LIVING WATER
John 4:1-26
We see within Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well a lesson on how to present the gospel. Let’s look at how Jesus interacted with her and what we can learn from it.
1) Be willing (vs. 1-9).
• Be willing to be inconvenienced (vs.6). “Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well”. If we are willing to be inconvenienced we will see the Holy Spirit at work. We are told it was noon. Typically no one came to draw water at the hottest point of the day. So this woman coming at this hour was unusual. And Jesus, as tired as he was, took advantage of this unusual opportunity. We will encounter situations that will seem unusual. I’ve had situations where I’ve ran into someone and the HS tells me to take advantage of this opportunity. We don’t run into people by coincidence; we don’t have chance meetings. We may encounter people during the most inopportune times. What will we do? Let the opportunity pass by because we don’t feel like getting involved in the conversation? Or will we say, ‘your will be done, Lord’? I’ve been guilty of letting an opportunity slip away because I didn’t want to be inconvenienced. When I do the HS convicts me. I’ve had times where I would be driving and come across a person and I knew God wanted me to stop and engage them but I kept driving by. Sometimes I was willing to be inconvenienced and I would turn the car around and go back and experience the opportunity to be a blessing in someone’s life. We miss out on blessings for them and for us when we are unwilling to be inconvenienced. If we want to be a good witness for Christ we are going to need to be willing to be inconvenienced.
• Be willing to associate (7-9). There had been hostility between the Jews and Samaritans for centuries. Kind of like a Hatfield&McCoy thing going on. Samaritans were “half-breed” Jews who intermarried with the people of the region who were brought there by the king of Assyria during the exile of Israel. Normally, Jews would not have been willing to travel the route that Jesus went. Palestine was 120 miles long with Galilee to the north, Judea to the south and Samaria in the middle. It was easiest when going from north to south or vice versa to go through Samaria. But because of the longstanding feud the Jews would take the long way around to avoid having to deal with the Samaritans. Jesus would have none of it. I’m sure his disciples weren’t too happy when they realized where Jesus was going. Further yet, when Jesus sent them into town to buy food I’m sure they weren’t too happy about that either. We’re not told but hopefully they encountered some friendly Samaritans so they could have their predisposed prejudices dismantled. Jesus’ willingness to associate with this woman actually “broke” three ethical standards. First, she was a woman and it would be frowned upon for a Rabbi to associate with a woman by herself. Second, she was a Samaritan and we already know why that would be a problem. And third, she was a sinner, and we know Jesus got some flack from the religious leaders for hanging around with sinners. But Jesus was willing to dismiss all those barriers in order to present to her the truth that would bring her freedom. This woman probably could’ve dropped dead carrying her water back to town and no one would care much. But Jesus saw her in a different light. That’s how we need to be. Who’s your ‘Samaritan’? Who’s the type of person you’re unwilling to associate with? The poor person? The rich person? The black person? The white person? The person with mental issues? The homosexual? The addict? The convict? No matter what race, background or status someone has, if the Lord wants us to go and share the gospel with them we should go. Who cares what someone else may think of us doing so? Who cares if it will tarnish our reputation to be seen with certain people? This is the message of salvation we’re talking about. People are dying and going to hell. Let’s put a stop to our pride and prejudice and love everyone. Rom. 12:16, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. If we are going to win people to Christ we need to be willing to associate with anyone.
2) Be alluring (vs. 10-15).
• Draw them in (vs. 10-12). “I have living water”. Jesus started with a practical statement, “give me a drink”. But it was leading to a spiritual application. If we can use a literal item to highlight a spiritual truth it can register with people on a greater level. Like if we are with someone who is a person of means and they have a lot of possessions they might treasure. We can use that as a segway into talking about heavenly treasures that are far more valuable and more worthwhile to obtain. We need to be able to say something that would be intriguing to people; something that will get their attention. This woman, along with most everyone, knew the importance of water for survival. Jesus is saying, “You know how important it is to have water, you’re willing to come out at the hottest point of the day just to get some. Well, I’ve got something better that just plain ‘ol water; I’ve got living water.” He would definitely have her attention with this. “I was on my honeymoon in the Bahamas when a man walked up to me and said, "Would you like to buy some cocaine? You can tell everyone how much you really enjoyed the Bahamas." After I said "No!" and got over the shock of that man’s boldness, I wondered how Jesus would have responded if someone came up to him selling drugs. Later that day, someone else came up to me selling drugs and that gave me another chance to share Jesus with them in a most creative way. After he told me that he had the "good-stuff", I asked him, "What have you got?" "Cocaine!” he said. I responded with, “Is that all you have? I’m disappointed! I was hoping you would have something better than that. You see, I’ve got the real thing! What I have is all natural, pure and very powerful. And it makes me feel great all day and all night. And get this, it may be illegal in some countries, but not in this one, so you can’t get arrested for having it! By this time the man was very curious and asked me what this incredible "stuff" was. I said, "I’m talking about Jesus! It’s awesome what he will do for you when you get him inside of you! No drug in the entire world is as good as having Jesus in you." The man stopped smiling and got this real serious look on his face and said, "I want what you have. How do I get it?" This person knew what to say to get his attention. We need to draw them in.
