Feb. 13, 2000 John 4:1-38
“Fountain of youth found!”
INTRODUCTION
In the early 1500’s, soon after the discovery of the New World, Europeans began making the long journey across the ocean in hopes of finding something. Some were hoping to find a new life. Others wanted adventure, the chance to explore a place where no white man had ever been. Some wanted religious freedom. But there were others who came in search of gold. One of these was a spanish conquistador by the name of Ponce de Leon. Ponce de Leon and his men were the first Europeans to explore Puerto Rico, parts of Mexico and Florida. In his quest to find gold, he had many encounters with the Indian tribes in the area. These Indians had stories not only of gold but of a spring that bubbled up out of the ground. This spring was said to have magical powers. Anyone who drank of it would be healed of any disease or physical problem that they might have, and their bodies would be restored to youth once again. It was appropriately called the “Fountain of Youth”. Though he made it his life-long goal to find this fountain, he was obviously unsuccessful. He died from a poisoned arrow in 1521.
Here in the almost 21st century, not much has changed. We are still looking for the mythical fountain of youth. Women try to find it in make-up and facials. Men and women try to get it by having their faces lifted and their bellies suctioned. Now is the time of year when the diet craze is about to take effect because everyone wants to look good when they put that new bathing suit on. And then we’ll spend time out in the sun this summer to get just enough color on our faces to give us that “youthful glow”. By the way, the youthful glow of today leads to the elderly leather of tomorrow. Isn’t it amazing that a century or two ago, the goal was to become aged so that you could enjoy the respect and wisdom that old age brings. But today, the goal is to look as young as you can so that you can feel good about yourself. As much as we try, and as many breakthroughs as science hands us, our search for the fountain of youth will end the same way that Ponce de Leon’s search ended. It will end with out death.
Fifteen centuries before Ponce de Leon, a woman came to a well. She wasn’t searching for the fountain of youth. She was just looking for enough water to get her through another day. We don’t know how old she was physically, but we know that she was very old emotionally and spiritually. People and life had used her up, and when she had out-lived her usefulness, they had thrown her away.
Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt old, worn-out and used-up? Do you feel like every one around you is draining you dry of any life that you have? The kids are always making constant demands on you, the boss gets raises and promotions as a result of work that you have done, your teacher expects you to have time to do 5 hours of homework every night and your spouse never seems to be satisfied with what you do around the house. At the end of the day, no matter what the calendar says is your age, you feel old. You’re just making it from day to day.
On the day that the woman of John 4 came looking for a jar of water, Jesus told her that He could give her a fountain springing up with eternal life – eternal youth. Jesus was the only person that she had ever encountered that loved her completely not because of what she could do for Him but because He was love. He was the only one whom she had encountered in a long time – perhaps ever – that offered her something of value without expecting her to do anything in return. Jesus had a different kind of love.
On this Valentine’s Day eve, I want us to examine the way that Jesus displayed His love for this woman. I want us to see what “Jesus love” is like. And then I want you to ask yourself these questions: first, have I experienced that kind of love in my life? Am I experiencing it now? Second, am I showing that kind of love to other people?
1. “Jesus love” won’t be stopped by anything. (vs. 4-9)
- not by weariness When I walk in the door at the end of the day, usually one of the first things that I hear is Ben saying, “Will you play with me?” Playing with Benjamin is the last thing on my mind at that particular moment. I want to sit down on the couch, take my shoes off, and just vegetate for at least a few minutes. That’s probably the way that Jesus was feeling on that day. He and his disciples had been traveling by foot over rough terrain since early that morning. The sun was beating down, it was 12 noon (the sixth hour), and someone had forgotten to pack lunch for the group. One of the group got the idea of going into the next town to get some food. All that Jesus wanted to do was get some rest. So He sent them into town, and He sat down by the well. Can you picture him there? The disciples are heading off in the distance, Jesus sits down with His back to the wall, and He closes His eyes to get a little snooze. After a little bit, He hears a noise. First, he hears footsteps, and then he hears someone set a jar down on the stones of the well. He really doesn’t feel like saying anything. He just wants to sleep. But instead of remaining quiet, He speaks up and involves himself in the life of this woman. Jesus considered the woman’s need for what only He could offer to be more important than the replenishment of His energy through rest. Why did He not allow His weariness to stop Him? Because He had “Jesus love” for her.
