God's Story is Our Story

This morning, we wrap up our series on organic outreach, which is a series on evangelism, preparing and equipping us as Christians on how to share the gospel message to all those people that are around us, our family, our friends, our colleagues, our school friends, to be able to share the message of Jesus with them. You might remember that over the past few weeks, we've looked at the motives for outreach, what motivates us in doing so. We saw that it is tied with a deep love for God, a deep and powerful determination to honour Him and see Him glorified. We've seen that it also is tied up in our love for our fellow man. That if we are saved and we love being saved, we would want that for them as well.

We've heard that Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful, that it's not an impossible task. It's not something that we should just out of hand give up on, that there is a plentiful harvest that people of every generation, including ours, are ripe to be saved. We've also seen that we have a complete dependence on God to make seeds that are sown grow, that He is the one that we should be praying for because only He is the giver of life, both physical life and spiritual life, and that He is the one that regenerates dead, stone cold, dead hearts to life again. Then two weeks ago, we looked at incarnational living. Jesus prayed in John 17, "Just as God the Father sent Me into the world, so I will send you into the world."

And the idea of Jesus entering into the world, taking on flesh to be able to communicate the message of the good news, that same idea, that same concept of entering into the world is given to us as disciples to enter the world of our friends so that we may encapsulate and explain the message of Jesus to them. That means we go into the areas that they operate in and they work in. However, to be a part of the world and in the world, but not of the same essence as the world. And then last week, we looked at the parable of the generous sower, and we were challenged to just try something. To just try something.

To sow the seed of the gospel message far and wide. To be less concerned about who will respond and how they will respond. And to realise that we are simply called to sow the seed and sow it generously and let God worry about the soil. And today, we come to our final talk which is on God's story being our story. God's story is our story.

Around this time last year, I had a two week annual leave. And part of that annual leave was spent hiking with my brother in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Some of you might remember that. I like to do these long overnight treks and hikes, and this was a four day hike, I think. And the walkers' campsites are built by the state or the national parks committee.

Now they build these little campsite sites and pretty much just around a single dunny, one long drop dunny, and a big rainwater tank. That's what you get at these camps, and then a little flat space for your tent. Now on one particular day, in fact, because it was a loop that we walked, we were right on the furthest, most remote part of the walk. That particular day was a long walk. It was a particularly long walk, and it was also a very hot day.

My brother and I had burned through all our water by the time we reached the campsite at the end of the day. We were so thirsty. We finally arrived at the campsite. We dropped our bags out on the flat bit of land that you'll put your tent on and we headed straight to the water tank, as you can imagine. Filled up our water bottles with fresh, delicious water.

And we began sculling down that water. And my brother's water bottle was about halfway down before I looked at it and saw a big mosquito larva swirling around in it. I quickly told him to stop and check his water. And I checked my water then as well. And we both realised that our water was absolutely teeming with wriggly little things.

We also realised that we had swallowed about half a litre of water with those little creatures in there. We were so thirsty, however, and seeing that we had already had a stomach full of them, we just shrugged our shoulders and closed our eyes and drank the rest. You can imagine we braced ourselves for a very nervous night waiting to get sick, but thankfully, we never did. The water was fine. Somehow, these mosquitoes were just able to get into the tank.

But we did boil our water after that and scoop off the top all the little floaties. Now if you've ever been that thirsty, you know how important water is to the body. When our bodies don't have the right amount of water, dehydration sets in, and you can immediately feel its effects. You feel sluggish, you get headaches, you get cramps. It's the water in our bodies that determines its vitality and strength.

You've probably heard that the human body is made up of about 70% water. But did you know that if you lose just 2% of your body's water supply, your energy starts decreasing by 20%? If you lose 10% of the water in your body, you'll be unable to walk. And if you lose 20%, you're dead. This morning, we come to a passage that Jesus has a particular conversation with a lady surrounding water.

Let's turn to John chapter four, and we're going to read about a thirst of a different kind that Jesus offered to quench. John chapter four, verse one. Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus Himself did not baptise but only His disciples. Jesus left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria.

So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, wearied as He was from His journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water.

Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water."

The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself as did his sons and his livestock." Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." The woman answered Him, "I have no husband."

Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true." The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but You say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." Just then His disciples came back. They marvelled that He was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do You seek?" or "Why are You talking with her?"

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the town and were coming to Him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Him saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."

So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.

For here the saying holds true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured and you have entered into their labour." Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him, in Jesus, because of the woman's testimony. "He told me all that I ever did."

So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them and He stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of His word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world." So far the reading. Three or four points I wanna make this morning.

