Well, thank you to our worship team. I want you
to imagine with me a song about God being a way
maker. It never crossed my mind that the first
example of the first moment of miscommunication
in our 20 -year marriage would happen today in
front of all of you. But here we are. So probably
just as well that happened with all of you present.
Yeah, no, I don't know what happened other than
miscommunication. But just imagine if God was
a way maker and said he's a slave deliverer and
we can live into that promise as well. Amen.
Thank you to our worship team. We've added these
kind of Sundays where we kind of unplug a little
bit. And man, it's beautiful. Beautiful sound.
We can hear you all. Sounds so great. I told
Haas, my favorite version of Haas is ambidextrous
Haas, where he's like going both ways. And I
had this weird thing like in my early 20s. People
asked me like, what do you want to do when you
grow up? I said, I want to be ambidextrous. And
it was very weird. I had this weird fascination
with being able to do things with both hands.
And it lasted for about two days. And I gave
up. So here we are. But thank you to our worship
team. Flaws and all, that's my fault. But the
worship is beautiful. The truths of the songs
are most important. They're beautiful. So we
continue our series today, Echoes of Her Faith,
which we kicked off last Sunday. The intent of
this series, if you weren't with us or didn't
catch it online or whatever, is to examine and
listen closely to the stories. and the voices
of some incredible women in the Bible who I think,
because of the timeless nature of the scripture
that we hold in our hands today, that their voices
still echo into our faith and our lives today.
And last week, we began our series by looking
at the story of Hannah, if you were with us,
and what hope in suffering looks like as she
waited in this pretty prolonged period of time
for the blessing of a child that God eventually
did give her. And we just looked at her story
and said, what does it look like to live with
hope in the midst of suffering and being misunderstood
and having these longings that, quite honestly,
are somewhat paralyzing for your soul and your
heart? And what a powerful story. And today we're
going to move on into our second character in
this series, a story and a longing that is deeply
human. And one of the things that I said last
week is I think all of these characters that
we're going to look at, five women in the Bible,
all of their stories are... deeply human in the
sense that there's something very relatable for
us. And I know sometimes when you read the scripture,
it can get a little heady. You can kind of get
lost in some of these heroes of the Bible, like
we'll never be the Apostle Paul. He did things
we long for, aspire to, right? But there's some
characters in the Bible that are just deeply
human and deeply relatable. And that is something
that we all understand, the story of the woman
at the well, which is to experience thirst. Now,
I'm not just talking about physical thirst, although
we experience that more living in the deserts
than a lot of people. But I'm talking about that
which is like, the physical thirst is kind of
the piece that initiates this encounter with
Jesus, as you're going to see. But I'm talking
more about like the soul level thirst, if you
know what I mean. And I can describe it for you.
It's that thing that keeps you up at night or
wakes you up in the middle of the night. Or it's
that thing that... The kind that just kind of
keeps you scrolling and striving and searching
and achieving and acquiring, and you still kind
of feel like something is missing. We've all
heard the interviews with celebrities and famous
athletes who have more money than we could even
write out on paper, and yet they tell these stories
of feeling empty or lonely or whatever it may
be, and you're just like, how? How is that possible?
So that's that soul level thirst that I'm talking
about. And to help us to see it, we're going
to turn to one of the most remarkable encounters
in all of the Bible. This is truly one of the
most, I mean, you could say so many things about
Jesus, and we do. And we know so many things
about Jesus. But one of the things that I'm so
struck by is his encounters with people were
just... Did he just keep you on the edge of your
seat because he was just a master at kind of
helping people to see their true need? He's an
example for us. This is one of the most remarkable
encounters in the entire Bible. It's the encounter
of Jesus and the woman at the well in John chapter
4. And here's the main thing that I want us to
see in her story today, and that is what redemption
in brokenness looks like. Redemption in brokenness.
Let me give you the context of where this scene
occurs. It's the most unlikely of meetings. I
don't know if you've ever had an experience like
that where you ran into someone somewhere that
just felt so unlikely or so random, as you would
call it. I just got an email from one of you
this week who was telling me a story of like,
you were out for a walk and someone literally
came by on their bike that you had been longing
to talk to and you had lost connection and like,
this felt so random, right? Like, what are the
odds kind of moment? And that's the scene in
which this story is going to unfold here. That's
the situation in John chapter 4. Jesus is traveling
through Samaria, which is already unusual in
the sense that Jewish people did not typically
go through Samaria unless they absolutely had
to. Maybe you've experienced something like that.
There was a history, if you will, of just deep...
