When it comes to hunger and thirst, the answer is always Jesus.

Steve Brown:
When it comes to hunger and thirst, the answer is always Jesus. Let’s talk, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you suffer too long under a do more try harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free. Steve invited Matt Heard to teach us this week. Find more from Matt at ThriveFullyAlive.com he’s a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach, and author.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hey Matt.

Matthew Porter:
Hey Steve.

Steve Brown:
Man, this has been a great week.

Matt Heard:
It really has.

Steve Brown:
We’ve been, by the way, we’re talking about the life you’ve always wanted. And on Monday, we said, you know, it is really important that you face the reality that you have longings in a lot of areas that have not been satisfied, even though you thought you were satisfying them, you found out that was the wrong way. And then on Tuesday, we want stuff that we don’t really need. And so, we talked about that. And then yesterday we talked about all of this coming from the God of the universe, that he created us in that way. And today, we’re going to talk about Jesus because it all comes to Jesus, doesn’t it?

Matt Heard:
It really does. You know, people, the classic joke, you know, sounds, it sounds like a squirrel, but I know the answer is Jesus to every answer to the children’s sermon. But this whole notion of our longings, it really does. And that’s what Jesus is doing with this woman at the well. And he’s wanting to, her to own up to her deep thirst that is not being satisfied by, for her, we don’t know all the contexts that we’ve mentioned before, men, marriage, how the divorces happened. But bottom line, five former husbands, been married five times, living with a guy now. And Jesus said, you’re still thirsty, aren’t you? And it’s not working. And so, he opens up this really compassionate, pretty powerful conversation with her. And he kind of wraps it up, verse 13 of John 4, he says.

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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.”

And Steve, I want to come back to this notion of eternal life and what he’s referring to, but laying the groundwork for that, C.S. Lewis referred to it as that Sehnsucht, that thirst, that every human, all image bearers have, you know, whether it’s for intimacy or for significance or for security or for resolution, we all have this churning up within us. And it’s like when we approach church, we suppress all that and just say, okay, I’ve got to just get my Bible knowledge down and have a hope for heaven. And both of those, sure, absolutely we need to be ground in truth, but we’re not going deep enough.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. In fact, that can be another form of getting a new car if you’re not careful.

Matt Heard:
Absolutely. I mean, the idolatry and, you know, we talked about Jeremiah 2, where God says that.

My people have committed two sins, they’ve forsaken me, the fountain of living water. And hewn from themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Later on in that passage, so he’s saying you’ve forsaken me, the spring of living water. Jesus is talking with this woman about living water. We hewn for ourselves broken cisterns, things that we’re going to, to quench our thirst that don’t work. Later in that same passage, he talks about the idolatry. You know, we run after it until our throats are dry, our throats are parched and our feet are dry. We seek after foreign gods. I mean, it’s what Calvin referred to, he says, we’re idol factories. We’re always coming up with stuff and it can be a Bible study. It can be church. You know, idols are not just the bad stuff. Idols can be really good things that we’re simply elevating above Jesus and missing what he really wants to bring us.

Steve Brown:
You know, we don’t do that too, because we think that God is so big and scary and angry that, yeah, He maybe could satisfy it, but I’m not going there. Cause man, he’ll strike me down cause he knows my secrets and he knows my sins. And so, the same writer who is telling us this story starts his story of Jesus by saying the law came from Moses, grace and truth. In other words, this story that we’re looking at in John 4 is an amazing story in that it says to everybody this is God, this is the way he is, this is the compassion that he shows, this is the love that he came to manifest. You can run to him and he will meet the longings that you have.

Matt Heard:
Absolutely. And when religious people read this passage and you said, what you’re really thirsty for is eternal life. They say, that’s it. Cause it’s we all want, it’s heaven that we’re consumed with. We want to, yes, we want to go to heaven. But that is not, heaven and eternal life are not synonymous. And it won’t be the first heresy call out Key Life has received. So, let me clarify, we’ll experience eternal life in heaven in an undiluted, undeterred way, but they are not synonymous. So, the one time that Jesus defines eternal life, John 17:3, in his prayer, the night before he gave his life. And he says.

