Encountering Jesus:
Attitude Adjustment

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

 Sunday, March 11, 2007

You know, I’ve known for quite some time, on occasion, teenagers can have an attitude but only on occasion. I’ve known that certain adults can have an attitude but what I didn’t know until this past week is planes can have an attitude. Now maybe you all know this but I didn’t know that until this week. Did you realize a plane has an attitude? It’s an aeronautical term and it talks about when you’re flying the plane and you’re at the altitude you want, the attitude describes the orientation of the plane to the horizon. It’s based on two angles. You could either have the nose in its relationship to the horizon as either nose up, nose level, nose down. Also, the relationship of the angle of the wings, it can bank left or it can bank right. But if you’re going to get to your destination, you want to maintain the proper attitude. So in other words, once you get up to the altitude where you’re assigned to go, once you’re headed in the direction you want to go, you don’t want to be nose up because otherwise you’re going to get into somebody else’s airspace and that won’t be pretty. You don’t want to be nose down. Well, we all know where that’s going to end up. You don’t want to bank left or bank right because then you’re going to go off course. The key is if you want to arrive safely at your destination, you have to maintain a right attitude. All of a sudden, some of these things from my childhood are making a whole lot more sense. When my mother said to me, “You better straighten up and fly right, Son,” all of a sudden, that makes sense to me now.

But what can be said of the attitude of a plane seems could be said for us. Because as a pilot of the plane, every now and then you have to make an attitude adjustment. Maybe the nose goes up a little bit. You have to bring her down. Maybe it starts to go down. You have to bring her up. The same is true with us on our attitude. Sometimes you have to make an adjustment.

We find out today the woman at the well in Sychar had to make an attitude adjustment. She encounters Jesus but as she encounters Jesus, she also encounters her attitude and gets her attitude adjusted just a little bit. Once again, I hope you encounter Jesus this morning and if need be, that your attitude gets adjusted just a little bit. But as always, whenever you encounter Jesus, you encounter reality and you encounter grace. You encounter the reality because when you come face to face with Jesus, all of a sudden, your attitude or the attitude you’ve had in the past becomes glaringly obvious of whether it’s the right attitude or whether it’s the wrong attitude.

So I suppose we need to step back just a little bit and say, “Well, what is the attitude God wants me to have?” Paul helps us out there. We read a portion of it a moment ago. Philippians 2 describes the kind of attitude we should have but I’d like to back up just a couple verses from where our reading began. We go back to Verse 3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility, consider others better than yourself. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” We’ve just set the horizon that we want to stay level with, the horizon that’s going to be our guiding post. We want to make sure our attitude is in line with that of Jesus. Jesus sets the horizon for us. He sets what our attitude should be like. We don’t do things out of self-conceit, that is, in a self-serving way. We’re always looking out for others. We’re always putting the needs of others before ourselves. We take on a service attitude. We read a little bit more in Philippians there where it says just how much of a servant Jesus was. He was willing to go all the way and die for us, in fact, die on a cross, Paul writes almost with an exclamation point by it.

So the attitude God is looking for is an attitude of a servant, of a person who gives. But also in that attitude is a little bit of how do we approach life? Do we see things from a cynical point of view? Do we see things from a pessimistic point of view? Or are we a little bit more even keel, a little bit more optimistic? Well, if we go on to Chapter 4 of Philippians, I think Paul sort of in this same line goes a little bit further on that. He says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I’ll say it again. Rejoice.” That says something about our attitude, does it not? It says we have hope. It says there is always something we can rejoice about. Even if things aren’t going well, things seem to be spinning out of control, we have hope because of what God has done for us.

St. Paul says a little bit more about that. He says, “Finally, Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.” Is he talking about an attitude, an attitude that dwells on the things that are praiseworthy, things that are excellent, if you will, the things that are positive in our life instead of spiraling down in the negativism and pessimism?

So, in short, the attitude God is looking for us to have is first and foremost that of a servant but also one that can find joy in life and to rejoice in everything God has done for us. That’s the horizon that’s out there.

So, when Jesus comes to the woman at the well, that’s the attitude He’s looking for. But what kind of attitude did He find? Well, if you ask me, she starts out with a little bit of nose up if you know what I mean. She’s sort of looking down at Jesus. Jesus comes and says, “Listen, would you mind getting me a drink of water,” and the woman kind of looks over at Him and says, “You’re a Jew. I’m a Samaritan woman. You’re going to ask me for a glass of water?” How ridiculous. Jews and Samaritans don’t associate with one another. They hate each other. They each considered the other to be unclean, unworthy to exist side by side. The Jews had really ostracized the Samaritans and you can just imagine how the Samaritans felt about that. And so now this Jewish teacher comes and has the audacity to ask her for a drink of water. You pick up on that a little bit later when she says, “Well, you Jews say you have to worship in Jerusalem. Well, we have the mountain of God right here.” So if you will, she’s kind of looking at her nose down at Jesus. “Why would I want to associate with you?” She has her nose up. She’s copping an attitude with our Lord.