Tension, prejudice, there was mutual suspicion
between Samaritans and Jews. You just didn't
go there unless you absolutely had to. But there's
an interesting few words in the account of which
it happens in John chapter 4, and we're going
to read together in a moment. But in verse 4
it says this, and we'll kind of read the whole
thing, but I wanted to set it up for you this
way. He had to travel through Samaria. If you
were a Bible scholar and a geographical whiz,
geography whiz I should say, You could look at
a map and be like, I'm not sure that he had to
travel through Samaria. There's other ways to
go. If I said, hey, you got to go to Phoenix
and you have to go down I -10, that's the only
way to get there. He'd be like, no, you can go
up through Globe or through whatever. There's
other ways that you could go all the way over
to LA and come in the back way. There's a lot
of ways you can get there. They said he had to
travel through Samaria. It's interesting because
we can... I think safely speculate, although
it is that, I want to be clear, it's a speculation,
that geographically speaking, he didn't have
to travel through Samaria. He didn't have to.
There are other routes. So what's the had to
all about? I think we read scripture with hindsight.
I recognize that. But I think in hindsight, it's
because there was a divine encounter to be had
with a certain woman that lived in Samaria. And
therefore, he had to travel through Samaria.
And it's not just any woman. It's someone that
society had quite literally pushed to the margins.
And so we're going to read her story together.
We're going to kind of stop along the way and
make some key points. We see this encounter between
Jesus and this woman. It begins in verse 1 in
John chapter 4 this way. When Jesus learned that
the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing
more disciples than John, though Jesus himself
was not baptizing, but his disciples were, he
left Judea and went again to Galilee. He had
to travel through Samaria. So he came to a town
of Samaria called Sychar, near the property that
Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well
was there. And Jesus, worn out from his journey,
sat down at the well. It was about noon, and
a woman of Samaria came to draw water. Now let's
just pause there to consider some of the context.
Because if you just read it, it's like, okay,
it's a pretty normal encounter. It's not normal
by any means, because the women would come to
draw, they don't come to draw water at noon,
typically. Why not? It's the hottest part of
the day. The small details tell us something,
that this woman had not been welcomed in by other
groups of women because the place to be in the
morning was like the water cooler gathering.
The Starbucks gathering was at the well to draw
water. If you were welcome, if you were in the
in crowd, so to speak, you were probably at the
well to draw water in the morning, maybe late
in the evening, but certainly not at noon. Certainly
not at noon. The small detail tells us that this
woman had been kind of pushed out, so to speak,
from her culture, her society that she lived
in. Because it was just not a time for people
to come draw water at noon. She comes alone.
Why? Most likely, people ask me, like, are you
introverted or extroverted? I'm like, the more
I'm around people, the more introverted I become.
Like, how many of you have a place in town where
you go because you're hoping you won't run into
anybody else? Anybody? There are options close
to home, but sometimes I go farther because I
don't want to see any of you. That's, of course,
a total joke. She went at noon because she's
smart. And she's like, there's less chance I'm
going to run into anybody. Because she knew the
stigma towards her. She knew the shame that other
women, other people, not just women, anybody
thought had towards her. I'm going to go at noon.
I'm not going to run into anybody. I'm going
to avoid conversation. I'm going to avoid judgment.
Put it this way, if there's social media that
existed back then, she would have been the person
that had been unfriended, unfollowed, muted,
however you want to say it, definitely not invited
into the social network. And yet, Jesus is there
waiting for her. And the conversation begins
with a very simple request from Jesus in verse
7. Give me a drink, Jesus said to her. because
his disciples had gone into town to buy food.
Now, on the surface, this seemed like a very
ordinary request from Jesus. Somebody said to
you, if you showed up at a well and someone said,
give me a drink, you'd be like, what? What are
you talking about? Give me a drink. But culturally,
this is a radical request from Jesus, and I'll
tell you how so. Multiple ways. First of all,
a Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman, it
just was out of bounds. It's not supposed to
happen that way. Secondly, a rabbi initiating
conversation is unheard of. Thirdly, a man asking
a woman, no matter the ethnicity, if you will,
like, you just don't do that. Men don't ask women
for anything. Totally backwards. Everything about
this moment, Jesus' simple request of, give me
a drink. That's all he said to her. And because
of this, her response is obviously one of shock.
She knows the... cultural, societal context that
I just explained to you. Verse 9, this is her
response. How is it that you, talking to Jesus,
a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?
She just takes all of those barriers and puts
them in one sentence. How is it that you, a Jew,
This man asking me a Samaritan woman. She asked
him, for Jews you're not associated with Samaritans.
And here's where it starts to get really interesting.
Jesus doesn't back away from the awkwardness,
does he? But he leans into it in verse 10. Jesus
answered, if you knew the gift of God, and who
is saying to you, give me a drink, you would
ask him and he would give you living water. Her
confusion at this point, and if you say you wouldn't
have the same confusion, you're probably lying.
