"Show me how you did it!" John 4.1-15, 27-29
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Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria.
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
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.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?”
Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,
“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”
Intro:
[Recap last week, and continue this “Well conversation”]
Every conversation does not Bless us......
Everyones presence does not add to us......
(pause)
It is a true blessing........
.......to be introduced to someone
.......or to come into contact with somebody who offers something into our lives that brings increase into our lives.
(pause)
And I believe that........
......one of the greatest joys of evangelism
.....and reaching our “ONE” is that we are bringing INCREASE into the lives of others...
(pause and shift)
Summarize these verses.........
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria.
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
The bible says.....
Jesus is sitting by this well....
.....intentionally waiting as he recovers physically
One of the first things we learn about reaching our “ONE” through evangelism is that we have to be able to position ourselves for the opportunity to cross paths with others.
........if we never come into contact with others who we need to reach we eliminate the opportunity.
(pause and expound)
Look at it....
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
According to the text....
As Jesus is sitting at this well he seizes an opportunity to open a conversation with this woman.....
The next thing we notice about reaching our “ONE” through evangelism is that we have to be able to seize opportunities when they walk up to where we are sitting in life.
And......
.....as Jesus is asking her to give him a drink in my spiritual imagination I see this as a possibility for her to express selflessness to be willing to enter into a verbal exchange with Jesus.
Because......
........she could have responded selfishly and said,
“I don’t have time to talk with you today, I’m trying to DRAW WATER!”
(pause)
Which caused me to ask the question......
Where do we draw water as a community in 2021?
And I really don’t have a single awnser for this question......
.....but what I do believe is that it is in these places where we “DRAW water” that we will find our opportunities to reach who we are supposed to reach.
(pause)
Look at it....
The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 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.”
The text shows us.....
........that Jesus is comfortable being radical
(slight pause)
And not only that but....
Jesus is 100% positive......
.......that what he is offering to her is a solution to all of her needs.
Because.......
He is implying that if she fully understood what was really happening and who he was......
.......she would ask God for a COMPLETE and WHOLE solution to her life needs.
(pause)
And when we begin to MOVE like Jesus is moving here in the text.......
.....We increase our level of impact on others.
Because a large part of our effectiveness depends on us recognizing that who we are, and what we have to offer is not possibly powerful....
.........but absolutely powerful!
In other words....
We don’t think or assume this is going to work for you.....
We know this is going to work for you.....
(pause and expound)
Look at it now......
The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”
Notice.......
.....that her question is similar to today’s response in our community as they ask us,
“But how is the Gospel contextual?”
Because I hear this woman asking,
“Jesus, how is what you are offering going to fit into the reality of this situation?”
..........it don’t make since!
......you don’t have the things necessary to deliver what you are saying you can do.
And.........
......what makes you so special to be able to do this in the first place?
(pause)
Freedom.......
When we start having these type of conversations with people who are in need.......
......we have to be comfortable with people asking us questions to get clarity!
Because........
......the questions are not meant to be offensive
.......the reality is that because the Gospel is so counter cultural it challenges what they think could happen!
And that’s when we have to do like Jesus in the next verse and begin breaking it down for them.
(pause)
Look at it.....
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Jesus says.........
“This water”
.......compared
..........to what Jesus is offering is different,
(pause)
Jesus says,
The water that you are drawing has to be replaced when it runs out.
It has to be continuosly looked for because it’s effectiveness is temporary.
But.......
what I am offering is tagged, “Satisfaction Guaranteed”
Because....
It ERASES thirst
Thirst - (Gk) “To desire strongly”
This is where we paint our own canvas of thirst experiences by personally asking the question,
“what am I thirsting for?”
(pause)
Freedom listen.....
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that they have never been thirsty!
That’s why,
Jesus is talking to this woman.
(slight pause)
And....
....not only does he know she has a thirst
…He is also confident that he has exactly what she needs.
And we need to go back to the days when we were convinced as the Church, that Jesus has what we need!
........because if Jesus is only a possibility why take a chance on something that might not work.
.......but what Jesus is offering is not a possibility its a PROMISE!
(pause)
I Promise you your life is going to change how you draw water after this!
(pause)
Jesus says,
“You don’t need a bucket for this”
..........because what I’m offering will turn your “WELL” into a “SPRING”
And you don’t need a bucket for a SPRING......
....because the water flows up in a spring!
(pause)
In other words.......
