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Creating Thirst
John 4: 4-30
One of the things that I have always struggled with when I read the New
Testament is that Jesus welcomed all kinds of people. Jesus welcomed
Simon the leper, even though he was considered unclean and unfit for
God’s presence because of his skin disease. In fact, Jesus went into
Simon’s home and shared a meal with him. Jesus welcomed the woman caught
in adultery. The same woman the religious leaders wanted to execute.
Jesus welcomed the religious leader Nicodemus, even though Nicodemus
came at night so no one would see him visiting Jesus. And in our text
tonight we will see Jesus welcoming the Samaritan woman who’d had more
husbands than Elizabeth Taylor.
In every one of these situations Jesus welcomes them and offers them a
place in His family. You know we live in a society where many people
experience more pain than love and acceptance in their families.
Divorce, substance abuse, spousal abuse and stress from work or finances
twist our lives and kill our ability to feel and give acceptance.
The days of lifelong job security also seem to be over. Every
technological change creates new jobs but eliminates old ones. Simply
trying to survive at work requires so much energy that few people have
time for deep friendships with folks at the office. Many can’t depend on
their neighborhoods for acceptance. Sure, some people are blessed with
great neighbors. But most people are too busy working and fulfilling
responsibilities to make friends next door.
So where can we find the acceptance and love that our souls cry out for?
Well, how about the church? Tonight as we continue our discussion about
evangelism we need to clear up a misconception. Most of the evangelism
that I have been a part of or witnessed reminded me of the old cartoon
that pictured a medieval Crusader standing in full armor holding a
shield. He also held a long spear at the throat of a prisoner on the
ground. The prisoner on the ground struggles to say, “Tell me more about
your Christianity. I’m terribly interested.”
Evangelism is not hand to hand combat; it is an opportunity to share the
reason for your faith. We have all heard the old adage, “You can lead a
horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Well my father in law
owns a few horses and he says that isn’t exactly true. If you want to
make your horse drink all you have to do is rub a little salt on his
tongue. In other words if you want to make him drink you have got to
create thirst.
In John 4 we see Jesus encountering a woman that really needed a
relationship with the Prince of Peace. By every human standard, she
didn’t matter to anyone. If she had dropped dead carrying water back
from the well, people would barely have noticed. But she mattered to
Jesus, as a matter of fact she mattered so much He intentionally crossed
some barriers to get to her.
First Jesus crossed cultural barriers.
Verse four says He had to go through Samaria. That statement is true
geographically, but it wasn’t true culturally. Does that make sense to
you? Samaria was straight north if a traveler was headed to Galilee. But
no self-respecting Jew would travel through Samaria. The proper Jew
would cross over the Jordan River, then go north, then back west to get
to his destination. The Jews hated the Samaritans because they weren’t
pure and felt betrayed by their religious heritage. Jesus had to go
through Samaria, not because He had a faulty GPS navigation system, but
because He wanted to keep divine appointments.
Next Jesus crossed social barriers.
Think deeper about her situation. Women had no power. She hadn’t
divorced one husband after another and moved from one to the next and
the next and the next. She didn’t move from man to man. She was
discarded by one after another. Now, she’s living with someone. He’s not
her husband. And that’s not necessarily because she has no standards,
but because no one cared about her.
Thirdly, Jesus crossed religious barriers.
The disciples were raised in a culture greatly different than the
Samaritan culture. They would be shocked out of their minds when they
return from Piggly Wiggly and find Jesus conversing with a woman of the
Samaritans. Much of what He demonstrated here conflicts with learned,
practiced religious behavior.
But He’s not concerned about anyone’s opinions of His actions. He’s
consumed and compassionate about self-destructing people. He forces His
followers -- and us -- to take a hard look at our cultural attitudes,
especially self-righteous ones. He crosses barriers to put Himself in
contact with the woman, and he expects us to cross a few barriers as
well.
So how did he do it? Well He didn’t say or do anything there that you
and I couldn’t have done. He was simply a Jewish man meeting a Samaritan
woman at a well and asking for water.
It is important to notice that this Samaritan woman was not an eager
convert in fact; she was just an indifferent woman. She had not come to
Jesus to hear about salvation. She had come to a well to get a bucket of
water. Most of the people that cross our paths are not looking for a
salvation experience, they are looking to borrow a stapler in the
office, or looking to get by us and get that can of soup off the shelf.
But Jesus knew what this woman needed, it is the same need that everyone
of us has, the need to be loved and accepted.
Now, it wasn’t that she was not interested in spiritual things. I mean
she’s more than willing to discuss religion with Jesus. But when Jesus
began to get a little too close, when Jesus begins to bring up her past
and her sin, she started getting defensive. And she tried to sidetrack
the conversation. I understand that. We talk everyday with religious
people, who are not afraid to talk about religious things as long as
they are out there. But when the spiritual discussion begins to shed
light on the dark corners of my life, well then I am ready to change the
subject or bolt.
But in our text, Jesus doesn’t get sidetracked. Jesus had set His mind
toward changing this woman’s life and nothing was going to deter Him
from that objective. But before he could make a difference in her life
he had to get her thirsty, and we notice this the things He said to her
and how He said what He said to her did just that. It created a thirst,
that caused her to say: "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever
did. Could this be the Christ?" John 4:29
What we need to see tonight is the thing that Jesus did with this
Samaritan woman to cause the thirst is something that you can do as
well, it’s not that hard! So, what did He do?
Jesus talked to her.
You might say, “that’s nothing big!” And you’re right. That is nothing
big, but it’s more than most Christians do. When most of us think about
“sharing our faith” or “witnessing” or “talking about Jesus”, we think
in terms of talking at people (arguing, convincing, overcoming
objections, etc.), not talking with them.
