Why a Public Faith?

A Public Faith: PART I
Rev. Leo Schuster
29 Septermber 2013

John 4:27-42
27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.  But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"  28Then, 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 Messiah?"  30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."  32But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."  33Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 

34"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.  35Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'?  I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest.  36Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.  37Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true.  38I 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.

39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."  40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.  41And because of his words many more became believers.

42They 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."

SPRING OF PUBLIC FAITH
--Spring of Living Water becomes a public declaration for her.
--She posed a question, but didn't get in their faces.
--Discovering the wellspring should lead to natural sharing.

FOOD OF A PUBLIC FAITH
--God's food should guide your life, not cultural "food".
--Why don't we share?
--Pride--church as an exclusive club, but it's really a motley group.
--Fear of how we look or that we're offending.

SURPRISE OF A PUBLIC FAITH
--Levels our pride because we're all in a desert.
--Cast out our fear and enslavement by what others think of us.

Let love squeeze out fear--If God went public, why wouldn't we?