What we are offering to our “ONE” is a transformational shift that says,
Instead of having to go to a well........
.....to temporarily fill your needs
.........get you a SPRING!
.........that is scheduled to automatic that never stops fulfilling all of your needs
(pause and expound)
Watch this.....
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
According to the text....
Jesus has completely convinced her...........
.....and not only is she excited about her life being full from this “SPRING” effect.
But also.....
…she is elated at the fact that what Jesus is offering is going to cause her to,
No longer have to draw from this well....
(slight pause)
In other words.....
She’s tired of doing this anyway!
It takes too much of her energy
It takes too much of her time
It takes too much of her resources
(pause)
Freedom........
You would be surprised at how many people you run into that are tired of the whole process of having to.......
Draw from this well.........
And in the back of their minds their saying,
“If you got something that can turn all this around in my life that REBUILDS me, RESTORES me, RECLAIMS me”
If you got that........
THAT’s what I WANT!
I don’t want this rat race.......
I don’t want this struggle with no peace........
I don’t enjoy this empty feeling.........
I don’t desire to be confused........
If you got it........
What you waiting on to give it to me?
(pause)
You sitting here watching me.....
DRAW from a WELL water.....
while you chilling over there enjoying SPRING WATER
(pause and expound)
Now........verses 16-26
.....show us this continued dialogue between Jesus and this woman
.....and we watch the authenticity of Christ permeate back and forth with the humanity of this woman as she opens her heart entirely to the Son of God
(pause)
And the bible says in verse 27....
Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?”
The text says......
Directly in the middle of this powerful exchange between Jesus and this woman......
The bible says,
“Just then!”
The disciples or those who were learning from Jesus walked back up.....
......and what they walked up on “AMAZED them”
(pause)
Freedom........
We need some moments like this in our journey that causes those who are walking up on our life to say,
“What I’m seeing is AMAZING to me!”
(pause)
I am AMAZED that you are REACHING those lives
And remember........
The disciples are LEARNING from Jesus
And what this says in my spiritual imagination is that.......
We have something to TEACH those who are watching us to show them how to be IMITATORS of CHRIST!
(pause)
And I don’t know about you......
But I’m ready to be a RADICAL IMITATOR
.......for the sake of the GOSPEL!
(pause)
Now....watch what happens
Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,
“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”
Verse 28 is amazing to me..........
It’s one of the greatest sentences that you will ever read in the biblical text!
Because it shows us what it looks like to go from “Well water” to “Spring water”
.........it clarifies and coordinates the dots to help us to see in real time what it looks like when someone encounters CHRIST.......
(pause)
Because the text says.......
“Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city!”
(slight pause)
And I know you might be thinking to yourself.....
Pastor why is that so significant?
(pause)
Well, HERE it comes.......
What did she come to this Well to do?
Draw Water from the well
And in order to do that she had to bring the necessary items to be succesful in doing that.....
And if what you are bringing to the well is necessary.......
(pause)
And.........
If you aint really sure that what Jesus is offering is going to work
......there is no way you’re going to leave what you think is necessary!
(pause)
But the bible says.......
.......that this woman gets up from talking with Jesus.....
.......and walks back into the city without the water jar!
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination.......
.........I hear this woman saying,
“That jar aint NECESSARY!”
.......I don’t NEED that thing that I thought I NEEDED
(pause and expounded)
But NOW.......
I got something.........
(pause)
I hear this woman saying,
“I GOT my own WATER NOW!”
(pause)
And then in verse 29 she is......
.....so full that she starts pouring out the water that was poured into her by Jesus
“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”
COME and SEE a man!
And........
Once you get FULL to the point of OVERFLOW, you can’t help but start POURING out!
(pause)
Where are my OVERFLOW folk at?
You went from EMPTY to OVERFLOW and not you got to tell somebody else what happened to you!
And I don’t know if I got everybody just yet,
But I know I got somebody with me in here that is ready to say,
“LET me show you.....
.......how i did it!”
Let me show you how I came out
Let me show you how I was made whole
Let me show you how I became fulfilled
Let me show you who made it happen for me
Let me show you who continues to BUILD me up
Let me show you who continues to RESTORE my life
Let me show you how to walk when you can’t see your steps
Let me show you how to run when your navigation is Christ-Centered
(pause)
I was not born like this..........
........but somebody “SHOWED ME!”
And now.......
.............I got to SHOW YOU!
.................COMPLETION...................
