Living Water?
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It was thanksgiving break of my freshman year of college. God had done a marvelous work in my heart that first semester of Bible college. For the first time I was really walking with Christ and I had a desire to share this amazing personal relationship with other people. I wanted others to know how incredible it was to know Christ as their Savior. I went home determined to share the gospel with one of my best friends from high school. I called him up on the phone, went over to his house, and hurled myself into a half hour conversation about the gospel. He sat at his desk staring into this computer monitor as I unloaded, like a machine gun, my explanation of the gospel. When I was done, we awkwardly made some small talk pretending like the previous conversation never happened, and we have never since discussed spiritual things.
Have you ever had an experience similar to this one? Or, maybe you have never shared the gospel with someone because you are afraid that it will go exactly like my own personal experience did.
But, this presents us with a problem. The problem is that we all need to be involved in giving the good news of the gospel. We all have been given the task of making disciples. So, how do we do that in a way that is effective? How do we share the gospel with people in a way that leads them to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior?
My suggestion is that we learn from Jesus Christ Himself. In the book of John I believe that we can learn principles of evangelism from the way Jesus gave the gospel. Why don’t we strive to be Christlike in the way He evangelized others? Why don’t we seek to imitate Jesus in every way possible?
Now we have to remember, who is the One that ultimately saves people? God does. We plant the seed or we water the seed but God gives the increase. So, can God use a half hour conversation about the gospel to bring people to saving faith in Jesus Christ? Yes. Can God use a tract that you hand out at the grocery store to bring someone to Christ? Yes. Can God use door to door evangelism, or street evangelism, or church programs like VBS to bring someone to Christ? Yes. God has and does uses these methods to save lost souls. I am not suggesting that the methods of evangelism we find in the book of John are the ONLY methods of evangelism. But, if these methods are truly the methods that Jesus Himself used, do you think that they will be effective if we use them as well? Can we think deeply about the way Jesus evangelized in order to be more Christlike in our own personal evangelism? And if we really work at it, do you think God might bless? Do you think God might use us to see people saved for His glory?
I believe, through the example of Jesus, we can learn several important principles of effective evangelism.
What are those principles?
I. Make people curious about spiritual things (vv. 1-15)
I. Make people curious about spiritual things (vv. 1-15)
The Setting:
1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
If you remember back to chapter 3, the disciples of John the Baptist were upset because many people were leaving John’s ministry and were becoming disciples of Jesus. And becoming a disciple of Jesus, being obedient to the Son, is exactly what genuine faith results in.
One of the other consequences of many people becoming disciples of Jesus was that the Pharisees caught wind of it, and this did not make them very happy. And Jesus knows this fact.
2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
As a brief aside John tells us that Jesus was not baptizing, but his disciples were. This again highlights the importance of baptism as the first step of obedience and identification as a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Why does John specifically go out of his way to not that while people were identifying as disciples of Jesus, they were not baptized by Jesus personally? If you are not sure of the answer I would encourage you to study I Corinthians 1:14-17.
3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
So Jesus leaves Judea because of the pressure of the Pharisees and begins the three day journey by foot to Galilee. And on his way he passes through Samaria. And he stops in as city called Sychar, and comes to rest at Jacob’s well around the sixth hour (around noon). It’s hot, he is tired, he is thirsty, he is in Samaria, at Jacob’s well- this is the setting in which Jesus goes to work as an evangelist.
Notice the Master evangelist at work-
The Evangelist:
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
This verse is a shocking verse if you are a Samaritan or if you are a Jew. Why? Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. What is so shocking about that? She is Samaritan- the Jews viewed the Samaritans with contempt, they viewed them as spiritually unclean, they viewed them as people to be avoided. And yet Jesus asks her for a drink. What else is shocking about this request? She is not only a Samaritan she is also a woman.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
This is shocking, this is simply something that is not done. And yet Jesus breaks all religious and cultural norms and he asks her for something to drink. In other words He does something that this woman cannot understand to make her curious. Does it work? “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria?” I don’t understand this.
Now, how does Jesus answer her? Does he take pains to correct her miss-understanding?
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
This should do it right? Jesus expertly cleared up any miss-understanding right? Actually, he does the exact opposite. Instead of answering her first question, he makes another statement that she cannot understand. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.”
If someone were to ask us to describe the different characteristics that water could assume, we might say that water can be hot, cold, running, polluted, wet, and so on. But what does “living water” look like? Does it have four legs and a head, or leaves like a tree? Plants, animals and humans are living – but water? As the woman understood immediately, Jesus did not mean drinkable water as opposed to “dead” polluted water. The water in Jacob’s well was drinkable, but Jesus was not referring to that. Did the woman understand what Jesus meant?
