Overcoming Barriers | Ep9

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Join Wayne Burger each week as he explores various topics and scriptures and challenges listeners to meditate on God's Word more deeply.

If we will be honest with ourselves, we sometimes erect barriers which keep us from reaching out to saving souls. It may be the color of their skin or the fact that they have tattoos and or body piercings. It may even be their social status, too rich or too poor, especially if they have a difference from our economic situation.

Be honest. What barriers have you erected that have kept you from reaching out to save a soul?

In John the fourth chapter, we have a very interesting passage related to Jesus and his conversation with the Samaritan woman of the well. Samaria was the middle part of the country in Israel. The northern part was Galilee, the southern part was Judea, and the middle part was Samaria.

The Samaritan people were hated by the Jews because they were Jewish people who had married Gentile people. To the Jews, that was just terrible. And the people would not have anything to do with the Samaritans.

In fact, as one traveled from the south to the north or north to the south, they would not even pass through Samaria. They would come up to the border of Samaria, cross over the Jordan River, go up past the Samaritan area, and then come back in across the Jordan River to get to Galilee, or vice versa, as they were going south. The point we're looking at here is this.

There was a prejudice among the Jews that they had no dealings with the Samaritans because they felt like they were wrong in the marriage that they had. Now the area of Samaria, there was a worship service there on Mount Gerizim. They followed some of the laws, but not all of them.

And so that was to them the place to worship was in Mount Gerizim, whereas the Jews said no, Jerusalem is the place to worship. When Jesus stops there to visit, he goes through the area of Samaria. He doesn't bypass it as other Jews did.

And they arrived there, and his disciples went to get some food. And while Jesus is there, a Samaritan woman came there to Jacob 12 to draw water. It is kind of interesting that she is by herself.

Usually, drawing the water was in the mornings when all the ladies would come together and get their water. This woman had such a reputation that she seemed to be an outcast even among the Samaritans. It seemed that she is by herself and because she is rejected.

She had been married four times, and she was now living with a man. Very immoral person, probably. And so it's not likely that we would think of that person becoming a follower of Jesus.

You know, she's got too much baggage along, and she's got several barriers between her and Jesus. But as we stop and think about this lesson, I want us to think about it from the aspect of Jesus overcoming the barriers that he overcame to reach that person. And I want us to think about us overcoming the barriers we face that we may be able also to win people.

When Jesus went through Samaria and stopped Jacob's will, he had a soul-saving conversation with a Samaritan woman. He did that even though he had to overcome several barriers. First, there was the social barrier, the barrier that the society had erected.

Because the Samaritans were a mixed race of Jews and other races, the Jewish people had nothing to do with them. There was also the barrier that the Jews had erected even in their own society, that men do not speak to women in public. A man will not even speak to his wife or daughter in public.

So there's a couple of traditional barriers that Jesus did not abide by. He's speaking with a woman. He is speaking with a woman who is a Samaritan.

He is speaking with a woman who seems to have an immoral background. He could have let her live that immoral character be a barrier because she had had five husbands, and he said, now the one living with you now is a man, he's not your husband. There was also, as I mentioned, a religious barrier.

The Samaritans had erected their own temple on the top of Mount Gerizim. She brought up the fact that her people and the Jews differed over where one should worship. There was a barrier of her skepticism of him, and she was very argumentative as he reasoned with her.

She would raise up an argument, and he would ignore the argument and answer the question and keep pursuing, converting her to become a believer. He didn't let any of those barriers keep him from bringing her to a saving faith. The reasons Jesus overcame the barriers he faced are the same reasons we should overcome the barriers we face.

First, he saw a soul who was made in the image of God. The physical condition do not determine who that person is. Every person we meet is made in the image of God, and his or her sins have been paid for by the blood of Christ.

No physical thing matters. We need to recognize that this person may be in a different economic status. They may do some things that we don't like to see done.

Maybe they're not morally wrong, but we just don't like it. But we ought not to let those things keep us from seeing that this person is a person made in the image of God. He or she is just as valuable as we are, and therefore we ought to do what we can to bring that person to Christ.

Second, he saw as God sees by looking into our heart rather than at her physical condition. Samuel had to learn this lesson when he was selecting a new king. You know, it was time to select someone to take the place of Saul, and he was chosen by God to go appoint somebody.

And the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God sees not as a man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. First Samuel 16, 7. We don't have the ability to see in one's heart as clearly as God can see.

But we need to give people the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that they have a heart that can be touched by Jesus. Let's not prejudge their heart.

Let the person reveal the nature of his own heart, thereby have some evidence rather than our prejudice toward that situation. So let's keep in mind to do our best not to judge by that outward appearance, but as the heart is revealed, we strive to bring that heart to God. Third, Jesus saw a soul who was an outcast in her own society.

It seems to be noon when he and his apostles arrive at the well. Water is taken from wells early in the morning, not at noon. Why she was there at such a time, I don't know.

Maybe she felt like an outcast even among her own people. Are we trying to save those who appear to be outcasts in our society? Or do we ignore them? Our society is made up of a lot of people that are diverse. They have strange beliefs.

