Thirsty Souls Series

One of the questions I ask, and even ask now, as I near the end of my life, is “So what?

So what? In other words, what difference did my life make, for good or for ill?

I suspect I’m not alone in asking these questions. I think one of our greatest needs in life is for meaning, for significance, to know that there is a purpose for living beyond our own pleasure, and to live according to that purpose.

And I’m betting this morning that at least some of you here want to know how you can be a difference-maker, how you can count for good in other people’s lives, and for the kingdom.

Of course, the person who really has that answer for you if you’re a believer is the Lord Jesus Christ. And for a course in how to make a difference for the Kingdom and for good in other people’s lives we’re going to look at one of my favorite Bible stories, the story of the Woman at the Well in John 4.

Now I’ve preached on this passage many times, so some of you might be fearful you’re going to hear a re-run this morning. But I want to assure you this is not the case. In the past I’ve preached this passage from the perspective of the person who needs to hear the Gospel. This morning I’m going to preach it from the perspective of someone who needs to share the Gospel.

As we’ve read, Jesus and His disciples are on their way to Galilee from Judea. And that necessitated a trip thru Samaria. Historically, the Samaritans were a group of Gentile peoples exiled to Samaria by their Assyrian conquerors 700 years earlier. They replaced the famous 10 Lost Tribes of the Northern Kingdom which Assyria had relocated to other parts of the world. These pagans then adopted the Jewish religion as their own. But there was just one problem. Since they were unclean Gentiles, the Jews would have nothing to do with them. So they weren’t allowed to participate in Jewish in the temple at Jerusalem. So the Samaritans perverted the Jewish faith and built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim in Samaria and claimed that was the place to worship God. So there was this hostility between Samaritans and Jews, because the Samaritans were really Gentiles and because they had perverted the Jewish faith. But Jesus would not avoid them, knowing that they needed to be saved from their sins just like the self-righteous Jews who avoided them.) So he was uncommonly friendly.

And that provides us with our first principle if we want to be a difference-maker. If we are going to be a difference-maker in the lives of others, it’s always going to come in the context of relationship. We are going to have to initiate in love others. We will need to be uncommonly friendly. If necessary, will need to break all the typical taboos and prejudices that would be barriers to a conversation and a relationship. It’s all going to begin with a conversation. It shouldn’t matter whether they’re Jewish, Samaritan, Black, White, Yellow, Mixed, Man, Woman, or in today’s odd society, trans, confused or questioning, Everybody needs to hear about Jesus. Their eternal destiny depends on it. And if we’ve got Jesus, and they don’t, we’re responsible.

And that’s exactly what we ought to be at all times, if we’re following Jesus, because that’s how Jesus was. And it caught that woman’s attention. She knew that this kind of behavior from a male Jew was not kosher. What possessed Him to even acknowledge her existence, much less talk with her? So she asked. She asked what, in a sense, motivated Jesus to do what he did.

Verse 9: “Therefore, the Samaritan woman said to Hi, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”

Jesus couldn’t lie, nor did He have any motivation to do so. It’s because He was on a mission. That mission, as we know from Luke 19:10, was to seek and save the lost. And so His reply reflected that concern for this precious, albeit very sinful, Samaritan woman.

Verse 10, “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.”

It was all for her, all about her, finding that gift of God—the free gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus was uncommonly friendly because He was committed to an uncommon purpose, an uncommon commission. He was all about saving this lady, and anyone and everyone who would hear Him from their sins. This would not only consume his life but take His life. He would literally give His life on the cross to save her and save us from the just penalty, hell, for our sins. For God so loved the world . . . !