Many people are afraid to hang with Jesus, many do not know Him so it is up to us to share Him with others, but we are afraid, due to what others may think or say, if we even utter the name Jesus. Satan has so many believers walking in fear. Some people would probably love to hang out with Jesus, but we will not introduce Him. The woman at the well hurriedly ran to the city to tell the men about a man who told her everything about her life and guess what they were so excited they went to see for themselves, and they ended up asking Jesus to stay longer and He stayed two extra days hanging out. Jesus not only sits and speaks with her but has a conversation so significant it is the longest one recorded by any of the gospel writers.
Some people won’t hang out with Jesus thinking He is going to judge them, another one of Satan’s tactics. Now we are afraid to sit and talk with Him, we don’t want to hang out with Him, because now we must make time for Him, and we do not have room for Him on our agenda and to-do list. I don’t get it, make it make sense. All the peace that surpasses the world, genuine love, patience, joy, understanding. You say He doesn’t quite understand me, now what kind of sense does that make, when He knows and understands you more than you do yourself, every hair on your head, every thought that is in your mind? Telling People About Jesus Is Not An Option. When was the last time you hung out with Jesus? When was the last time you talked about Jesus with a friend?
John 4:5-30 – Only Jesus can quench your spiritual thirst.
Jesus invited these men (His disciples) to immediately begin the journey of experiencing and learning from Him, rather than planning a specific teaching or discussion time. This did not require an address or specific place to go. We are also to learn from Him as we walk with Him through life. That’s far more intimate, authentic, and effective than a child learning language, knowledge, and skills from parents in their ordinary daily walk-through life together.
This method was exactly that of a rabbi. Every rabbi had disciples who lived and traveled with him wherever he went for years, not sitting in some formal classroom or waiting for lectures. They received instruction and learned their rabbi’s head and heart step-by-step as they spent the hours of their days together. They saw how knowledge was applied with wisdom in everyday situations. They modeled their lives after his example.
Being with Jesus today means the same thing for us! We must spend time with the Scriptures, God’s Word given to us in written form that reveals who Jesus is and all that He wants us to know about Himself and about how to live as He lived on earth. That Word speaks the truth of God to our spirit just as faithfully as Jesus spoke audibly to His disciples on that day. We must spend time in joint conversation with Him as we go along. It's different, but just as genuine as what the disciples had. His Holy Spirit resides within to open our understanding, communicate His heart and mind, and guide us into faithful application of truth. In other words, He is developing the character of Jesus in those who set the desires of their own lives aside and follow Jesus with all their heart as we spend time with Him in walking together and hanging out.
We heard the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, from John 4:4-42. I love this story. It is the longest conversation between Jesus and another person in any of the gospels, and it is with a woman. And not just any woman, but a Samaritan woman. Jewish men were not really meant to speak to strange women of any variety, and Jews were not supposed to associate with Samaritans at all, so this conversation was forbidden on all kinds of levels. We get a sense of that in the woman’s response to Jesus - “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” We can’t be sure if she was shocked offended or confused by his request, but it is quite clear that their differences made it seem strange and unexpected. And so, the simple fact that Jesus not only sits and speaks with her but has a conversation so significant it is the longest one recorded by any of the gospel writers, speaks volumes about Jesus’ own heart for inclusion, and complete disregard of all the rules about who was and wasn’t acceptable.
Curious about the man she described, many townspeople made their way to the well to see for themselves (Jn 4:30). At first, many Samaritans believed in Jesus based on the woman’s testimony: “He told me everything I ever did.” Because of her words, they sought him out and asked him to stay with them in the town. For two days, Jesus stayed with them, and many more came to believe in him because of his words. (Jn 4:39–41. You see once they met Jesus they wanted to hang out with Him, His conversation was so deep and intriguing, that the men did not know how thirsty they were and if people would just hang out with him by reading His word, praying, sitting and talking to Him and listening for His reply, at that point wanting a personal relationship with Him will bring you all of the happiness in the world. When it was time for Jesus to go, the townspeople told the woman (Jn 4:42) “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man is the Savior of the world” (Jn 4:42, direct quote from NRSV). They had been hanging out with Jesus.
He mentions life-giving water again a few verses later. Those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life. (John 4:14)
So, what is this life-giving or living water? Well, Jesus isn’t talking about physical thirst here. He’s not offering to buy the woman a personal spring on the Malverns. Instead, he’s speaking about her spiritual thirst. He’s saying He has something that will completely satisfy her spiritual thirst forever.
