Living Water

Last Sunday, Pastor hit on some key points on thirst and quenching it with God’s word.

Have you ever been dehydrated from lack of water? How many of you know that when you are dehydrated, you would do anything to get some liquid inside of you.

There are all these survival shows on TV that show you that people will go through any lengths to not die of dehydration.

People are thirsty! And in many ways!
When you look at Jesus, his sacrifice for us, and the 7 words that he speaks on the cross, while he was in pain… “I thirst” seem so insignificant.

Let’s read them:

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29 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. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:28-30

Think about it… Why would Jesus be thirsty?

This is obviously towards the end of the crucifixion. Jesus had been on the cross for quite some time, his body had been purged of so much at this time. He was beaten and flogged 39 times, so more than likely his organs and muscles were exposed. He had a crown of thorns in his head and huge metal nails in his hand and in his feet. And he was probably exerting a lot of energy trying to breath at this moment. That is not counting the fact that right after he was flogged and beaten, he had to carry an 80-110 lbs wooden cross beam on his back for about the equivalent of 6 and a half football fields.

Jesus was going through a lot physically, so he was thirsty!

However, though we cannot discount the physical aspect of what Jesus was going through, and his physical needs, there’s was also many things going on in the spiritual here.

Jesus alluded a lot to the cup that he was going to drink from.

At the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup and said, “This is my blood of the new covenant” (Matthew 26:28 NKJV).
There’s a dichotomy here that Jesus is giving us through the image of the cup. **Jesus will drink the cup of pain to quench your deepest needs. He drank the cup that we could not drink, in order for us to receive the salvation that we need.

Elsewhere, when James and John asked Jesus if they could sit at his right hand and his left hand when he came into his kingdom, Jesus replied, “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” (Matthew 20:22).

Likewise, in John 18:11, as Jesus was being arrested, Peter drew his sword; but Jesus told him, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”


In each of these instances, Jesus used the metaphor of drinking as a way of describing the suffering he would endure on the cross.

Many of us want the salvation, resurrection, and redemption, without the suffering. And by suffering, I mean PROCESS.

This shown in the Kenosis of Christ.

Kenosis is Self-Emptying.

Jesus, though he was God, set aside his independent authority, during his earthly ministry and submitted himself to the will of the father!

Because of that, he sometimes operated with limitations of humanity. For example, God does not get tired, and certainly doesn’t get thirsty. But Jesus did…

While Jesus was on earth, he surrendered the use of some of His divine attributes.

On of the movies that best explains this concept is in the movie the SHACK. Mack (or Mackenzie) ends up meeting the trinity. God, Son & Holy Spirit in form of human beings or in ways he would understand. And he has a deep discussion with God because Mack was heart broken and feels abandoned. He carries a desperate void in his heart and has no closure. So God begins to talk to him about who He is, and how Jesus plays a role in all of this.
"“Mackenzie, I can fly, but humans can’t. Jesus is fully human. Although he is also fully God, he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything. He has only lived out of his relationship with me, living in the very same manner that I desire to be in relationship with every human being. He is just the first to do it to the uttermost—the first to absolutely trust my life within him, the first to believe in my love and my goodness without regard for appearance or consequence.”
“So when he healed the blind?” “He did so as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within him and through him. Jesus, as a human being, had no power within himself to heal anyone.”". Book, THE SHACK

The verse that explains this is in Phil. 2:5-7:

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-7

How? By...
Emptying himself. (Self sacrifice and putting it all on the line.)
Taking a form of a servant. (Generous)
Being Born to the likeness of men. (Relatable/accessible)
Being found in human form. (Relevant)
Humbling himself (Submission)
Becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross! (Purposeful)


We need to ask ourselves some tough questions. How much do you put on your relationship with Jesus & others?
Are you generous to God with your time, treasures, and talents?
Are you accessible and relatable to the world around you? (Or are we too buys asserting how holy we are vs. how unholy they are?)
Are you finding ways to go down to their level and explain things to them in a relevant manner?
How is your submission game? (Jesus submitted to his disciples… washed their feet)
Are you living your life with a purpose? (What’s my purpose? To bring God glory).

**Obedience is the result of us emptying ourselves of ourselves, so that God may fill us of himself in order that we may carry out his purpose.

** You will never be satisfied if it’s entirely about you.

The void will get deeper, darker, and harder, and all we will do is put inside of us fillers that keep us thirsty for more.

Just like water can only truly quench your physical thirst (not soda, not juice, not coffee), Jesus is the only one that can satisfy your thirst (not lust, not sex, not fame, not money, notpossessions).

Jesus said…
37 … Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ John 7:37-28

In John 4, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well. She’s been married and divorced five times and was then living with a man who was not her husband. She’s likely an outcast among her own people. Jesus asks her to draw water from the well for him, and then he says, “If you knew who you were talking to, you would ask of me and I would give you living water and you will never thirst again.”

It is precisely that in the backdrop of John chapter 4 & 7 that Jesus is speaking at the cross. He is emptying himself! He is saying… I have something you need.

I thirst… literally means, I have poured myself out to this humanity.

I have given every once of my grace… So I thirst.

I have given humanity every once of my mercy… So I thirst.

I have emptied myself. (Jesus)

He who was the source of living water is now thirsty as he dies on the cross. The source of life, of grace, of hope, of love, of living water is drying up! Emptying himself. The spring is nearly rendered void of all that Jesus came to this earth to give.

The words, “I am THIRSTY” were powerful.

God came to this earth to say, you are not thirsty enough until you drink of this living water.

A little of Jesus will not do it.
Some of Jesus will not do it.
All of Jesus is what God wants.

Christianity in America has been compromised because it has been made into an event and not an experience. This is not about works, but about how much we really, and truly, love God.

Do we love him enough to make him the center of our lives?

He emptied himself, became thirsty to quench our thirst!

Isn’t that what we would do for our own?

Today the word, Thirsty has different meanings. In the urban dictionary, being thirsty means to quench the sexual or lustful satisfaction our flesh. It’s being too eager to get something from someone… Whether it’s fame or admiration… especially through Social Media.

Our flesh entices us to quench our thirst with the wrong things!! **The world captivates our flesh, but it can never satisfy our soul.

What can you do to be filled?
• Self sacrifice… Put it all on the line
• Generous (Service)
• Relatable (accessible)
• Relevant (Meeting people where they are at)
• Submission (Humility)
• Purposeful (Glorify God)

God wants to give you living water to quench your thirsty soul...receive it! Once you taste it, you will see there is nothing this world can offer that will fulfill you.

Join us tomorrow for next chapter in What He Said While in Pain. Bring a friend!