From this story, we see firstly a thirsty woman. She's obviously thirsty. She's come to the well to get water. But as the story progresses, and as you start peeling away the layers of this story, you realise that this lady is in need of something more than water. We are told in verse six that Jesus meets her at the sixth hour of the day.

According to the Jewish calendar, the Jewish clock, this would have been around midday. Day started at 06:00 in the morning. So this is around 12:00. This is important to know, and John makes a point of mentioning it. It's sort of just one little sentence.

It was the sixth hour. Why do we need to know this? Because it is unusual. Most people came at the beginning of the day, the first hour of the day, perhaps 06:00, to fill their jars for water, for washing, for cooking, and all that sort of stuff. You come at the beginning of the day to do that.

Or if you have livestock or whatever, you come at the end of the day to feed your camels or your donkey water, to give them water. This is in the middle of the day where there would have been very few people at the well. Why is this important to mention? Well, it's probably because this lady wanted to avoid people. It's an interesting bit of detail that John includes.

This woman is probably trying to speak to or see as few people as possible. Now as the conversation unfolds, we understand perhaps why this might be the case. Jesus puts His finger on the wound and He says to her at one point, "Go and tell your husband to come here and I will tell you how to receive this special water I want to give." She replies, "I don't have a husband." And Jesus says back to her in verse 17, "I know that you don't have a husband.

In fact, I know that you've had five. And at the moment, you're technically just living with a man. He's not your husband. You are not married." And the reason for avoiding people is then sort of thrust into the spotlight here.

This woman has a history. It could have been sufficient for Jesus simply to have said, "You are living with someone outside of the marriage bonds." And I guess her sin, her history, her lifestyle would have been exposed. If Jesus wanted to simply convict her of her sin, He could have said that. Why does Jesus have to dredge up her entire past?

Why mention the five husbands before this guy as well? Well, I think Jesus is pointing out the extent of her thirst, the extent of her longing, of her need for satisfaction. There is a desire here and I think it's less about convicting of sin, but more pointing out the desperation of her need. She's looking for something that no one, not even five men, six men could give her. The woman was thirsty for something more than water and she doesn't know it.

The second point we see is a talking of water that isn't water. Jesus engages this lady by asking her for some water. That's how the conversation starts, and she's surprised that a Jew would be talking to a Samaritan. Why? Because there had been a feud between the Jewish people and the Samaritan people, people technically of the same people group, but a feud that had been lasting for hundreds of years. During the time of the exile, the Northern and the Southern kingdoms.

The Jews hated the Samaritans because the Samaritans had taken God and God's word and they've sort of flipped it around and they became sort of intermingled with Gentiles. And so their religion was not the religion of the Bible even though they spoke of God. Then on top of that, she's a lady. She points it out herself in verse nine that she is not simply a Samaritan. She is a woman of Samaria.

Why is this important? Well, in a patriarchal society in which they lived, a man wouldn't simply ask a woman he didn't know, less a woman that wasn't his wife, to help him in that sort of way. So this request of a man asking a woman is quite perplexing. A strange woman. Someone you don't know.

And I think you can probably go a third layer. This is a rabbi, a respected man, speaking to a woman with a dodgy background. The whole thing is very strange. But Jesus knows what He's doing. Because Jesus breaks into another wonderfully perplexing statement in her ears.

"If you knew who was asking you for water and you knew what gift He could give you, instead of Him asking you for water, you would have asked Him for His living water." Now that's the best bit of clickbait you'll ever hear. Like, what? What is that? What does He mean?

Again, there's wonderful wordplay happening here because in Aramaic or the Hebrew language, if you talked about clean flowing water, water that runs in the stream, you know, not the tank water with the bugs in it, it's called living water. Running water is living water. It's alive. And so she's thinking, well, maybe it's not a well. There's not a stream around here though.

It's a play on words. The woman is thirsty, but obviously not just for water. She is thirsting for the gift that only Jesus can give her. Jesus knows this. She's looking for the satisfaction of knowing God.

That is what she's looking for. You get a taste of that when she throws a red herring into the conversation. After Jesus points out her shady history, she doesn't fall to her knees and says, "Oh, woe is me. Forgive me, God." She gets theological.

She gets philosophical. She says, "Well, where is God meant to be worshipped? It's such a jarring sort of change of conversation, change of topic. Is God meant to be worshipped on this holy mountain which our forefathers have worshipped Him on, or as you Jews say, in the temple in Jerusalem?" Well, obviously, for this lady, there is a spiritual awareness that she hasn't found God yet, but she's willing to engage in these sort of conversations.

But she's obviously not been quenched by God's love yet. If she knew that Jesus was the Messiah, she could have asked Him for the gift that He can bring. She wouldn't have tried to avoid Jesus at the well. She would have run straight at Him if she knew that He was the Messiah. She would have marched to Him and asked for this precious thing.

