Jesus the Soul Quencher III (3/18/18 The Book of John #22)

ATTN: Without you knowing, I ended the message early last Sunday. Our children joined our service and I didn’t want them to sit here too long and so I cut out the last part of the 4 part message. And I get to finally share that part with you today. We have been looking at the interaction between Jesus and a Samaritan woman who came to the well to draw water. And Jesus saw right through her and saw her thirst. She thought her thirst was coming from not having what others had – a good marriage, children perhaps, and definitely running water inside the house. How many single people still think that only if they are married, have children and have their own house, they will be happy forever? She’s been there and done and her heart was still empty. There was a void in her heart and she tried to fill it with intimacy, marriage, relationships, but it wasn’t filling.

She, you, and I are beings that have been shut out of the paradise – the Garden of Eden. But we still have a trace of the memory of that paradise and all our lives, we try to get back to that paradise. But there is really only one way and that is through Jesus. He’s the only one who came from the paradise, and therefore, He’s the only One who knows the way. Jesus comes to the woman to open her eyes to see that it was really a spiritual thirst. And how does Jesus entice her back to the paradise? 1) by making a divine appointment with her that looked like coincidence on the surface. Jesus wasn’t making the most of the opportunity that was given to Him. You and I do that. He doesn’t. He creates the opportunity. And the opportunity He creates is a divine appointment with this 3rd class, gentile, immoral, nobody of a woman. But she wasn’t an afterthought. She was the main objective of the most important person who’s ever lived during the most important few years He spent on earth. 2) He also broke all kinds of social norms to pursue after her. So much so that the woman said, “why are you talking to me?” and the disciples thought the same thing. And I said that this is none other than the good shepherd leaving his 99 sheep to search after one lost sheep and the true older brother looking for the prodigal daughter who is living a licentious life. And he’s jumping through all kinds of hoops to get to her. And last week, we said, 3) He points out her failed attempts at quenching her own thirst, so that she will know that the answer is not within her. Her physical thirst, or even emotional thirst was really a symptom of a spiritual thirst. And this divine Physician diagnoses her disease of soul thirst and the wrong medicines she’s been taking.

But up to now, He hasn’t solved her problem. The divine Physican made the appointment with the patient – not the patient with the Physician – she didn’t even know she was gravely sick – and x-rayed all her failed attempts and made the correct diagnosis of a soul-thirst. But he hasn’t given her the medication yet, so that her disease of insatiable desire will be cured. Let’s follow the conversation and see how Jesus guides this so that the conversation would eventually end up with Him as the cure.

1. 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.”

Now, when Jesus points out her shameful past – having had 5 husbands and the boyfriend she’s now living with, understandably, she gets uncomfortable and changes the subject.  And what is the subject she changes to? The most controversial subject of the day between the Jews and the Samaritans, the issue of worship. This is a smart woman. She knew she could distract a Jewish man with this new topic. She would’ve made a good politician! And what does Jesus do with this?

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.

It seems like Jesus bites and gets into her trap because now he’s distracted and is talking about worship – the topic of evasion that she started. He needs to get back on the topic of her past and drive home the point, doesn’t He? But did Jesus really get distracted? Oh, who is she kidding? This woman is playing word games with the one who is called the very Word of God. Unwittingly, this woman who was trying to create distraction, came to a subject that is really at the heart of the issue.  What was this woman’s issue? It wasn’t men. It wasn’t lack of running water in her house. It wasn’t physical. It wasn’t emotional. It was spiritual. It was that she was worshipping the wrong thing. And that is the topic that Jesus takes on, initiated by her! “Out of the frying pan into the fire.”

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.”

What is worship? Worship is made of two words – worth, ship. It is what we give worth to. It is what we value most in our lives. What we live for – the ultimate. It is the “only if” of all “only ifs”! It is what gives us spiritual energy. All of our problems can be traced to this one thing – a failure to worship the greatest good in God. He is the Creator of all good things you and I clamor for, therefore, He Himself, the Giver, is the greatest good there is since He is the source of all good things! Worshiping God is seeing, and treating God as the most worthy, valuable, thing there is. Treasuring Him above all things. Loving Him with all our heart, soul and mind. Every human problem is caused by failing to properly worship God. You see, you and I are created for this worship of the highest good. But when we love something more than God, it cannot satisfy. And that is precisely the problem this woman was having. Her problem wasn’t a man. It wasn’t a no running water in the house. It was that she didn’t know who she was made for and didn’t properly worship Him.

And what is proper worship? Twice Jesus says the “true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth.” What does that mean? The “truth” part is straight-forward. Jesus Himself is the truth. He said, “I’m the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me.” So, if we are to worship God properly, we must do so in reliance and focusing on the work and person of Jesus. Which brings up a sobering reality that millions of muslims that pray 5 times a time everyday and fast through Ramadan aren’t really worshipping no matter how sincere they are since they aren’t worshipping in Jesus. John 5:23, “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” And in John 5:42–43 he said to them, “I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me.”

