Lunch at the Well

Start with prayer— 


Note:  This lesson is better if done outside.  Kids love to travel outside when the weather is nice.  For this lesson I created a "well" out of cardboard boxes just as display.  I also brought things for a picnic lunch (i.e. a blanket to sit on and a picnic basket with a snack for the kids to enjoy while listening).

LUNCH AT THE WELL

A long while back, as I was getting out of bed one morning, the Lord spoke to me and said “Let’s have lunch at the well” today.  I was a little befuddled.  I said Lord whatever do you mean, let’s have lunch at the well?  I thought to myself, is he speaking of a place to go have lunch.  Does he want to meet with me at a special place today on my lunch break.  What does he mean “Let’s have lunch at the well”?  Maybe there is something about a well in the bible he wants me to read about?  I thought to myself, what are some places in the bible that talk about wells? I turned to the passage of scripture where Abraham’s servant went to get a wife (Rebecca) for Isaac and found her at a well where she watered his camels, but nothing I read there spoke to me that day, nor did it speak of any kind of lunch.  I thought about Jacob’s well and read that passage of scripture too, but still nothing there spoke to me.  Then I turned to our scripture text for today about the woman at the well and the voice of God was very clear as he spoke to my heart about my purpose in life.  We truly had lunch at the well that day and I want to share with you what the Lord fed to me.

Scripture text: John 4:3-30

You are all familiar with this story.  Here we see Jesus conversing with a sinner woman, his disciples were appalled because they knew the jews had nothing to do with the Samaritans so why in the world would Jesus be talking to her.  However, Jesus was not appalled by her even though she was a horrible sinner.  Jesus was not just conversing with her, he was witnessing to her.  He was sharing with her, a lowly Samaritan, the way to everlasting life.  He could read her like a book.  He knew that she was a sinner.  He knew all about her and I like that he told her “all things that she ever did”.

You might be asking what does any of this have to do with having lunch at the well.  No one is eating at all here, and what does lunch have to do with anything?  Well, let’s read on...

John 4:31-38

Ahh here we go, lunch.  Remember at the beginning of the story the disciples went into town to get food for Jesus and themselves.  They got the food and brought it back just in time to see Jesus witnessing to this lowly woman.  Not only were they appalled but they were focused on making sure that they and Jesus had something to eat so their bodies could be refreshed and strengthened.  I really like the way Jesus answered their carnality.  He said, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.  He said...

Pay attention here because this is your memory verse this week: (John 4:34—My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.)

This is where the Lord God of glory spoke to my heart and I hope he speaks to yours too.  Our purpose in life, just like Jesus’ is to seek and save the lost.  Our meat in this life is not (or at least should not be food).  The meat that fills our soul should be to do the will of the father and to finish his work.   He gave us the perfect example of how to seek out and to witness the words of eternal life to those around us.

Unlike Jesus we may not know whether or not someone has had 5 husbands, or if they are shacked up with someone they are not married to or every exact detail of their life, but we can look at them and recognize that they are sinners, that they have issues in their lives that need to be fixed, and we do know that coming in contact with Jesus is the only thing that can fix them.  Guess what, we have the words of Jesus to share with them.  It doesn’t matter who they are or what they’ve done.  It may be the drug addict, or pusher down the street, maybe the pregnant teenager, whoever or whatever.  We have what will help them.  Jesus.  Let us be about the masters’ business.  In the business of seeking and saving the lost.  That’s our purpose or reason for being.  That’s why God saved us so we could share this wonderful Holy Ghost filled experience with others that they might be saved also.

We often miss out on opportunities to witness because maybe we don’t know someone.  Maybe we are shy.   Maybe they scare us.  Maybe like the disciples we are appalled because of their lifestyle, nationality or background.  We need to put our carnality aside and do what Jesus did, seek and save the lost.

You might say, “I don’t know how to witness.  I don’t know what to say to people.  How can I witness?”  Let’s look to the scriptures here.  Jesus used an everyday, ordinary issue to talk to the woman about.  He was thirsty and she was coming to draw water from the well.  This was something she did every single day, and I’m sure Jesus could have gotten a drink for himself , but he noticed that she came to the well alone at a different hour than most women fetched water and struck up a “how’s the weather” type conversation with her.  Nothing extravagant or celestial but before long he was sharing with her the fountain of living water.  I know, I know, Jesus makes it look easy.  The apostle Paul had some insight about this type of witnessing.  He said,  “...unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Cor. 9:20-22).  All he’s saying here is that he related to people’s situations.  No matter what their situation, social status or background was in life, he had sympathy, compassion and a willingness to listen and help.  He put himself in their shoes, so to speak.  That’s all Jesus did, that’s all Paul did and WE CAN DO THAT TOO.  People are always ready and willing to talk about themselves.  Almost always will they share their problems or just stuff from their life with someone willing to listen.  So really, we can do this if we are truly interested in saving the lost.  Oh sure, some people might go away uninterested and thinking that you’re weird, but what about the one who doesn’t?  They might just take a sip from that fountain of living waters and be filled with the Holy Ghost unto salvation.  How wonderful!

I hope the Lord spoke to you today as we shared lunch at the well.  Please don’t forget this lesson.  If you forget all the other lessons I’ve taught, please don’t forget this one.  Come back to and draw from this well often because it’s soooo very important that we continue to be about the masters business and to finish his work.

Remember, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work!