Her confusion is just escalating. It's multiplying
quickly. Like, what in the world? First of all,
this Jewish man, why is he even here? Second
of all, he's asking me for water, and now he's
talking about, if you knew who I was, you would
ask me to give you living water? Like, has this
man lost his mind? Verse 11 and 12. Sir, said
the woman, you don't even have a bucket, and
the well is deep. Where do you get this living
water? You aren't greater than our father Jacob.
This is his well, by the way. You aren't greater
than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the
well and drank from it himself, as did his sons
and livestock. She's just radically confused.
You don't even have a bucket. She's totally very
relatable. Okay, let's say that you will give
me this living water. What are you going to do?
Just snap your fingers and draw it up? You at
least need a cup. You at least need a bucket,
which honestly is a very fair point. If someone
offered you water and you didn't have a bottle
or a cup or whatever hydro flask you guys spend
$80 on today to buy, you'd be skeptical too,
right? Like, this guy has weird motives here.
Like, give me a drink. There's nothing to give
you a drink with. Like, what do you really want
from me? But with the advantage of hindsight,
as we read the story, we know, of course, that
Jesus isn't talking about physical water, was
he? He's talking about something much deeper.
And this is where the point in the story where
the whole conversation begins to shift. The whole
conversation begins to shift. Jesus was a master
at this. I alluded to it earlier. He had a way.
He had a way. I was talking with a friend earlier
in the week, and he was expressing to me, I want
to know how to share my faith. I'm kind of paraphrasing
a longer conversation, but I want to know how
to tell people about Jesus. I want to know how
to be more confident in what I share. Quite honestly,
just look at how Jesus engaged people. He often
started with a physical need that opened the
door to a spiritual need. Why do the scriptures
tell us, this is a tangent, but here we go. Why
do the scriptures tell us to like, not just love
in word and deed, but in action and in truth,
like there's something, there's action to our
love because so often it opens the door to meet
a spiritual need. Why do we give away? thousands
of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars
a year as a church because meeting physical needs
opens the door to meet spiritual needs. Why do
people go into these remote villages with clean
water and bread? Because meeting physical needs
often opens the door to meet spiritual needs.
When we were in India and we went into this village,
went into a lot of villages, one that we went
into. They knew the Americans were coming, and
it's a big deal. You feel like this weird celebrity
actually took a lot of getting used to, and now
I miss it. I'm kidding. But it's this weird thing
where you go in, and they treat you like gods.
It's very strange, humbling, quite honestly.
Nevertheless, the draw that night was not primarily
the Americans, although that's a piece of it,
but they were feeding the entire village. And
so it was food. It was free food. And it was
going to be good food. And so the entire village,
I mean, hundreds of people just everywhere. And
it was almost like they're sitting there just
like, all right, as soon as this guy stops talking,
we'll get to eat. Much like you are on Sundays,
probably. But the draw was the physical need.
And so we said, yeah, we'll feed the whole village.
We'll meet a physical need if it enables us to
maybe meet a spiritual need. That's the tangent.
Meeting physical need opened the door to expose
the spiritual need, and Jesus was masterful at
this. Watch it in verse 13. Jesus said, everyone
who drinks of this water will get thirsty again.
And that makes sense. But whoever drinks from
the water that I will give him will never get
thirsty again. In fact, the water that I will
give him will become a well of water springing
up for him in eternal life. And so just pause
here, because it's not just her story. This is
where it has to begin to kind of land into our
own story. We live in a world obsessed with quenching
thirst. Metaphorically speaking, of course. We
keep going back to what? Empty wells, essentially.
Or at least things that you'll have to come back
for the next day because you'll be thirsty again.
Success, but it's never enough. We're never successful
enough. I mean, you see it in professional sports
all the time. Like, they just keep trading bigger
contracts for bigger contracts for bigger contracts.
And you're like, how is it that at 10 million
you're unhappy? Well, I suppose if you had 10
million and someone offered you 20 million, all
of a sudden you'd be unhappy at 10 million. Like,
we can't fathom it, but it's a real thing. How
do you keep chasing success when you have it?
It's just never enough. Relationships, but they
don't fully satisfy. Comfort and entertainment
and distraction. But the silence and the emptiness
still creeps in. And you've heard the famous
quote. I don't know who it's by, but you've heard
it. We buy things that we don't need with money
that we don't have to impress people we don't
even like. And yet, you're still thirsty. You're
still thirsty. This woman at the well doesn't
fully understand yet, but she's at least now
intrigued. There's something unique about this
man, this conversation, this promise. So verse
15, In other words, I don't get it, but I'll
buy what you're selling. I don't get it, but
it sounds intriguing. And that's a really good
starting point, at least. And then Jesus does
something really unexpected in verse 16. Go call
your husband, he told her, and come back here.
