The Greatest Present of All

The Greatest Present of All

Leo Crosby

Jn 4:1–45

The greatest present ever given was that of eternal life and relationship with God! Jesus did this both on a global and personal scale.

Introduction

Who love’s opening presents?

I love giving them…i’m the worst at waiting until Christmas to give presents

Present open on Platform

Favorite Christmas memories…my grandparents and chiefs/broncos game with boys

In 2021, consumers in the United States expected to spend approximately $886 on average on Christmas gifts. Why? To demonstrate their love for someone else? Truth be told, some of those gifts were purchased out of obligation. “Ugh, we have to buy Aunt Mabel a gift this year because we know she’s going to get us one.” “Ugh, I have to pitch-in to for a gift for my horrible boss!” [1]

The heart of a gift is that it is given not out of obligation, but out of love with no expectation of repayment. A simple thank-you is all that is expected. God is thgreatest gift giver ever.

The greatest present of all time

Jesus has been doing many signs and wonders…miracles, but John 3 moves to His reason for coming to earth – Nicodemus and the Samaritan Woman

For God so loved that he gave…

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The greatest gift giver ever

› This is the reason Jesus came to earth. And he makes it personal in John 4 and throughout the gospels.

The Present

John 4 – Story of the Samaritan woman

he did not seek out members of the religious elite; even open-minded Nicodemus had to come to Jesus (3:2); but Jesus went to great lengths and took serious risks to reach the Samaritan woman.[2]

Jesus initiated Relationship

John 4:7–8 ESV A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)

Status was Irrelevant

John 4:9 ESV 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.)

Jesus crosses at least three significant barriers in the story: the socioethnic barrier of centuries of Jewish-Samaritan prejudice; the gender barrier a moral barrier imposed by this woman’s assumed behavior.[3]

He had a present for her!

John 4:10 ESV 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.”

She asks a question that opens a door to spiritual conversation

We are created as spiritual beings. We desire spiritual things

John 4:11–12 ESV 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.”

› Jesus walks through the open door to her question

John 4:13–15 ESV Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.”

His focus is on relationship, hers is on religion

Jesus Cultivated relationship

Go call your husband…“I have no husband”…Jesus, you have had 5 and the one now isn’t even your husband –

This is why we preach the truth at Element, not simply feel good messages.

She diverts the conversation to religion

John 4:19–20 ESV The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Jesus wants relationship

Vs 26 “I who speak to you am he.” The messiah

› This is where we come into the story

Disciples were Getting lunch

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?”

Focused on themselves? Stuck in tradition? Clueless & Dumbfounded They just don’t get it…STILL

• Jesus came to seek and save the lost

John 4:31–34 ESV Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

That’s it…that’s what it is all about. They eventually get it but we have to be careful to not get stuck here

Go tell it on the mountain

God is the one that has the gift but we are to be the givers.

Moses and the Israelites - God did the work but did it through Moses

life preserver

God will do the work, but through the Samaritan woman

John 4:39–42 ESV Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. 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.”

She told her story and invited them to “church”

› Setup Video – Pursuit a new series of discipleship material that Pastor has written and shot. Talking about what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ

Pastor Erik Video Charlie Brown Xmas

You can give the greatest present ever!

Closing

Initiate and cultivate - Xmas invites! New Year invite…

Jesus is still crossing barriers today to reach everyone. He wants to give you the same present he gave the Samaritan woman. God has provided the gift of grace to your life through Jesus Christ. You cannot and should not repay Him for this gift. Your service and life is just a thank-you note to Him for the gift.

[1](Article source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/246963/christmas-spending-in-the-us-during-november/ [2]Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary & 2, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 585. [3]Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary & 2, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 585.