Open The Word | Fungua Neno

⏱️ 6 minutes.

Hello there, chosen ones,

Today, let’s take time to understand the core focus of pointing people to Christ as we share the gospel:

and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world.”
— John 4:42

In John 4, we find a fascinating story about the encounter between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman. There are many themes explored in this exchange and many lessons to be learned. Towards the end of the story, we see the Samaritan woman heading back to her city and sharing the gospel with her people. It is in this part of the story that we find our focus verse.

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who bore witness, “He told me all the things that I have done.”
— John 4:39

The conversation that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman resulted in the gospel being shared with the people in the city. We know that this sharing of the gospel was fruitful because John writes that many believed in Jesus.

After this, the people were convinced to go and see and hear Jesus, and even more people were converted as they heard and saw Jesus.

So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His word;
— John 4:40-41

After this is where we find our focus verse. Initially, the Samaritans went out to Jesus and believed in Him because of the testimony that the Samaritan woman shared. However, after going to Jesus and seeing and hearing Him for themselves, they said they no longer believed simply because of the secondhand witness of the Samaritan woman, but rather their source of belief was from their firsthand experience in listening to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is something to consider: there are times when one’s faith is linked to the testimony of another. While this is not bad in itself, as we see that is what happened to the Samaritans, they went further. They didn’t stop at hearing a testimony from a third party; instead, they went ahead and heard Christ for themselves.

In the same way, it is necessary for one to go from simply believing in Christ through the testimony of others to experiencing Christ for themselves.

A perfect example of this is when, in a family of believers, some members claim they are Christians simply because other family members are believers (usually the parents). However, these particular individuals have not had an actual personal relationship with Christ and don’t really stand firm in their relationship with Him. Instead, they lean heavily on the testimonies of others.

We see in John 4 that the Samaritans say, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world.” Clearly, their faith was solidified after having seen and heard Christ for themselves.

This is the kind of relationship we should strive to have with Christ. We ought to ensure that our relationship with Christ is not just based on the testimonies of other believers but rather have our very own testimonies of the things that Christ has done in our lives. We should be like the Samaritans in saying “we have heard and seen for ourselves”. We should strive to have stories to tell about the wonderful things that Jesus is doing in our lives, not just speak of those testimonies of others.

This brings us to the other side of the narrative, the side of the Samaritan woman. After hearing directly from Jesus that He is the Christ, the Samaritan woman went to share her testimony with the people in Samaria:

Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
— John 4:26

So the woman left her water jar and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; is this not the Christ?”
— John 4:28-29

This encourages us to share our testimonies with people. We should be open to sharing what Jesus has done in our lives in saving us. We see a very good example of Paul when he shares the gospel, as he shares his testimony with the people.

Sometimes we think that our testimony needs to be as radical as the Apostle Paul’s to be worthy of sharing. However, such is not the case. God has ordained the means by which we came to the faith, and in doing so, He has also ordained that testimony. We should neither be ashamed of our testimony nor belittle it, for it is through His means of grace.

Finally, we should be careful to ensure that our testimonies point to Christ. Just like the Samaritan woman, we should ensure that our testimonies point people to Christ and not just feed them our stories, such that our listeners lean merely on our testimony instead of doing what the Samaritans did, saying, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world.”

Here are some things to remember:

• We should all strive to move from leaning on other people’s testimonies to believe in Christ, to having firsthand testimonies of our walk with Christ.
• We should not be ashamed of sharing our testimonies, for they are God-ordained, and God can and will use these testimonies to expand His kingdom.
• When sharing our testimonies and the gospel, let’s focus on pointing people to Christ and not to ourselves.

Let the redeemed of Yahweh say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary
— Psalm 107:2

I pray this word encourages us to be vigilant in drawing near to God and sharing our testimonies with people.

Grace and peace to you,
Paul