Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

Dear Faithful and Fearless Seed-Sowers,
It is my prayer that we come to know the deep, deep love of God as we endure this pandemic.  I pray we grow in the outrageous grace of Jesus and that God uses you to go out into your world (your family, workplace, schools, neighborhood, community) sowing seeds of faith. If this world ever needed living water, it needs it today.

We are still sitting with Jesus and the woman at the well. Picture the scene. It’s high noon, it’s hot.

There is a gold mine of pearls of wisdom to glean from this story.  Read John 4:1-26 and let’s see what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us.

Last week, we spent our time looking at the woman at the well and her response to the surprise she had that a Jewish man would ask her, a Samaritan woman, for a drink.  We saw how surprised she was that Jesus knew everything about her yet still responded in love to her. Stop for a moment and ponder that probing thought.  Jesus knows everything about you and still responds with love to you! This very thought humbles me, how about you?

Listen again to Jesus’ words, “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”

This reminds of a passage that God gives to the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah. Listen to Jeremiah’s words found in chapter two, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder? Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted.” Jeremiah 2:13-15 The people have forsaken God, the spring of living water and have dug their own wells instead. Sounds familiar.

Broken Wells
Here we are at an old well, or cistern, where Jesus finds this Samaritan woman. So many of us are like this woman; we have been digging our own cistern for years and we return there daily. We have dug wells of fame and fortune, wealth and health, power and prestige, sexuality and sensuality, alcohol and drugs, sports and academia, politics and popularity. The truth we find here in this story is that the wells of this world will never fully satisfy.  The wells of this world will never be enough.  The wells of this world hold stagnant, sluggish, and muddy water.  We are like the people in Jeremiah’s time.  We have turned away from the one, true spring of living water and we have built our own wells. The world’s wells will never completely satisfy; they will always shout, “More!”

Here’s a crazy idea:  Does Jesus wants to meet you at your well? You know the well, well.  You go there often, if not every day. Take a look around. Is that Jesus sitting there? Waiting for you to offer Him a drink of your polluted spring? I ask you a second time, Does Jesus want to meet you there today? (Stop and ponder that question.)

Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”   When Jesus says “everyone” the Greek word “pas” means “all, the whole, the total, anyone or anything.”  Jesus includes us all; He is not just speaking to one, outcast, Samaritan woman. Jesus is speaking to everyone, the total of all people who come to drink from the well. This means YOU and it means ME. All of us at some time in our life are drinking from a well that will never parch our thirst.

The Greek verb for “drinks” — “pino” is a present active verb which means that this action of us drinking is ongoing, unending, and continuous.  It makes great sense then that every single one of us has a well that we visit and drink from continuously. Jesus wants to give us a drink HIS well of living water. This water will quench our thirsty hearts, minds and souls. Maybe we should be thinking about it.

Everyone who drinks this water from this broken well will be thirsty — the word for “thirsty” — “depsesei” is a verb and it is in the future tense which means that we will be continually parched, thirsty, having strong desires.

What is that wakes you up with a strong desire?  What do you thirst for each day?

Jesus is telling us that if we will only ask Him for a drink, He will give us a drink of living water that will satisfy our desires. I don’t know about you but I can testify to the truth of this eternal, living water of Jesus Christ.

Bubbling Springs
“How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” Psalm 36:7-9

Have you ever seen an artisan well?  The artisan well is a well or a spring that does not require a pump to bring water to the surface. The living water is continuously pumped to the surface because there is enough pressure contained within the aquifer to force the water to the surface without any sort of assistance. The water is alive.  The water is in never-ending supply.

The so what questions of the day are:
What well are you going to drink from? 
Will you drink from the broken wells of this world? 
Will you drink from the spring of living water that bubbles up to eternal life?

So What?
Jesus offers each one of us the same drink that He offered the Samaritan woman.

You know, Jesus could have shown up at the well at 6 a.m. when all the popular kids got their water, but he did not. Jesus went to the well in the heat of the day because Jesus knew there would be an outcast who was too ashamed to be seen at the well at 6 a.m. She was a sinner—she had lived with five different men—and was not married to the one she was living with now. And everyday she made the long trip to the well. Alone. Hot. Tired.

“All you have to do is ask me and I will give you living water, a spring of water welling up, an artisan well of water…and you will never be thirsty again.”  Please notice Jesus didn’t make her state her credentials. He simply said, “All you have to do is ask.” 

The choice is ours to make. Do we want to return to the wells we have dug in the heat of the day? Or are we thirsty enough to ask Jesus for living water?

I understand that we are living in unprecedented times. No one has canvassed this season and written a book about surviving COVID-19, the world-wide pandemic. There’s hundreds of thoughts and ideas out there for us to ponder; from the far right to the far left and all in between.

Here is what I know: (Grab your Bible and hold it up) This is an artisan well. Come here daily and drink your fill. I started reading my bible in October of 1997. I have not stopped. God’s word is new to me every morning. (Lamentations 3:22)  Every day when I open this book up, I am filled with hope, peace, insight and wisdom. During my 66 years on the planet, I have been to countless other wells. They have all left me thirsty.

This week I want you to be honest with yourself. Are you drinking from the well of living water or are you drinking from a polluted well?
John Ortberg has written a most excellent book (and a bible study dvd) entitled, “Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You.” Check it out. He gives a great illustration of how we are to go check out our stream, our wells. Are they clear and free? Or are they stagnant, filled with the trash of our life?

This is exactly what Jesus is saying to the Samaritan woman. “I don’t care who you are.  I don’t care where you’ve been. If you will simply ask Me, I will give you LIVING WATER.”

Her response is more than amazing! I hope ours is, too.

See you Sunday!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

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