Running on Empty
July 4th, 2010
Introduction: As a teen in the70's one of the classic songs was Jackson Brown's Running on Empty. Listen to it with me.
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one
I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to, to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Honey, you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I'd love to stick around
But I'm running behind
Running on
You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find
Running behind
Running into the sun but I'm running behind
© SWALLOW TURN MUSIC;
Jackson Brown's classic song from the 70's points to one of the great paradoxes that I can think of in my life. In a country where there is unbridled spiritual freedom so many people are running on empty.
It's the fourth of July and we're celebrating the Freedoms we have as Americans. And in the Bill of Rights the First Ten Amendments to our constitution, the very first, says this.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof... "
The Free Exercise Clause is the accompanying clause with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
And they guarantee that as Americans one of our basic rights is the freedom to pursue spiritual fulfillment.
The government can't tell anyone how to do, nor can they prevent us from seeking it, or having discovered it sharing it with others.
So here is the paradox, we live in the place where people are the free to pursue spirituality in its fullest. Yet for many instead of discovering spirituality in its fullest, they are "Running on Empty."
It's actually hardly surprising. When the Forgiver, Jesus was in processing of proclaiming freedom, he regularly met people running on empty.
I want to take few moments and look at a story of a woman running on empty, I want to take a look at her encounter with the forgiver and see how he addressed her Running on Empty.
John 4:6-42? I reading from "The Message."
6Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
7-8A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
9The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
10Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water."
11-12The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?"
13-14Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst--not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."
15The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!"
16He said, "Go call your husband and then come back."
17-18"I have no husband," she said.
"That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."
19-20"Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"
21-23"Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming--it has, in fact, come--when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
23-24"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself--Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
25The woman said, "I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story."
26"I am he," said Jesus. "You don't have to wait any longer or look any further."
27Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.
28-30The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?" And they went out to see for themselves.
Epiloge:
39-42Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman's witness: "He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!" They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, "We're no longer taking this on your say-so. We've heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He's the Savior of the world!"
IN A WORLD WHERE WE CAN SO EASILY END UP RUNNING ON EMPTY, THE FORGIVER OFFERS US AN ALTERNATE EXPERIENCE.
The Cycle of Running on Empty
Fill the emptiness in our lives with distractions.
The woman in our story is running on empty and she has filled the void with what she hopes will over ocme the pain, the emptiness. In her case it is the distraction of relationships. She has been married five times and now is living with another man. Five times she thought she had found the answer and five times she was disappointed. Why care anymore? She shoves another relationship into the emptiness of her heart.
Look what it says.
16He said, "Go call your husband and then come back."
17-18"I have no husband," she said.
"That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."
We shouldn't be surprised. We're living in the midst of many who are running on empty. Our fixation on being entertained points to it.
It's amazing how much entertainment plays a huge role in our lives. We might be the most entertained age in all of history, yet we are also so easily bored.
TV, Dish TV, HDTV, Cable TV, Video, Netflix's, IPods, satellite radio, streaming radio, Internet, Books, audio books and electronic books, chat rooms IM's and twitters, x-boxes, play stations, game boys and PC all fill our lives with entertainment. In some desperate way we hope they will full us up. Answer our longs.
AFV was showing a grow man sitting on the couch overcome with emotion. He had just opened his Christmas present, which he hugged to his breast and repeatedly laid kisses upon it. What was it? An X-BOX.
Have you ever been seeking to fill up the emptiness with distractions?
Do you look for meaning in the things you buy?
The places you get to go on vacation?
Are you hoping that the next party keeps the emptiness at bay?
Have you ever run from one relationship to another?
Does entertainment try to hide the emptiness?
Do you find yourself staring pictures on an internet and imagining love or lust?
Do you imagine that a chat room holds satisfaction?
Are you running on empty, filling the emptiness with anything that distracts you long enough to forget it cloud?
