John 4:27-42

Beyond Bread & Water

The Big Idea: Human life is vastly more than the sum of our physical needs. 

We fill our days chasing temporal water to satisfy our thirst and earthly bread to sustain our flesh. 

Jesus demands that we lift our eyes to a supernatural satisfaction. 

Looking beyond the material, physical needs to provide for this body – to consider and seek His spiritual provision – that sustains not the body, but the soul. 

We can all find ourselves trapped by the Prison of the Practical

"If you evaluate your life this past week, what took up the vast majority of your time, effort, and mental energy? 

For most of us, if we are completely honest, our week was consumed by concerns such as:

• How am I going to pay this bill? 

• What are we making for dinner? 

• How do I get through this grueling work week? 

• When can I finally get some rest?

And if by chance you got some time between concerns such as these – How much of THATtime was consumed on social media “Doom scrolling” the day away?

We are so prone to reducing our existence to a relentless, HORIZONTAL quest of physical maintenance. 

We live as if the highest goal of humanity is simply to keep our bodies hydrated and our stomachs full.

While ignoring the more essential VERTICAL needs that will provide for us all the things that this life never will, never can.

In our text today, Jesus steps into the middle of our daily grind and presents us with something better. Something Beyond Bread & Water.

In our passage today, we encounter two completely different groups of people who are suffering from the same condition: spiritual near-sightedness. 

FIRST, we see the outcast woman - who can only see the physical water at the bottom of a limestone hole. 

SECOND, we see the twelve disciples - who can only see the physical groceries they just bought in town.

1. Beyond the Water…

John 4:27–30

²⁷ At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” 

²⁸ So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and *said to the men, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” ³⁰ They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

• The Scene: The disciples return from Sychar with their grocery bags. 

• They are stunned to find Jesus breaking every cultural and rabbinic law by speaking with a Samaritan woman.
  • (But they are wise enough not to question Jesus about it!)

I pointed out last week that with God there are no coincidences. 

• It was not by chance the Samaritan woman ran into Jesus at the well. 

• Nor is it by chance that the disciples showed up when they did. 

Our God is the God of Past – Present – and Future. 

• David wrote, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.” Psalm 139:16

Verse 28 – The woman’s response to Jesus words. 

'So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city...'

She did not leave hastily because of the disciple’s arrival. – She left hastily for having realized the truth of what Jesus had been sharing with her. – 

Jesus had demonstrated Himself to be a prophet – and had declared that He was the Christ!

John 4:25-26 The woman *said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus *said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

The REALITY of that statement BECOMING a reality for a person when they understand it immediately re-shapes their understanding of everything else. 

In response, the woman makes haste to run back to town to tell others.

It’s kind of an aside, but John mentions it so let’s look at it- That cistern, her clay pot water jar, was an important resource of provision for her. 

It was the physical tool required to sustain her daily survival. 

She had dragged it out to Jacob's well at noon—in the blistering heat—probably to avoid the whispers of her neighbors.

That cistern was of value to her – but in a moment of clarity, she realized that something of FAR GREATER value was being offered to her. 

When she meets the great I AM, her priorities are instantly flipped upside down. 

The water pot that had sustained the flesh was forgotten in favor of the living water she had just found. 

Her past, her shame was swallowed up by sovereign grace. 

What the water from Jacob’s well could not restore – The words of Jesus had; The promised one, the messiah who would deliver- Jesus said “I who speak to you am He.”

We should all learn the lesson – the best the world can offer is worthless compared to knowing Christ Jesus as our Lord. 

Cross-References

• Philippians 3:7–8: "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..."

If you have had a “REAL” encounter with the Lord – 

If you have “TRULY” received His word by faith and been renewed by the water of life – 

• You cannot be the same as you were before. 

• You will have been changed. You will have been born again. 

• Your mind will think differently. 

• Your heart will feel different. 

• And your mouth will speak new words, confess new truths, and proclaim what the Lord has done for you. 

Psalm 66:16: "Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul."

Life Application

Identify Your Waterpots – What are the things worth leaving behind?

What earthly security, daily routine, comfort, or worldly distraction are you clutching so tightly that it prevents you from realizing the significance of the gospel 

• Not only in your own life – but with a sense of urgency to share the Good News with others? 

Your waterpot might be your career advancement, your financial nest egg, your family commitments or your desire for social comfort.

Or maybe it’s your past – A history you feel makes you unworthy. 

Stop letting the world around you and your own history silence you. 

• The Samaritan woman did not wait until she had a perfect reputation to share Christ; 
• She RAN back to the very town that rejected her and used her exposure as proof of Jesus' divinity. 

• God does not rescue you to hide your past; He redeems your past to display His sovereign grace in you to others.

• Let others know – “I am not who I was – and I am working to be who God has called me to be.”

2. Beyond the Bread… 

John 4:31–34

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” ³⁴ Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 

The Scene: The disciples are confused by the presence of the Samaritan woman – but genuinely concerned for the well-being of their teacher. 

I will tell you, as a man who has served the Lord from the front for many years – the heart-felt expressions, provision and concern from the congregation never go without gratitude and are always humbling to me. 

As for the disciples, they had walked right into another teaching moment- 

'Rabbi, eat.' They say – offering food from the village – almost certainly the same village the Samaritan woman had just run off to!

Jesus looks at them and drops another massive theological truth: 

'I have food to eat that you do not know of... My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.'

You can tell they still aren’t hearing with ears to hear- 

³³ So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” 

Jesus often talked in a certain manner. Not so much in riddle – but by way of illustration. 

