Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

We’ve made it to week #5 in our seven week series called Death By Love. In this series, God is rocking our world with the seven statements that Jesus made on the cross. And if you were here last week, then you know what I’m talking about.

Brian Morrissey preached last week and blew it up! I wasn’t here, so I listened to the podcast. Wow! With Brian preaching like that, I’m not sure why you want to keep me around. If you are asking why the bad stuff is happening in your life, listen to the message. Brian lays it out as good as anybody I’ve ever heard.

This week, we’re moving on to the fifth statement that Jesus made from the cross. We’ll be in John 19 right after we pray.

In John 19, the Bible says, “Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.” (John 19:28-29, NIV)

We need to unpack some of the elements in this story so that we all understand what was going on. First of all, John writes that Jesus knew “that everything had now been finished.”

The crucifixion of Jesus was almost over. Jesus hung on the cross for six hours. But now, we are exploring the final moments of Jesus’ life.

John also tells us that Jesus asked for a drink “so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” When Jesus asked for a drink, it fulfilled at least two prophecies about the cross in the Old Testament book of Psalms.

“My strength has dried up like sun-baked clay, my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.” (Psalm 22:15, NLT)

“They…gave me vinegar for my thirst.” (Psalm 69:21, NIV)

It’s easy to see how this scene was a fulfillment of both of these Old Testament prophecies.

After Jesus said that he was thirsty, someone went and got him a drink. Most likely it was a Roman soldier. This soldier soaked a sponge in wine vinegar, or a better translation may be vinegary wine. Then he put the sponge on the stalk of a hyssop plant, which was a plant with long branches. The solider then lifted the sponge up to Jesus’ mouth.

Don’t let the word “wine” fool you. This was not a fine drink for the elite. This vinegary wine was a drink for the masses. A large portion of the drink was just plain water. This diluted the vinegar which helped lessen its kick. It also allowed people to stretch the drink a long way. This rather unappealing drink was very common and it was very, very cheap, which is a fitting way to end the crucifixion story considering that Jesus had been treated like nothing more than a common criminal.

There are two ways that we need to see this scene from the cross. On the one hand, Jesus had endured beatings that we can’t imagine. He was hanging on a cross in excruciating pain. And He was baking in the intense Middle Eastern heat. It’s not surprising that He was thirsty. Jesus was fully God, but He was also fully human. Any human being is going to be desperate for a drink after enduring all of this.

But on the other hand, there is an even bigger picture here. John shows us when he says that this was the fulfillment of prophecy. When Jesus said, “I am thirsty,” it wasn’t just because He wanted a drink. It was to fulfill prophecy. It was because He came to be the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation. He came to carry out God’s plan, down to the last letter.

And then He passed that mission on to us. We’ve been given a plan. We have a mission. The question is…are we fulfilling it?

Our mission is to be a pipeline of living water to people who are dying of thirst.

There’s an incredible story in John 4 about Jesus and a Samaritan woman. It’s one of my favorite scenes from Jesus’ life.

Starting in verse 4, the Bible says, “Now [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:4-14, NIV)

Jesus broke very religious and social protocol imaginable in this scene. The Bible reminds us that Jews didn’t associate with Samaritans. It was a racial divide that we can’t even imagine. No amount of racism in our culture comes close to the hatred between Jews and Samaritans.

In fact, a Jewish person who even traveled in Samaria was considered to be ceremonially unclean. Jesus went to Samaria anyway.

Then, He struck up a conversation with a Samaritan woman. Jewish men did not speak to women in public. Not even their own wives. It was a very different culture with very different cultural standards.

Jesus didn’t seem to care, though. He spoke with women often. And in this case, He spoke to a woman who was a Samaritan. This was considered to be wrong on so many levels that it’s almost impossible to list them all.

Earlier in this series, I mentioned how Jesus always spent time with the wrong kind of people. A Samaritan woman was the most wrong kind of person you could imagine…and Jesus initiated a conversation with her.

The conversation took place at a well. Wells were social gathering places in this culture. Everyone needed water. Water came from wells. So everyone came to wells. The well morphed into the social center of the town. You didn’t just come to get water. You came to have conversation. You came to connect with your neighbors and friends. Think of people hanging out at a coffeeshop. That was the atmosphere at a well in the first century. Conversations around wells happened all the time…but not like this one.

Jesus asked the woman for a drink, which was shocking to her. She balked at Jesus’ request because it was so surprising.

And that’s when Jesus took it to another level. In verse 10, He said, “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10, NIV)

The woman still didn’t get it. She knew that Jesus didn’t have a bucket. He didn’t have anything to draw water out of the well.

And that’s when Jesus comes at her with this in verses 13 and 14. “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14, NIV)

Jesus says two things that we need to key in on.

First of all, He says that whoever drinks His living water will never be thirsty again. In other words, Jesus is the full and complete quenching for our thirst. Jesus is all we need.