This is the story of a very unique woman. She is a Samaritan. Her race. But in a region where the dominance of the insiders, those with a Jewish heritage
Hide the emptiness denying its pain
Have you ever found yourself dodging someone simply because the made you aware of your own emptiness. It seems that other people's lives are always better than yours. It's just easier to avoid them.
That's what the woman in this story is doing.
It's noon, the hottest time of the day. The gathering of water is a social event for women, but not his one. She'd have to face the disapproving looks of other women. Those who know the story that she's shacked up again. So she comes at noon.
6Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
7-8A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
Noon also offers her the best chance of not stumbling into a stranger, because her dress gives away the truth that she is a Samaritans, one of the disenfranchised in a region dominated by the politics of Jewish law, Roman law and religion. She's an outcast, she knows it. She doesn't need another reminder. So she comes at noon when no one else should be there.
9The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
When we're really empty we withdraw from others, because we don't want to face the pain.
Are you running on empty, withdrawing from life, withdrawing from others, simply because you're fed up with the emptiness, the hurt, the pain? You're not the first. If so you're like the woman bumping into Jesus at the well.
Believe the emptiness has no answer
There is an interesting thing about running on empty. It's not like running on empty in our cars. I was heading back from trout fishing in Castalia and my warning light went on in my car. It was one of those little gas pump Icons. It was telling me if I didn't pull into a gas station within ten miles I'd be walking. But the little icon also represented a promise to me. If a pulled into a gas station and added gas to my take, I could keep on going.
But when we're running on empty we'll disregard the warning signs and dismiss anything that may point to an answer. That's what the woman does when Jesus begins to challenge her emptiness.
Jesus begins to hint at an answer.
10Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water."
Look at her excuses
Practicality Excuses
11-12The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'?
Philosophical Excuses
Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?"
Cultural Excuses
19-20"Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"
Subjective Excuses
25The woman said, "I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story."
Unfortunately for some even when confronted with the answer many will still miss out simple because they have numerous excuses for why it can't be true.
The Discovering a New Alternative
Admitting our emptiness
"It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept." - Bill Watterson, Creator of Calvin and Hobbes.
We have to get past the selective reality that refuses to admit that even when we have it we covered up, even when we have shoved all sorts of other things into the void, we need to come to the place of admission that when we are confronted the great issues and questions of life, purpose, meaning and death we have no answers in ourselves. Until we reach that point we will live with the selective reality of our making shoving everything else into the space where on God fits.
Finally the woman in the story breaks, she's confronted with the reality and she breaks.
17-18"I have no husband," she said.
"That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."
Abandoning our excuses
When we've reached the place of admitting our emptiness we can finally come to the place of abandoning our excuses. The forgiver is incredible patient as she runs through all her tired excuses. She's used them so many times, she's got them down by heart at this time.
She gives up the argument.
Jesus gets the final word. Look what he has shared with her.
He promises satisfaction.
10Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water."
13-14Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst--not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."
He promises self worth.
21-23"Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming--it has, in fact, come--when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
He Promises Spiritual Life not mere religion
23-24"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself--Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
Accepting the Answer
She is presented with the answer, but we don't get to hear what she decides. The disciples show back up and she takes the hint that it's time to get out of there.
You see the accepting the answer is a personal thing. It's in her hands now.
27Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.
28-30The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot.
Having been confronted with the answer she must ultimately make a choice. Will she begin the journey?
Back in the village she told the people, "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?" And they went out to see for themselves.
NOTE:
* No big emotional experience.
* Unsettling -- left her pot, confusing.
* Willingness to explore the possibility that it's true.
The great step of faith in everyone's search for the answer to running on empty is are they willing to explore the possibility that it's really true. Jesus promises satisfaction, meaning purpose, and real life.
It's July 4th in America, the celebration of Freedom. Today I'm celebrating the freedom to explore the possibility that Jesus gives all of us to discover that he really is and he really makes a difference.
If you've been running on empty, is it about time to explore the possibility that it's true. The forgiver is the answer.
