{"id":6397,"date":"2015-03-24T17:30:23","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T21:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=6397"},"modified":"2016-01-13T17:40:15","modified_gmt":"2016-01-13T21:40:15","slug":"word-5-hows-your-thirst-quenched-32215","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=6397","title":{"rendered":"Word 5: How’s Your Thirst Quenched? (3\/22\/15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this last Sunday before Palm Sunday and the Passion Week that it ushers in, Pastor Jim spoke on Jesus’ 5th “Word” from the cross:\u00a0 “I Thirst.”\u00a0 This continues the seven part series which will end on Good Friday.\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Click the below “Play” button to begin listening to the recording (from the 11:00 service), then scroll down and follow along…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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The scripture was from Matthew 5:6 and John 19:28-30.\u00a0 Open the below Drop Down box to read this morning’s text (from the New King James version)…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Scripture Reading<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Matt 5:6<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.<\/p>\n

John 19:28-30<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”<\/p>\n

29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.<\/p>\n

30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

Under the Hot Sun on Mr. Chant’s Farm…<\/p>\n

How do you quench your thirst?\u00a0 Working during the summer during those hot days back in the 1990s (Pastor Jim’s childhood…), the best thing ever was the ice cold water from the well!\u00a0 Nothing quenches physical thirst like cold water.<\/p>\n

But what about “spiritual thirst?”\u00a0 What if you’re really feeling low?\u00a0 What if you feel out of place, rejected by friends?\u00a0 What if it seems that nothing is going right?\u00a0 How do you quench THAT thirst???<\/p>\n

Living Water…<\/span><\/h3>\n

In John chapter 4<\/a><\/span>, Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well.\u00a0 Jesus opens the conversation by asking her for a drink.\u00a0 He then uses the opportunity to share that He can give her “Living Water”- that He can give her the fulfilling joyful life she was intended to live.<\/p>\n

But in John chapter 19, Jesus is hanging on the cross.\u00a0 The source of Living Water is parched, and He cries out “I am thirsty.”<\/p>\n

What’s going on here?!?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These words seem strangely out of place among the more dramatic statements He made from the cross.\u00a0 Why, “I Thirst”???<\/p>\n

On one level, He’s purposely fulfilling prophecies from scripture.\u00a0 John 19:28 makes\u00a0 this clear:<\/p>\n

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After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So Jesus is saying “I Thirst” to fulfill passages such as….<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Psalm 22:15<\/td>\nMy strength is dried up like a potsherd,
\nAnd My tongue clings to My jaws;
\nYou have brought Me to the dust of death.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Psalm 69:21<\/td>\nThey also gave me gall for my food,
\nAnd for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Bu there are a few things we can learn from this statement…<\/p>\n

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Lessons on the Physical Level…<\/span><\/h3>\n

A little Christianity 101 for a minute… Jesus was fully human AND He was fully God.\u00a0 That means He possessed a human nature just like you and I.\u00a0 Here on the cross, the reality of that humanity and divine have a real tension point as He suffers severely on the cross.<\/p>\n

\u00a01 Peter 4:1-2<\/strong><\/span>
\nSo then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not strange that He thirsted; He was also thirsty as He traveled through Samaria.\u00a0 He was tired from the journey and asked the woman for a drink (John 4:7<\/a><\/span>).\u00a0 So is it any wonder, that at the end of His life- after being flogged half to death and nailed to the cross for hours- that He should say “I Thirst.”<\/p>\n

Jesus was fully human!\u00a0 He has experienced it too!
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Part of the mission of PUMC is in providing water for those who don’t have it.\u00a0 Part of our Shared Ministry money goes to support missionaries in the work of providing a cold cup of water along with the One who calls Himself “The Living Water.”<\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about how we are helping provide water around the globe through our Shared Ministries, click this button:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Water<\/a>\u00a0<\/div><\/div>\n

In John 7:37-38, Jesus declares:<\/p>\n

On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! \u00a0 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'”\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 NLT<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And yet, tragically, ironically- the Fountain of quenching thirsts is Himself thirsty.\u00a0 The Source of life is dying and drying up.\u00a0 God came to earth to offer living eternal water to humankind, but humanity chose to destroy the Spring of Heaven.\u00a0 Here on the cross, sinful humanity was getting its way by watching the water of life drying up.<\/p>\n

BUT-\u00a0 O thanks be to God; Sunday was coming and the water would flow once again!<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Lessons on the Spiritual Level…<\/span><\/h3>\n

This scene takes us back to Jeremiah 2:12-13 which says: (quotation from The Message<\/em><\/span>)<\/p>\n

“Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see!<\/span>
\n Throw up your hands in disbelief \u2014 this can’t be!”<\/span>
\n GOD’s Decree. <\/span><\/p>\n

“My people have committed a compound sin:<\/span>
\n they’ve walked out on me, the fountain<\/span>
\n Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns \u2014 <\/span>
\n cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Our Old Testament ancestors walked away from God, choosing (as Adam\u00a0Hamilton<\/a> writes) to “instead to drink muddy runoff water, building cisterns to catch and drink it; yet even this could not satisfy.”<\/p>\n

Through Jesus’ words, God shows that the way they have chosen cannot work.\u00a0 The people chose to find their own way and to fill their spiritually parched souls with water which could not satisfy.<\/p>\n

So, when Jesus said, “I Thirst” He was telling us, “OK.\u00a0 Try it your way and look at what it leads to!\u00a0 ONLY by coming to the True Well which will never run dry can you find satisfaction, fulfillment, and refreshment.”<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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