And this is where her world just goes. And here
comes yet another shift in this conversation
because suddenly she's realizing this isn't really
about water at all. Her reply, I don't have a
husband, she answered. Jesus' reply in second
part of verse 17, you have correctly said, I
don't have a husband. Just imagine in the moment
you came at noon because you wanted to avoid
this very conversation. You came at noon because
you didn't want anybody to give you a hard time
about your life and all the judgment and all
the cultural shame you'd experienced. And so
you came at noon to avoid this very thing. Imagine
what this lady is suddenly feeling like this
is the point where most of us would want to disappear.
We want to change the subject. Like, you know
what? Turns out I don't want this water that
you're offering. Have a good day. Change the
subject. Fake a phone call. Pretend we got to
run because the kids need picked up unexpectedly.
Like, whatever it is, we're scooting out from
this conversation as quickly as we can. But notice
what happens next. With this woman, like, she's
feeling all of these things. And Jesus, he's
going to expose her truth without shaming her.
This is in verse 18. For you have had five husbands,
and the man you now have is not your husband.
What you have said is true. What does she say?
I don't have a husband. She's like, you're correct.
And I know a few details. And the details are,
you've had five. The man you now have is not
your husband. What you have said is true. So,
he doesn't humiliate her. He doesn't condemn
her. He doesn't. Is she feeling some of her own
condemnation? Perhaps. He doesn't humiliate her.
He doesn't condemn her. He simply reveals that
he knows her. Like, I know about you. I know
your story fully. And he still is going to continue
to engage her. I think of the old quote. It's
attributed to several different people, but it
says it this way. It's on the screen for you.
To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.
To be loved and not known is superficial, but
to be fully known and fully loved, that is grace.
That is grace. Just leave that up there for a
second so you can see it. To be known and not
loved, which is that's all the further this conversation
is between this woman and Jesus at this point,
is he knows me. He knows my history. He knows
I've had five husbands. The one I'm with now
is not my husband. He knows that, but she doesn't
know if he loves her yet. To be known and not
loved is our greatest fear. To be loved and not
known is superficial. To be fully known and fully
loved, that is grace. That is grace. And certainly,
that's what this woman is at least about to experience
in this moment with Jesus. But like many of us
would have, she's going to try and deflect, and
she's going to try and redirect the conversation
away from her to who Jesus is. John 4, 19 -20,
Sir, the woman replied, I see that you are a
prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain,
but you Jews say that the place to worship is
in Jerusalem. What is she really... doing in
this moment. She's deflecting. She's changing
the conversation. She's like, hey, let's talk
about theology instead. That was her attempt
to redirect the conversation, like, hey, help
me sort out this, like, are we worshiping here?
Are we worshiping there? Instead of letting things
get personal, she wants them to get, what, philosophical.
And as I was preparing for this, one story in
my mind sticks out so clearly. Many years ago,
I had a guy who was constantly emailing me deep
philosophical, theological questions. Finally
get to a point where I say, hey, man, why don't
you just come in, bring your Bible, we'll talk.
And he comes in with the thickest study Bible
I've ever seen, and I'm instantly intimidated
by him. Like, I mean, I went to seminary, but
I don't think I went to that seminary. And we
talked. The point of the story is six months
later, he dipped out on his marriage of 50 years
to go rekindle with a high school sweetheart.
It wasn't about theology for that guy, let me
assure you. He had too much and had not penetrated
his heart. Bring that back to the story. Like,
if you don't want to be known, there's easy ways
to deflect. Hey. Cool that you know about my
five husbands, but can you sort out this, where
are we going to worship? Mountain stuff for me?
I think it's humorous, quite honestly. She doesn't
want to get personal. She wants to be philosophical.
She's questioning Jesus about the appropriate
place for worship in the midst of this conversation,
mind you. And Jesus' reply to her is one of the
most profound statements in the whole Bible.
Verse 21, Jesus told her, believe me, woman,
an hour is coming when you will worship the Father.
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. In
other words, you want your answer? Neither. You
Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship
what we do know because salvation is from the
Jews, but an hour is coming and is now here.
when the true worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants
such people to worship him. God is spirit, and
those who worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. Just imagine that you're that lady,
and she's like, hey, tell me, we'll be here or
we'll be on that mountain, and this is the answer
you get back. You're like, if I wasn't confused
before, I am now. Thank you very much. Jesus
told her, like, I'll answer your question. but
probably in a way that you don't expect and maybe
don't even like. God is spirit. Those who worship
him must worship in spirit and truth. What was
Jesus trying to show her? He was trying to show
her that true worship was not about a place,
was not about a ritual, was not about a performance,
but rather authenticity and honesty and a real
true connection with God. He was trying to just
pull back those layers of... philosophical, theological
confusion for her. And then in one last moment
of confusion, Jesus responds with total clarity.