You don’t need accomplishments or achievements. You don’t need status or significance. You don’t need power or prestige. You don’t need self-help or self-improvement. You don’t need pop psychology. You don’t even need religion. You need Jesus. Anything else will leave you thirsty…needing something more. What you need is Jesus and nothing else.

Some people suggest that we don’t preach about enough stuff here. They say that we preach too much about Jesus.

I will take that criticism all day long. All day long. You know why? Because Jesus is the only one who can quench your thirst. Jesus is the only one that can satisfy the longing you have deep inside you. Jesus is the only one who can give you everything you need. Jesus is the only one who can heal you and cleanse you and restore you.

Too much Jesus? You’ve got to be kidding me! People can think I’m simplistic. They can think that I’m not diverse enough. They can think anything they want to think. But when I have to stand before God and answer for what I preached, I know He’s not going to look at me and say, “You really preached too much Jesus.”

Instead, I’m going look around and see all the people who are in heaven because I preached too much Jesus.

Jesus is all-sufficient and all-satisfying. He is the only one that can quench your deepest thirst. That’s the first thing that Jesus told this woman. Jesus quenches our thirst completely.

But now, look at the second thing He said. “Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Once you have Jesus…once your thirst has been quenched by His living water…you will become a spring.

Here’s the truth that God rocked me with this week. Too many of God’s people are wells instead of springs.

Jesus had this conversation next to a well. A well is obviously a big hole in the ground with water at the bottom. If you want water, you’ve got to go to the well and draw it out.

But did you notice that Jesus didn’t say that we would be wells? He said that we would be springs.

A spring flows. A spring moves. You don’t have to draw the water from a hole in the ground. A spring brings water to you.

Too many of us are wells instead of springs. We have been given the living water of Jesus. And we are surrounded by people who are desperate for a drink. And most churches take the response of, “Come to us. If you’re thirsty, come to us.”

That’s a well. If you’re thirsty, you go to the well to draw water.

But a spring flows freely. When Jesus said that we are springs, He meant that His living water flows freely out of our lives. It means that we don’t wait for people to come to us. We go to them.

You are surrounded every single day by people who are parched. They are dry. They are so incredibly thirsty. And everything they’ve used to try to quench their thirst has failed them.

Do you just sit quietly beside them and think, “Well, if you would just go to church, maybe you would find your answer.” Are you a well?

Or are you a spring? Do you take the initiative and say, “You know what? I would love for you to come to church with me. Would you do that?” That’s a spring.

In Psalm 63, the Bible says, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1, NIV)

That’s where our friends live. That’s where our family lives. That’s where our co-workers and classmates live. They live in a dry and parched land where there is no water. And they may not realize it, but what they are thirsting for is God. They have a thirst that only the living water of Jesus can quench.

And you are a spring of that fresh, vibrant, living water.

Here’s another thing about wells…wells can become stagnant. If water is not stirred and moved, it can stagnate and it can start to stink.

That never happens with a spring. In a spring, the water is alive. It flows. It moves. It is fresh. It gives life.

When a church decides to be a well instead of a spring, things start to stink. Churches start to say things like, “We’re not growing because we’re all about discipleship. We’re all about going deep.” Yep. You’re well is so deep that the water is stagnant and it stinks.

Do you realize that God never, ever approves of a church that isn’t reaching people? Christians who say they are all about discipleship have missed the point altogether. You know what a disciple is supposed to do? Go make more disciples.

And if you don’t believe me, maybe you’ll believe Jesus. In Matthew 28, He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20a, NIV)

Disciples make more disciples. Period. Churches who believe that they don’t need to win anybody to Christ because they’re into discipleship have missed the whole point. Disciples make more disciples. And conversely, if you’re not making more disciples, you’re not a disciple at all. A disciple is a spring, not a well. So which are you?

Are you a spring or a well? If you know Jesus…if you have been saved by His death and resurrection…then you are either a spring or a well.

If you’re not sure, then let me help you.

If you are gun shy about using the name “Jesus” in everyday conversation, you’re a well.

If you will pray for someone’s appendectomy but you don’t pray about their salvation, you’re a well.

If you take the cop out approach of, “I don’t have to talk about Jesus. People will just be changed if I live a good life in front of them,” you’re a well.

If you don’t have a single non-Christian friend, you’re a well.

If you haven’t invited someone to church in the last year (or even longer), you’re a well.

On the other hand, if you pray passionately for someone who is lost to find Jesus, you’re a spring.

If you get out of bed each morning praying for God to give you the opportunity to be His witness, you’re a spring.

If you intentionally spend time and build relationships with people who are outside of Christ, you’re a spring.

If you strategically invite people to church when God gives you the opportunity, you’re a spring.

Now, let me ask you again. Which are you? Are you a spring or a well?