And during this conversation, Jesus reveals His power to her and her eyes are starting to open. Her final bit of testing in this sort of to-ing and fro-ing conversation with Jesus comes in her statement in verse 25. "I know that the Messiah is coming. He is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things."

And she knows this guy is special. She actually calls Him a prophet before this. But there's something about Him that's just unusual. And she's not gonna say He is the Messiah, but she wants to know. She wants to know how He views Himself.

And she doesn't ask a question here. She sort of does another bit of click baiting herself and says, "I know that the Messiah is going to come and he will tell us amazing things. He will tell us all things." And she sort of just lets that statement hang in the air. And Jesus engages with that statement.

And what does He say? He says, "I who speak to you am He." Jesus, in other words, is the one able to offer this gift of reconciliation and satisfaction with God. The thing that she has been looking for but never realised. Because He is the Messiah.

He is the holy one of God. He speaks on God's authority. Now at the end of this dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, I notice in verse 28 what happens. The woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did." Why is it significant that she leaves the water jar behind?

Why is it significant that John has to write down that bit of detail? I mean, he could've talked about anything. He could've talked about what other animals were around, what other people were around. Why does she leave the water jar behind? Well, the jar is left behind because she doesn't need the water anymore.

She had found the living water. And this woman realised who Jesus was even in a small way. I mean, she would not have known what Jesus came to Earth for in that moment, what His death, His resurrection would have meant. But she has an inkling of some saving faith. She has something that puts her trust in the words of this man.

And just that inkling of saving faith opens the floodgates. And as Jesus said in verse 14, a spring of water welling up to eternal life started flooding into her heart. She had found in Jesus the satisfaction and the hope that was starting to quench her soul. Now this story in the gospel of John is incredibly powerful because it just gives us this wonderful snapshot into the heart of Jesus. And how gracious He is, and that no one, no matter how dodgy, is beyond His reach, His loving reach.

This passage is wonderful because we get to know that souls that know deep down there is more to life than this can be satisfied. The effect of sin which enslaves our thinking, which enslaved this woman, making us choose bad choice after bad choice, enslaving us to chase after the things we know will disappoint us. We know it. But we are powerless to stop it.

Well, this morning, we are reminded again that there is a hope for us to overcome that cycle. And the hope is Jesus, the Messiah. If you will accept Him, if you will truly know Him, and you will make Him Lord, He will give you life. But there is a secondary application here. I mean, that is the greatest application.

But the secondary application to be found in this story is for us in the way that this lady responded to Christ. This woman who meets Jesus, is so satisfied that she leaves her water jug behind, she runs and evangelises the entire town. She tells them to come and meet Jesus, the one who told me all I ever did. Everything I've done. This same woman who snuck in the midday at the brightest, warmest time of the day to get to the water so she could avoid people, runs to the marketplace to tell everyone about this Jesus.

The one who pointed out to me all of my sin, everything I've done. This lady is moved in understanding the gospel so much she must make it known because it is the greatest news. Friends, when it comes to evangelism, when it comes to sharing the gospel, we are just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. We are just thirsty souls telling another thirsty soul where they can find water. When the disciples returned to Jesus, they offered Jesus food.

They said to Him, "You know, Rabbi, please eat." But Jesus is far too preoccupied with what is happening. As the disciples are talking to Him, the crowd from Sychar, the village, are coming out in droves to see Him. And Jesus looks at the crowds and He says to His disciples, "Open your eyes to the harvest. The crops need watering.

They need living water." And so friends, as we wrap up this series, we've looked at all the practical little things. We've looked at the self assessment tools, the little one degree rule of where am I at in my outreach temperature? How can I move it up by one? We've looked at incarnational living, getting in amongst our people.

We've looked at how to smell like sweat and wheat among the field of the harvest. But I wanna tell you that we are not to underestimate God's ability to draw others to Himself through our testimony. Don't underestimate the power of your testimony. As you think about your life, I wanna remind you of a few things. And as you share this testimony, as you develop it, as you craft it, and I encourage everyone to do that, there's a few things about our testimony that is important to know.

Firstly, while your testimony will revolve around the events in your life, your testimony is not ultimately about you. Your testimony is about the impact of God and God's grace through Jesus in your life. So when we think about our stories, and I encourage you, we have to. We have to know our story. You did not just end up here.

It didn't happen in a vacuum. There is a story. There's a history behind you being here. Don't dwell, however, and glorify on the past sin or paint a picture of how you have it all together now because you don't. I know you.

You don't. Instead, dwell on the difference that Jesus makes in your life. Talk about the sense of connection that you have with God now. Talk about the forgiveness and the peace that you feel now. Talk about the better decision making you are now making.