- not by racial differences Jesus’ words to the woman surprised her. With Jesus sitting by the well, she might not have even seen Him sitting there until He said something to make His presence known. She wasn’t expecting anyone else to be there. Most people went to the well in the early morning when it was cool. She faced the heat of the day because she wanted to avoid the hot stares and searing laughter of the other women of the city. She took pains to avoid other people as much as possible. So she was surprised by the presence of Jesus. But the surprise that she felt was not just because a voice that she did not expect startled her. Jesus was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan. Look what she said in vs. 9 [read it] The Jews prided themselves on their full-blooded heritage. After all, they were God’s chosen people. If you were not a Jew, then you were a nobody. What could be worse than being a nobody? Being a Samaritan. They were a mixture of Jews and other races. Anyone that had any mixture of another race in his blood was considered second class, a half-breed, not worthy of a Jew’s notice, a traitor. Jews and Samaritans avoided each other as much as possible. The land of Samaria was right in the middle of the southern and northern parts of Israel. The quickest route to get from one part of Israel to the other was to go through the middle of Samaria. But most Jews would go out of their way in order to by-pass Samaria. Do you remember the story of the good Samaritan? What made the Samaritan’s actions so noteworthy was that the kindness that he showed was to a Jew. And now, here’s this Jew, Jesus, talking to a Samaritan. Why was Jesus willing to cross racial boundaries? Because He had “Jesus love”.
- not by gender differences The woman was also surprised by Jesus’ conversation with her because of the fact that he, a man, was talking to her, a woman, in public. [read vs. 9 again] Men didn’t talk to women unless it was to ask “what’s for dinner”. (Doesn’t sound too different from today’s husbands) Women had nothing to offer in a man’s world. They were without respect. There only value was in their service to man. It was also considered very improper for a man to initiate a conversation with a woman especially when there were not others around to make sure that nothing improper happened. Many men had initiated conversations with her in the past. But in those instances, they had all wanted one thing from her. And most of the time, she delivered. As far as she knew, that’s why Jesus had approached her on that day. Jesus was risking a lot by reaching out to her and not following the social norms of the day. His reputation would be under attack if anyone found out and chose to follow their own interpretation of the events that took place at that well. Near the end of their conversation when Jesus’ disciples returned, they were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. Look at vs. 27. [read it] Why was Jesus willing to lower himself to talk to a woman and face the ridicule of other men? Because he had “Jesus love.”
- not by dirt There were a lot of reasons that could have prevented Jesus from loving this woman. Perhaps the greatest reason was because of her history. She was dirty. There are times that kids get so dirty that only a mother could love them. But the dirt that covered this woman made her so dirty that not even a mother could love her. Everyone knew about her dirt. She was the most well-known person in town. Jesus knew about her dirt too. Look at vs. 17. [read it] She had had 5 different husbands. Each one took a part of her body, a part of her heart, and a part of her soul. When they were done with her, they found some excuse to get rid of her. They threw out the trash. She went from guy to guy to guy. The guy that she was with now wasn’t her husband. He wasn’t even willing to commit to her and give her the respect of a marriage. His plan was just to use her for a while and then throw her away. She was as dirty as they came. Her actions made her worthy of death by stoning 6 times over. Jesus was holy and pure, totally separate from sin. For Jesus to have any contact with her would be like throwing mud on a bride’s beautiful white wedding dress. Why was Jesus willing to contaminate Himself by getting near this dirty woman? Because He had “Jesus love”.