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
She has no idea! She still thinks Jesus in some way is talking about the water in Jacob’s well, but then again maybe not as seen by her next response.
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John 9. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (4:1–42)
To obtain water on this spot, even the patriarch Jacob had found it necessary to dig a well and to provide the means for raising the water from the deep hole. If Jesus was offering fresh water without expending the energy to dig or using the means provided, he was greater than Jacob, or a cheap charlatan. The woman has little doubt Jesus is the latter: the form of her question (v. 12) implies the answer was a decisive ‘No!’ in her own mind. But misunderstanding combines with irony to make the woman twice wrong: the ‘living water’ Jesus offers does not come from an ordinary well, and Jesus is in fact far greater than the patriarch Jacob—a point John’s readers can appreciate, even if the Samaritan woman has not yet grasped the point.
OK, now Jesus is going to clear things up right? He is going to say something that she can understand right?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Have you noticed that Jesus has not yet answered a single one of the Samaritan woman’s questions?
Question: How is it that you being a Jew offer me a drink?
Answer: If you really knew who I am, you would have asked me and I would have given you living water.
Question: Where are going to get that water, and are you greater than Jacob?
Answer: Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst again.
Why does Jesus refuse to answer her questions? Maybe, because she has not asked the right questions yet. Jesus does not let himself become sidetracked by unimportant issues. Instead, he continues to do things and say things to make the Samaritan woman curious about spiritual things. And he continues doing this until we get to v. 15
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Jesus continues to make statements that were incomprehensible, until the woman asked for the water for herself. “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw.”
This is a pattern in Jesus’ evangelism. He does this more than once, thus I would argue that this is a Christlike principle of evangelism that we can mimic after the example of our Savior.
The first thing that Jesus did was he aroused people’s curiosity. How? He did something that was not understandable- John 2 Jesus cleansed the temple, here in John 4 Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. Or, He made statements that were incomprehensible to them- John 2 “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” John 3 “Unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 4 “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.”
This strategy is a far cry from most of our past attempts at evangelism. Our thinking usually goes something like this: I want to witness to my friend, neighbor, or relative, but once I mention the subject of God or the Bible, I’ll never be able to talk to them again about it. They’ll reject me, turn me off, and it will be the end of our relationship. So, my only hope is to get them to listen to the whole gospel in this one shot.
What happens? We attack them with everything about sin and hell and love and God and death and resurrection and sanctification and justification and propitiation and – sure enough, they never want to speak to us again! We had only the one shot. We knew all along that it would happen that way. And if someone were to suggest to us that maybe we should have said or done something that they could hope to understand then only given them a small tidbit of the gospel, well, that is simply ridiculous! (It does sound rather odd, doesn’t it?)
How do we do that? How do we make people curious about spiritual things?
It could be something as simple as bringing your bible to work and reading it on your lunch break. Bring a pocket NT to work with you and pull it out and read a couple of verses when you know that people are watching you. You might make people curious enough to come up to you and ask, “What are you reading?” Once you have answered a curious observer with the two words the Bible, the door is open for you to ask, “Have you ever read it?” No matter what answer he or she gives, you can reply, “I’ve found the Bible to be very interesting and helpful.” With a few more comments, you can easily ask, “Would you like to read the Bible with me?”
This may take some work on our part. Knowing how to make people curious about spiritual things is a skill that anyone can learn. For instance, go home and think up 5 questions you could ask someone in your neighborhood, or someone at work, or someone in your community that would make them curious about spiritual things.
Employment:
“Is work an end in itself? Is there more meaning to my work than just receiving a paycheck?”
Hobbies and Sports:
“Why do some people run from one hobby (or job) to another, never seeming to be satisfied with life? What do you think makes a person satisfied with life?”
School:
“Why should you go to school/college – to get a job and earn money and get married and have children who grow up and go to college to get a job while you get old and die? Where is the meaning in it all? Does the Bible have anything to say about learning?”
You can use questions like this and many many more to make people curious about spiritual things. What if we all decided to be diligent in becoming experts in asking people in our Jerusalem questions that would make them curious about spiritual things. Do you think God could use that to use you to share the gospel in an effective Christlike manner?
What are you going to do about it? I challenge each one of you to go home and come up with at least three different questions that you could ask an unsaved friend that would make them curious about spiritual things and then actually do it!
Pattern your evangelism after the evangelism of Jesus Himself.
I believe, through the example of Jesus, we can learn several important principles of effective evangelism.
What are those principles?
