Friday, August 21, 2015
Discrimination
Bible Questions Answered:
“I believe that we should witness to
our own kind, whites with whites, blacks on blacks, spanish on
spanish etc. as a christian I think this is Gods plan all along...”
Henry/ Bowling Green, Kentucky U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
Bible Texts:
Our God, is “not,” a God of
discrimination!
One has only to read the story of the
Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4, to realize our Lord's
love is without partiality.
John 4:1-42 NLT
1 Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard
that He was baptizing and making more disciples than John
2 (though Jesus Himself didn’t
baptize them—His disciples did).
3 So He left Judea and returned to
Galilee.
4 He had to go through Samaria on
the way.
5 Eventually He came to the
Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his
son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there; and
Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about
noontime.
7 Soon a Samaritan woman came
to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give Me a drink.”
8 He was alone at the time because
His disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for
Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said
to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you
asking me for a drink?”
10 Jesus replied, “If you only
knew The Gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would
ask Me, and I would give you living water.”
11 “But sir, you don’t have a
rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where
would you get this living water?
12 And besides, do you think you’re
greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you
offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who
drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.
14 But those who drink the water I
give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring
within them, giving them eternal life.”
15 “Please, sir,” the woman
said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and
I won’t have to come here to get water.”
16 “Go and get your husband,”
Jesus told her.
17 “I don’t have a husband,”
the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a
husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even
married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke The
Truth!”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “you
must be a prophet.
20 So tell me, why is it that you
Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we
Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors
worshiped?”
21 Jesus replied, “Believe Me,
dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether
you worship The Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.
22 You Samaritans know very little
about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about Him, for
salvation comes through the Jews.
23 But the time is coming—indeed
it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship The Father in
Spirit and in Truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship
Him that way.
24 For God is Spirit, so those who
worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know The
Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When He comes, He
will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus told her, “I am The
Messiah!”
27 Just then His disciples came
back. They were shocked to find Him talking to a woman, but none of
them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why
are you talking to her?”
28 The woman left her water jar
beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone,
29 “Come and see A Man who told me
everything I ever did! Could he possibly be The Messiah?”
30 So the people came streaming from
the village to see Him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were
urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But Jesus replied, “I have a
kind of food you know nothing about.”
33 “Did someone bring Him food
while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other.
34 Then Jesus explained: “My
nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent Me, and from
finishing His work.
35 You know the saying, ‘Four
months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look
around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.
36 The harvesters are paid good
wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life.
What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!
37 You know the saying, ‘One
plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true.
38 I sent you to harvest where you
didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will
get to gather the harvest.”
Jesus had a choice, He was leaving
Jerusalem on His way up to Galilee, would He travel straight north
through Samaria, or travel the route used by all Jews, by way of the
Jordan Valley, thus avoiding any nearness to Samaria?
He chose to travel north, and He had a
reason, led by The Spirit, He would go the distance to a woman and
the members of her city, who need to hear about “The Gift Of God.”
Why did the Jews despise the
Samaritans?
When the northern ten tribes of Israel
were taken away by the Assyrians, a few remained behind, the
emptiness was soon filled with heathen from all of Mesopotamia, and
so a once pure nation, became a mixed breed.
God was worshiped and with Him, heathen
gods as well. Later returning Samaritans tried to rejoin them
unsuccessfully. On mount Gerizim, they built a temple. Their religion
became a mixture of paganism and Judaism. The Jews of Jerusalem,
despised them because they were anything but a pure people,
concerning race or religion.
To this little sleepy town of Sychar,
came Jesus and His band of men, and if Jesus had been one to
discriminate, He certainly never would have traveled this way, but
our God, is a God of impartiality and love!
Deuteronomy 10:17 NLT
“For The Lord your God is The God
of gods and Lord of lords. He is The Great God, The Mighty And
Awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed.
II Chronicles 19:7 NLT
Fear The Lord and judge with
integrity, for The Lord our God does not tolerate perverted justice,
partiality, or the taking of bribes.”
Job 34:18,19 NLT
18 For He says to kings, ‘You are
wicked,’ and to nobles, ‘You are unjust.’
19 He doesn’t care how great a
person may be, and He pays no more attention to the rich than to the
poor. He made them all.
Matthew 5:43-45 NLT
43 “You have heard the law that
says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.
44 But I say, love your enemies!
Pray for those who persecute you!
45 In that way, you will be acting
as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives His
sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just
and the unjust alike.
Acts 10:34,35 KJV
34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and
said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
35
But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness,
is accepted with Him.
Romans 10:12 KJV
For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all
that call upon Him.
Galatians 2:6 NLT
"...God has no favorites.
Ephesians 6:9 NLT (No,
Paul was not endorcing slavery!)
Masters, treat your slaves in the
same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same
Master in heaven, and He has no favorites.
I Peter 1:17 NLT
And remember that The Heavenly
Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward
you according to what you do.
So what was the result of our Lord's
great heart of love?
39 Many Samaritans from the village
believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me
everything I ever did!”
40 When they came out to see Him,
they begged Him to stay in their village. So He stayed for two
days,
41 long enough for many more to hear
His message and believe.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now
we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have
heard Him ourselves. Now we know that He is indeed The Savior Of The
World.”
In the heart of a true Christian, there
is “no,” room for discrimination in any form, our Lord believed
and lived that Himself, and aren't we all glad that He did!
Romans 6:23 KJV
For the wages of sin is death; but
The Gift Of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 3:16,17 KJV
16 For God so loved the world,
that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not His Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be
saved.