They dress differently. You know, they may color their hair differently. They may have all these tattoos and body piercings.

They may seem to run in a different crowd. You know, the Lord did not make us soil testers. He made us seed sowers.

We don't need to decide, well, I don't think that person would be interested in the gospel. I don't think that person would be willing to hear, that person is different. No, we need to simply take the opportunity to do what we can to teach that person the gospel.

Jesus saw a woman who was hurting. Think of the heartache and sorrow she had gone through with five husbands and now a live-in boyfriend. I don't care what the reason was that the husbands, she no longer has those husbands.

Whether he is no longer married to her because he died or because there was a divorce. No matter what the situation, that's a heartache. That's a heartache because of the pain and agony of simply breaking up a relationship that's been going on.

She had gone through a lot of heartache and hurting. And maybe that's part of the reason she feels such as an outcast. She also, she had maybe gone through some difficult situations.

It doesn't matter if her husband had committed adultery or she had committed that sin. There's hurt in both the guilty and the innocent parties when marriage is in. She was a woman who was suffering.

She needed someone to really care about her. Our world is full of people who are hurting, hurting for many different reasons. They need someone who cares for them.

You might be that person that can render care and concern for that person. It's easy in our society to be alone in a multitude. There are lots of people who are struggling with various problems and difficulties.

They feel like sometimes they're outcast. It is sad stat that recently I read about the city of Louisville, Kentucky. In the first three months of the year 2025, they had had more suicides than murders.

They had 40 suicides and 30 murders. Here were some people who felt outcast, who felt no hope, who felt abandoned, who felt like there was no reason to live. Our world is filled with lots of people like that.

We need to see if we can take notice of those people, reach out to them, and help bring them to Jesus who is friend of all. It doesn't matter the life they live, Jesus can change it. It doesn't matter the views they hold, Jesus can change it.

We need to recognize that the world we live in is a hurting world. And at the same time, as we find people who are hurting around us, those are the people who are quite often most receptive. Because they've gone through problems, they're hurting, they're looking for something better.

Let's be soul winners of those who are hurting. Let's see if we can find those people who are hurting for various reasons and reach out to them. Also, he saw a soul who needed living water.

She came for physical water. She came to the wells to get some water. He asked of her, would you give me a drink of water? And she said, how is it that you're a Jew and you ask of me water? You see, the Jews, it says, had no dealings with the Samaritans.

The Jew would not even drink from a cup that a Gentile had drunk from. They would have no dealings whatsoever with those Samaritan people. And so she is shocked when he asked for a drink of water.

And besides that, he said, if you had asked me, I'll give you living water that you won't have to come to this well anymore. She didn't understand what he was talking about. You see, the living water in their minds was water that was moving.

And she said, this is the water underneath. How are you going to get it out of there? But Jesus was talking about the spiritual water, the water of life that sustains us. And it's the kind of water that can keep us going.

And so he recognized she was in need of some real spiritual life. And he offered her that spiritual water. She tasted that water that quenched the eternal thirst.

That's when she decided he is the Messiah. She became so excited. She returned to her village to tell about a man who had told everything she knew that she had done in her life.

She told about him being a prophet and being the Messiah. She became a soul winner. And these people then came to talk to Jesus.

And they came to the conclusion, we now become a believer, not because of what the woman has said, but because we have seen Jesus for himself. There are people out there who are looking for help. There are people out there who are struggling with problems.

Jesus has the answer. And he expects you and me to reach out and bring others to him. Jesus can cure the problem.

I have a friend who has a saying that I think is very good. He says, we need to meet the people where they are so that the gospel can change who they are. That's what you and I as Christians need to do, to strive to bring people to Jesus.

We meet them where they are. It doesn't matter their condition, what they look like, what they believe in. It doesn't matter how they appear, because the gospel is the power of God to change them.

And as we present that gospel message to them, they may be changed to become a great soul winner. This woman who had so many problems, who was so argumentative, who was combative with Jesus, became a believer and she went out and won the others. All of us face barriers to winning souls.

They may be barriers in our own minds, or barriers put up by society, or even barriers in the minds of those who are lost. Let's overcome whatever barrier we face because of the same reasons that Jesus overcame the barriers he faced. He saw a soul that was made in the image of God.

He was able to look into her heart, rather than see her physical condition. He saw a soul who was an outcast in her own society. He saw a soul who was hurting.

He saw a soul who needed living water. Those very reasons are motivations for us to reach out into our society. Our society is a lost and dying, hurting society, and those of us who have the gospel have the answer for those people.

Let's overcome the barriers between us and saving others, and let's convert the world to Jesus Christ.

Thanks for joining us this week and spending time in God's Word. Special thanks to Mac Graham, John Kachelman, and Lightway Media for recording, producing, and making this podcast possible.

If you're ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area, we'd love to have you join us for worship and Bible study on Sunday afternoons at 4 at the Senior Center. You're always welcome. For more information about this podcast, visit LightwayMedia.com/meditating-on-the-word and find the link there to email me to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter with more information you can use in your personal Bible study.

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Until next week, keep meditating on the Word.