Six Decisions that Will Change Your Life: Mature
John 4:7-15
This week is the third week of our sermon series that accompanies our small group series based on Tom Berlin’s book 6 Decisions That Will Change Your Life. While we all make many decisions each day, these 6 are monumental decisions of our Christian journey. The first week we heard about the Decision to Follow and last week it was the Decision for a New Life. This week we will discover what it means to make the Decision to Mature. Let us pray and begin. Prayer. Our scripture reading this morning opens with a Samaritan woman, Jesus, and a well. When this woman approaches the well, Jesus asks for her to give him a drink. At this request the woman was taken aback. It was unprecedented …show more content…
Our maturity isn’t something that comes with age; we aren’t just suddenly mature one morning when we wake up. Instead maturity is a decision we make to move from here to here. Without this decision, we just maintain our status quo. Jesus sees the confusion on the Samaritan woman’s face, and instead of writing her off as someone who doesn’t understand so she isn’t going to choose the living water he is offering her, he explains what he is talking about. He says, people who drink of this water in front of us, the water that you have come here to get today, they will be thirsty again. But people who drink of this water I am offering, they will never be thirst again. Even more, this water will be like a spring, gushing up to eternal life.
Read with me how she responds in verse 15, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” It is to Jesus’ explanation that she says, yes. That, I want that. I want the water you are talking about. She moves from here, to here. She still doesn’t completely understand what Jesus is offering here, and I assume is still very confused, but the Samaritan woman makes the choice to mature in her faith. To seek and drink the living water in front of …show more content…
And when we make the choice to become spiritually mature, there are also some growing pains that we experience. There are certain indicators that we have chosen to live into adulthood. And while this comes along with aspects that are not always the most fun, they are well worth the life and freedom that we receive. And so too is the living water that we receive from Christ when we choose to mature. This choice doesn’t present us with mundane tasks that come as a result of our choice, instead this spiritual maturity comes with a new way of living. It’s important that I emphasize here that we don’t do anything special to be offered this gift by Chirst. It is one that is freely offered before us, what we do is see this gift fo grace, this gift that we don’t totally understand, and we accept it. Accepting to live into it. And this acceptance changes how we live. The essence of adulating is that our priorities change in life. When we adult spirituality, or mature, our priorities also change. We put God first in all that we do. We take seriously the notion of loving our neighbors as ourselves. Our lives become ones through which living water flows, not just within us but also into the world around us. Which brings me to point 2. The second point I want us to understand is how choosing to mature can change the world around
John 4:7-15
This week is the third week of our sermon series that accompanies our small group series based on Tom Berlin’s book 6 Decisions That Will Change Your Life. While we all make many decisions each day, these 6 are monumental decisions of our Christian journey. The first week we heard about the Decision to Follow and last week it was the Decision for a New Life. This week we will discover what it means to make the Decision to Mature. Let us pray and begin. Prayer. Our scripture reading this morning opens with a Samaritan woman, Jesus, and a well. When this woman approaches the well, Jesus asks for her to give him a drink. At this request the woman was taken aback. It was unprecedented …show more content…
Our maturity isn’t something that comes with age; we aren’t just suddenly mature one morning when we wake up. Instead maturity is a decision we make to move from here to here. Without this decision, we just maintain our status quo. Jesus sees the confusion on the Samaritan woman’s face, and instead of writing her off as someone who doesn’t understand so she isn’t going to choose the living water he is offering her, he explains what he is talking about. He says, people who drink of this water in front of us, the water that you have come here to get today, they will be thirsty again. But people who drink of this water I am offering, they will never be thirst again. Even more, this water will be like a spring, gushing up to eternal life.
Read with me how she responds in verse 15, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” It is to Jesus’ explanation that she says, yes. That, I want that. I want the water you are talking about. She moves from here, to here. She still doesn’t completely understand what Jesus is offering here, and I assume is still very confused, but the Samaritan woman makes the choice to mature in her faith. To seek and drink the living water in front of …show more content…
And when we make the choice to become spiritually mature, there are also some growing pains that we experience. There are certain indicators that we have chosen to live into adulthood. And while this comes along with aspects that are not always the most fun, they are well worth the life and freedom that we receive. And so too is the living water that we receive from Christ when we choose to mature. This choice doesn’t present us with mundane tasks that come as a result of our choice, instead this spiritual maturity comes with a new way of living. It’s important that I emphasize here that we don’t do anything special to be offered this gift by Chirst. It is one that is freely offered before us, what we do is see this gift fo grace, this gift that we don’t totally understand, and we accept it. Accepting to live into it. And this acceptance changes how we live. The essence of adulating is that our priorities change in life. When we adult spirituality, or mature, our priorities also change. We put God first in all that we do. We take seriously the notion of loving our neighbors as ourselves. Our lives become ones through which living water flows, not just within us but also into the world around us. Which brings me to point 2. The second point I want us to understand is how choosing to mature can change the world around