Welcome to the Mariners Church Life Group leader podcast. This weekly conversation is designed to equip and resource you to build a healthy life group community that studies God's word, practices spiritual rhythms, and changes the world together. Welcome to week two of unexpected words of Jesus. Last week we are off to a great star as we looked at the rich young ruler.
And I am so excited about this week. Join with me again is Jeremy Maxfield. Jeremy, why don't you take us right away into the discussion guide? Hey, yeah, this is gonna be a great week to follow up the rich young ruler, kind of looking at the opposite end of the spectrum in our minds, we would say, with the woman at the well.
So we're gonna start by leaning in with this icebreaker where we just kind of get people to think about what's the furthest they've ever gone out of their way to avoid something. Like sometimes we only wanna buy gas from a certain gas station. But then there's, so there can be kind of like humorous things or there could be a lot more serious things. And just the idea to kind of get in their minds, like where am I day to day life?
Am I willing to go out of my way to avoid something that's either uncomfortable or that I don't like or whatever? And then we're gonna see when we look down into the passage in John 4 that culturally, the Jews and the Samaritans, Jesus and his disciples, would have typically taken a path to go around this town where John's gospel says that they had to go through Samaria and he meets this woman and has this conversation with her. And there's all kinds of beautiful stuff going on in the text that's noted in the leader guide with the commentary. But what we have here is that Jesus breaks every expectation.
Culturally, religiously breaks all the norms and he's just patiently and persistently showing this woman grace who wouldn't have expected it. And so we have several questions just to kind of lead people through a conversation to think about, I mean, this is the longest recorded conversation of Jesus in the Bible. And so there's a lot of grounds that's covered. So we've just kind of provided a few questions to help people talk through this narrative to draw out some of these unexpected elements and ways that they can relate.
And so- It's amazing to me too, just Jeremy, before we get too far to look down questions, that just the sheer nature that this is the longest recorded conversation of Jesus is quite telling, right? As the authors of every biblical book, they're not only using the stories, the teachings, to teach a point, but they're using the way in which they tell it, the amount of time that's given makes a point as well. And it's fascinating to me that this conversation is the longest recorded one, and it is one of the most scandalous because it is completely counterculture to what a Jewish rabbi, a Jewish teacher, would have done who he would have spent time with. And yet Jesus is spending so much time in this conversation.
It's an exclamation point on his ministry. Yeah, it really is. And we see kind of near the end of the story that his disciples come back and they're, it's almost comical to where they're like, what are you doing, talking to this woman? Like what happened while we were gone?
That's right, that's right. And so when we start thinking about our own lives right now, and seeing the love that Christ is just kind of consistently showing this woman showing her dignity when she would have been in a situation where in the middle of the day, many of us are familiar with the story. Like she's going to the well at the hottest time of the day, all alone, women would have typically traveled in groups for safety, just for conversation. They would have traveled earlier in the mornings and later in the evenings because it was cooler, it was easier to do the work, carrying water's heavy.
But this woman has chosen to come at a time when it's potentially dangerous, when it's harder work, she wants to be left alone. She's trying to avoid others. We kind of see in the conversation that culturally, she could have even been viewed as cursed. There's all sort of speculation about kind of how she got into the situation she had been in with multiple husbands, but we know that she felt ostracized and just not loved, not lovable, wanted to avoid kind of all the complications that came from her life situation.
And Jesus is there ready to meet her and he engages this conversation. And so as individuals, we have this opportunity to really ask ourselves, when has Jesus surprised us with his love and with the fact that he wasn't deterred by our past, that he wasn't deterred by the fact that we were trying to maybe even avoid maybe in our own lives, people in our groups, there's people who've kind of tried to avoid conversations with Jesus or about Jesus, kind of hiding in different ways. And one of the ways we do that, and we see this woman do that, is that as Jesus starts to engage her and she starts to realize that something's going on, she deflects with sort of a religious question. Okay, this is getting kind of personal, let's debate.
Like the Jews believe we need to worship this way, Samaritans believe this way, what do you think? And Jesus won't allow her to distract. And there's gonna be people in our groups that love to get off on religious topics, doctrinal topics, they love to talk theology. But this is an opportunity to really try to help us stop and say, okay, no, just personally.
Like are there things that are in our lives where Jesus is trying to get our attention, he's trying to share something with us in this moment and provide that rhythm of sharing our story, not just in the past of how they first encountered Jesus, but how like we see in the story of this woman, how he changes our lives and we get excited to share with others like this is what God has done for me. So. Yeah, that's such a good reminder of, it's easy for us to get caught up in the theological discussion as if it's a there's a fine line between theology and philosophy, right? I can sort of discuss this at a distance, but really the invitation here is to make things much more personal, we think about our family, our neighbors and so on.
This look down section as it moves into the look out, the look down section, I think Jeremy, what you've done here is really wise, you've got a couple of opening questions that really talk theology, but then the three lower questions on page 11, really walk us through scripture systematically, versus one through 30, three different questions. And I think this allows us to pull truth right out of the scriptures to help us identify specific things that Jesus has said. And then as you move into the look in section where I get to now figure out, okay, what does this mean for me? That's where we hit that rhythm of sharing our story.