But what about worshipping in “spirit”? Is this our spirit or God’s Spirit? Jesus says in John 3:6 : “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” It’s not either-or, but both-and. As John Piper writes, “True worship comes only from spirits made alive and sensitive by the quickening of the Spirit of God” So, Christian worship involves both heart and head. It necessitates true teaching about the Father and his Son, and the right emotion about that teaching. Piper sums it up as “strong affections for God rooted in truth.”

So, Jesus gives this woman a quick lesson on the most important topic of worship and her real problem is that she was worshipping the wrong god. But it wasn’t because she was a Samaritan that she was worshipping the wrong god. The Jews worshipped the wrong god as well. Jesus said to the pharisees – they were the religious Jews – You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. (John 8:44). Why were they in the wrong? Because they didn’t worship in spirit and truth. They only worshipped in rituals and hypocrisy.

Before moving on to how this woman responds, let me say this about worship.

Some people think when they hear that in heaven we will worship God constantly, they have this picture of all Christians gathered in a huge a big auditorium and sing worship songs all day long and listen to all the past preachers preach all day, everyday. In other words, Sunday church service all day, everyday, forever. That is a very narrow view of worship. A better view of worship is when you want to incessantly talk about something you just love. A great trip you just took, a certain boy band, a great buzzer beater that gives you so much joy to talk about because each time you talk about it, you are re-living it and expressing it adds to your joy. That is worship. In heaven, when we see God as He truly is, the source of all our joys and delights and longings, it will give us so much delight to praise Him again and again. In other words, in heaven worship will not be something we will have to endure, but something we will do spontaneously to express the worth and value of God as the highest treasure. No, I don’t believe we will be singing songs all the time in heaven. We will be eating, drinking, playing sports in our perfect bodies, walking, joking, laughing, loving, taking a stroll, singing, dancing… but we will all do so with God at the center of everything, so that everything will be in their rightful place for maximum joy.

Let me demonstrate what that might look like here on earth. When an unbeliever sees a beautiful sunset, their thinking is, “wow, beautiful. Look how beautiful nature is, we need to protect it and preserve it! And that’s about it. But when a Christian looks at the same sunset, he thinks, ‘Wow, beautiful. Look how beautiful nature is! My father has created it for His glory and it’s just a tiny glimpse of what is to come! If His fallen creation is this beautiful, how much more beautiful his untainted, unmarred glory in heaven! I can’t wait!” I see God’s beauty in cherry blossoms. I see God’s beauty in human love-story. I see God’s beauty in a child’s eyes. I see God’s beauty in men fighting bravely to give their lives for their loved ones. Everything has meaning. Everything points to God and His attributes. Worshipping God enriches everything around us and thus give us so much more joy. It’s the difference between seeing a beautiful painting hanging in a museum admiring it versus seeing that same beautiful painting knowing that it was painted by your beloved father! That is why God wants us to worship Him – for our greatest joy!

And this is how the woman responds to Jesus’ lesson on worship:

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.”

In other words, The woman throws up her hands and says, “who really knows? But, when the Savior comes, who knows when, well, He will clarify everything for us.”

Then the most amazing words, a direct revelation of who He is, whom He has only done so to a very few, He reveals who He really is to this wretched, immoral, 3rd class of a woman…

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

This is the moment that He is offering her the Springs of living water. He’s giving her the medication that will cure her of her soul-sickness. He is revealing to her the new and true object of worship that is worthy of her worship. He’s the one she’s been seeking for all her life. He’s the greatest treasure that she can leave all other treasures to behind for.

It gives me the goose bumps just picturing what this moment was like. When I get to heaven, I’m going to find this woman and ask her what it was like when she heard those words from Jesus. “I who speak to you am he!” It’s no different than when God appeared to Moses through the burning bush and said, “I Am Who I am”. It’s no different than when He appeared before Paul, blinding him, and when he asked, “Who are you, Lord.” He said, “I’m Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” And this turned his life upside-down and the world’s history as we know it.

This nameless woman was sought out by the Divine Physician, was diagnosed properly, then given the proper medication that she truly needed. She was given the Living Water. And it was Jesus Himself. God Himself. Her soul-thirst was finally quenched. She now had the proper object of worship.

 

CONC: But have you considered the cost of giving this water to us? The cost to Jesus and God?

Jesus became thirsty so that our thirst can be quenched! Have you realized that? It was free to us, but it wasn’t free to Jesus. When He was hanging on the cross, He cried, “I thirst!” When His side was pierced, water and blood poured out. He literally gave every ounce of blood and water in His blood to quench our thirst. The springs of living water who would quench the thirst of the world eternally became thirsty Himself, not only physically but also spiritually, having his relationship with God the Father cutoff at least temporarily – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Why? So that He could feed us. Like a mother who would cut off her own arm to feed her starving children, Jesus at the risk of having Himself go thirsty and having his relationship with the Father cutoff. It wasn’t that Jesus threw us the life line from the shore when we were drowning. It’s not even that he jumped into the water and saved us, exhausting Himself. It’s that He drowned, so that you and I could be saved.