Somerset Church of Christ

August 22, 2024

Jacob’s Well

Jacob’s well is mentioned only once in the Bible in John chapter 4, though the land is mentioned in Genesis 33. In the Genesis account, Jacob bought a piece of land for a hundred pieces of money in the city of Shechem. This eventually became the capital of Samaria and tradition has long held the idea that the well here belonged to Jacob. When Jesus entered Samaria, “he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph” (John 4:5 ESV). “Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well” (vs. 6).

Wells have always been an important source of clean drinking water. Wells are found in abundance throughout the Bible. When enemies wanted to weaken people and their economy, they would stop up their wells. Jacob’s well is still providing clean water to this day, thousands of years after it was hand dug. Wells are essential for life.

Jacob’s well would be the scene for Jesus’ discussion with the Samaritan woman about Jesus being living water. The woman asked, “Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock” (vs. 12). Jesus informed her that people who drink at Jacob’s well will get thirsty again. But, he said, “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (vs. 14). We know the rest of the story; how the woman came to believe in Jesus as the source of living water (salvation). We are honored to partner with an organization to bring both physical water and living water to lost and thirsty people across the world!

August 15, 2024

The Great(est) Commission

person holding world globe facing mountain

Jesus’ great commission to his apostles is well recorded and is not a very lengthy conversation. In Matthew 28, Jesus’ eleven disciples went to Galilee to a mountain to which Jesus directed them. Matthew records, “And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted” (vs. 17). The fact that some doubted is not surprising. This isn’t the first time they doubted. Thomas doubted. But so did others who didn’t believe Mary’s testimony that Jesus’ tomb was empty.

Jesus’ next words are the last words recorded in the gospel of Matthew: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (vs. 18-20).

This is known as the great commission, but it really should be called the greatest commission! We literally have the last recorded words of Jesus before he ascended into heaven. This commission is still just as important as it was 2,000 years ago. May we always strive to carry out the great(est) commission!

August 8, 2024

Will You Keep His Commandments No Matter What?

When the Israelites were rescued from Egypt, they spent forty years in the desert under very brutal conditions. The heat would have been unbearable and there was a constant lack of food and water. The wilderness wanderings certainly tested the Israelites in every sense of the word. In fact, God said, “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2 ESV).

God reminded them that they always had food and water when they were in the desert. God was testing them to see if they would remain faithful to him and to see if they were really ready to inherit the promised land. A valid question we could ask ourselves is: like the Israelites, will we keep God’s commandments no matter what? Will we help our neighbor and do what we can to bless other people when they are in need? Will we do this regardless of our life’s circumstances?

The Bible is clear that we will face many trials. Those trials will test us on every level. There may be days when we are hungry, thirsty, lacking money, or our health may be bad. What will we do in those circumstances? Will we turn away from God or will we continue to trust him and bless other people? Those are choices that we need to make every single day of our lives. Let’s always choose to bless!

August 1, 2024

The Doer Will Be Blessed In His Doing

James, the brother of Jesus, wrote to Christians telling them that faith wasn’t enough. In fact, faith without works is dead. James repeatedly warns them to be active in works, helping those who are in need: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror” (James 1:22, 23 ESV).

That man looks away and forgets what he was like, according to James. James goes on to say, “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (vs. 25). James is clear that God blesses the one who is a “doer.” The word for doer means someone who makes or produces things–someone who is productive! Put another way, the productive one will be blessed in his production.

When we make the conscious decision to be a “doer” for God, He blessed the doing. He makes us more productive when we faithfully work to help others. Just two verses later James says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (vs. 27). Remember, God blesses the doing of the doer!

July 18, 2024

Come To the Light

We all can recite John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Within the bigger context, John is drawing attention to the fact that Jesus explicitly stated that unless one be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. A person must be born of the water and Spirit and Jesus concludes that “whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (vs. 15).

While keeping things in perspective, John reminds us that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (vs. 17). His judgment is that light came into the world but people loved the darkness because their works are evil. Evil people hate the light and love the darkness because light exposes their deeds (vs. 20). This is why people hated Jesus and wanted him dead.

However, “whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (vs. 21). In other words, people who do what is true naturally gravitate toward the light so that the works that are carried out in God can be seen and point others to God. The works that Christians do should always point people to God. Paul was incredibly adamant that people follow him as he followed the example of Christ. Everything he and the disciples did and said was meant to point people to God, and it was always done in the light.

July 10, 2024

Be Mature In Your Thinking

There is a lot going on in the church today. At first glance, it looks like Christianity is all over the map. For example, there have been recent splits among the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Methodists, to name a few. These are not small splits, either. It is a sign of how radically divided the nation as a whole is, and Christians are no better. The church in Corinth really mirrored a lot of the division we see today. A lot of the same issues emerged then that are dividing the church now–issues over sexuality, spiritual gifts (or non-gifts), which Christian influencers we follow, marriage and divorce issues, and so on.

Paul needed to nip the issues in the bud while there was still a semblance of a church left. In one sentence he sums up how they should get together as the body of Christ: “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20 ESV). Paul warns them not to be children (“childish”) in their thinking. They should be infants in evil, where infants don’t even know what evil is! And they should be mature in their thinking, where they are patient with one another, compassionate, caring, and deeply rooted in the Word.

Just one chapter earlier Paul wrote about the importance of love. Love is patient. It is kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not self-seeking. These are all pointing Christians to mature thinking, something the church at Corinth really needed if it was going to survive. When we model mature thinking, it makes Christ attractive to others. We need to model the bride of Christ in a way that showcases who Jesus is. The church is the bride of Christ and nobody in their right mind wants to get near a bridezilla!

July 4, 2024

Desire Without Knowledge Is not Good

black pen on opened book beside lit taper candle

There is a proverb that says, “Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way” (Proverbs 19:2 ESV). This one verse is important, especially given our theme this year of straining toward the goal. What this proverb means is that desire itself won’t get us to the finish line, even if we desire God. A more literal translation of this verse is: “It is also not good for the soul to be without knowledge, and he who hastens with his feet sins.”

The emphasis is on the soul lacking knowledge from and about God. If the soul lacks knowledge about God, we will hastily pursue dreams and passions that will lead us off the godly path. It can’t be overemphasized how important it is to have the knowledge of God for our souls to not follow our own passions. For example, the preceding verse says, “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool” (vs. 1).

As we saw with Job, integrity matters. Job said, “As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me” (Job 27:2-5). Job clearly put the knowledge of God above all else. That was his guiding light, not his own desire.