“Jesus love” is the kind of love that won’t be stopped by weariness, differences between you and the other person, or by any history that the other person might possess. Do you know that Jesus gives that kind of love toward you? No matter how fast you run from Jesus, His love is more powerful than the weariness He feels after chasing after you. No matter how much dirt you have accumulated in your life, Jesus is willing to take hold of you, carry you, and clean you.
Do you love people that kind of way? Before you answer that you do, let me remind you that love is something that is expressed through action. If there is no action, there is no love. “I’m too tired to send a note to that person who hasn’t been here in a while.” “The people in my neighborhood (or this neighborhood) are different than me. Many of them are rich. I don’t know how to relate to them. It scares me to much, so I won’t try.” “There’s just too much history between me and that other person. I know too much about them. They’ve hurt me and the people that I love too many times.” Those are statements made by people who don’t have “Jesus love”. They allow obstacles to stop them from expressing Jesus’ love for other people.
2. “Jesus love” meets people where they are. (vs. 10-16)
Did you notice the question that Jesus used to begin the conversation on that hot day? He didn’t ask her about her beliefs concerning a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. He didn’t ask her about the last time that she had been in church. He didn’t ask her about whether she believed in baptizing by immersion or sprinkling. He asked her for a drink of water from the well. That was something that she could understand. Water was something that she could identify with. [read the conversation] Jesus took something that she knew about and compared it to something that He wanted her to experience. He used her desire for water to create a thirst for spiritual things. Jesus was in a habit of doing this. He would talk about something in the physical world that people were familiar with and used it to communicate a truth about the spiritual world. He used a father’s love for his rebellious son to talk about God the Father’s love for you and me. He used the picture of a farmer sowing seed to speak of the power of God’s Word in our hearts to produce change, and growth and spiritual offspring. He used the grapes on a vine to speak of the fact that a Christian who is not connected to Jesus will shrivel up and die just like grapes lying on the ground in the hot sun. Jesus asked her for a drink of water, a request that she could understand, and then he offered her the fountain of youth. He told her that He was the source of true water, water that would not just meet her needs for one day but water that would give her a new life, make her truly young, and would last forever. Jesus met her at her own level of need and understanding.
This past Wed. night, we began discussing possible areas of ministry that we as a church can be involved in. There is a whole list of possibilities that we discussed. This list is on the back table, and I would like you to get one when you leave this morning so that you can begin praying over what you believe God would have us do. One of the things that is already scheduled is the hosting of a community blood drive on March 30. This is an effort to meet people where they are. People may not recognize their need to be in a one-on-one relationship with God and their need to worship Him in the church on a regular basis. But it’s kind of hard to escape the fact that hospital’s need blood in order to be able to save people’s lives. As people come through that door to give blood that day, and as they lie down on the cots watching their blood collecting in that bag, I can already hear myself or someone else saying, “You are here giving your blood so that someone else might live another day. Can I tell you about someone who gave His blood in order that you might live for all eternity?” We need to meet people where they are on their level of understanding.
This is exactly what Jesus did for you and for me. He didn’t require us to be holy before He could communicate with us. If He had, we would still be unforgiven and condemned in our sin. Jesus came down to our level by being born a baby in a dirty stable. He met us where we are in order that we might go where He was.
How far does a person have to come before you will interact with them? Does a person have to come through the doors of this church before we can show the love of Christ to them? Do they have to clean up their language, wear the right clothes, use the right Bible, do all the right things before we will make them a part of our lives? If we are going to reach people, we can’t just open up the doors of the church and say, “Ya’ll come!” We have to go out where they are, speak the message in terms that they understand, and love them in whatever condition we find them. That might make us uncomfortable. But it will show them that we love them just as they are.
