The Gospel of John Chapter Four

Gush

Today I want you to leave with this thought—Disciples Gush.

Not only do I want you to leave here today with that thought,

I want you ready and able to gush, and looking for opportunities to

gush.

We are studying the Gospel according to John.

Gospel means good news.

John’s good news is that God has intervened in the course of human

history to put everything right.

John has arranged the accounts of Jesus’ ministry so that you may believe and then

believing live your life to the full.

The first 11 chapters place heavy emphasis on convincing you that Jesus is

the Son of God.

From Chapter 12 through 21 place a heavy emphasis on teaching you how a

disciple lives his or her life.

Last time we entered into a conversation that Jesus had with a great teacher of

Israel—a man named Nicodemus.

Of course Jesus would have time for the important people.

Nicodemus was a highly respected member of the Sanhedrin,

The Jewish ruling counsel.

A man of God.

As we move into chapter 4,

We are also given testimony to another conversation between Jesus and a

women of Samaria.

Let me set this narrative in its cultural setting for you.

Jesus is leaving Judea and heading back to Galilee.

Palestine at this time is only about 120 miles long and 40 miles wide.

The land is divided into three sections,

The lower part is Judea, the upper part is Galilee,

The middle section is Samaria.

The quickest route between Judea and Galilee is the 3 day journey

through Samaria.

Samaritans and Jews didn’t mix.

There was a long standing animosity between the two people.

Do you recall in our study of the Old Testament the Assyrians came

and wiped out the Northern Kingdom of Israel and later

the Babylonians destroyed the Southern Kingdom of

Judah?

The Jews of the Northern Kingdom would not return to the Land of

Promise.

After 70 years in exile the Jews who were taken to Babylon were

given opportunity to repatriate their home land.

During those 70 years of captivity the Jews maintained their

racial identity, their ethnic purity, their religion.

But back home during this same time period the Jews that

remained in the land intermarried with other Canaanites

They lost their racial identity,

They lost their ethnic purity,

And they lost the Jewish religion.

These people became known as the Samaritans.

When the exiles returned to the Land of Promise,

The Samaritans asked to help in the rebuilding of

Jerusalem.

But the refused the assistance,

Only those who were pure were going to be

allowed to rebuild the holy city of God.

Well that started a long standing animosity between the Jews

and the Samaritans.

During the time of Jesus, Jews considered Samaritans to be unclean always.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the cultural situation.

First, Jews would have very little to do with Samaritans.

Second, Jewish men would have very little to do with Jewish women other

than their immediate family.

And even then some rabbis taught:

“Do not prolong conversation with a women.”

That proverb is accompanied by the following commentary:

“That is to say, even with one’s own wife;

How much more with a neighbor’s wife.”

It gets worse:

“He who prolongs conversation with a woman brings evil

upon himself, ceases from the words of the law,

and at last inherits Gehanna.”

Third, John tells us that the Samaritan women is drawing water from the

well during the 6^th hour.

This would be about noon time,

Right at the beginning of the hottest part of the day.

The well is about a half mile out of town.

Why was the women their, alone, and at that time?

Jesus gives us a clue during his conversation with the woman.

John 4:16-18 (MSG)

[Jesus] said, "Go call your husband and then come back." "I have no husband," she said. "That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."

Hmmm—she was one of those kind of women.

That’s why she was a loner,

Not even the other Samaritan women would hang out

with her.

What I want you to see here is that just prior to this John tells us that Jesus had a

conversation with Nicodemus.

One of the in crowd,

A respected member of the community,

A man of influence.

Jesus tells him how to have eternal life.

Now John tells of Jesus speaking to a person at the opposite end of the social

spectrum.

A Samaritan women of questionable morality.

Jesus tells her how to have eternal life.

What John is telling us is that no one is left out for an opportunity to enter into the

salvation process.

The Gospel is for everyone,

From the most respected and revered,

To the most disenfranchised and despised.

The portion of scripture we will be view is John 4: 1-30

Roll Video

The portion of this passage I want to focus on today is verses 13 and 14.

John 4:13-14 (MSG)

Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."

Now I am going to make a huge assumption.

Here it is, my assumption is that most everyone here today has had a drink

of this water that Jesus gives.

In other words I suspect that most everyone here today has come to

the place intellectually were you

accept the fact that you are a sinner,

believe that only Jesus can forgive you of your sins,

and have made a commitment to become Jesus

disciple.