Verse 25, the woman said to him, by the way,
you should mark this in your Bible and go read
it for yourself. There's something profound about
opening a physical Bible and knowing the story
and looking at it and digesting it for yourself.
John chapter 4, it's all there. Verse 25, the
woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is
coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he
will explain everything to us. Jesus told her,
imagine just being in the room. I, the one speaking
to you, am he. It reminds me of so many of the
other stories where, like, we were talking about
Downey Thomas on Easter, right? Like, Thomas
wasn't the only one that was skeptical, right?
He appeared to the lady in the gardener. She
thought he was the gardener. Remember that? She's
having this entire conversation, knowing about
the Messiah, who is called the Christ. When he
comes, he will explain everything. She had a
pretty good familiarity with this coming Jesus.
And Jesus told her, I, the one speaking to you,
am he. You just think about this. This is the
first time. I love this. These are just the details
that I get the privilege of kind of mining out
and bringing to us. This is the first time in
John's gospel that Jesus explicitly declares
himself as the Messiah. Why is that significant?
It's significant because this woman who, culturally
speaking, he should have never been engaged with
in the first place, is the first one to whom
Jesus makes this declaration. A woman of total
shame. It's not to some religious leader. It's
not in the temple to some noble king or dignitary.
It's not even to his own disciples. It's to this
woman at the well who everybody else had said,
don't go near her. Go in the morning to draw
water because she's going to come at noon. And
it's to this very woman that Jesus, for the first
time in this gospel account, makes this declaration
of who he is to her. Who he is to her. It reminds
me of the story of Jesus' birth. It was to the...
shepherds that the angels declared first. And
when you read the scripture and it talks about
the first shall be last and the last first, I
think it's embodied in some of these stories
that we already see in the scripture. There's
going to come a point where Jesus is going to
reveal his identity. Who do you think it's going
to be? It's got to be his disciples. It's got
to be some dignitary in the temple. No, it's
going to be that woman. Oh, to a Samaritan woman,
huh? Yep, to a Samaritan woman. An outsider,
a marginalized voice, and this is not only surprising,
it's also very intentional. Jesus didn't, I mean,
I do it every Sunday. I get home and I'm like,
did I really say that? Like, dang, I could take
that back. Jesus didn't have those moments. We
all have those moments. Like, oh, I didn't mean
to do that. Be totally clear, Jesus wasn't like,
oh, she drew it out of me before I was going
to tell everybody else. Like, hey, think you
could keep this between us? And so that's where
her direct interaction with Jesus ends, but that's
not where the story ends, because the text tells
us that after this, she immediately leaves her
water jar, which, why is that ironic? Well, because
she came considering that's what she thought
she needed in the first place. She leaves her
water jar. She runs back into the town. Mind
you, to the same people that she's avoided, the
same people that she's been afraid of, the same
people that she's been shamed by and unwelcomed
by. And in verse 29, she says, come, see a man
who told me everything I did, which, by the way,
is not good. I've had a history of just broken
relationships. Come, see a man who told me everything
I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? It's so
profound, my friends. You have to sit in the
significance of this moment to think that not
only was it this woman that Jesus declared this
to, but it was the same woman who went back into
a community that had totally rejected her and
said, I got something to tell you. Think about
it for a moment. The same woman who... came alone
at noon to avoid people is now inviting people.
You think about how profound that is. Like, and
so here's a point to make. When grace meets truth,
it transforms shame into testimony. When grace
meets truth, it transforms shame into testimony.
And that's exactly what happened here in the
story of the woman at the well. Verse 39. This
is, I don't know. There are a few better endings
to a story than right here. Now, many Samaritans
from that town believed in him because of what
that woman said when she testified. He told me
everything I did. Many Samaritans, who, mind
you, don't like Jews, believed in him because
of what that woman said when she testified. He
told me everything I did. And he didn't tell
her all the things he liked about her. He told
her truth. And in that place of truth, it transformed
her to the point where she's now inviting. And
many Samaritans would come to believe in Jesus.
One conversation, one encounter, one life transformed,
and it ripples out from there. One of my favorite
quotes from C .S. Lewis says, there are no ordinary
people. And he goes on to say, you have never
talked to a mere mortal. In other words, no conversations
like, oh yeah, we're just chit -chatting. Like
you're talking to an immortal soul, a body that's
mortal for sure, a soul that's immortal, it'll
live forever. And so there's no just happenstance
in life. One conversation, one encounter, one
transformation that would ripple out from there.
Jesus knew and understood who this lady was.
