipleship.
Daily Prayer
"Lord, I thank you that you see my sinful patterns and secrets. You have chose to love and save me anyway. I pray for the confidence to enter into restoration with you so that I can accelerate my journey of discipleship."