Or I could put it this way—

You thirst for living your life to the full.

You believe that only Jesus can quench your thirst.

You daily drink deeply from the well of living water Jesus

provides.

If you haven’t then just about everything I am going to say from this point on is not

going to make much sense.

Jesus told Nicodemus in order for a person to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven he

or she must be born again.

Here at the well Jesus tells the Samaritan women that eternal life is like water,

And once you drink the life that Jesus gives you will never thirst again.

The Rabbis taught that this idea of the thirst of the soul,

could be quenched only with the living water,

which was the gift of God.

Psalms 42:1-2 (NIV)

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

The Thirst of the soul is an unsatisfied longing for something,

You’re not sure exactly what,

But something that is missing in your life,

Something that will make you whole.

There is a quiet desperation,

A fundamental discontent,

A crazy missing part

And its frustrating.

This thirst is sometimes great,

When you stop and think about your life,

Where you’ve been, where you’re going,

What you’re here for.

IT can make you desperate,

Cause you to despair

Sometimes this thirst is less,

Usually when you self medicate,

Burying yourself in work,

Endless distractions trying to ignore this emptiness

within.

Shoul-da, could-da would-da, what ifs, if onlys, missed opportunities,

As the years roll by these can suck the life right out of you,

Make your soul like a desert.

For a people who live in the desert water is life.

If you’ve driven out to Palm Springs you’ve seen it.

Driving through town there will be a well manicured green lawn,

Lush, maybe flowers, maybe even a tree.

And then in the plot right next to it,

Dry dirt dust rocks with maybe a couple of scrawny cactus.

Same soil, same climate, could have the same person working both sections,

The big difference of course is water.

Water is life.

What is this water life that Jesus gives?

Jesus gives life to the full.

This life is first and foremost a life of righteousness.

The Father sent the Son not to accuse but to set things right.

Living water empowers you to set right those four key relationships of

life.

Your relationship with God, with yourself, with others,

And your relationship to the material things of this

world.

This life is a life of love.

Being loved and loving others.

I always feel compelled to define love,

The word has so many different applications.

Love for God is obeying his commands,

Love for God is obedience.

God’s love for you is forgiveness of sins,

Compassion, mercy, grace, wanting the best

for you, helping you become the

person He created.

Love for Self is living a holy life.

A holy life is a life set apart for God use,

It is being a disciple

It is being like Jesus.

Love for self is manifested in integrity,

In being real, being free, being content,

In transforming daily into the person God

created you to be.

Love for others is meeting their need.

The greater the love the more it costs you.

The more you give yourself away,

Your time, your talent, your treasures,

Your comfort zone.

The more you sacrifice self to meet the needs of

others, the greater that love for others is.

Love for the earth is being a wise steward of all the material

blessings God has bestowed upon you.

It manifests in a thankful and grateful heart,

A generosity, a faithfulness,

that manages well the money and things you have

for the Kingdom.

This life is a life of acceptance and belonging.

It starts with God’s acceptance of you,

God gives you a place in His family,

A new name, a place to belong, to identify with.

It soaks through your soul so that you start to accept yourself,

Which later will empower you to accept others and give

Invitations to be accepted and to belong to others.

Acceptance and belonging means no longer alone,

No longer needing to hide,

No longer to keep secrets,

No longer living with shame.

This life is a life of meaning and purpose.

God has hardwired into you abilities that He wants you to use

in this world to bring the Kingdom to others.

We have a secret Christian code word for this—

We call them spiritual gifts.

God raises you up to send you out.

He endows you with spiritual gifts that assist you

in fulfilling the righteous desires of your

heart.

Your spiritual gifts shape the purpose of your life.

In fulfilling the purposes of your life you find

meaning to your existence.

You see that you play a part in the big scheme of things.

You are important, you’re a somebody,

Because you are making this world a better

place.

Now for you who are living in this reality,

For you who have drunk the living waters that Jesus gives—

Pay close attention to what Jesus said will happen

John 4: 14 (MSG)

“…The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”

In Arkansas there is a state park up in the mountains and there is a spring that

gushes out of the side of one of those mountains.

Apparently it is feed by a vast underground aquifer because the spring

hasn’t stopped running in anyone’s memory.

Right in the middle of the rock face water sprays out in abundance.

Its cold, about 50 degrees,

And on a hot humid Arkansas day to plunge your head into that

fountain is incredibly refreshing.