He didn't see a scandal that needed to be publicized
and to be shamed, but he saw it as an immortal
soul that he was trying to get to understand
what true living water will do for you when it
hits your soul. One conversation, one transformation.
And so just in the few minutes that we have left,
I'm going to give you a couple things that I
think this story, how it intersects with us,
right? Because it's a powerful story, but you
got to also ask the so what, like. What's the
intersection? What's the echo of this faith forward
to us today? And here's the first thing, Jesus
meets us in unexpected places. Now, I don't mean
this to mean in the kitchen as opposed to church,
although that is possible. So when I say Jesus
meets us in unexpected places, the focus here
is not so much geographically, okay? Although
that could be true, but rather the unexpected
places of our soul. The unexpected places of
our soul. What do I mean by that? Think about
it. This woman, again, at the well, she wasn't
in a temple. I mean, if you had said, hey, you're
going to meet the Messiah, where do you think
that's going to happen? She would have said,
well, I suppose if I go to the synagogue, like
maybe go to the temple, certainly not at the
well. And I understand it's a geographical example,
but the point is, is like her soul was not ready
for that. She had just gone like she did. countless
times before to avoid people, to draw water,
to get on with her day. And it wasn't in the
synagogue, which is another way of saying that
she wasn't even looking for Jesus. I mean, if
you had told her, hey, the Messiah's in town,
go find him, where would she have gone first?
The synagogue, the temple, to where the religious
leaders were. She certainly wouldn't have gone
to the well, like of all places. She was at the
well, she's doing chores, she's avoiding people,
she's living life, and Jesus shows up. And so,
might it be, friends, might it be that in your
search for success, where your soul is, you bump
into Jesus? Might it be in your search for a
perfect relationship or a family, you bump into
Jesus? Like, in your soul, I mean. Might it be
that in your search for financial wealth or...
Whatever it may be, you bump into Jesus or in
your search for sexual satisfaction, you bump
into Jesus. Like in these places of our soul,
we're like, we thought we were thirsty for this.
I need water, so I'm going to go to the well.
I need sexual satisfaction, so I'm going to go
to the internet. I need financial gain, so I'm
going to go to the stock market. Like I need
success, so I'm going to keep changing jobs until
I can find the right one. And look. All those
things have their place in life, in the right
context, of course. But might it be that in that
search for the thing you think you're after,
you bump into Jesus in that place of your soul.
In your search to be satisfied, the true thirst,
the thing you've convinced yourself will solve
it all, you bump into Jesus who meets us in unexpected
places, sometimes geographically, but more often
than not in the place of our soul, when you aren't
looking for him. In fact, maybe even purposely
avoiding him. So many places in the Bible we
see it, especially in the gospel accounts, we
see it play out that way. I think of the account
of where Jesus is calling his disciples and they're
fishing. Like, come on man, don't disturb me
while I'm fishing. Zacchaeus, up in the tree,
just wanted to see Jesus but not know Jesus.
Jesus is like, come on down, man. I'm going to
your house today. In the middle of his career,
collecting taxes, doing his thing, Jesus meets
him in that unexpected place. Secondly, our deepest
thirst is spiritual. It might be obvious, but
it should be said. A few chapters later in John
chapter 6, Jesus cautions his disciples in a
group of gathered people. If you were to go over,
you'd see it not to work for food which perishes,
he says, but that which endures to eternal life.
And if you think about it, we spend so much time
trying to satisfy the wrong thirst that costs
us so much time, money, emotional. And I would
say the newest, the most valuable asset that
we now have as a culture and as individuals is
mental bandwidth. Because we are so distracted.
So distracted. And so we... We try to satisfy
the wrong thirst that costs us these things,
our time, our money, our mental and emotional
bandwidth. But underneath it, there's just like
a deep thirst. You don't scroll on your phone
and then put it away for two years. You do it
again two hours later because you might have
missed something. I do it. It's dumb. But there's
a deeper thirst that we're just like, hmm. I
mean, you don't check your stock account and
then never check it again. You don't, I mean,
you get it. You just play it out in your own
life. There's a deeper thirst. There's a thirst
for purpose. There's a thirst for belonging and
acceptance and forgiveness and love. And don't
you know the woman at the well had all of those
things but had not the first clue how to find
it because the people that she did life with
were like, no, you don't do life with us. You're
unwelcome here. Thirst for purpose, belonging,
acceptance, forgiveness, love, and we keep coming
back for more, but they don't truly satisfy us.
St. Augustine said, you have made us for yourself,
O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they
find rest where? In you. In you. That is what
Jesus was offering this woman, and that is what
Jesus still offers us today, which is living
water. That's the key phrase in that whole story.
