Introduction:
I. The closing point of last Sunday’s sermon was, “Sometimes We Must Create A Thirst, Before We Offer Water.”
A. Perhaps as you heard that, one of your questions might well have been, “But just how am I supposed to do that.”
B. How do I make people thirsty for the water that only Christ can offer.
II. I believe that is one thing that the women at the well did, and probably didn’t even realize it.
A. If we look at John chapter 4, verse 29, we read - “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”
B. I wonder how many towns folk said, “Of course he did. It’s not like your not known around here?”
C. Perhaps a few said something like that, but the text seems to indicate that this statement from the women, not only brought some to meet Jesus, but that the towns folk continued to come.
III. As I was rereading this passage, I was reminded that everyone of us that know Christ, has a story to tell of how Christ has effected our lives, or at least we should.
A. If I claim to know Christ, and yet cannot think of something He has done in my life, I would suggest that you re-evaluate your relationship with Him.
B. As I was reading this passage, I was also reminded of Brad.
IV. Brad was a man that I met in a previous church.
A. Brad had come to visit our church, because his wife was related to one of our church members, and that member had invited her to a service.
B. Brad came with her, and low and behold, the next week they came back.
C. They actually began to attend services on an almost weekly basis.
V. In time, I met with them, heard their testimony, and before long, Brad asked about helping to lead worship in our church.
A. Now I knew Brad’s history, but one Sunday morning he decided to share from the pulpit what God had done in his life.
1. He began by saying, “Every time I’m scheduled to lead worship, I spend extra time in prayer, just about my language.
2. I have a problem in that area, and I know I need God’s help to keep it in check.
3. Then he went on to say,
a. “I am a convicted murderer.
b. I have spent time in prison, and he shared just a bit about his life.
c. He went on to say how God had worked a change in his life; he was a new creation, because of the power of Christ.”
B. You know, I don’t remember the specifics of his testimony.
1. I don’t remember the circumstances that had caused him to take another’s life,
2. Or even how he got out of prison, although I do remember that he was legal.
C. I also remember that, I don’t have a story like that, but I do remember that we all have a story.
D. If God is real, and Christ death means anything, and the Holy Spirit living within us has the power to work, then we all have a story that can create thirst in others for what we already have experienced.
VI. Jesus created a thirst in the women by saying, “If you knew the one that was asking you for a drink, you would have asked him.”
VII. Jesus may have also created a thirst in the women to know more when he said, “I know you have already had five husbands, and now you are only living with someone” and yet he didn’t really chastise her, or beat her up.
A. Jesus simply said, “I know all about you, and I want to share living water with you anyway.”
B. I want you to know that I care more about you, than in what you have done.”
VIII. Jesus had asked her for a cup of water, and look what the women did in verse 29; she asked,
A. “This isn’t the Christ, is it?”
B. Jesus aroused her interest by breaking with tradition, and she created a thirst in others by asking a question.
IX. Perhaps we can begin to create a thirst in people through having fewer answers, and asking more questions.
X. The fields are “white for the harvest” and we need, in fact we are commanded to be involved in the harvest.
XI. But how?
XII. That is the question I would like to try and answer this morning, by continuing to look at the gospel of John chapter 4.
Develop An Awareness of Opportunities to Share
I. You might say, as I have, “I will share Christ with others, if they ask, but seldom does anyone ask.”
II. I would like us to return for just a moment to the Christ’ encounter with the women at the well.
A. At what point did she ask Jesus to share with her?
1. John devotes a full 45 verses to the story of the women at the well, and the results of her encounter with Christ.
a. If I read this correctly, it was not until at least verse 15 - “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”
(1) Even here, most commentators state that she didn’t really know what she was asking for.
(2) All she wanted was for Christ to meet her earthly need,
2. But isn’t that true of everyone?
a. We all have a felt need that we would like met.
b. What we are looking for is someone to meet that need.
B. And isn’t meeting felt needs at least part of what Jesus instructs us to do, first?
III. Listen to what James writes in James 1:27 - This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
A. That word visit means more than simply go and say “Hello”
B. This is the definition my bible dictionary gives to visit. - to look upon or after, to inspect, examine with the eyes
1. To look upon or after,
2. To see what is needed, and if possible meet that need.
IV. Consider how easy it is for us to get into the routine of life.
A. We go to work or school, or shopping or dining out.
B. We go about our life.
C. We have our own problems, needs and concerns,
1. Can I pay all these bills?
2. When is my own heart finally going to give out?
D. We were out to dinner Wednesday evening, celebrating our oldest son’s turning 25.
1. When we got home, I detected what I thought was a funny smell in the house,
2. A couple of weeks ago, we had to replace our dishwasher, and our refrigerator has been making some funny noises from time to time, for quite a while now.
a. I thought
(1) Great, I just spent $300.00 on a new dishwasher,
(2) And now I’m going to have to find 600.00 or so more for a new fridge.
E. Things in life; it’s like the energizer bunny, they just keep going and going.
V. And sometimes in the midst of our life’s going, we lose track of the needs of those around us.
VI. How often do we stop to think, “Some of these things that I am experiencing as a believer in Jesus Christ, may just give me a story to tell that can relate to those that need a taste of living water.”
A. The fact that God took me through a new career preparation at 38 years old, with 4 young children, gives me a place to relate to others that God is calling to make a change in life.
B. The fact that Maryann and I lived for several years believing we would never have children of our own, allows us to relate to couples experiencing fertility issues.
C. Maryann’s diabetes, my stroke, are just a few issues that we have come through or are experiencing, in which the power of Christ are helping us to cope.
