Presentation 24. Introduction During the course of the year a number of invitations will come through your letterbox. Some may be from the saleroom,

Study inJohn’s Gospel

Presentation 24

A RemarkableInvitation

Chap 7v37-52

Presentation 24

Presentation 24

IntroductionDuring the course of the year a number of invitations will come through your letterbox. Some may be from the saleroom, where you purchased a car or an item of furniture, inviting you to the launch of a new product. Other mail comes from firms trying to interest you in a timeshare property. Some comes from friends, who would like you to attend a birthday party or a wedding.

Some invitations are more welcome than others. Our passage contains one of the most remarkable invitations ever made. Jesus stood up in the temple courts and said,

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

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Background To The InvitationIn order to understand this invitation we need to understand its setting. This was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles - a feast that commemorated the provision of God for his people after their exodus from Egypt and during their wilderness wanderings. Each day various public ceremonies were enacted and the most impressive of these was reserved for the last day.

The priests accompanied the people outside of the city to the pool of Siloam where golden pitchers were filled with water.

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Background To The InvitationReturning to the temple they marched seven times around the altar before pouring the water from the pool upon it. They were remembering how God had miraculously provided for Israel’s thirst during her wilderness wanderings and they looked forward to the rich provision that would be ushered in during the Messianic age. Passages such as Is. 12v3 were at the forefront of their thinking: “therefore with joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation”.

Can you then imagine the high drama, when Jesus stood up and said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink”?

Let’s try to unpack this invitation.

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An Invitation UnpackedThe language Jesus used is extremely intense. The word ‘cry’ used here is the same word that was used to describe, ‘the warning call of a bird anxious to gain the instant attention of its young’. For Jesus, this was a time of crisis! It was a time to grip the people’s attention. It was a time to touch their souls!

Many in this crowd were pilgrims, who had travelled up to Jerusalem for the feast. Many would never see Jesus again! And as his eyes swept over the crowd, he would have been confronted by a variety of expressions: contempt, hatred, interest, indifference, as well as many blank and uncomprehending stares.

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An Invitation UnpackedAnd yet, there was a common denominator - they all possessed a thirst, which he alone could satisfy. Now Jesus’ invitation was extended to all, unlike some invitations which are clearly exclusive in nature. Each year in the city of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth II holds a garden party but unless you have a printed invitation in your hand you are denied entry.

Other invitations are similarly restricted. Some educational trusts offer bursaries to students but only if they have a particular surname or, were born in a particular town.

But Jesus’ invitation is open to all! Your nationality, social standing, age, religious upbringing, education, wealth etc., do not disqualify you.

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An Invitation UnpackedSecondly, note the breadth of the invitation’s appeal; ‘If you are thirsty.’ On other occasions Jesus qualifies what he means by thirst… ‘those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled’ Matt 5v6. But sometimes people cannot articulate the nature of their need. The best they can do is say, ‘there is something missing from my life,’ or, ‘there is something that is not quite right’.

Of course not everyone possesses such a thirst. Not everyone that Jesus addressed had this inner longing. But those who do have it can be sure of two things. First, God creates it and secondly, he does so, not in order to tease us, but in order to satisfy us.

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An Invitation UnpackedJesus’ invitation is expressed in two parts. The first deals with the thirst that draws us to Jesus. This is not a long journey for he has already travelled the greater distance by coming to you. Our ‘coming’ to him involves a belief in in his claims. We see him as one who died upon the cross for our sin and who rose again and is glorified at the Father’s side.

Coming also involves sorrowing over and turning our backs on past sin. Some ask, ‘before taking such a step doI not need to spend years learning the great truths of the scriptures’? Not at all! A fuller grasp of Christian truth comes later.

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An Invitation UnpackedSecondly, we are invited to drink. This involves ‘appropriation’. There is an English proverb which says: ‘you can lead a horse to the water but you can’t make him drink’. Jesus has made an offer but we need to take his offer in our hands and make it our own.

Just as by drinking water, we make it a life-giving part of us - something wholesome that begins to contribute to our growth and development - so too Jesus wants us to take him into our lives and by so doing , he begins to transformus. He shapes our behaviour and begins to develop within us a more rounded personality. There is no other drink that satisfies the innermost longings of our heart in the way that Jesus can. Have you come? Has your thirst been satisfied?

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An Invitation UnpackedThirdly, we discover that this remarkable invitation of Jesus comes with a promise; “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

Does that seem strange? We might have expected Jesus simply to promise to satisfy the thirsty. He promises much more to those who drink - they in turn will become a blessing to others. Jesus is speaking here of overflowing vessels. Now clearly, one cannot overflow without first being filled and satisfied.

The person who drinks of Jesus and is satisfied does not rest content with their own satisfaction but is also concerned with the satisfaction of others.

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An Invitation UnpackedSome Christians talk as if the sole purpose of Christ’s coming was to satisfy their personal need. He does that of course! But if our thinking and expectations were to stop there then that would result in an inadequate understanding of Christianity.

Indeed, if uncorrected, this deficient view tends to produce a shallow, experience-centred, introverted lifestyle, where believers remain within their own little comfort zones.

The goal of God’s Spirit is to conform believers into the likeness of Jesus. The meaning of ‘disciple’ is the ‘production of a duplicate’. We are to walk ‘in his steps’ 1Pet.2v21.

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An Invitation UnpackedNow to walk in Christ’s steps will mean getting outside of ourselves and getting interested in others. In this way we become useful to God.

God’s intention is that others should experience an abundance of blessing through the ministry of his people. Is that happening? If not then we need to ask God to make it so. The greatest spiritual satisfaction that one can possibly experience is to be a blessing to others.

Samuel Rutherford, the Scottish covenanting minister from the village of Anwoth put it like this:

“Heaven will be twice heaven for me if but one from Anwoth is standing at my side”.

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An Invitation UnpackedAs a result of Jesus’ entreaty, was there a great queue of folk lining up to have their thirst satisfied and so become a blessing to others? Sadly no! We read in v40-44 of a division that took place. Jesus has that effect on crowds - he divides them. God’s word will always produce a polarised reaction.

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An Invitation UnpackedWhy even the members of the temple guard who had been sent to arrest Jesus the previous day return empty handed. Why? because ‘no man ever spoke like this man’. Even within the ranks of the religious hierarchy it was evident that they did not all speak with one voice concerning Jesus cf. v51.

Nicodemus the fearful enquirer, whom we met in Ch.3, speaks up on behalf of Jesus.

Clearly, there were few who took up Jesus’ offer at this stage. Things would change significantly after Pentecost but that was still some seven months away.

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ConclusionWhat would happen today if significant numbers responded to Jesus’ invitation and became a blessing to others? If we were all overflowing fountains then surely a great flood of God’s blessing would result! What impact might we make?

Have you seen pictures of ships that have been blown off course leaving them grounded on a sandbank? Tugs and salvage experts may arrive on the scene but the situation is hopeless. The problem is beyond them. All they can do is wait for a high spring tide to get the ship afloat. And so the rising water does what man’s ingenuity and machinery has failed to do.

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ConclusionCan you imagine what a floodtide of grace might do, if as a result of coming to Jesus and drinking deeply of him, we begin to overflow in blessing to others? There are many beached Christians who need to be set afloat. People who presently show little interest in the spiritual well-being of others, who have no time or interest in prayer or in sharing their faith. Ministers and church elders cannot move them!

Pray that there might be such a flood of God’s grace, which will not only satisfy their own spiritual appetites but overflow to the blessing of others. Perhaps you need to pray that your own life might be loosened from some sandbank so that that you too may engage in fruitful service!