But soon that changes, though. All of a sudden, she’s not nose up anymore. She starts a slow descent because all of a sudden, the cynicism starts coming out in her life. Jesus says, “Well, I can give you water and you’ll never be thirsty again.” “Yeah, right. Well, then why don’t you give it to me because I’m tired of coming to this well.” Here she is in the middle of the day. It’s noon. She’s sweating bullets and she’s working hard because the well is deep. She’s having to send the bucket down and pull the bucket back up. In the middle of the day, she’s sweating, she’s tired, and she’s hot and she’s wondering, “Why am I here?” And if you will, I’ll take a little bit of liberty and go behind that, she must be asking herself what happened to my life? Obviously, we know things didn’t turn out the way she thought they were going to turn out. Her life isn’t smooth sailing. It wasn’t the dreams and aspirations she had when she was younger of what her life was going to be like and now here she is cynical about the whole thing, sort of spiraling down in pessimism and negativism. “Well, then why don’t you give me this water because I’m tired of coming out here everyday all by myself in the heat of the day trying to get water for myself in my miserable life?”

Well, then it goes from bad to worse. Then she takes a nosedive because Jesus always knows just what button to push. Jesus says, “You know, why don’t you go get your husband and we’ll continue the conversation with him?” “I don’t have a husband.” Jesus says, “You’re right, you don’t. You’ve had five, Lady. And the guy you’re living with right now is not your husband. You’re quite right. You don’t have one.” Can you imagine how she felt at that moment? Now you know why she’s out there all by herself. Now you know why there are no other people around and she has to come out in the heat of the day and not in the morning with the other women or in the evening with the other women but in the middle of the day. The entire town has shunned her. They don’t want to be around her anymore. She’s all alone. And now this stranger, this man knows all about her history. She in a nosedive. If she doesn’t make an attitude adjustment and pull up, she’s going to crash and burn.

Attitude is that important. That’s why we have to ask ourselves, “What’s my attitude? What has been my attitude? Am I in line and level and flying straight with the horizon that Jesus has set up for me? Do I put the needs of others above myself? Do I not do things out of self-conceit in seeing how much I can get out of it but do I always have a servant-type attitude? Do I rejoice in the Lord always? Do I think about things that are excellent and praiseworthy? Is that where I put the focus of my mind? Where is my attitude in this? Am I flying nose level or am I nose up?”

Have you bee nose up on occasion? The weather’s getting warmer. You know what that means, don’t you? That means when you exit the freeway at Merle Hay Road, there’s going to be a guy at the end holding a sign saying, “Homeless. Can’t find work. Would you give?” What’s the first thought that goes through your mind? I’ll make a confession to you. My first thought is, “McDonald’s is hiring.” Is that the attitude Jesus wants me to have?

When you get on a plane at the airport and you notice someone from the Middle East is getting on the plane with you, how do you feel about that? What thoughts go through your head? Do you do things that are nice to people so they’ll be nice to you to find out what you can get in return? Do you put the needs of others above your own needs? Let’s get a little bit closer to home. If you had to make a choice, both are equally important, but if you had to make a choice, what do you think the work of this congregation should be? Should it be to take care of its own members and make sure their needs are met? Or should it be to reach out to the people who don’t have a church home or maybe even don’t have a relationship with Jesus? Both are equally important. But if you had to say one was going to rise just a little bit above the other, which one would it be? Has our nose been up on occasion?

Maybe our nose has been down? Do you ever find yourself kind of wallowing in self pity? Do you see yourself becoming cynical about life? Do you see what’s happening in the government and politics and everything and you say, “What’s the use? It is what it is. Why should I care? Things are going to happen the way they’re going to happen.” You take a look at your own life and you say, “You know, the harder I try, the further behind I get.” You’re struggling with relationships. You’re struggling with jobs. You’re struggling with family. And you say to yourself, “It’s not going to get any better. It is what it is so I might as well just get used to it.” And you’re just sort of spiraling down in the negativism and cynicism. You know, for you the glass isn’t half full. It’s not even half empty. It’s pretty near empty. That’s how you’re seeing it. Have you been nose down?