I remember reading several years ago about tennis player Boris Becker. Did you know that at the very peak of his career, he contemplated suicide? In his autobiography, he writes, I had won Wimbledon twice before, once as the youngest player. I was rich. I had all the material possessions I needed … It’s the old song of movie stars and pop stars who commit suicide. They have everything, and yet they are so unhappy. He said, "I had no inner peace." He had it all – and yet really, he had nothing. And Jesus is saying the same thing to the woman – no number of relationships can give her inner peace whether it is with men or the worship of idol gods. Nothing will – until she addresses the spiritual thirst that sits at the very core of her being.
There’s an old Christian cliché – we all have a God-shaped hole in our hearts. I personally call it a Void that we all have. It’s there because we’re designed for a relationship with God. And when we don’t have that – or when we don’t understand our relationship with God properly – then that God-shaped hole becomes an ache. It cries out for completion. And we’ll never know lasting happiness and contentment until that hole is properly filled. St Augustine so put it like this: You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.
Whoever it is, Jesus sits with them. And He invites us to do likewise. Just as the disciples walked with Jesus and began to live out the radical inclusion He practiced, so we are called to do the same. Because that’s when we begin to transform the world into a kingdom.
Given that the conversation takes place by a well, water seems a natural image to pick. We see throughout the gospels that Jesus often used examples or pictures that were relevant to the situation and lives of those listening to Him, as a way of communicating that what He said was relevant to the situation and lives of those listening to Him. What Jesus said still has meaning for the situation and lives of those who stop to listen to Him - that’s why we’re here - but the example or pictures can sometimes feel a little unfamiliar. Not so here, though, as water always has been and always will be a necessity. It is as refreshing and as satisfying and as sustaining now as it was then, and so is the message that Jesus brought, though on a much deeper level.
So, what’s to be done? Well, if the only thing that can satisfy our spiritual thirst is God, then we need to find a way to quench our thirst for Him. So, what is it? Well, I reckon Jesus points us to three things in this passage Three things we need to do if we’re going to quench our thirst in Jesus.
1) admit you’re dehydrated.
The first step to solving any problem is admitting it exists. That’s what the woman does when she says to Jesus. “Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again. (John 4:15)
For some of you, admitting you are spiritually dehydrated will be easy. You can feel it, feel the dryness. You’ve tried everything but deep down you know that you’re still missing something vital. You’re the sort of person who has Psalm 63 as a memory verse,
O God… My whole being desires you; like a dry, worn-out, and waterless land, my soul is thirsty for you.
For others it’s much harder –it’s often the brightest and most capable people who struggle the most with this. You’re used to being able to fix any problem – all you’ve got to do is set goals, come up with a plan, build a team, motivate them, and soon the problem is solved. That works great in the office. It even works great in church. And it can bring great temporary satisfaction. But it can never satisfy the great spiritual ache within you. No amount of achievement can rehydrate a dried-up soul. Only Jesus can do that. And until we let Him, the drought continues. So, admit you’re dehydrated.
The second thing we’ve gotta do is… 2) stop drinking the things that make you thirsty
What does Jesus do when the woman admits she’s dehydrated? He points to her marital issues. At first, it sounds like he’s changing the subject or being petty. How cruel to bring up this area of embarrassment for her. Except Jesus isn’t being cruel. He’s challenging her – saying – okay – you’ve realized you’re thirsty. Now you need to admit you’ve been hoping these relationships can do for you what only a relationship with God can do. In other words, you’ve been trying to quench your thirst with things that make you thirsty.
On those hot summer days when the temperature gets into the high 90s, what’s the advice the doctors give? Stay hydrated! And the way to do that is to lie in the sun and drink lots of beer, isn’t it? Wrong. Alcohol and caffeine-based drinks don’t quench our thirst – they make us thirstier. And it’s just the same with spiritual thirst. If we try to quench it in the wrong way, it just makes us thirstier.
Now that’s not to say that there aren’t things we can do to make ourselves temporarily happy. Nor are the other things we turn to for happiness and contentment. If money is your source of happiness, can you ever have enough? If beauty is the source of your happiness, you’ll always feel ugly. If it’s popularity or attention, you’ll never be able to please enough people. If it’s your children, they’ll leave home. If it’s being in love, the feelings won’t last. If it’s power, you’ll always feel insecure.
So how do we stop trying to quench our thirst for things that’ll make us thirsty? Well, it’s too simplistic to simply say “Kick them out of your life.” But what if it’s your spouse that you’re trying to cram into the God-shaped hole in your heart? How can you kick him out of your life? You can’t. So, what’s the solution? It’s to prayerfully admit before God that we’ve been misusing these good things. We’ve been making them far more than they should be in our lives.
