Thirst

Thirst, John 4:7-18

Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship, Upon a painted ocean.  Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.                                                                       The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge

• Can you imagine, as this poet eloquently writes, dying of thirst surrounded by ocean waters? 
  • When you drink ocean water your kidneys use your bodies water to flush the salt you just drank. At first your thirst may seem quenched. But you actually become thirstier, and thirstier and eventually die of dehydration, surrounded by water. 
• Is this not a picture of our world? People everywhere surrounded by waters that will never actually quench their souls thirst? Is there a remedy? 
  • If you are a guest this morning, we are on a journey through the Gospel of John. You are invited to join us for as long as you like, even if you are not a Christian, as we explore the life and example of Jesus. 
• Please turn to John 4:7, page 888 in the Pew bibles. If you do not have a bible…, Invite Trina up, Once you are there, Please stand for the reading of God’s Word. (After the text is read) “This is the Word of the Lord”
  • Believing Life —> MINISTRY: Biblically Defining the Believing LIFE.
• How are we doing this? By looking at the life of Jesus as our example. 
  • Is it biblical to do this? 
    • whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 1 John 2:6
    • For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21
• Last week we did some pre-work to create the lens to see our text. 
  • As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4–5
• Who are you? A minister / What do we do? Ministry What is it? It’s Work. Let’s get to work! 

This morning my title is “Thirst” 

• In our text this morning, we have a women who had drunk the salty waters and was only that much more thirsty. 
  • She has had 5 husbands, and the one she is with is not her husband. Scandalous even by todays standards, let alone in the first century. 
  • Let us put ourselves in her shoes before we judge. 
    • Story. 1 first marriage, 2nd… 
• Maybe you can’t relate to this, but we can all relate to a dissatisfaction of the soul. And if we are honest, we can all admit we have gone to other sources of water to try and quench our thirst. 
  • for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13
    • If not remedied, this can lead to shame —> vs. 6, coming to well at noon. 
    • vs. 9, Sarcastic calisousness. 
  • Vs. 9b, Samaritans and Jews. Post exile issues. Northern & Southern Kingdoms, Samaria claimed as the New Capitol all the way back in 1 Kings 16, Assyrians, intermarried, served other God’s, 
• Jesus is breaking all the rules
  • Sends Disciples to a Samaritan town to get food. 
  • Jesus is talking to a Samaritan women. 
    • Jewish sentiment we learn from the Mishnah, Rabbinic writings, Samaritan women were “perpetually unclean” from birth. 
  • God had a plan. Chapter 4:4 “Had to” 
  • Set in contrast to Nicodemus, Jesus is reaching the religious hierarchy and the outcast of society. 
• Jesus’ mission is he came to seek and save the lost- of either category. 
  • Should that not be our mission as well? 
  • To see this as a priority over our political or cultural taboos? 
• Who is your Samaritan? 
  • For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:19–23
• …But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43–45
  • Serve: Where we get the word “Deacon”, which means to come under and lift up. This is also translated as the word “minister.” 
• Ministry: to render assistance or help by performing certain duties, often of a humble or menial nature.   Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament 
  • Who are you? A minister
  • What is the posture of a minister? To serve. 
    • Vs. 10, If we only knew the gift of God
• Vs. 11-13
  • Thirst- Quenches our dissatisfaction of the soul! 
  • Quenches our shame
  • The waters of God fill all the emptiness of the soul. 
• Vs. 14, spring of water welling up! 
  • Who are you? A minister
  • What is the posture of a minister? To serve.
  • What is the proclamation of a minister? The living water
    • Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37–38
• Communion.
  • I wonder if Christ himself experienced this on the cross. “I thirst”; as he takes on our sin, our shame, our strivings to quench our souls thirst with broken cisterns.