VII. What about your life? What have you experienced as a Christian, that might allow you to identify with others, who may need to hear about the living water, that we know is available.
VIII. But we have to stop, and take note of what is happening in the lives of those around us, and we have to live Christ, OUTSIDE the walls of the church.
IX. That is the example that Jesus gave us as the well.
A. Christ was tired and hungry, BUT
B. Here comes a women to draw water in the heat of the day,
1. Long after the other women had come,
2. Long before the other women might return.
C. Why was this women without friends to accompany her,
1. Yes, Jesus, being fully God knew
2. But Jesus, being fully man said,
a. “Could you give me a drink of water?”
b. “Could I cross the anticipated boundaries and maybe we could be friends, even for just a few moments.”
D. And that is probably one thing this women needed most,
1. A friend,
2. Someone who really cared about her.
X. We need to “Develop An Awareness of Those Around Us.”
XI. We need to “Be Aware of What Christ Has Done for Us.”
Be Aware of What Christ Has Done For You
I. Jesus met the women at the well,
II. More than anything else, it appears to me that Jesus befriended her,
A. A women, and there were strict rabinacle rules about male female relations
1. Listen to the well known thoughts about male/female communications, - “A man shall not be alone with a woman in an inn, not even with his sister or his daughter, on account of what men may think. A man shall not talk with a woman in the street, not even his own wife and especially not with another woman, on account of what men may say.”
2. But Jesus didn’t follow the accepted rules.
B. A women of ill reputation,
1. Jesus didn’t ask himself, “What would my friends think if they knew who this person was.”
2. But we might
C. A Samaritan,
1. Jesus was concerned with ethnic differences,
2. But how often do we find it difficult to converse with those of another race?
D. A women who had an incorrect view of God,
1. They don’t go to my church,
2. They may worship a god, but they don’t worship God.
3. Great, aren’t they the ones that need to hear the truth.
III. The need for Christ transcends all racial, ethnic and religious distinctions, but I digress.
IV. Jesus said in verse 10, - “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
A. There is something interesting going on in this sentence.
1. What is the gift of God?
2. We would probably say, “Jesus death on the cross.”
B. From this point in Jesus’ life, the cross is yet future.
1. One would expect that the tense of the verb “knew” in this case would be future, as in, “If you knew what I am going to make possible at the cross,”
a. But when Jesus refers here to “the gift of God,” the tense is not future, it is what is called “pluperfect”
b. The pluperfect tense is rarely used in Greek, but it refers to an event that was completed once and for all in past time.
C. I must be honest, I’m not exactly sure specifically what gift Christ is speaking of,
1. Is it life, as in Christ is he author of life,
2. Is it life, as in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the fullest.”
3. Is life, as in making God known, for in John 14 Jesus says, - If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” 8 Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
D. Perhaps it is all that and more, but I ask this, “What have you and I gained through knowing Christ?”
1. Yes we have gained eternal life, but though for us eternal life has already begun, the reality of eternal life is yet future
V. Looking back from the future, what else has knowing Christ done in my life?
VI. What living water do you already possess through knowing Christ as lord and savior?
VII. You see, we need to develop and awareness of the opportunities we have to share Christ, BUT,
VIII. We also need to develop an awareness of what knowing Christ has already accomplished in our lives.
A. Eternal life is what is ultimately important, BUT we must realize that for most people,
B. Life now is what is important to them.
C. I believe the assurance that God is working in our lives, TODAY is also important to us, whether we want to admit it or not.
IX. Lastly, we must develop a passion for the lost.
Develop A Passion For the Lost
I. We can have our eyes open for opportunities to enter into the lives of other people,
II. We can be aware of what God has done in our lives,
III. But; unless we develop a passion for the lost, the most we will do is marvel at whom and how God is at work bringing the lost to faith in Christ.
IV. I believe that verse 28 and 29 of this passage is probably the most challenging of all.
A. 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city, and *said to the men,
V. 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”
A. Here is a women that is on a mission.
VI. Consider for a moment,
A. I suppose it is possible that the women just happened to come to the well, at that time of day by chance,
1. Perhaps she had come out earlier to draw water, but she had to wash more pots than she had envisioned, and needed water earlier.
2. Perhaps she had overslept, and so her day started later than usual.
B. But I doubt it.
C. I believe this women probably went to the well at that time of day in order to avoid contact with others.
1. Married 5 times; even today very few people are married five times.
2. Living with a man, outside the context of marriage; we can only imagine what the other people thought and said about her.
D. No, it seems this women wanted to avoid coming into contact with many people as possible.
E. She had come to draw water,
1. I don’t know how larger her pot was, but I believe water weighs about 8 pounds per gallon, and she had to walk both ways.
2. Maybe she would tell everyone about this Rabbi she had met, but she could have taken her water pot with her.
VII. But the text states, “the women, LEFT her water pot.
A. This women who didn’t want to be in contact with people, left her pot, ran to town and although she asked a question, she basically said, “I’ve just met Jesus, and I thank God I’m alive. Why don’t you come and meet him too.”
B. What a change Christ has made in her life,
1. Now she can’t wait to talk with the town’s people,
2. People that probably scorned her, and laughed at her and ridiculed her, she can’t wait to lead them to the savior.
VIII. The question for us is, How anxious are we to tell others about this Jesus?
A. This one that offers life giving water to all that will drink?
B. What are we willing to leave behind, when the opportunity presents itself to share with any that will receive.
IX. Jesus said, “Lift up you eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest”, they just waiting on the reaper to come.
