Interactions that Transform
14/5/2021
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You may be in the most united group of positive friends, relatives, religious community, having the best job, but suddenly you hear a shocking news about sudden deaths ,someone committing suicide or retiring mentally or ending of a relationship within your group, community… why couldn’t the victim possibly share his situation with someone…We heard news.. dead bodies floating in Ganga at Bihar & Yamuna in UP. Reports alleged that relatives of the deceased are also coming to the Ghat and throwing the dead bodies into the Ganga without cremation, dogs are eating it.…We have read about , dogs licking dead bodies in the times of King Ahab & Jezebel ..We look out for a single word from God in midst of all darkness .. What went wrong ? We do notice young generation leaving our churches. Are we interacting with them in the way it needs to be? God is placing others in our daily lives, are we able to interact with them successfully? What do we affirm from all of these? All our relationships which we thought and assumed as valuable and great, was truly according to the flesh nature (with a wisdom from this world) .I want to re-emphaise that when bible talks about flesh body nature , it means about a person limited to only worldly wisdom . That person could be morally a good or a bad person .The natural person or flesh body man cannot discern spiritual truths . Difficult for him to understand the words interacted to him in spirit 1 Cor 2 : 14 ,Rom 8 : 5-8 . He is able to explain the situation based on his reasons, logic & worldy wisdom . This is what we mean by a natural person or a flesh body man .
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I earlier mentioned about a person , a well known joyful person at our church , who decided to end his life . It was a shock for people around . We could not connect with that person, neither could he with us. All we thought as great relationships,interactions , concerns and love ,social engagements was truly limited to the flesh body. It never was in the spirit . Spiritual interactions only possess eternal nature and are able to fill the gaps in our lonely lives . Same applies in our relationship with God. All interactions outside the word of God are in the flesh. All relationships in the flesh will change and has short life…be it with man or with God. How are our interactions with the people around us . Is it limited to a flesh body interaction . Our dear Chrysostom Thirumeni , 77 years of service ,whose interactions transformed people . He is truly a study book … Those memories would be cherished for generations. Newspapers were quoting... Passing of an Era (yugam) .. An unconventional leader in a traditional world …..
Who will remember us when we die…..How do we interact with others now ?
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We need to have spiritual relationship. How could we truly enter into a spiritual relationship? Long lasting relationships can always be achieved only by interaction through the spirit. Relationships in spirit is always eternal. (spirit is Ruah or pneuma ..breathe or blow , life giving ) Spiritual relationship is not religiousity . Do our words produce life & light ? Do our words create fear or sorrow in others though our intention was to help and interact ? …. . Jesus says , “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” (John 6:63). What did Jesus mean by, “ my words are spirit” ? two things i learned after my wilderness depression experience in 2011 … We understand fully what God has freely given us . We can see a different reality in every situation we encounter . A spiritual reality that is taught by God which the world cannot understand.. 1Cor 2: 12 , "What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words."
Paul writes that, as Christians, we have not received the spirit of the world. In other words, we have not been given an attitude that only accepts those things which we can observe for ourselves and work out with human wisdom and reason. When we came to faith in Christ, that worldly spirit was replaced with the Spirit of God. Through Him, we gain the ability to understand what can only be understood spiritually, apart from our physical senses. We have access to the mind of Christ …..When Sheikh Hamdan , crown prince was a small boy , he used to go around playfully, doing whatever he wanted as a child .. But when the right time came , as he was declared the heir of Sheikh Mohammed ,his childish mind was replaced with a new mind which was more in line with the mind of his father .. In short he had access to his Father’ mind… 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
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When we thus understand fully what God has freely given us & see a different reality in every situation we encounter through the truthful words of God .., we truly seek God in spirit and truth, that’s only when we can understand, who we are and the identity of our spiritual man or the inner man. Then only, would we understand others as well. Like the prodigal son , who found his lost identity and his true self and purpose . He understood who his father was and himself. Others are not what we think they actually are in their flesh body nature ,although that is what they actually display and that’s what we see….Are we truly interacting with that Inner man or are we talking to just the exterior man?
When you go without water your body gets thirsty. And without God, the soul gets thirsty. Our body was made to live on water. Our soul was made to live on God. This is the most important thing to know about oneself. We were made to live on God. Apart from the body, we have a soul and a spirit. There is a me that is more than a body. And that me, if it does not drink from the greatness, wisdom, power, goodness, justice, holiness and love of God, it will die of thirst.
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I would like to bring your attention to the passage in John 4, which reveals how a spirit man can truly interact with a person in the flesh / natural man, the obstacles faced and how the interaction can lead to a great transformation. It’s an interesting conversation of Jesus (the spirit man here ) with a Samaritan woman (the flesh body person in this context).
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​Background of the setting: -
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John 4: 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; Background or the Pretext of this passage is…Gen 33:19, Josh 24:32- Jacob gave his son Joseph the land of Shechem, which he had bought from sons of Hamor and it was here Joseph was buried later. Jacob’s well was an inheritance for the descendants of Israel. (Sychar is a place in OT called Shechem). Joseph indicates The promise of God.
