Sermon. God’s Answer for a Thirsty World
John 4:5-26
Introduction: Jesus travel from Judea on his way to Galilee. Jesus is compelled to go through Samaria. We find Jesus being wearied with his journey, sat by the well at Sychar. John gives us important items about the humanity of Jesus. He tells us how he sat as a way worn traveler, hungry and thirsty at Jacob's well. The disciples had gone into the city to buy food. Somehow this important story has been given to provide for us lessons on personal evangelism. Jesus understanding the assignment of the church, allows us see evangelism 101 in action.
As story is told of a family conversation, "One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, there’s something about the preacher’s message this morning that I don’t understand." The mother said, "Oh? What is it?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. He said God is so big that He could hold the world in His hand. Is that true?" The mother replied, "Yes, that’s true, honey." "But Mommy, he also said that God comes to live inside of us when we believe in Jesus as our Savior. Is that true, too?" Again, the mother assured the little girl that what the pastor had said was true. With a puzzled look on her face the little girl then asked, "If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?"
Is Jesus shining through us? Are we telling people about salvation through Jesus Christ? Or let me rephrase, are we getting out in highways and hedges and sharing the gospel with the lost world?
1. Be led by the Spirit. In Jesus’ example, we see a compelling desire. He senses God leading him to a certain place. (v. 4) HE HAD TO GO THROUGH SAMARIA. We in the church expect people to come to us, when Jesus commanded us to “go” to them. We need to (1) Start from where people are. People are thirsty and sooner or later we will find them looking for water. (2) Start from lower than they are – Jesus asked for a drink. Human nature wants to exalt its self-image and look down on others. Intimidating the lost with lofty religion does nothing but turn them away. We are only beggars telling other beggars where we found bread. So, Jesus said, (v. 7-9) WILL YOU GIVE ME A DRINK? Sensing her discomfort, Jesus asked her for water. But she was too streetwise to think that all He wanted was a drink. “Since when does an uptown fellow like you ask a girl like me for water?” She wanted to know what He really had in mind. Her intuition was partly correct. He was interested in more than water. He was interested in her heart.
2. Be Open to The Holy Spirit. Pray That the Holy Spirit Help Us Push the right buttons. a) Water – immediate interest b) Husband – deep hearted interest, lonely c) Soul thirst – for something real and meaningful, fulfilling, enriching. Jesus mentions LIVING WATER. The language was familiar to her as it had been used by the prophets of Old. Jeremiah had mentioned the “fountain of living waters.” The prophets looked forward to a time when “living waters shall flow from Jerusalem” (Zech. 14:8; Ezek. 47:9). The living water spoke of that which provides cleansing, spiritual life, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. John applies these themes to Jesus Christ as the living water, which is symbolic of eternal life, mediated by the Holy Spirit from Him. Jesus used the woman’s need for physical water to sustain life in the arid region in order to serve as an object lesson for her need for spiritual transformation. In this simple phrase, there is everything she needed to be saved. He told her what it was, "the water of life". He told her who controlled it, He did. He told her how to get it, "ask Him", and "receive it".
3. Be caring and compassionate Friend. This friendly conversation exposed the right button. If you know what has deep meaning or interest to them, you have a starting place. You need to know what they believe about the Word of God and Jesus so you will know what you must work with. Someone who doesn’t believe the Bible is the word of God will not be convicted or convinced by the Scriptures.
Illustration: One day, in 1888, Alfred Nobel picked up the morning newspaper and read his obituary. It was his brother who had passed away, but an over-zealous reporter, who had failed to check the facts, wrote that the world saw Alfred Nobel as the inventor of dynamite, an armaments manufacturer, a merchant of death. Because of this unusual chance to see his life as others saw it, Nobel resolved to make clear his true desire for peace. He arranged that the income from all his fortune would fund an award to be made to those persons who did the most for the cause of peace. And so, today we remember Alfred Nobel not as an arms merchant, but as the founder of the Nobel Prize for Peace.
(v. 16) CALL YOUR HUSBAND – Since the woman failed to understand the nature of living water Jesus was offering, He abruptly turned the conversation to her spiritual need for conversion and cleansing from sin. His intimate knowledge of her morally depraved life not only indicated His supernatural ability, but also focused on her spiritual condition.
ILLUS: One day a lady criticized D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody’s reply was "I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?" The lady replied, "I don’t do it." Moody retorted, "Then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it." -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 178.
4. Be a student of the Word of God, yet don’t forget the power of your testimony. Be ready to give an answer or be able to find any answers you asked about the Bible or salvation. Jesus being the “Word made flesh” was able to answer perfectly. We, being imperfect beings won’t always be able to answer perfectly, but we should be able to find our way to truth and help guide others.
(v.20) The woman’s worship question revealed the gaping hole in her soul. “Where is God? My people say he is on the mountain. Your people say he is in Jerusalem. I don’t know where he is.” I’d love to have seen the expression on Jesus’ face as he heard those words. Did His eyes water? Did He smile? Did He look up into the clouds and wink at His Father? Of all the places to find a hungry heart – Samaria? Of all the people to be searching for God – a woman? Of all the people to have an insatiable appetite for God a – a five-time divorcee? And of all the people to receive the secret of the ages, an outcast among outcasts? The most “insignificant” person in the region? (v. 26) Remarkable. Jesus didn’t reveal the secret to King Herod. He didn’t request an audience of the Sanhedrin and tell them the news. It wasn’t within the colonnades of a Roman court that he announced his identity. No, it was in the shade of a well in a rejected land to an ostracized woman. His eyes must have danced as he whispered the secret. “I am the Messiah.”
(v. 28-29) Did you notice what she forgot? She forgot her water jar. She left behind the jug that had caused the sag in her shoulders. She left behind the burden she brought. Suddenly the insignificance of her life was swallowed by the significance of the moment. “God is here! God has come! God cares … for me!” That’s why she forgot the water jar. That is why she ran to the city. That is why she grabbed the first person she saw and announced her discovery, “I just talked to a man who knows everything I ever did … and He loves me anyway!” When a person is truly evangelized, they in turn become evangelist.
5. Be an Evangelist. (v. 39) The power of a life that has been turned around can’t be denied. The people who knew this woman couldn’t deny the sudden transformation they witnessed in her. Just look around the church, do you see any changed lives? If your life has been changed by the power of God then you must share this truth with others, allow them to see the difference Christ has made in your life. (v.42) I love this verse; it’s so encouraging when I think of it in the context of the church. The town’s people believed because of the woman’s testimony and came and checked out Jesus, but when they spent time with the Lord themselves, they were even more convinced by knowing Him personally. When a believer attends church studies, prays and grows closer to Jesus through an intimate relationship with Him, it does nothing but build their faith.
What does this story say to you about the Love of God? What does it say about the Lord’s desire for evangelism? How does your life and heart line up with these truths?
ILLUS: Some years back as you traveled along I-10 in Louisiana there was a large billboard which would catch your eye. It stood high above the city just as you started up the Mississippi River bridge. On it was a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross of Calvary, head bowed. The caption underneath said in bold letters, "IT’S YOUR MOVE!" What a powerful thought. God has already taken the initiative in salvation. Christ died for you. Now--it’s your move! --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 70.
