Come to the waters, you who thirst

Intro:

A couple weeks ago when we first looked at John chapter 4 where Jesus interacts with the Samaritan woman at the well, we looked primarily at the major obstacle to the gospel that Jesus had to overcome: racism. We talked about how it’s human nature to seek out those who are most like you and develop close friendships with people like you. But the gospel requires that we not merely do what comes naturally to us. Racism is a gospel issue because it’s a barrier to the gospel (if we refuse to take the gospel to those who are different from us) and because it can only be remedied by the gospel. If we embrace the gospel of Christ, we will start to see lives changed and divisions broken down as the church models to the world what true unity looks like in the body of Christ.

Last week we looked briefly at verses 31-45 where Jesus talks about the need for workers in the harvest. So, having already dealt with the obstacle to Jesus’ message to the Samaritan woman and the final part of this passage, this morning we’re going to take a look at what Jesus actually said to her, especially in verses 7-26.

Our society is a distracted society. According to recent studies*, the average American spends over 11 hours per day consuming media of some sort, be it live TV, streaming services, radio, internet browsing, or playing with their smartphone. Unsurprisingly, younger Americans tend to use their smartphones and other newer technology more than older adults. But, adults age 50-64 actually spend more time consuming media than the younger generations—a whopping 13 hours per day! Now some of this time, no doubt, happens simultaneously—browsing or playing on your phone while watching TV, for instance. But this is still a staggering amount of time to be tethered to the world’s interpretation of life. There is a constant barrage of images, sounds, and opinions telling us what’s important in life, how to be truly happy, and how we should live. What this means is that whenever life throws us a curveball, when hard times come, we have a buffet of options for self-medicating our pain. Instead of dealing with what ails us, we turn to distractions to fill our empty souls.

The problem is, of course, that none of it satisfies. All that the world has to offer is never enough, because we were created for more than this. But the good news is that Christ offers us living water—water that truly satisfies, and all we have to do is accept it.

Turn with me in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 4.

Prayer for illumination

John 4:1–45 ESV

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” 43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

We have a tendency to exaggerate our physical needs and understate our spiritual needs.

Physical needs are legitimate and we must tend to them, but we often blow them out of proportion and seek the wrong source to satisfy them.

This Samaritan woman had needs. She needed water. She needed love and companionship. But as we see in this passage, she was “looking for love in all the wrong places.”

She'd had at least five husbands! (vv. 16-18)

I don’t know what the circumstances were in each of these marriages, but it’s clear that there’s a pattern here of broken promises, unfulfilled expectations, and heartbreak.

How many marriages fall apart because one spouse expects the other spouse to fulfill all of their needs? Spouses ought to fulfill some of each others’ needs, but we were never created to be all that our spouse needs.Only Christ can satisfy those longings.

We have needs for income, shelter, love, water, food, and so on.

But we don’t need to be rich, have a mansion, have numerous lovers, or eat and drink until we can’t walk!

Addictions come from unmet or exaggerated needs. The alcoholic and drug addict has a need for a way to cope with the trials of life, so he turns to the bottle or the needle to numb the pain. The porn addict has a need for intimacy, so he turns to images of women, fake intimacy that never lasts or satisfies. The neglected wife has a need for love and affection from her husband but doesn’t get what she wants, so she turns to someone who treats her better. The businessman has a need for affirmation and praise so he climbs the corporate ladder to show everyone how hard he’s worked.

I rode my bike the other day through Greystone and happened upon a mansion of a house with a Corvette and what looked like perhaps a Porsche sitting out front.

Sometimes we misdiagnose our hunger.

John 4:15–18 ESV

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

The woman thought that her greatest need right now was water. And we can hardly fault her for that! We don’t know how far she had to walk, but it was likely a little ways. Imagine having to walk through the heat carrying enough water for you and your family each day, perhaps multiple times a day. She had a legitimate physical need.

But Jesus saw through that surface level need to a deeper thirst.

That’s why as soon as she asks for this living water, he asks about her husband. Jesus knew that she had a deeper need for love that water simply couldn’t fix.

Children have to learn over time to recognize the feelings that accompany their physical needs. The first one they usually learn to recognize is hunger or thirst. But, as babies, they often don’t yet connect the pain in their stomach with the need for food. Later, they have to learn to distinguish that pain from another type of feeling which means they need to go to the bathroom. Some kids have a hard time learning this at first and will continue to eat more thinking that they’re still hungry when they actually just need to go to the bathroom.