Talk about the difference that Jesus has made on your life. Secondly, your testimony isn't limited to the story of your conversion. How God is working in your life now, how God has worked in your life recently is as much a part of your testimony as your conversion story. People need to hear how Jesus gives you hope with your present struggles. People need to know how Jesus gives you comfort now in the face of uncertainty.

People need to know how Jesus gives you the joy in the good times and in the tough times of life. Don't be afraid to be honest about those struggles. They don't show you are a bad Christian. They don't show that you are not perfect. They show that you're a human being just like them.

In fact, the more honest you can be, I think, the better. But tell how Jesus is at work in the midst of your struggles. Thirdly, and there's four points here, thirdly, don't just think that your story is something that you can script and then just download onto someone, just rattle off when you talk to them.

It might be useful to write down your story, to go home and then just, you know, try and get it nice and condensed and concise. But don't limit yourself to that when telling it. When you have those hard conversations, you know those moments. Those moments where you really are talking with someone.

Where you've sort of talked about all the sport and all the whatever, and then you come to something that's really significant, those deep conversations. It's important that your friend in that moment knows that you are listening to them. They need, in that moment, to give you permission to share your testimony. And how you gain permission to share your story is by listening to theirs. Understand what they're wrestling with.

Understand what they're going through. And then when you've built up enough social currency, enough permission, and they tell you, you have my permission to tell your story. Try to connect your story with where they're at. Having listened to them, you know what they're struggling with. Understand what part of your story can speak into that moment.

This doesn't mean you just make stuff up so that it sort of can fit, but it does mean that you need to think about and you need to focus on where God's working in your life relates to their life. So you might not need to tell your entire testimony. Focus on the part that is really relevant to your friend's current situation. And then finally, and we'll wrap up now, your life and your words need to tell the same story.

If people hear us talking about how awesome Jesus is, but don't actually see Him making a difference to our lives, our words come across very hollow. If they're hearing us talking about having eternal hope in Jesus, but seeing us chasing after all the things of the world, our words are empty. If they hear us speak of forgiveness that Jesus offers them and us, but then see us living unforgiving, bitter lives, our words are very shallow. So what we say is absolutely important in that testimony, but our words must be part of a broader testimony of what God is doing in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit.

And so God, in His work in our lives, is equipping all of us with a powerful evangelistic tool, perhaps the strongest one we have in this post modern world. We're not debating about truth and facts anymore, about absolute truth and all that sort of stuff. Post modern people don't care or don't want to hear about that. They wanna hear about, does it work? Is it real? Can it affect my life?

That is what people wanna hear. We can argue whether that is where we should be, but that is what works. And we can say the gospel works because it's worked in my life. Don't be afraid to use your testimony because it is extremely powerful, and I think there is biblical precedence for the use of testimonies. The apostle Paul shares his conversion story no less than five times in the New Testament.

Five times. Paul writes in Romans 1, "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." We can have the same boldness in the gospel as Paul did because we are ourselves witnesses to the power of how it transforms lives because it's done it for us. I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe. Let's pray.

Father, we bring our nervous and wavering faith to You. We apologise, Lord, for our similar way of thinking as these disciples, concerned about their hungry bellies when there is a harvest waiting to be harvested in front of them. And Lord Jesus, You are not concerned with that. Help us, Lord, to see with spiritual eyes the harvest that is white for the harvesting. And, Lord Jesus, give us a clear understanding of our stories, Lord.

How wonderful, how beautiful they are. I thank You for blessing me with dozens and dozens of stories over the years of people sitting in this place. And I ask, God, that You will give us this week the discipline to think about how You've worked in our lives, what You've done, what You've shown, how You've changed and transformed us. And, Father, help us to hold on to these things and help us to have the opportunities to share that. Give us wisdom and creativity in how we do that.

Lead us powerfully with Your Spirit to do that. Father, I pray that we don't rob You of the glory of not focusing and reflecting on our stories enough, on what You have done, on how You have rescued, on how You have come through for us. Lord, You deserve all that glory. You deserve all that praise. Forgive us when we haven't done that.

Father, I pray that as we wrap up this organic outreach series, Lord, that we will be a church that welcomes a stranger, that welcomes people with a history because we have history. I pray, Lord, that we will be a church that always has an eye out for new people, always has an eye out for an invitation, always has a heart for the lost who are so desperately seeking to be quenched by the living water. My Father, give us the opportunity. Give us the patience. Give us the perseverance and determination to see the lost found.

Bless Your church at Open House. Help us to be the stewards and the harvesters that You have called Your church to be. And Lord, help us to see an incredible ingathering of the lost. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.