3. “Jesus love” confronts sin. (vs. 16-18)
In case any of you guys haven’t been paying attention to the calendar, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. One of the things that you do not want to do on Valentine’s Day is to remind her of how many gray hairs she has and tell her that she needs to lose weight. When she asks you how the new dress that she bought for your date on Monday night looks, and you honestly really don’t like it, that’s probably not the best time to tell her. Change the subject, compliment her on her hair, ask her where she wants to go to eat. Do anything. Don’t lie, but get her mind off the original question. Valentine’s Day is not the best time for confrontation, because Valentine’s Day is about romance, not love. Romance is about seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. Romance does not confront problems. It glosses over them. True love exposes problems in order to bring healing to them.
In Jesus ministry to this woman, He wasn’t willing to let her walk away without exposing and confronting a problem in her life. [read verses 16-18] Jesus knew that this subject was a sore spot for her. He risked making her angry and causing her to get up and walk away without healing. But Jesus knew that the only way this woman was going to receive release from her pain was to acknowledge her sin and bring it to Jesus for forgiveness. Yes, Jesus met this woman exactly where she was and loved her where she was, but He loved her too much to leave her in the same condition that He found her. Jesus was a master at exposing people’s true needs. With Nicodemus, Jesus had been very confrontational and demanding. He had spoken with authority. “You must be born again.” With this woman, He was very gentle. Jesus exposed her sin, but He gave not one word of condemnation toward her. Why did Jesus use different approaches with different people? I think that the reason for this was because she already knew that what she was doing was wrong. She knew her condition, but she didn’t know what to do about it. Nicodemus needed to be made aware of his condition. Jesus gave the woman the healing water that she needed.
Because Jesus loves us so much, He has made it very clear what our condition is. We are sinners. Without the blood of Jesus, our eventual destination is a home in hell where we will suffer for all eternity. That doesn’t sound very loving for me to tell you that, does it? But how loving would it be of me to know that truth about where you will end up without Christ and not warn you and tell you the way that can be avoided? “I love you so much that I don’t want to upset you. So I won’t tell you that your house will catch fire if you continue playing with matches, I won’t tell you that you will become a parent or catch AIDS or some venereal disease if you have pre-marital sex, I won’t tell you that you will die of lung cancer if you continue to smoke, I won’t tell you that God will withhold His blessing on your life maybe even kill you if you continue to have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude with His commands, I won’t tell you that your mom or dad or sister or brother or son or daughter will die and go to hell if you don’t take the initiative to get up from where you are and go and tell them the good news about Jesus.” It’s not very fun to be confronted about the things that we do in our life that are disobedient to God and/or dangerous for us. That’s one of the reasons that we keep our mouth shut. We don’t want to risk the relationship that we have with someone right now. But you see, that’s selfish. “I enjoy the relationship, and I want to keep it. So I will not tell them what they need to hear. I don’t want to suffer the loss.” Who am I putting first when I withhold information that someone else needs to hear? [point at yourself] Whenever I put myself first, I am not showing love. I am showing pride, fear and selfishness.
4. “Jesus love” points people to the Father. (19-26)
Tomorrow night, when you give your sweetheart that special gift, you want one response from her or him. You want your sweetheart to focus all their attention and all their love on you. You want that gift to make it so that they only have eyes for you.
Do you know who the woman focused on when Jesus loved her? Look at verse 19. [read verses 19-24] When this woman experienced the love of Jesus, she didn’t place her focus on Him. She placed her focus on the Father.
Soon, we are getting ready to enter into an ambitious schedule of events and ministry opportunities. Someone may ask, perhaps someone even should ask, “Why?” What do we want to accomplish? Do we want the people of this community to look at us and tell everyone how great a group of people we are? Do we want to impress the city with our civic-mindedness? Do we want the state convention to hold us up as the model church? No, that’ not what we’re trying to accomplish. We want people to see the image of the Father in us. We want them to want to come to the Father because they see the love of the Father flowing through us. “Jesus love” points people to the Father rather than pointing them to us.