Many times as adults we do the same thing on a spiritual level. We feel an ache and we assume that ache is related to the absence of some physical need in our lives—entertainment, love, food and drink, shelter, and so on.

But, more often than not, the need is spiritual, not physical.

We tend to downplay our spiritual needs.

We live in a physical world, and that leads us to think of the physical world as being primary and the spiritual world as being secondary.

In reality, the opposite is true. This physical life is temporary and fleeting.

Luke 12:15–21 ESV

15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

If that rich man had known that his life would come to an end that night, do you think he would have acted differently?

We go on about our lives as if they’ll last forever. We think there’s always more time. But what if your life is required of you today as you drive home? Is your conscience clean? Have you repented of your sins and placed your faith in Christ alone? Are you pursuing his glory? Using your time, skills, money, and resources to further his Kingdom? Or are you coming back repeatedly to the well which can never satisfy?

One of the things which I am most thankful for is the legacy which Papaw will soon leave behind. He doesn’t have much time left. But he has lived a life which shows what was important—loving God and loving people. I was always amazed at my grandparents’ generosity, even when they made far less than us, they always asked if they could help us. They lived simply, without many nice or expensive things and were always ready to help out anyone who needed help. And while he had many challenging and difficult experiences in the ministry over the years, he never regretted being in the ministry. He loved serving the Lord and considered it an honor to serve God and people. That’s the kind of life I want to live.

Christ offers you living water.

John 4:13–14 ESV

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

When Jesus offers the woman “living water,” he’s probably referring to Isaiah 55 and Jeremiah 2.

Isaiah 55:1–3 ESV

1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

The Israelites had forsaken God and were trying to satisfy their needs by pursuing after foreign gods and idols.

Jeremiah 2:1–3 ESV

1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah 2:11–13 ESV

11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

How foolish would it be to pass up a freshwater spring and instead take the time to build a broken cistern?!?! Yet that’s what the Israelites had done. They had forsaken God—”the fountain of living waters”—and instead pursued after false gods which could do nothing for them.

When Jesus says “those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (v.24) he has these passages in mind.

To worship God in spirit and truth means to forsake the physical replacements for him. The Israelites—who were the ancestors of the Samaritans—had forsaken God, a spirit, for tangible, physical replacements—idols.

To worship God is spirit means to acknowledge that he is spirit and that your deepest needs are not primarily physical, but spiritual; not found in this world, but in God! To worship God in spirit and truth means to place him as your highest desire in life.

Worshipping God in spirit and in truth doesn’t mean just “putting on a serious face” during worship.

It means redirecting your life so that you eliminate the idols—the physical replacements for God—and seek after him wholeheartedly, or “truly.” It means to hunger for Christ!

Why would we hunger after Christ? Because he is the I AM. The only one who can satisfy us. (v. 26)

When Jesus says, “I who speak to you am he,” (Jn. 4:26, ESV) he is saying much more than “I am the Messiah.” A literal, word-by-word translation would be “I AM, the one who is speaking to you.”

This is one of Jesus’ “I AM” statements in John. Jesus is identifying himself with the great “I AM” of Exodus 3. He’s saying, “I AM...”

the one who lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt.

the one who parted the waters so they could cross through on dry ground.

the one who fed them with manna in the wilderness.

the rock who gave them living water in the desert.

the one who led them into a land flowing with milk and honey.

and the one who quench your deepest thirst.

Conclusion

Do you find yourself coming back, time and time again to the same distractions? When you’re in pain, what do you turn to? Do you turn to TV and entertainment to distract you and numb the pain? “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.” Jn 4:13. Do you find yourself chasing after money or success? “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.” Do you find yourself chasing after intimacy in pornography or illicit affairs? “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.” Do you turn to the bottle or painkillers to detach from the world? “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.”

John 4:13–14 ESV

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

* “Time Flies: U.S. Adults now spend nearly half a day interacting with media,” https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2018/time-flies-us-adults-now-spend-nearly-half-a-day-interacting-with-media/?wgu=11671_16644_16000020077251_123d870c09&wgexpiry=1607778007&afflt=ntrt15490001&afflt_uid=11671_16644_16000020077251_123d870c09&afflt_uid_2=AFFLT_ID_2