You have given me these and I’ve done what you’ve entrusted to me to accomplish.

And he says in verse 3 of John 17, cause he said.

I’ve come to give them eternal life. And that’s what I’ve done. Now, this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you’ve sent.

Steve Brown:
And so, eternal life isn’t something for the future, it’s something that’s a reality. It’s what we’ve been talking about all week.

Matt Heard:
And it’s what you’re talking about that invitation to relate with him in his grace and his truth and his freedom. This whole notion of eternal life not being a place, but being a reality that seeps into the depths of my soul and enables me to all of a sudden start relating with him in the midst of my career. And that puts the career in the right context, in the midst of my marriage, in the midst of those sins that haunt me, those addictions that chase me saying, I need to come back to the one who wants intimacy with me and letting that relationship with him. You know that where Paul’s with, Thessalonians talks about pray without ceasing. Remember that passage? It confused I think a lot of people think, then he’s calling us to some monastic existence. No, that’s just praying continually every day, relating and praying is relating with him. It’s just calling out to him, listening to him and saying, you know I’ve got a deep thirst for significance and I’m just sorry I’ve gone to this job for that or I’ve gone to this dysfunctional relationship with that. And he says, I know. And I forgive you, my Son died for that. Let’s talk about it and let me give you in deep, deep ways which you’re not going to find anywhere else. And that eternal life, so often we emphasize the adjective, but not the noun. The eternal, that’s the quantitative, but we don’t emphasize the noun, the qualitative, that Zoe life that the Jesus is promising, that life that existed in the garden, the tree of life. We’re exiled, we’re headed back there at the end of Revelation, but in the meantime, he gives us drinks of living water, and one of the beauties of walking with him is not gaining a religious resume, but it’s gaining a relationship.

Steve Brown:
It really is. And everybody who’s listening to us right now, whether you’re a believer or not, whether you’re somebody who’s a mature Christian or not, this resonates inside. You know, I sometimes ask people, when you became a Christian, was it new? Or was it something that you had known before. And they always say, no, I was a new creation, and then they stop and say, no, I always knew there was something in me. I just didn’t know its name.

Matt Heard:
Oh, I love that. I love that. So, what if I were to relate with him in the midst of just doing normal life, and there’s that prayer going back and forth, there’s that, I never hang up the phone in other words. I never say Amen and I’m done. I’m going to, let’s just, let’s keep the line open.

Steve Brown:
And that’s not religious. That, you know, don’t confuse this. This is the joy of watching a television program and still being involved in it, of going to work, of babysitting, of changing diapers. It’s all a part of real life that’s done in the context of the reality about what you’ve been teaching us this week.

Matt Heard:
Yeah. So, relating with him in a way that filters into the way I address my longings in a way that deepens my relationships, all of them that may be a way that permeates my work. It enhances my recreation, triggers my laughter. Maybe it authenticates my tears in ways just because of the way I’m relating with them, fuels my compassion, directing my journey, fulfilling my days, the list goes on and on in terms of what can happen when I all of a sudden own up to my longings, but I entrust them to him. And I say, Jesus, you know, I’m prone to idolatry and prone to taking my longing somewhere else. I want to bring them to you.

Steve Brown:
Matt, that’s good stuff. I hope we’re going to do it again soon. The longings that you have, and the life you’re always wanting, the reality that Jesus gives. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve Brown and Matt Heard. And thank you for listening. Remember that if you missed any episodes this week, or maybe you just want to share them with a friend, you can always stream our content for free at Keylife.org and do join us again tomorrow for Friday Q&A when Steve and Pete will answer a question about the Calvinist acronym TULIP. What does that mean? Tune in and find out. So, being a smart person is a good thing, but even better maybe is a smart person who can impart that knowledge in a way that’s understandable without being condescending. That is an apt description of our friend, Dr. Hugh Ross. We recently spoke with Hugh on Steve Brown Etc. about Biblical inerrancy. And you can get that entire conversation on CD for free by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, just go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for the free CD featuring Dr. Hugh Ross. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life would you join us in that work through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card, you can include a gift in your envelope. Or now, you can just give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone right now and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And as always, we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.