Introduction:
In a month or so many of us will be planting our gardens. Mainly talking about flowers, what is the difference between a perennial and an annual? Perennial= having a life cycle lasting more than two years. Annual= living only one growing season.
In our lives are we planting annuals or perennials. In the view of eternity are our lives filled with annuals or perennials?
In our lives there are a lot of temporary things. Scrapbook filled with pictures, relationships that were beautiful for a while- and then were no more.
Experiences, accomplishments that were enjoyable for a season- and then they were gone or no longer satisfying. A lot of temporary, a lot of annuals. The longer we live the more tired we get of temporary. We want something perennial, eternal.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV.
World is searching for peace and satisfaction but so many times they look at annual things, not eternal. God has created us with this vacancy inside that can only be filled with something eternal- with something that has no ending. Hole in our heart that will not go away
Friendships end, romances end, even marriages- by death or divorce, end. Every pleasure ends, every experience ends. Our heart gets tired of saying again, “It’s over.” God made us for something perennial- something that is never over. Only something eternal can fill the hole in our hearts.
Read John 4:7-18
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. Annual thing.
Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst- a perennial thing.
Jesus then asks her to bring her husband so he can tell him about these things.
Here is where the woman is searching for satisfaction, in annual things, and not perennial things. 5 husbands and now living with another man.
None of her relationships lasted. Don’t know exactly but her problem was that she was looking for something perennial in the wrong place. No earth relationship can ever satisfy the eternity appetite in our hearts.
This is why the woman is so excited and intrigued by this man Jesus. He is offering her something that is not temporary but eternal. Love and satisfaction that never die.
A Christian is to be focused on eternal things, perennials. A Christian is to be different from this world because he has found and understands that this earth is temporary. He lives for God. “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever.” 1 John 2:17, NIV.
The Bible makes it plain that a Christian is not to marry a non Christian. Why? Because the Christian has eternal things on his mind. The non Christian just has annuals. Different outlook, different beliefs, different culture, different mind.
From Matthew 19, Jesus says that a husband and wife are joined by God. However, if the husband and wife are not focused on God, with eternity, then being joined is not that important. Can always get someone better.
Being one flesh means one in heart and soul and body. Achieving unity is impossible without the power of Jesus. Romans 6 teaches us that unity with Christ creates a new person. This new person can then achieve unity with another human being. The joys of a good marriage are based on a biblical relationship with Christ that has rewards in this life and beyond!
Not concerned with eternal things, we will not be concerned about until death due us part.
Need a third party. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12, NIV.
Augustine- You have made us for yourself, and our souls are restless until they rest in You.
Thesis: How can we be spiritually well?
For instances:
1. Don’t look to things of this world to give us satisfaction and fill us
The wisdom of the world tells us we must search and find our own purpose.
How have people fared by finding their own purpose? Annual things. Broken relationships, scarred lives, emptiness, loneliness, shattered dreams, substance abuse.
The great things is that our hunger and restlessness can be satisfied. Not by people, possessions, or money- but only by being filled with God’s presence and having a relationship with Him. We were made to live eternally, make to live in a relationship with God. Someone who is above us and beyond us to give us purpose.
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. ” Psalms 42:1, 2, NIV.
Unfortunately, people-both those outside the church and many inside- have failed to recognize in those hunger pains a deep longing for God.
Many people identify their hunger as the need for a relationship, which it is. But they look for the perfect relationship with another person. Try to fill void with parent, spouse, or child.
The place to invest our heart, soul, mind is with God. Great Commandment.
Until we understand this and respond to God’s love offered in JEsus Christ, we are like the prodigal son, searching again for the security of our home. Our search will end in disappointment until we search for God. No human relationship, no job, no possession, and no amount of money or success can ultimately satisfy us.
Need to taste God’s goodness. “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Psalms 34:8, NIV.
“Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.” Psalms 73:25, 26, NIV.
2. Don’t look for soul satisfaction in marriage.
People come to me and I counsel them before marriage. “This man or woman is just perfect, we will get married and live happily ever after. Everything will be wonderful, just like paradise.” What a dream! They get this from hollywood. The only perfect mate is God.
God is the eternal lover whose relentless courtship culminated in Jesus Christ. The lover finally came for His bride. God is the only one who can fill our deepest needs.
Read sections from Ephesians 5:21- 33 and especially emphasize vs. 32: “This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:32, NIV.
No other person on this earth loves us so, or is a better spouse.
Now God is a jealous lover. Have no other gods before me. God becomes upset when we abandon Him for somebody else as any spouse would.
Need to remember that the marriage covenant is temporary. Listen to Jesus here: “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Mark 12:25, NIV.
“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be friend of world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?” James 4:4, 5
Conclusion and invitation:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6. Jesus’ promise to us that those who have lived in a state of spiritual hunger “shall be filled.” The term “be filled” is the same term that was used to mean to “fatten up cattle,” to “fill full.” Jesus’ intention for us is to fill ourselves us “full” with Him. He will bring us to a full state of spiritual health because we can feast and drink from Him till we are full. He quenches our thirst with the “springs of living water” that “flow from the throne of grace.”
In his best selling book called, “Into Thin Air,” Jon Krakauer relates the hazards that plagued some climbers as they attempted to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Andy Harris, one of the expedition leaders stayed at the peak too long and on his descent, he became in dire need of oxygen. Harris radioed the base camp and told them about his predicament. He mentioned that he had come across a cache of oxygen canisters left by the other climbers but they were all empty. The climbers who already passed the canisters on their own descent knew they were not empty, but full. They pleaded with him on the radio to make use of them but it was to no avail. Harris was starved for oxygen but he continued to argue that the canisters were empty. The problem was that the lack of what he needed had so disoriented his mind that though he was surrounded by something that would give him life, he continued to complain of its absence. The lack of oxygen had ravaged his capacity to recognize what was right in front of him. Friends, what oxygen is to the body, the Bread of Life is to the soul. Some of us are suffocating and starving and we don’t even know it. Jesus is offering life to us while we run around trying to appease our appetites. We will never be filled until we take of the Bread and Water of life, Jesus Christ.
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.” Isaiah 55:1-3, NIV.
