What’s Inside of a Gift? John 4:10 (Use a nice wrapped gift for visual)
Jesus answered and said to her, “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.”
John 4:10TM Jesus 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.”
What’s inside most gifts? Love, time and physical labor to pay for the gift; Plus, hopefully, something the recipient needed.
What’s so important about this gift Jesus is willing to give to this Gentile woman? Throughout the OT the Jews rejected this gift called ‘living water.’
Listen to Jeremiah 2:13NKJ “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Yahweh is completely overcome over their rejection of His gift of living waters.
Let’s say I just won the lottery, and daily I see someone walking down the street, looking very tired. I stop and offer this person a brand new Rose Royce, Ins. and all the gas he’ll ever need. He thanks me, but a few days later I see this same person walking again. Of course, I stop and asks him where is the car I’ve given him? He say’s, “Well I didn’t feel worthy to drive such a nice car, so I’m walking again.”
Rejecting so great of a message, while rejecting parts of God’s inheritance given for you. Rejecting a higher calling. Wow.
The Old Testament metaphor in Jeremiah 2:13, spoke of the knowledge of God and his grace which provides cleansing, spiritual life and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
Listen to more of this story in John 4:11-15NKJ The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
Jesus used this analogy of physical water to show the woman her need for spiritual transformation. Say this with me, “Lord, give me this water.”
Did she receive? She received a life transformation!
“5 things to remember and treasure upon receiving a gift.”
* First, Recognize its true beauty.
Isaiah 53:1-6TM Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this? 2-6 The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.
* The second thing to remember and treasure upon receiving a gift, “Realize it's given freely.”
Although "Free" it does not mean everyone has it. If the local bank was handing out free 100.00 bills today, does that mean you have one, no. You have to go to the local bank and ask for one of those 100.00 bills, and then when it is in your hands you can claim "I have that free gift!”
It’s free! You say, “Well that’s just too good to be true.” It is, isn’t it! PTL.
* The third thing to remember and treasure upon receiving a gift is, “Receive it.”
Put your hands out and say, “Thank you Jesus!” When this woman accepted Jesus’ offer she ran and told everyone.
* The fourth thing to remember and treasure upon receiving a gift is, “Open it.”
Eugene Peterson wrote about visiting a monastery. While on the way to the refectory for lunch, he and the monks he was visiting walked past a graveyard with an open grave. He asked one of the monks which member of the community had died recently, and he was told, "Nobody. That grave is for the next one." Every day, three times a day, as they walk to eat, the members of that community are reminded of what we spend our waking hours trying to forget. One of them will be the next one.
You really never know, so open the gift! Learn about His ways, gain product knowledge.
Psalm 119:105NKJ Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
The fifth thing to treasure upon receiving a gift is, “use it.”
Wear your salvation, give your testimony, and let your light shine!
Benediction.
