The Gospel of John (4)
Pray Psalm 119.1-4.
Blessed are the undefiled in the way,
Who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the whole heart!
They also do no iniquity;
They walk in His ways.
You have commanded us
To keep Your precepts diligently.Sing Psalm 119.1-4.
(Ode to Joy: Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee)
Blessed are they whose way is blameless, all who walk within God’s Law,
who, His testimonies keeping, seek Him, filled with joy and awe.
These are they who, no wrong doing, ever walk within God’s ways.
LORD, Your precepts You command us; we would keep them all our days.
Read John 4.10-14, 46-53; 11.38-44; meditate on Jn. 4.10-14.
Preparation
1. What does Jesus promise to give those who believe?
2. What is the effect of receiving this?
Meditation
The gift of God, which comes by the Word of God, is the Spirit of God and the life everlasting He brings (cf. Jn. 7.37-39). The Spirit is the Secret and Key to the Kingdom. He brings all-quenching, all-refreshing and all-renewing life, life that descends from and lifts to heaven. This gift is only available through Jesus, from the Father.
Jesus gives not only mortal life, as in the healing of the beloved son and the raising of Lazarus, but spiritual and eternal life as well. And the life He gives provides daily strength and health as well as spiritual refreshment for us and the people we meet each day. The Spirit wells up in us, working to will and do of God’s good pleasure (Phil. 2.13), so that He might overflow from us with the grace of God. The grace of God empowers words of grace and truth and deeds of selfless love, and by these God’s grace—our witness to the life we have in Jesus—spreads to more and more people. And the effect of this is the increase of thanksgiving to God (2 Cor. 4.15).
Jesus is the Life-Giver and He longs to give us more of His life day by day. Our salvation is far greater—richer, deeper, larger, more powerful and transforming—than we ever dare to ask or think (Eph. 3.20). It is as if Jesus, Who dwells in eternal life within everyone who believes in Him, seeks to stretch out into every aspect of our body and soul and through these into all the nooks and crannies of our lives, to bring His soul-refreshing life and tumult-calming love to everyone we meet.
If only we were as eager to live full and abundant lives as Jesus is to give this to us (Jn. 10.10)! As C. S. Lewis lamented, “We are too easily pleased.” To know Jesus and the Father, by the Spirit and Word of God, is to know true and eternal life (Jn. 17.3). Brothers and sisters, get more of this great good gift of life!
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Water.
It is the quintessential need slaker.
It fills us, refreshes us, cleanses us, restores us, and renews us.
Without water, we cannot live; but “whoever drinks of this water will thirst again” (Jn. 4.13).
Without the Holy Spirit we cannot live or thrive in the Kingdom; but “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him [Jesus said of the Holy Spirit] will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (Jn. 4.14).
“Let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22.17).
The Holy Spirit within us becomes a fountain of water sloshing and spraying and dripping and bubbling up as good news and a blessing to those in our Personal Mission Field—parched—without Him.
“He who fears the commandment will be rewarded. The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death” (Prov. 13.14). As we live within the commandments of God, staying always within the boundaries where God’s love can reach and bless us (Jude 1.21 TLB), we stay away from the snares of the enemy, and we help those we are sent to, to stay within those same boundaries. We are to them the “aroma of life” (2 Cor. 2.16). Wooing them to dip their toes in the ocean of His bounteous love.
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (Jn. 7.37, 38).
“The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought…you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail” (Is. 58.11).
Nothing else cools and refreshes a dry and weary body like water does.
No one, nothing else, satisfies our need for atonement—only JESUS, The Life-Giver.
“For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul” (Jer. 31.25).
Everything Jesus did as The Son of God, The Perfect Lamb of God, The Messiah—His works, words, miracles, suffering, and victory over death—all was done so that “they may believe that You sent Me” (Jn. 11.42).
There is only One Life-Giver—The eternal begotten of The Father—The Living Water.
Reflection
1. In what ways does “living water” describe your relationship with Jesus?
2. Why does the Spirit flow His living water through you to others? How should they experience that?
3. How would you explain to a new believer how to make sure you’re always being refreshed by the living water of Jesus?
[H]e does not say that, from the very first day, we drink so as to be fully satisfied, but only means that the Holy Spirit is a continually flowing fountain; and that, therefore, there is no danger that they who have been renewed by spiritual grace shall be dried up. And, therefore, although we thirst throughout our whole life, yet it is certain that we have not received the Holy Spirit for a single day, or for any short period, but as a perennial fountain, which will never fail us. John Calvin (1509-1564) Commentary on John 4.13, 14
Pray Psalm 119.5-8.
Pray for more of the life of Jesus to fill you to overflowing today. Whom will you bless and refresh? Pray that God would prepare you as His servant and vessel of grace to everyone you meet today, that they may know the living water of Jesus through you.
Sing Psalm 119.5-8.
(Ode to Joy: Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee)
Let my ways steadfastly keep to all the statutes of Your Word.
Then shall I, no shame enduring, fix my eyes on You, O LORD!
With an upright heart I praise You, in Your rules will I abide.
I will keep Your statutes wholly; keep me ever by Your side!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: Our Read Moore podcast takes up the book Understanding the Times to help us in knowing how to live and proclaim the Kingdom. Our twice weekly column, Crosfigell, is well into a series on the life of Brendan the Navigator, one of the great saints of the 6th century. Our ReVision series, “The Kingdom Economy”, continues to unpack the secrets of the Kingdom. And new in our bookstore, our book, The Ongoing Work of Christ shows us how the book of Acts provides a template and footprint for all who take up the work of building Jesus’ Church.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