The fact of the matter is whether you’re nose up or whether you’re nose down, you’ll crash and burn. You need an attitude adjustment to bring you back up in line with Jesus. You see, you need to encounter Jesus. And you need to encounter His grace. Because only through encountering His grace will your attitude get adjusted. That’s what happened with the woman at the well. She encounters Jesus but she encounters Jesus’ grace. And through that grace, her attitude changes. We can see that as we go through the story as the dialogue kind of unfolds in front of us. You can almost see the woman softening just a little bit by little bit as Jesus continues to talk with her and dialogue with her and He sees the grace that He wants to show to her. You see, Jesus was willing to break all of the rules to put this person back on course. He was willing to break all of the social rules, all of the manmade rules that were there to bring her back up to a proper attitude. She was exactly right when she said, “Jews don’t associate with Samaritans.” In fact, it was part of the Jewish laws that Samaritan women especially were considered unclean from birth, which means you wanted to have nothing to do with them. It was not very common for a Jewish man to talk to a woman to begin with but certainly not a Samaritan woman and certainly not a woman of her reputation. But Jesus throws out all of those rules. He doesn’t care what the consequences are socially because He wants to reach out to her and He wants to touch her life with His grace and bring her back on course. And God’s grace changed her mind set, changed her attitude.

Right after our reading ended, John goes on to record this for us. “Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’” Now take that in for just a moment here. She went back to the town, left her water behind, to the very people who had shunned her, the very people who had judged her, the very people who forced her to go out at midday to get water and not be with the rest of the women, she goes back to them and says, “You have to come and meet this Jewish teacher. I think He’s the Messiah.” Now how much more dramatic can you get for a change for one woman in the course of a conversation? She goes from being uppity to being cynical to being level. She is touched by God’s grace and she wants to share that grace. She’s been touched by Jesus who is the servant of all and now she wants to be a servant as well. She wants to serve the very people in her town. She wants them to come and meet Jesus because maybe He’s the one. He’s the Messiah. Her attitude has done a 180. She’s flying level. She’s right with the horizon.

When you’re touched by God’s grace, your attitude changes. Your whole perspective on life is different. When you realize that Jesus was willing to break all the rules for you, Jesus was willing to break all of the rules and anything that made sense, He’d do the opposite to get you back on course, to bring you back up to level to have that right attitude. Jesus is the sinless Son of God. He is the Creator of the world along with the Father and the Holy Spirit and yet He becomes one with creation. What’s up with that? Jesus is innocent. He’s the only human being who was sinless as He lived in this world, completely innocent, not needing to die and yet He’s declared guilty, guilty not of His own sin but guilty of your sin and of my sin. Jesus is eternal. He is from all time and He will exist for all time and yet He chooses to die and not just die but die on a cross.

Jesus is willing to do anything for you. He is willing to become the servant of all mankind so He can touch your life with His grace, His grace that says He loves you and will always love you, His grace that says He forgives you even when you have a terrible attitude, His love that says He forgives you even when you do things you know are wrong, His grace that says I’ll love you no matter what. And when you encounter that grace, you can’t help but have a changed attitude because when you’re touched by that grace, you want to share that grace. When you see the servant of all mankind, then you want to become a servant yourself.

And that change of attitude is powerful, Friends. It’s powerful not only in your own life but in the lives of the people around you. You see, the story still isn’t over with this woman of Sychar. It goes on from there. Not only does she have a different perspective on life but her perspective is infectious to the people around her. We go a few verses down, it says, “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.” Then it goes on, “They asked Jesus to stay with them for two days and He does.” Now imagine a Samaritan village asking a Jewish teacher to stay with them for two days and He does. What’s the result of that? Many of them come to faith and it ends this way. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you’ve said. Now we’ve heard for ourselves and we know this man really is the Savior of the world.” They’ve gone from the clutches of the devil himself to the arms of their Savior because this woman took on a servant’s heart and she reached out to her town and many of them came to know that Jesus is the Savior of the world.

It’s just as powerful in our lives. We take on a new attitude. We see every day as an opportunity to serve others. We see every day as an opportunity to praise God and rejoice in the things He’s given to us, even when life is going rotten, to find something to rejoice in, to find something to have hope in. That’s the attitude Jesus gives to us and that’s infectious to the people around us. Can you imagine if each one of us were deployed that way, if each one of us wanted to become a servant and put the needs of others above our own? Could you imagine if it was our goal that the whole western suburbs of Des Moines would know Jesus is the Savior of the world, could you imagine the impact we could have? But it all starts when you encounter Jesus, when you encounter the reality but then you encounter His grace. And all of a sudden, if you will, you straighten up and fly right because His grace has a way of changing our attitude. And that has a way of changing lives, your life and the lives of the people around you. Amen.

Copyright 2007 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church