The second commandment says this, you shall have no other gods before me. If we’ve broken that commandment, and if we’ve tried to quench our spiritual thirst for anything but Jesus then we have -Then we need to say sorry. But we can’t leave it there. We have one final thing to do.
3)Quench our thirst with Jesus You’ve got a God-shaped hole in your heart – so fill it with what it’s meant to be filled with. With Jesus. In John 7, Jesus says, whoever is thirsty should come to me, and 38 whoever believes in me should drink.” (John 7:37-38) What Jesus expected his audience to do in response was physically come to Him; follow Him; and build a relationship with Him by spending time with Him, copying the way He lived. In so many words; Hang Out With Him: In Matthew’s gospel He says, come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. (Mt.11:28)
It’s all about coming to him. But 2000 years on, how can we physically do that? We can’t. But Jesus knew that – so He sent His Holy Spirit into the world so we can still have a relationship with Him. And that relationship works itself out as we hang out with Him, listen to Him speak as we read and meditate on the Bible; it works out as we speak to Him in prayer and as we declare His wonders in praise; and as we share in His death and resurrection through baptism and communion.
And as we come to Him, He’ll begin to change us, He’ll quench that spiritual thirst, and we’ll learn the true satisfaction that can only come from Jesus, and which can equip us to face all of life’s hardships, that’s what hanging out with Jesus will do. Sitting with Him changes us, equips us, prepares us, we attain wisdom and knowledge, it becomes personal, and we began to model Him in all that we do.
So, quench your thirst for Jesus. Stop drinking the things that make you thirsty. And it all begins with an admission that you are spiritually dry. Let’s pray to the only One who can quench your thirst. Sharing the Gospel is a direct command.
Jesus commanded them to meet Him at the mountain of Galilee, a place they had been many times before. There they were, standing on the mountain, listening to Jesus give them His marching orders. He said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations …,” (Matthew 28.18-19 NlT). I envision Jesus, as He spoke these words, with His arms outstretched, gesturing to the nations that were clearly in view from that mountaintop. “Go there and tell them about me. … I’m sending you!” We can’t stand there with Him physically like the disciples did, however, we do have access to hang with Him daily, in our meditation time, reading His Word, praying to Him and listening to what He has to say. We will leave changed. Whenever you sit with Him, however you came to Him, you will leave a changed person, you will have joy, inner peace that surpasses world peace, which is difficult to see these days.
Telling people about Jesus has become an optional suggestion. For those early disciples, the command of Jesus was crystal clear. There was nothing ambiguous about it. Jesus was commanding His disciples to go and tell. What started as a clear command has become a not-so-clear optional suggestion today. I have heard it said that 95 percent of American Christians have never led a person to faith in Jesus Christ. If you are like me that statistic is like a punch in the gut. How could that be?
While I haven’t been able to determine whether that figure is true, it is a clear fact that American Christians are not sharing their faith very often. According to one poll, when evangelical Christians were asked if they had a responsibility to share their faith, 73 percent said yes. However, when asked if they had shared with someone how to come to faith in Jesus in the last year, 48 percent said no. The poll went on to show that from 2015 to 2020, most generational groups either showed no increase in sharing their faith or showed a steep decline. Only one group told more people about Jesus during that slice of time, and that was the millennial group (people born between the early 1980s and early 2000s). More than 65 percent of this group actively shared their faith with lost friends.
It is considered a sin not to share the Gospel. Why am I sharing these facts and figures with you? Because I want to drive home one really important point — Telling people about Jesus is not optional. On that mountain, Jesus didn’t give a suggestion; He gave a command — a divine imperative. Anything less than obedience is disobedience to Jesus.
Let me put it another way, and this may sting a little — It is a sin not to share. If you know what Jesus has done for you, and you are commanded by Jesus to share the hope you have with others who are lost and far from God, simply say nothing is sinful. It’s just flat-out wrong. James wrote, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it,” (James 4.17 NlT).
Jesus declared He had all authority. Jesus then commanded His followers to make disciples. They did. But we don’t. So, the big question is, “Why?” Why are so many people who claim to be followers of Jesus AWOL, (absent without leave) when it comes to sharing their faith? Somewhere along the way, we have considered Jesus’ command an option instead of a mandate.
When was the last time you hung out with Jesus? When was the last time you talked about Jesus with a friend? Take time today to hang out with Jesus. Oh what peace and joy that awaits you.
Blessings
J.P. Olson
www.journeyintotheword.com
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