• Hook them (vs. 13-15). “Drink your water you’ll be thirsty again. Drink my water and you will never thirst again.” Once we have their attention we need something to hook them. Like a fisherman. He drops his line in the water and he gets the fish’s attention with the bait. Once the fish takes the bait, he’s hooked. When Jesus called Peter and Andrew he said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Practical statement with a spiritual truth. They were fishermen so they could relate to the process of bait and hook so they could understand Jesus better when he used this illustration to describe the process of fishing for men. Like a salesman, we need a hook to get people interested in what we want to present to them. Entice them with a promise to be able to deliver something that will meet their need. I can see Jesus doing that when he said in Matt. 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” What did he do there? He made an appeal to those who he knew were under heavy burdens. “What? Rest from my burdens? I could sure use some of that. Tell me more.” If we encounter someone who is emotionally drained or worn out from life’s difficulties and worries we can explain to them that they can have their burdens lifted. When we present the gospel we need to captivate them.
3) Be revealing (vs. 16-26).
• Reveal their need (vs. 16-18). “Go call your husband”. Jesus got to the heart of the matter. He revealed the source of her hope-a relationship with a man. It is believed that the reason why this woman was fetching water at midday was to avoid the other women. She was an outcast because of her history with men. This would cause her to be lonely, depressed and feeling hopeless. She probably attached her self-worth to whoever she was with at the time. Jesus saw the pain reflected in her countenance. He wanted to expose her fallacy in trusting in what the world had to offer. “You’re hope is in worldly ‘water’. Put your trust in ‘heavenly water’. You keep coming up empty. You keep having to go back to the well. Drink of the water of salvation and you will never be empty again.” Here also we see a willingness on Jesus’ part to address the difficult subjects. He was willing to say something that could be confrontational. He was willing to offend. What we see Jesus doing here is not the typical way evangelism is done today. “What? Point out their sin? No; let’s just present them the love, grace and forgiveness part. We don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable by talking about sin.” That’s not what Jesus did here. James Boice said, “In the Bible, whenever a person meets God, it always produces feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment and terror in the worshiper. These are all painful emotions, and we are doing everything possible in our culture to avoid them.” Part of revealing a person’s need for Jesus comes in revealing their sin. You can’t be whole unless you’ve been broken. I’m not saying we should always go after the sensitive issues when we encounter someone for the first time. However, if there’s a possibility that we might never see this person again, we may need to go there. The main point is that Jesus was led by the Spirit. Therefore, we need to be as well. People are different. They’re in different circumstances with different backgrounds with different personalities. We see Jesus telling Nicodemus that one must be born again but we don’t see Jesus saying the same thing to the Samaritan woman. Why? Does the way of salvation vary from person to person? No; just the method of getting them there. We need to meet people where they’re at. We need to say what will get their attention. Jesus was sitting at a well with this woman so he used the illustration of living water. Jesus did with this woman the same thing he did with Nicodemus-he exposed a need. He just used different terms to bring each of them to the same realization. If we are going to reach people for Christ, we need to reveal their deep and desperate need for Christ.
• Reveal their resistance (vs. 19-24). “…but you Jews claim…” She evaded Jesus’ direct insight into her character. We need to be ready for when people change the subject. Notice Jesus didn’t say, “That has nothing to do with what I just asked you.” Instead he responded to her statement. Yet in responding to her statement Jesus still got his point across. He still was able to address her great need. “You’re focused on the wrong thing. You’re concerned about where you worship more than what you worship.” People can be like that today. Some people are going to church thinking they are giving true worship but they are not worshipping in spirit and in truth. Instead they are just going through the motions. Their worship doesn’t extend outside of the church walls. They’re worshippers but they are not true worshippers; the ones the Father seeks. They are worshipping a god of their own desires, a god of their own making. Matt. 15:8-9, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” Their worship is in vain because it’s not spiritual; it’s superficial. When resistance is revealed we need to challenge it. It’s interesting is that this woman had to have been surprised that Jesus knew about her past yet she still resisted. We need to understand that it’s human nature to deflect, evade and resist. And even if we do respond to the exposed truth our nature is to rationalize, justify or minimize. Whatever the case, it’s our nature to avoid dealing with the truth about ourselves. When we share Christ with someone we need to be ready to deal with some resistance.
• Reveal yourself (vs. 25-26). “I am he”. We see that she was still avoiding after Jesus’ second statement (vs. 25). And again, instead of Jesus going after the fact that she was avoiding, he responded to her statement. But, in responding, Jesus, who had made statements exposing who she was, decided to expose who he was. When we present the gospel, what will help is when we are transparent and expose something about us. It helps people relate to us better. When we tell people our struggles or when we tell them about our journey we become more real to the people we are witnessing to. If we are willing to reveal ourselves we might expose similarities we have with the other person. If it’s something of an imperfection in they might say, “Oh, you deal with that too, I thought I was the only one.” Or if it’s a personal interest that’s matches theirs they become excited and say, “Oh, I’m into that too.” We make the person more comfortable with us and in turn they might open up more. Plus, when we show people that we’re not perfect it tells them that they don’t have to be in order to become a Christian. If we are going to win souls for Jesus we need to be willing to reveal ourselves.
How we witness to people is important. Learning key skills will help us to better engage people and hopefully draw them in and convince them to respond to the gospel of Christ.