The truth is that there are probably a lot more wells than springs in this room. A friend said something to me this week that was really depressing. He said, “Generally speaking, the longer a person is in the church, the less likely they are to bring someone to Christ.”

You know what? I’ve seen studies and statistics that confirm that. Do you know how sad this is? The people who have walked with Jesus the longest are the least likely to bring others along on the journey. That is tragic.

And we simply cannot be satisfied with that. We can’t shrug our shoulders and just say, “Oh well. That’s just the way it is.”

That kind of apathetic passivity might fly at a lot of churches, but not here. That doesn’t work here at ACC. And as long as God has me leading the vision of this church, we are going to go 100 mph in the other direction. We will not be a church of wells! We will be a church of springs!

Don’t tell me, “But I want to go deep!” I’m not going to let us go so deep that we don’t reach anybody. In fact, the deepest Christians are the ones who actually believe that heaven is real and hell is hot. And they are going all out to make sure that heaven is crowded and hell is empty.

Don’t tell me, “But I don’t know enough!” Has Jesus changed your life? Yes? Awesome! Tell that story. That’s what people want to know. They don’t care if you can adequately debate the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. They want to know how Jesus has made a difference in your life. If you want to share your faith, all you’ve got to do is tell that story.

We cannot…and we will not…be a church of wells. We will be a church of springs. We will allow the living water of Jesus to flow through us to our friends and our family and our neighbors who are living in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

When Jesus was on the cross, He said, “I am thirsty” to fulfill God’s plan. And now we are called to fulfill God’s plan. And His plan is for us to be springs.

And that’s why we’re going to give you one of these. This is an invitation to our Easter services. Easter is in two weeks on April 24. We’re going to have two services at 9:00 and 11:00 am. And we’re putting this in your hand so you can be a spring.

In our culture, Easter is one of the times every year when people are most open to an invitation to church. And we’re going to take full advantage of that.

Here’s the deal with these cards. We want them to be used. We expect them to be used. And here’s how they need to be used. Take this card in your hand and pray about who God wants you to give it to. Then go and invite them to church with you on Easter Sunday.

Don’t take a cop out approach. Don’t put it on somebody’s windshield at Kroger. Don’t leave it on the sink in the bathroom at Chick-Fil-A. And don’t just go up to some random house and knock on the door.

Go to someone you know. Someone you have a relationship with. Someone that you love and someone that you know needs Jesus. Someone who needs a church where they can dive in to connect and grow and serve.

Don’t leave this card under your seat. We’re going to walk through this room after church and we don’t want to find any cards. And if you do leave it, we’re videotaping this service, so we know where you’re sitting. We’ll deliver it to you.

I know this feels like high pressure. That’s because it is. But it’s high pressure in the best way. I’m putting pressure on you because I want you to achieve your potential of being a spring instead of a well. And I want the people in your life to find Jesus. I want heaven to be more crowded. That’s what this is all about.

That isn’t just a postcard. God could us that piece of paper in your hand to change someone’s life. To change their entire eternity. Because they are going to come and they are going to experience the joy. They are going to see the life. They will feel the passion. And most importantly, they will hear the gospel. And when the gospel is preached, God uses it to change lives and to alter eternities.

But it doesn’t start with us that are on this stage. It starts with you. You can hand that invitation to people that I’ll never meet. You can be a spring of living water to someone that I can’t.

So here’s the deal…on Easter Sunday, and every other Sunday of the year, you can count on us to do our job. Our band will knock it out of the park. They do every week.

I will preach the gospel. I will preach it in a way that is understandable and applicable and reachable. I do every week.

But we need you to do your job. And your job is simply this…be a spring, not a well.

For some of you, I want you to experience this spring today. I want to be a spring for you, because I know you’re thirsty. I know you have tried anything and everything to quench your thirst, and you keep coming up empty.

I’ve got a couple of verses specifically for you. Listen to this truth from the book of Revelation.

Jesus said, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.” (Revelation 21:6, NIV)

And then in Revelation 22, the Bible says, “The Spirit and the bride [that is the Holy Spirit and the church] say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:7, NIV)

Both of these verses have something in common. The water of life comes without cost. It is free. You don’t have to pay for it, because it has already been purchased. You don’t have to work for it, because the work has been done.

Jesus bought and paid for the water of life with His own blood. The cross is the payment. The death and resurrection of Jesus completes the deal.

That means that God’s grace is available to you for free. Forgiveness is not something you have to work for. God’s love is not something you have to earn. It is freely given.

The water of life is flowing, It is flowing in ample supply. You don’t need to stay on the dead-end course you’ve been on. You don’t need to keep going back over and over again to the sins that you know are killing you. You don’t need to keep feeling empty. You don’t have to live thirsty. There is another way. His Name is Jesus. And His water is flowing.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: cross, Death By Love, evangelism, Jesus, John 19