Around 60 times scripture the word of God makes reference to those having ears to hear. 

Those who are seeking the Lord and are equipped by the Holy Spirit will have the ability to hear the word of the Lord and understand beyond the words to their teaching.

³⁴ Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 

Jesus was likely recalling the teaching from Deuteronomy 8:3:

He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with Manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

• Jesus leans on this deep Old Testament theology to show that the ultimate resource of human existence is the sovereign word and will of God.

And the best diet we can feed on to remain spiritually healthy is to do the will of God and accomplish His work. 

John 4:35-38

³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

While not plainly a parable – there is the common reading of what Jesus said – and what Jesus meant.

Many of us have planted gardens – we understand the common meaning.

• Long before the field is harvested- and the harvest gathered into the storehouse- 

• The labor came first. 

• The field had to be prepared – the seed had to be sown – 

• Then the seed needed to be nourish and needed time to grow – The plant had to mature before the fruit came on. 

• Even then - the fruit had to mature before it could be harvested. 

But Jesus looks over their shoulders, and declares 'Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest!'

The harvest wasn't a future event; it was walking right toward them! 

But the disciples missed it because they were thinking with their stomachs.

Did they not know the truth of who Jesus of Nazareth was? 

Had they not just come from that town? 

But with whom had they planted the seed of truth there? - NONE

In our pride nature we desire to see the fruits of our labors. – To point at the harvest and proclaim, “I DID THAT!”

Jesus buries all of that with His teaching.

As if to say-  

• You are stepping into a field you did not dig. 
• You are planting seed you did not purchase. 
• You are harvesting crops you did not plant and that are not your own. 

The Apostle Paul declared of the “SUCCESS” of his ministry

1 Corinthians 3:6-9

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

But understand church – as the disciples had not yet learned – the problem is not the field – the problem is not the seed – the problem are the servants of the Master who owns the field and the seed….

• Matthew 9:37–38: *"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.'"

Application

The disciples saw Samaria as an unredeemable spiritual desert. – Surely no harvest for the Lord would come from a people such as THIS!

But Jesus saw it as a ripened harvest field. 

He told His disciples - others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

We must ask the Holy Spirit to cure our near-sightedness so we can see people through the lens of God's grace rather than our own cultural biases.

When you stand before the Lord – what do you want His attitude to be toward you?

• His love is ever present – to those who love Him

• But to how many will they hear Him say – “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

3. Beyond a Second-Hand Faith

John 4:39–42

³⁹ From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 

⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ Many more believed because of His word; ⁴² and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

The Scene: The Samaritans with ears to hear followed the woman to the well. 

Can you imagine?! – THIS woman?! Why would they follow THAT woman?!

• They wouldn’t.  – They shouldn’t.  – Nor should they follow YOU or ME

But for those with a heart who is ready to seek the truth of the Word of God 

The word of God is a well leading to the water of life that satisfies the thirst the spirit is longing for.  

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

And to those ready to hear – If we proclaim the Word of Truth – The Holy Spirit will guide them to desire to hear more. 

The Samaritans asked – and Jesus stayed with them for two days. 

Two days of hearing the Word of God – from – The Word of God.

And the result was declaration of FIRST-PERSON faith- 

“we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

  Hear me clearly on this church: You cannot survive on a second-hand faith.

Cross-References

• Romans 10:17: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."

The woman's testimony was the instrument to gather the crowd- 

• When we share our testimony – how we came to know Jesus as Lord – it should compel those who are seeing to know more.

• But they need more than our journey!

The testimony that saves is the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Application

Step Out from Behind Second-Hand Faith: Examine the foundation of your assurance before God. 

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE YOU WILL BE SPARED FROM GOD’S RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT?

Because you grew up in church – said a prayer – raised your hand – got baptized?

Because you go to a good church?

Because your parents or spouse are firm believers?

Friends – NONE of those things “saves” according to God’s Holy Word. 

THIS is the truth – 

"If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Romans 10:9

• You cannot stand before a holy God and not be judged based on the spiritual maturity of others or your association with a church.

• You must personally hear Christ’s voice through the Word, trust that word to be TRUE – 

• Be broken by your own sin, and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. 

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.

Trust the Sufficiency of the Word:

First for yourself - and secondly when you evangelize others 

Remember the order of this text. 

Your story is a valuable bridge to invite people to "come and see,"

• But their eternal conversion ultimately hinges on them being exposed to the power of the Scriptures.

Never be afraid to open the actual text of the Bible with seekers. 

• it is Christ’s Word that transforms their belief.

In Closing

"The disciples went into the city looking for physical bread, and a few temporary groceries are all they brought back. 

A broken woman left her water pot, ran into that same city with nothing but a transformed heart, and brought back an entire harvest of eternal souls.

Stop living for the Bread & Water of this world that cannot save.  

Look Beyond Bread and Water. 

You and I have been given the Water and the Bread of Eternal Life. 

We have received abundantly – there is more than enough to share!

And understand – Everyone who dies without that Water, without that Bread 

– WITHOUT KNOWING AND TRUSTING JESUS FOR SALVATION-

  Will perish – forever – eternally – in the Lake of Fire.

We know this- Those who have never had a spiritual rebirth, do not feel the longing for spiritual nourishment. 

And so, they continue to waste away, spiritually.

And scripture tells us one day not only will their body die, but they will face the “second death” in eternal judgement. 

But it need not be.

For those who seek the Lord shall find Him. 

And those who are found in the Lord, will have their soul nourished by the grace of God. 

Instead of death, they will have eternal life. 

Just as I pray you have today.