Living water. Meaning what? Like a spring that
never runs out. We don't know anything of those
in Arizona, but they exist. Unlike the other
things that we try to pursue to satisfy our thirst,
this is not a temporary relief, but this is a
lasting fulfillment in Christ, in Christ. Thirdly,
grace tells the truth. Grace tells the truth.
Jesus didn't ignore her past. You got to hear
this. Jesus didn't ignore her past, but he also
did not weaponize it either. He did not weaponize
it. He brought it into the light because healing
happens in the light. When you go to the doctor
and they need to do an important procedure on
your body, what do they do? They turn on the
headlamp because they've got to make sure that
they see it so that they can cure it. They don't
do it in the cover of dark. They get the room
as bright as they can. They get the light on
the wound or whatever, the surgical. That's how
healing happens. We've got to light it up. And
that's exactly what Jesus is doing. He's not
weaponizing it against her, but he's also not
ignoring it. And I think we live today in two
extremes. Either we hide our truth out of shame
or we celebrate everything without transformation.
Those are the two extremes that I think we live
in, which is why I think people struggle to figure
out our church because we're trying to do something
in the middle. We say we have truth and we live
into that truth and we have to expose what is
untrue by what is true. But we're not going to
use it as a weapon against you just because you
haven't got there yet. But we need to bring that
into the light so that you might experience true
transformation in Jesus. He didn't weaponize
it. There's two extremes. We hide it. She tried
to, right? She's like, hey, what about this mountain?
And Jesus is like, there's a bigger issue here.
Or we celebrate everything without transformation.
Jesus offers a third option, a better option,
which is truth and grace. And this is how he's
described in the first chapter of John. The words,
that's Jesus, became flesh, dwelt among us. We
observed his glory. The glory is the one and
only son from the father, full of what? Say it
with me. Grace and truth. That's John's description
of Jesus. This is how he came. This is how he
came. This is how he arrived on the scene. We
observed his glory, the one and the only from
the Father. And what is he like? Well, he's full
of grace and truth, both. And it's transformational.
If you had said, are the woman at the well and
Jesus going to be friends? Unlikely. But there
was not somebody in that whole community that
had better things to say about Jesus than that
woman who had been... transformed by Jesus. Jesus
knew this woman, and he knows you, and he still
welcomes and invites you into something that's
deeper that will satisfy your soul. One final
point. Your testimony is your faith invitation.
From time to time, people will say to me as a
pastor, I could never do what you do. I don't
know enough of the Bible, etc. Okay, I could
never do what you do. I don't know how you like.
Sit in a building without your phone all day
and do secret work, but that's what you do. Or
not kill seventh graders who are in your math
class. I can never do what you do, which is tolerate
middle schoolers. They will say that to me, but
here's the point in saying that. Think of the
woman in the story. She didn't have a theology
degree. She didn't even have a well -rehearsed,
polished testimony. Like when she went back,
she wasn't like, yeah, so here it is. I was after
water that doesn't satisfy, and now I have living
water. And it comes from Jesus, who is the spring
of living water who flows. Like, she didn't have
that. No theology degree, not a well -rehearsed,
polished testimony. Instead, what she had was
a winsome, inviting story of transformation.
There is something. There is nothing, I should
say, more powerful than that. And the invitation,
come and see, was so magnetic. So magnetic. Come
and see. And sometimes we think we're disqualified
from sharing our faith because of our past, but
often it is our past that makes our stories most
powerful. Most powerful. Why do we spend the
time to let people tell their story on Baptism
Sunday? Because there are other churches that
don't do that, and I'm good with that. It's preference,
not... Theologies. Preference. Because we believe
that there's power in that. The story of transformation.
The people that come up onto this stage. I mean,
it is powerful. There's a winsomeness to it.
Like, wow. If it can happen for that person,
maybe it can happen for me. Maybe it can happen
for me. I mean, you had five husbands and you're
now kind of on your sixth. Like, okay. If it
works for you, it might work for me. People can
argue doctrine, and there's a place for that,
I suppose, but they can't argue with a transformed
life. They can't argue with a transformed life.
I'll say accidentally, but I think it was by
God's design. I put on my CR shirt today for
Celebrate Recovery, and every time I go, which
is not as often as I would like to, but every
time I go, what you see in stories of people
who are really living it, And actually being
transformed and taken from darkness to light
in the name and in the power of Jesus. It's undeniable.
It's hard to be like, oh, this is some weird
theology thing. No, this is transformation. And
give me another explanation other than the person
who spent so much of their life oppressed and
under the weight of this addiction who now just
coincidentally is not. It's powerful. And you
can't dispute it. And I've shared this example
before from the scripture. But I always think
of it, the story of the blind man. I'll show
it to you in a moment. But let me tell you about
it before you see it. Jesus heals this blind
man in John chapter 9. And they're pressing this
blind man about who Jesus is. Because they don't
want it to be true. They don't like Jesus. So
they're pressing him about, like, tell us theology,
doctrine, what was his response to their persistent
questioning? They're questioning the blind man.