When I was in college I was working with a girl who was a Seventh Day
Adventist and would often throw Biblical references around in her
conversations with others. Being a Biblical Counseling Major I felt
compelled to study with her and straighten her out. So I spent 6 weeks
looking up every belief she held, and every scripture to combat what she
believed. Then when I felt that I was ready I asked her if we could
study, and she agreed. We set a date to sit down and talk, I gathered my
materials, and to put it mildly we went at it. For two hours we went
back and forth point and counter point. The study ended when she said
that I was a close minded buffoon. I left the victor and she left in
tears.
The next day at work a friend that I went to church with asked me how it
went, and I replied that I won. She got this sick look on her face and
asked me “What did you win?” Smugly I replied the bible study. She said
Jeremy, if you won the Bible study, you lost her soul.
I was confused; I thought the whole purpose was to have all the answers
show her the error of her ways and she would just jump right into the
water. But it didn’t happen. Aleah, taught me a valuable lesson that
day, it’s important to talk to people, not at them. Jesus did that. He
talked to the woman at the well, not at her. But Jesus didn’t stop
there.
Jesus talked to her about Spiritual things
They got to talking about water. It was a common enough topic to
discuss. And then Jesus uses that topic as a springboard to talk about
something more eternal and lasting. He said to her: "Everyone who drinks
this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give
him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13
Jesus started by talking about the things that interested this woman,
the whole reason she was there in the first place, water. And then ever
so naturally, He started talking about God.
Most of us feel comfortable talking about things that interest us and
others. Things like sports, or our favorite TV programs, or our favorite
hobbies, or things we like to eat or drink. We feel comfortable
discussing those common interests with others. But then we get
uncomfortable talking about our faith. I have often wondered why we get
uncomfortable talking about spiritual things. And then I realized it’s
because we haven’t learned how to share our faith.
All to many of us are stuck in the idea of talking at people. And that’s
part of what makes us uncomfortable. Our faith shouldn’t be something we
throw at people. It is nothing that we should have to force down
someone’s throat; it should be something we give to people. Our faith
should make people thirsty.
What do I mean? Well here is a practical example: Let’s say you have a
friend who is having problems at work, or with their health, or with
their kids, or whatever. This is a great chance to create a thirst in
their lives. Ask them if you can pray with them.
Now I am guilty of saying I’ll pray for you. That’s missing a great
opportunity; instead let’s say can we pray right now! Just close your
eyes then and there and begin appealing to God on their behalf. This
tells the person you’re praying for two things:
You care enough for them to not just say you’ll pray for them, but to
actually do it in front of them. And
You’re telling them that you believe enough in your God to put your
faith on the line. To pray and ask God to do something for them. That
you have an active faith, not just a Sunday go to meeting faith.
Now, praying with people is one way to create that thirst. Another way
is by tell people what Jesus means to you. Tell your story. Tell what
God has done in your life. Remember last Sunday night I asked you three
questions:
Why did you become a Christian?
How has being a Christian changed the way your life has turned out?
Why are you a Christian?
Did you think about those questions last week? Why you became a
Christian to begin with is part of your story. Has God done anything in
your life since that time? That’s part of your story too.
People will listen to your stories about Jesus and those stories will
create a “thirst” in people. I am trying to be better at this. I want to
tell how I’ve seen God at work in other people’s lives, or how He has
worked in my family or in my own life. And I make a deliberate attempt
to do this. I want people to love Jesus like I love Jesus. So I tell
them these stories over and over again because I want to create thirst
for Jesus.
The most amazing part of the text to me is the next thing Jesus did to
create a thirst in this woman, He let her go!
Look again at John 4:25-28
Jesus had been talking with this woman, she is right on the verge of
making a decision, up walks his disciples and she slips away. And He let
her go!
Now, if it had been me, I’d have said: “Wait! Don’t Go! Come Back! We’re
not done yet!” But He let her go. Now, I don’t how it is with you, but
it used to be when I’d get in a conversation with people about Jesus and
I was trying to “share my faith” with them there was this anxiety that
overcame me.
There was something inside of me that believed that every conversation I
had with people about Jesus just had to end in the water. And there was
this nagging doubt that if I didn’t get the person to make a commitment
right there and then that – somehow I’d failed. I mean, I may never get
another chance like that again.
But Jesus was more than willing to let this woman walk away. Why?
Because people take time to process information. Often we don’t make a
decision over night. Sometimes we have to think about what we’ve heard.
Decide if the decision we want to make is really the right one. Our best
decisions often take place after we’ve talked to several people about an
idea or concept we eventually embrace.
That’s why I never get upset when no one responds. Now I want to give
you every opportunity to share joy and trials with us, but to me it is
more important if I can get you to think. Well though out decisions
always last longer that emotional ones.
There’s one more thing I want us to consider tonight. I don’t think
Jesus’ meeting with this at the well was an accident. I don’t think
Jesus just happened to be there when she came out to get water. I
believe this encounter was the result of intense prayer by Jesus.
The Apostle Paul asked the church in Colossi to “pray for us… that God
may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of
Christ, for which I am in chains.
And then, in Ephesians he wrote: “Pray also for me, that whenever I open
my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the
mystery of the gospel”
Paul believed – that when God’s people prayed, His preaching gained
power, hearts were opened, and lives were changed
Do you know how much Jesus prayed???
He prayed in the morning
He prayed in the afternoon
Sometimes He prayed ALL night long
And these were prayers that went beyond “God bless ‘so and so…’”
He was praying every day for opportunities to arise. For the crowds to
be prepared for His message. And for men and women to be at the right
place at the right time.
That’s the best way that we can create thirst. Allow God to stir the
desire in people’s hearts and souls, so that He can use us to direct
them back to Him.
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