Make people curious about spiritual things
II. Help people to clearly see their wrong thinking (vv. 15-24)
II. Help people to clearly see their wrong thinking (vv. 15-24)
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
The Samaritan woman finally asks for this water for herself personally. But before Jesus can give her the truth of the gospel, He confronts her wrong thinking.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
What is Jesus doing here? He is pointing out her problem. He is showing her from what she needs to be saved. We know from the story that this woman is truly seeking after God, but she is also living an immoral lifestyle. Jesus deals with her differently that he did with Nicodemus. Do you remember what Jesus did with Nicodemus? He attacked him, He verbally slapped him in the face- “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things?”
The Lord does not attack the Samaritan woman. Instead, Jesus simply told her, without accusing her, that He knew about her immorality. “You have well said, ‘I have no husband;’ for you have had five husbands; and the one whom you now have is not your husband.”
Wow, we can learn a lot from the example of Jesus. He didn’t condemn her for her sin. In fact, first Jesus showed himself to be friendly to her by asking her for a drink (something that any self-respecting Jew would never do), and then he pointed out that He knew she was in a non-married relationship, and at that point He did not condemn her.
But Jesus was showing her her wrong thinking. She was seeking for God in all the wrong places- apparently she was seeking satisfaction through husbands. Scripture teaches that husbands cannot take the place of God in a woman’s life.
5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
Peter tells us that a woman must first trust in God and then submit to her husband, not the other way around. She was seeking satisfaction, like the satisfaction of drinking water from a well, she was seeking it first in husbands rather than in God. From the beginning Jesus was exposing her wrong thinking. What this woman needed was not earthly water, but living water that only He could give her. He used her felt need to reveal to her the colossal error of her thinking.
The first step toward bringing a person to Christ is to make him doubt his own values and self-established goals. Eventually must realize their sin before a holy God.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
We are involved in a battle of the mind: the world’s and the Devil’s views of things versus God’s view of things. We have to help people change their thinking. By the way the best method of doing this is inviting them to read the Bible with you and letting the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God be a discerner of the thoughts and the intentions of their hearts.
Notice how the woman responds to Jesus:
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
There are two ways to look at her response. She might have gotten nervous because Jesus was hitting too close to home in her life. So, she attempts to change the conversation to one of the hottest theological debates of the day between the Jews and the Samaritans- the proper location for worship, Jerusalem or Mount Gerazim.
Or, again she might actually be searching for God, but she doesn’t know where to find Him- she has after all spent her whole life seeking fulfillment in husbands. Now that an actual prophet has come into her life she really wants to know where the proper place to seek God is- Jerusalem or Mt. Gerazim.
In either case Jesus did not allow himself to become distracted. He continue to correct her wrong thinking.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
What is Jesus saying to this woman? True satisfaction is only found in a relationship with God, and geography played no part in finding God, only Spirit and Truth.
Someone who truly worships the Father, must worship him not from a certain geographical location, but a true worshiper must do so in spirit and in truth. These kinds of people are the ones the Father is seeking to worship Him. God is actively seeking people who are seeking Him. The conditions of their seeking are “in spirit and truth.”
What does it mean to worship and seek God in spirit and in truth?
What does it mean worship God “in spirit”?
This could be a reference to the Holy Spirit. The only ones qualified to participate in genuine worship of the Father are the ones who have experienced this living water, which is like a well of water springing up into everlasting life. If you do not have genuine eternal life, spiritual life, then you cannot be a true worshiper of God. If you have not received the gift of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, then worshiping God is impossible.
Or this could be a reference to the human spirit. This would be a spiritual desire to seriously want something. Again, this kind of genuine spiritual desire for God is only something God can both produce and satisfy. It is something only found in Christ and in His Word.
What does it mean to worship God “in truth”?
This refers to God as He really is and not as humans want Him to be. Many people say they want to worship God, but if they don’t do so according to truth, according to the way God’s desires to be worshiped then it is not real worship.
This is a great way to make people curious about spiritual things. What does it really look like in our lives to seek and worship God in spirit and in truth. Do you worship God this way? How do you know?
How does this apply to our evangelism specifically?
Jesus was an expert at using people’s felt needs to challenge their wrong thinking. How can we do that? Jesus is God. It is no problem for Him to know people at a deep level. But you and I could never have done what Jesus did with the woman at the well right? How would we have know that she had 5 previous husbands and the man she was with no was not her husband. We cannot see people’s hearts. So what do we do?
1. Become a friend before you become a preacher-
It is true that we cannot see into people’s hearts, so we will have to do it the hard way. Become their friend. Get to know them personally before you start talking about spiritual things.
Asks lots of questions about them and take time to get to know them and then use their felt needs as conversation starters.
