Take a glass of water, and four other glasses, pour a bit into each and notice that the water level of the “source” has gone down. Continue to pour from the source into the other glasses and eventually your source glass will be empty. This is a natural outcome when a non-infinite source is used to supply a resource; after enough draw, the source will run-out.
There are many believers today who are experiencing this emptiness in their lives. They feel run-down, empty, tired, and generally everything is a struggle. This is not the way that Jesus intends us to live, and so today we will be exploring how to receive His infinite supply into our lives, and move from self-effort to Divine rest, our true natural state in Christ.
Today we will be looking at two verses of scripture each dealing with a different aspect of one central principle… the principle of receiving from Jesus, and not just receiving, but being filled to overflowing This distinction is important as we will discover later on in this study. For now let’s begin by reading John 4:5-14:
“Then comes he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said to her, Give me to drink.
(For his disciples were gone away to the city to buy meat.)
Then said the woman of Samaria to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.
The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again:
But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Here we see a scene in which Jesus stops to rest at a well. As He is doing so, a woman meets Him as she is on her way to draw water from the well. Jesus asks her for a drink of water, and here is where things get interesting. The woman is puzzled and taken back by His request, focusing on earthly reasons why she should not give to Him, but Jesus is focused on something entirely different.
We as humans typically focus on the flesh, the world, the outward things, while Jesus always focuses on the spiritual things and the things of Heaven. Jesus is actually not in need of any drink; He is not interested in her giving Him water, but He asks her for a drink to reveal her own lack. His purpose in the request is to show her that she actually has nothing to give. Jesus reveals this in verse 10. Notice that He then says If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water. He asks her for a drink so that she will see her own need and emptiness and then He points her to the solution: Himself.
In verses 13 and 14, He explains to her that He is not speaking of physical water, but instead spiritual water that leads to eternal life.
A very important lesson that we can learn from the words of Jesus here is that without Him filling us, we are empty. We have nothing apart from Jesus and He is our complete source for everything, even our very life. The trouble is that most believers do not believe this very basic truth. If we were honest with ourselves, most of us would admit that we believe that we need God for most things but we still think there are a few things that we can accomplish on our own with our own strength and self-effort, and my friends this is simply not true. In John 15:5 Jesus makes this truth abundantly clear:
“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that stays in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.”
Now here’s the thing, many people serving in churches today and doing “God’s work” believe that they are automatically abiding in Christ Jesus and are always filled because of the work that they are doing. However the truth is that there are many believers and those serving and ministering in church who are dying of thirst today. There’s is nothing more dangerous and deadly than a thirsty leader. A minister with an empty cup has no water to give anyone else; and a minister serving out of self will lead people astray. Jesus further demonstrates this need of ours to be filled by Him in John 7:37-38:
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink.
He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
This is another of my most favorite scenes in the Bible. It shows the heart of Jesus and also is a wonderful depiction of the way in which He fills us. Everyone around Jesus was eating and drinking and being merry. But Jesus looked into their spirits, and what He saw was that their spirits were dying of thirst. Jesus desperately wants to fill us; and more-over we need to be filled by Him.
There is a special bit of wisdom for church leaders here as well… notice that Jesus said to come to Him and drink, He did not say to draw water. Many ministers are attempting through self-effort to draw water out of the well, instead of simply drinking from Jesus. Do you understand the difference? Ephesians 6:4 says it this way:
“And, you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
This verse it typically thought of as parenting advice, but it can also be applied to spiritual leadership. Notice that it does not say “training and admonition about the Lord”, but it says “of the Lord”. The meaning of this here is that we are attentive to what God is teaching us and then we pass it on to others. This then implies that we are listening to and learning from God first before trying to serve others. If you are not serving from what Jesus has filled you with then it is all ultimately from self, and you will be dry and empty. It is possible to draw water for others and still die of thirst yourself.
Jesus wants us to come to Him and drink, not just once in a while, but regularly, daily and constantly. We will close today with the advice of God in Joshua 1:8:
“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.”
Notice here that God said to Joshua “This book…”; this tells us that Joshua was reading already when God came and spoke to Him. And what did God say? Not only should he meditate on the book, but that it should also never depart from his mouth. We should be so filled with the scripture that they just flow out of us constantly, in thought, word and ultimately action. We are to look to Jesus daily, let Him instruct us, guide us, fill s to overflowing, and then we will never be thirsty, never empty, and always serving others effortlessly out of the infinite supply and overflow from Jesus’ wellspring of Divine life within us.
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