Here's what it is. So a second time they summoned
the man who had been blind and told him, give
glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.
Speaking of Jesus, he answered, whether or not
he's a sinner, I don't know. Although he kind
of fumbled that one, but we'll give him some
grace. But one thing I do know, I'm confused
about theology, but one thing I do know. I was
blind, and now I can see. And this real transformation.
Like, you can be like, the guy's a sinner, he's
not a sinner, he's a priest, he's a rabbi, he's
a good Samaritan. Like, who is he? I don't know.
But what I do know, and what you can't argue
with, is the real transformation. In his case,
physically, right? I was blind, and now I see.
I've told you before, if we could do that, not
a seat next to you would be empty. Because you
would see it and you can't deny it. Real transformation,
impossible to deny and ignore. And so many of
you have a story of transformation. And here's
what I will say to you. It is such an easy faith
invitation. I get it. To sit down with your Bible,
it can kind of feel intimidating. Like, well,
what if it asks me a question I don't know? I
get that. But lead with your story of transformation.
Lead with that. That's what the woman at the
well did. She just went home and said, come and
see. Like, I can't put it into words. Just come
and see it for yourself. Come and see and meet
this man who told me everything I ever did. And
the outcome of that is what? Many Samaritans
believed in him because of her simple invitation
to come and see. Come and see. A woman comes
to a well carrying emptiness. She leaves without
her water jar. But note this, filled with purpose.
And totally transformed. Because she discovered
something greater than what she came for. And
unquestionably, there's some of us that are in
that same place today. You came for one thing
or you go to that well at noon for one thing.
Thinking that that's what you really need or
that's what you're really after. answers, peace,
clarity, whatever it may be, but Jesus offers
you something deeper, and it's not just water,
it's living water, like the kind that gets into
your very soul and transforms you. And so the
question I'll leave you with is, what is the
thirst of your soul today? What are you thirsting
for? I mean, a good way to diagnose it is just
to look at how you spend your time, how you spend
your money. The things that you do in your career,
the things you do in your home, the things you
do on social media. All those things are diagnostic.
They tell us, like, what are we craving? Is it
money? Is it attention? Is it love? Is it acceptance?
What's the craving? What's the thirst in my soul
today? And are you willing to let Jesus meet
you there, not just to comfort you, but to transform
you? Like, Jesus could have done a different
kind of miracle, which is what? Like, hey, yeah.
I'll get the water for you today. Here you go,
ma 'am. Here's a bucket of water. Good luck.
I might not be here tomorrow when you come back
for more. He could have done that. We would have
been like, that was very kind of him. That was
very noble of him. And so he wasn't just trying
to comfort her. Like, here's some water. Go and
be well. But he was actually trying to transform
her. And he did. Because when he transforms us,
It's not just that you're satisfied, although
that is primary, but you also become a conduit
pointing others to the same source of life. Imagine
in that scenario, it's like, hey, that well over
there is different. There would be a line around
the block. That's what it is about. It's not
just that I'm transformed. Thank God that I am.
But hopefully, hopefully that I become a conduit
pointing others to the same source of life. And
what was the invitation? Come and see. That was
it. Come and see. What about your life is the
come and see part that people would be like,
yeah, like I'm not sure about that person's theology.
But it's really hard to ignore how they live.
How they live. Like come and see. How Jesus has
changed my life. The story of redemption in brokenness
is powerful. And it insulates us in our place
of brokenness and shame and whatever it is. We're
insulated with that so that we may share it with
others. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank
you that in our place of shame and brokenness,
you are waiting. At the noon hour at the well,
you are waiting. When we're hoping to not run
into anybody, we're hoping to avoid it, we're
hoping to deflect it, hoping to change the subject.
Whatever it may be, God, in our place of brokenness
and shame and superficial thirst, we'll call
it, you give us living water through Jesus. May
not one person leave today. unclear on where
that well of living water is and how to get it.
Would you expose in our hearts our superficial
thirst and would you do a transformational work
that only you can do? We come thinking we're
after this and you meet us in that place unexpectedly
and say, no, actually what you really need is
the living water that can only come through Jesus.
And in that, in that place of transformation,
that we would go to the very people who maybe
we haven't even been welcomed by before. Go to
those places that feel scary. Go to those places
where we experience shame. Go to those places
where we're nervous. Go to those places where
we're certain people will say, we don't want
to hear it. And we would just simply lead with
our faith, our story of transformation, say,
come and see. Come and see. Come and see what
Jesus has done. Do that in our very lives today,
in our soul. We love you and we trust you. In
Jesus' name, amen.