2. Make them curious about spiritual things, and be ready to help them see clearly where their thinking is wrong.
One of the ways this will manifest itself is helping them see why their excuses for not seeking God or not reading the Bible are wrong. We don’t have to overturn their entire worldview all at once. All we have to do is get them to question their foundation.
If you want to collapse an old building what is the easiest way to do it? Do you start with the shingles tearing them off one at a time? No, you take out a few of the foundation stones, and the house will collapse on itself. We don’t need to rip apart a person’s whole belief system all at once, we just need to find a person’s foundation stones and, with a few unsettling questions, remove them.
Jesus showed this woman that husbands cannot replace God, and that geography had nothing to do with worship.
If you ask your unsaved friend to read the Bible with you and they reply with, “You don’t seriously believe the Bible do you?” What are you going to do? Riddle them full of gospel bullet holes? Or, ask an unsettling question to show them their wrong thinking? You could say something like, “Have you ever read the Bible for yourself?” Well no, they might say, or I have read a verse or two.
How can you claim something to be false when you have never read it for yourself? We don’t treat any other book this way. No one picks up a book, turns to page 146, reads one sentence in the middle of the chapter and then closes the book writing it off as ridiculous. Why do we treat the Bible differently? Would you like to read the Bible with me sometime?
Our job is not to save the person. That is the job of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Our job is to make them curious about spiritual things, and them help them to see clearly their wrong thinking. Show them their thinking could be wrong. Challenge some key foundation stones so that they will start reading the Bible with you. This takes some work and fore-thought. This takes some reading and practice on our part. If we can anticipate in advance what objections our unsaved friends might have to the Bible we can be prepared to show them clearly their wrong thinking.
Imagine you asked your unsaved friend to read the Bible with you and they say “No thank you.” What do you say next? Do you have the courage to ask them, “Why Not?” Would you be ready ask them questions to show them why their objections to reading the Bible are unwarranted? Before Jesus gave people the gospel He helped them see their sin problem, He helped them see the error in their thinking and we need to be prepared to do the same thing.
I believe, through the example of Jesus, we can learn several important principles of effective evangelism.
What are those principles?
Make people curious about spiritual things
2. Help people to clearly see their wrong thinking
III. Do not give people answers until they are ready for them (vv. 25-26)
III. Do not give people answers until they are ready for them (vv. 25-26)
25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
After Jesus makes her curious about spiritual things, and after Jesus progressively reveals to her her wrong thinking about where to seek after God, she finally asks the right question and she is finally ready to hear the answer she has needed from the beginning.
She makes the statement- I know that the Messiah is coming- which is called Christ, and when He is come, He will tell us all things.
Apparently, from her knowledge of the OT she knew about the coming Messiah. Jesus statements had progressively revealed to her that she was not believing in truth and she was not a true worshiper of God, but she makes the confession that the one who can set her straight and explain all things is the coming Messiah. What is she doing? She is finally acknowledging her own spiritual need. Her thinking and her living are wrong, in spite of all her searching she has not found God, and she needs the Messiah, she needs the living water that provides eternal life. And only now, after she realizes her true need, and she is finally ready to hear the answer she has need from the beginning does Jesus give her the truth that she seeks.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
Jesus did not give people answers until they were ready for them.
The Jews in the temple never did get an answer or explanation to the Lord’s statement about raising up the temple again.
Nicodemus got his answer, but not until the Lord had pointed out that Nicodemus' knowledge was useless because it was not coupled with a personal relationship with the God of the OT.
The woman at the well finally received an answer but not until the Lord had brought her to realize that He was a prophet and caused her to state her belief in the coming Messiah.
Jesus did not give people an answer until he had helped the person to ask the right question.
Now, how do we apply this principle to our own evangelism? How can we determine a person’s willingness to accept the gospel before giving them the answers they are seeking? We are not Jesus, we do not know people’s hearts.
One way is to ask them if they want to read the Bible with you. First of all if they are willing that might mean they are really seeking after God, and secondly, if we get them to read the Bible with us, then the Holy Spirit will progressively reveal to their hearts the answers they need when they need them.
Look for people who are willing to read the Bible with you. And that is really the whole goal of relational evangelism.
Become their friend before you become their preaching
Make them curious about spiritual things
Help them to see their wrong thinking
Don’t give them answers until they are ready to hear them
Or said another way:
Our goal is to make people curious enough about spiritual things to read the Bible with us.
What are you going to do about it?
Make friends with unsaved people in your Jerusalem
Think of at least 5 questions that you can use to make people curious about spiritual things
Think of at least 5 excuses that your friends might use to ignore the Bible and then think of good questions you can ask to show them the error of their thinking.
Ask one of your friends to read the Bible with you at least one time.