The well is the place of Inheritance or Promise. This lady and Samaritans believed that Jacob’s well was their inheritance. But the core of God’s promise was to Abraham and his offspring Gal 3: 16. This offspring is Christ. The true inheritance (true gift) of her forefathers was standing right in front of her. The true Promise standing on the Land of Promise.
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​John 4:7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
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God interacts through our daily routine life - We can picturize a Lady carrying a Jar walking towards a well at the noon of a day. It depicts a typical human being in her daily routine, toiling for her needs. The empty Jar represents her need in the flesh body. Her only goal is to fill the jar with water and go home, nothing more. The condition of her life was truly depressive and beyond repair. She was truly bound by the society and was living an unstable married life of remorse.
Do we encounter such people? Most certainly on a daily basis. In fact, that’s what we encounter most of the time.
See how Jesus tries to interact with her. He speaks to her through her situation.
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Defining a spiritual interaction
a. God approaches (interacts) with us through our situations from his Promises or his Inheritance to us through his spirit.
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The woman views the situation of meeting Jesus through her Flesh body nature and wisdom. It comes into action, it analyses and focuses on the exterior : her Gender , Cast, Race, Religion – she was a Samaritan, a Lady, a divorcee, and a male Jew asking her for water were the barriers in the flesh for a proper spiritual interaction. So, she couldn’t relate herself with Jesus in this situation and the situation appeared meaningless. She was feeling a discomfort when she interpreted the situation through her flesh body wisdom. If it was another Samaritan lady with a Jar, she would not perhaps had much of an issue in interacting.
If we analyze our daily interactions, same or similar reasons pop up in all our flesh body interactions with anyone. There is nothing to bond with. We approach or interact, from our common comfort levels, needs, wants or goals. We cannot easily connect with anyone unless comfort levels, needs, wants or goals match. And we end up focusing on those subjects…
Interaction with anyone in the spirit, needs to be approached, rekindling God’s promise or inheritance. Jesus couldn’t find any barriers in the flesh while interacting, unlike the lady. Jesus interacted with her in the spirit by seeing her too as an inheritor of God’s promise.
The question is - Do we see others as included in God’s inheritance or Gift during an interaction, or do we interact from our comfort level in the flesh ? Jesus is able to include everyone…. Do we include everyone….. A spiritual man is able to include everyone .
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b. Reliance on the Holy spirit for any successful interaction
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10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Every individual has a need, which may be anything. Every need is created by God. For every physical need you encounter in a situation, there is a spiritual solution as well which God can reveal. A spirit man can see the true need of a flesh body man which is beyond the physical need in the situation . A spirit man can also relate , discern & understand a situation .
For instance, here water was the physical need, and Jesus interacted with her through the same physical need. It made the interaction more meaningful when Jesus spoke about living water. Our interaction with anyone becomes more meaningful when we rely on the Holy Spirit to interact in a way relating to the situation. Rather than interacting from our own intentions and thoughts
We do not have to worry on what to say, the Holy spirit will give us the word at the right time.
Obstacles faced in any spiritual interaction
Four probable things we may encounter in our interaction with any man in the flesh are....
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a) Impossibility b) Ignorance c) Not able to perceive spiritual things beyond the situation (of the well) d) Improper Yardstick
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11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
a) When we try to interact in the spirit to a flesh body man, he uses his earthly wisdom, tools, logic and tradition to assess the situation. Flesh body man sees impossibility.
b) Secondly, difficulty in understanding the revelation of the words in spirit.
c)It also further leads them to regard and understand your words and yourself related only to this earthly realm or according to the flesh.
d) Human mind always assesses situation/ people in comparison with another previous similar situations/ people. Yardstick of a flesh body man’s interaction is always other human beings. The true yardstick is God alone. Do not put another human being as yardstick for any comparison.
Here, when Jesus offered her the living water, she says, there is nothing or any tool to draw the water and the well is deep. Impossibility and Ignorance dominates. You can see her understanding of Jesus’ words was just in the flesh body realm and lastly, she hints at the best possible human yardstick according to her - forefather Jacob. Flesh body man cannot perceive anything beyond a biggest possible physical accomplishment / failure in front of him. How long does a natural well exist ? I was trying to research on this …This well had 2 key features (1) Very deep 2) A well which has been existing since more than 1000 yrs , since the time of Jacob… unlike natural wells which generally lasts only for 100 yrs maximum . This well was possibly the biggest accomplishment and wonder the whole region of Samaria was aware of……
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Transformation
Now, let’s go through the sequence of interactions which brings transformation in the Woman.
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1. John 4:13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
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Its really amazing and awesome the way Jesus beautifully responds to the obstacles set by the flesh body person in this above verse.