5. “Jesus love” focuses on people not personal pleasure. (vs. 27-35)
By this time in the conversation, the disciples had returned from their shopping expedition into the city. Can’t you hear them now: “We’d better hurry up. Jesus is going to be hungry.” “Yea, He really loves this special sweetbread that I found. He’ll be really appreciative of the food.” Then, just as they rounded that last bend, they saw that Jesus was talking with someone. They expected to find Him asleep. As they drew a little closer still, they realized that He was talking with a woman. That was awfully unusual, but rather than interrupting Him, (they knew better than to do that) they just kept their questions to themselves and waited. When the conversation came to an end, in excitement, the woman headed off into the town. [read verses 28-30] She was so excited by the news that she had gained that she forgot why she had come in the first place and left her water jar behind. She went into town and told everyone about Jesus.
Meanwhile, back at the well, Jesus disciples offered the food to Jesus. [vs. 31] Surprisingly, Jesus refused. He was already full. Jesus had given up food and sleep in order to minister love to someone. Was His body still tired? Yes. Was His belly still empty? Yes. The pleasures, even the needs of His life had not yet been met. He pushed them aside because He believed that love does that kind of thing. He felt that this woman’s escape from her present life and an eternity in hell was more important than His afternoon nap and stuffing His face. Those things would come in their own time. But now was the time to reach out to people. Look at verse 32. [read verses 32-35] Some people have suggested that as Jesus said these words, the meadow was starting to fill up with people who had come from the town in order to see this Jesus that the woman spoke of. They were flowing through the meadow like stalks of grain flow in the wind. Jesus found His pleasure and His fulfillment in doing what His Father told Him and reaping the results from those actions.
What comfort or pleasure are you putting before your obligation to be obedient to the Lord and act lovingly toward people? Is it the satellite dish, the bigger computer, the nicer car, the name-brand jeans? Now, none of those things are bad in themselves. But they become a problem when they become your excuse for why you can’t minister to someone else or help support this church in such a way that we can love other people through ministry. Maybe the comfort and pleasure that you’re not willing to give up is simply to leave your warm house on a cold winter night in order to go and share the gospel with them. Let me say this to Christian and non-Christian. Jesus put people far ahead of His own pleasure. He gave up the pleasure He enjoyed in heave to come to earth in the first place. And then He sacrificed His life in one of the most torturous ways to die in order that you and I might have eternal life. Why was Jesus willing to put people ahead of His own personal pleasure? Because “Jesus love” does that kind of thing.
CONCLUSION
If Ponce de Leon had ever discovered the fountain of youth, I imagine that his response would have been to hide it so that he would be the only one who ever got to enjoy its waters. The woman that Jesus encountered on that day was more successful than Ponce de Leon. She found the fountain of youth. His name was Jesus. But instead of keeping the fountain for herself, she chose to tell everyone that she knew. She wasn’t scared of their stares anymore, she didn’t feel old and used-up anymore, she didn’t even care about her water jar anymore. What made the difference? She had experienced “Jesus love”, and now she was able to express “Jesus love” for the people that she encountered.
Do you feel old and used-up like this woman? Is there anyone in your life that loves you just the way you are with all your imperfections and all your history? Let me introduce you to “Jesus love”. Because of His love, you can be born again. If you have never experienced “Jesus love”, but you would like to, then when we stand to sing, you come to me this morning. I’ll take the Bible, show you your position before God and God’s answer that He provided for you. Jesus loves you just where you are, but He loves you too much to leave you there.
Most of you here have experienced “Jesus love”. You have a relationship with Him, and you plan on being with Him for all eternity. But how are you at expressing that love for other people? What is preventing you from acting in love toward others? - Your busyness, your finances, your differences, your history, their dirt, your commitment to your own personal pleasure? (1 John 4:7-8 NIV) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. The Bible makes it pretty clear. If you don’t love others (and remember, love is an action not a word), then you are not a child of God. Is there someone that you refuse to love? Confess that to God. Do something loving for them this week. And then get involved in the process of our church finding loving actions that we can do to express “Jesus love” to people so that they will be drawn to the Father.