One note about this weekend, as Pastor Eric teaches this story, we're gonna be giving people an opportunity to stand and say I believe for the very first time and to immediately be baptized. This is a remarkable invitation that our church does many times throughout the year. And we wanna be praying even now, God, would you do what you're going to do for these men and women, your sons and daughters, who are gonna enter into your kingdom this weekend? But even now as life group leaders, on the back end of that message, I would think that this right here is a critical opportunity for us to hear the way that Pastor Eric teaches, to look at the story of the Good Samaritan, and then think, who can I share my faith with in my life?
Who can I share? Not just my testimony, although that's beautiful and you're welcome to do that as well, but what's God doing right now in your life? What is a way that he's providing? He's rescuing, he's healing, he's restoring.
What is God doing today? That you can share that good news with somebody in your life. That is exactly what we're getting out here with, allowing God's Word to inform our lives, to transform us in such a way that we're gonna do something about it. So Jeremy, as we get then into the look out section, help us to kind of think about this idea of the relevance of God's Word in the world today.
Yeah, so as we wrap up time in our groups, the idea is not just to stop on what Jesus has done for me, as an individual, you see it with a woman, that she immediately goes and runs back into town and shares in her excitement what has happened. And so we wanna help people stop to think, okay, based on the stories that we've shared, based on what we've seen in scripture, what are ways that the people around us are trying to meet needs in their own lives? What are ways that maybe they're hiding in shame? Maybe they have circumstances beyond their control or maybe that they brought upon themselves?
We don't always know people's story, but who are those people around us who are missing out on the living water, the source of true life and satisfaction that only Jesus can provide? And I love that this follows the, I believe, weekend, because just the idea of who do we know around us that hasn't taken that step yet? Who are kind of still living for, even thinking back to the week prior with the rich young ruler who are living according to a different definition of what's gonna make life go well for them and they're missing out on the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God has come to us and offers us, not just eternal life when we die, but abundant life right now. So just thinking through our circles of influence.
You know, these questions that you have in lookout here, who are the people that we go out of our way to avoid? Honestly, even just reading through these today, I feel convicted that there are some people in my own life who are other believers that I go out of way to avoid. So it's not that they're not experiencing God's salvation because I'm actually withholding or avoiding my ability to be God's love, to be God's, you know, ambassador hands and feet, whatever it is in that relationship. And that's a real unfortunate thing, if we're honest with ourselves, that there's probably people in our groups as well, that while we don't necessarily avoid the people within our groups, I bet each of us have somebody in our life that we do, we do find a way to avoid, and they may be believers or non-believers.
And this is a missed opportunity for us to be Jesus in those relationships as well. And quite frankly, not only is it missed opportunity to not be Jesus, but we miss Jesus for ourselves in those relationships as well. Jesus did not avoid anybody. Therefore, when we choose to avoid somebody, we're missing out on something that Jesus has for us in those relationships.
Yeah, that's great. Why you gotta convict me like this right here in our, I mean, come on, we're all prone to labels. We're prone to label others and we miss out on a lot when we do that. So I'm grateful Christ didn't do that with me.
And so, that's right. That's right. So as group leaders, this is gonna be a great conversation where I think we may find ourselves navigating towards conversations about people outside of the faith that we may wanna share our story with, but it also might bring up people within the faith that we have not done a really great job of building healthy relationships with them. And as a leader, we're gonna trust that you're gonna navigate that conversation where you think it's best fit.
In fact, as you walk through the leader guide, it's all your choice, right? We've provided for you a bunch of resources and a bunch of questions, but we're gonna trust that you're making wise decisions along the way to create a healthy dialogue in your group, camping out on the questions that are really resonating with people, perhaps even moving through other ones quickly, so that you can create a great dialogue as opposed to just accomplishing the study guide, right Jeremy? Yeah, yeah, the study guide is a tool. It's just intended to be a guide to help, because our desires for people to connect with one another and ultimately connect with Christ through his word.
So why don't you give us a quick note on next week? Because as we look into week three, it says that, hey, this is a page not found. What do we need to know about that? Yeah, so that's not an accident.
I'm grateful that for pastors like Eric and Kyle and the whole team there who is desiring to really pray through what it is that the Lord wants to say to Mariners. And Eric in particular has really just stepped back and said on this particular week, he has something that he believes God wants to share with the church, and so he's really been praying through and working with the leadership on what that will be. So we'll have that for everyone this week. It's not an accident that it was left out, but we're just really trying to take the time to walk with the Spirit and sense the direction that the Lord's leading.
That's right. So leaders, we will be reaching out to you throughout this week to get you the content for next week. And our leader podcast will be the correct one for whichever direction pastor Eric determines for us. So with that being said, we're grateful that you joined us here today.
We are praying for you and allow me to close our time in prayer now. God, thank you for these leaders. We're so excited for the work that you are doing in and through them. And Lord, I know that this weekend's message is going to do something powerful in their group.
It's going to remind us that Jesus goes to the least of these and to the furthest of people that we could imagine. And he cares for them, and he loves them. And Father, that's a great model and example for us as well. So Lord, I pray for our life groups that as they consider the people in their lives who need Jesus, would they hear a story from them that might draw these people to you, God.
And also, would you bring to the surface of our minds people that we can love and care for that perhaps we've been avoiding in our own life? God, we want to be more like you. And what we see in scripture is that your son Jesus went to everyone at all times. And God, that is a beautiful example for us.
God, be with our life groups this week as we share and discuss and draw closer to you, and potentially even practice sharing our story with others in our lives. God, we're grateful for all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Have a great week, everybody.
See ya.