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What was Jesus transferring to her spirit or mind? Jesus was transferring his love and was connecting with her through the word of God by the power of the Holy spirit. Loving the person through the word of God is a key factor. This is where we generally tend to falter as human beings in our interactions , interactions should originate from God's Love . Jesus words gave her some assurance, peace and warmth And its not about winning over the person through our talking skills , great points & knowledge. Jesus never quoted anything in his own wisdom. It was from the scripture ,he interacted. In Isa 58:11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” She really did not understand the words Jesus told her about springs of water which was in the spirit. Jesus was hinting at her the actual promise given to her forefather Jacob. The true promise given to Jacob was given in the spirit which was truly about eternal life giving water which would never fail ….Continue to Read Isa 58: 14
We can know God through the word of God and other listeners can see God also through this word of God. Knowing the word of God is knowing God. Words we utter, identify with ourselves. Every word Jesus spoke identified himself with the Father, even until .. his last words on the cross.
People understand us through our words. If someone dear to us pass away, we are always particular to enquire his/her last words, we don’t enquire, how he/she looked. It’s the word spoken by a person which relates us to that person. When the word of God is spoken, the light of the word will start working on the flesh body man to seek his need and find it.
2. A spirit man can unveil the true spiritual inadequacies of the person in the flesh. The Holy spirit revealed the spiritual gap or inadequacy in her life. That’s when Jesus said… . 16 “Go, call your husband, and come here.”17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” This is the work of the Holy spirit to unveil the truth (John 16: 8). That is the point where the flesh body man gradually connects with a spirit filled man.
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(This passage reveals another truth in the spirit. The Samaritans were also worshipping God on Mount Gerzim and following the 5 books of law or Torah. She was aware about the law of Moses and she knew she was the transgressor of the law. She was living a life in Adultery and secrecy. She was seeing a mirror of herself through the words of Jesus. When we interact with people, we hear from them about their situations, weakness and atrocities they face. It is rarely we or anyone, place ourselves in front of God’s law or our own moral transgression. It’s quite natural that we do not like to reveal ourselves.)
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Jesus was in a way exposing her to the Law through his careful words and she realized and experienced a spiritual death within the question Jesus asked her. We need to be careful when we interact with anyone , in not being judgemental and legalistic in our responses . This statement from Jesus had suddenly led her to a feeling of condemnation. Condemnation leads to repentance. Her mind was now seeking repentance and seeking God. To worship him. What followed was …a recovery process in finding more about God .. Rom 3:19 - 20 & Gal 3:24. The nature of ‘Finding God’ in our spiritually dead state is the first and most important step to spirituality for a flesh body man.
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3. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. ”
When we regard everything in the flesh, our belief system and ideology gets flawed. We need to be careful in leading people when they are ready for God. Our standard advice is to lead them to a church. In the flesh body realm, we seek God at a physical place, but God is spirit. There is nothing wrong to a church but there is something more important than that. She was seeking to worship God on some mountain like the rest of her tribe.
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4. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
(To worship God in truth and spirit. Jer 31: 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”)
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So far her life was filled with lies and bitterness, she had one truth in her heart or spirit, that Messiah or Christ is coming. When her only single absolute Truth became a reality in front of her, that’s when her dimension and plateau of life changed, her heart was quickened .When…, 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” Every person we interact, God has instilled at least an ounce of truth in their spirit , our duty is to reveal and confirm that truth , so that they would be filled and transformed…
Her whole concept about salvation, worship and others changed when she knew who God is. When she received the knowledge about the Holy one. She also understood who she was. She knew her true value and her inheritance. All impossibilities and ignorance and fear instantly changed into Possibilities, Joy, Hope and Courage. She no more regarded Jesus in the flesh, nor herself. She received a new identity, a new value system entered her thinking faculty.
2 Cor 5: 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Let me conclude,
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All major and key decisions in life is and should be made through our conscience (spirit).
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God is a Spirit and the best place God likes to dwell is in our conscience (spirit) if we are willing to receive him. That is what Jesus was hinting to the Samaritan woman. She was seeking an unknown God who was apart from her or a God placed in a mountain (a church). God has not asked us to worship an unknown God. Jesus tells her that her life itself is supposed to be a worship.
God wants to possess us through our heart. God wants us to experience Him through our heart, our spirit. It’s possible only when our heart can see him through His Son in the Spirit. Notice that Jesus does not tell the Samaritan woman directly to worship him, because she may limit God as in the flesh. But instead tells her that God lives where there is Truth and Love. Her life so far was a Lie and in bitterness. She was all throughout facing lie and bitterness from others also. Her flesh body approach had led her to this. She didn't know to fill the Gap in her heart. She was trying to fill the gap in her heart by checking out her relationships with different people, instead of God. We are all like this lady , we seek earthly wisdom to fill the Gap in our heart ....
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Aren't we also sometimes like this? But remember, only God can fill our heart/conscience (our inner man), strengthen and transform us into His new creation.