How Christ Changes People
A Tim Keller Sermon Summary
How does Christ change people? Let’s see how Christ convinced a promiscuous and lonely Samaritan woman (John 4:6-26).
To begin, Christ talked to her. At that time, Jews didn’t mingle with Samaritans, and men wouldn’t talk in public to women they didn’t know. Also, she was an outcast (drawing water from a well alone at noon, rather than a cooler and busier hour of the day). In approaching her, Christ broke racial, gender, social, and moral barriers and showed Himself as a bridge between polar opposites in society.
What Christ was about to give to the woman was “the gift of God.” One with strength, money, power, or other indicators of social status wouldn’t have a higher chance to get it. It was and is a gift for everyone.
Second, Christ linked the Gospel to something important and desirable. Christ compared the Gospel to water, which is paramount for survival. Unlike laws that we are forced to follow, water is something one desperately needs.
Lastly, Christ showed her what she was pursuing would never satisfy her. When the Samaritan woman asked for the living water, Christ told her to bring her husband, a non-sequitur response. The woman had had five husbands, and the man with her at that point was not her husband. Christ wanted her to see that what she was seeking, be it water or men, would never be enough. She always had to return for more.
Irrespective of what we pursue—money, health, possession, beauty, sex, power, friendship, family, importance, or intelligence—we will never be satisfied. We always want more, and these things can destroy us.
But Christ’s living water wouldn’t abuse us. We don’t need to earn it. It is a gift.
On the cross, Christ asked for water, which symbolized Christ experiencing unquenchable thirst when His Father had forsaken Him. Because of His suffering, we can have the gift of the living water, the gift that can fully satisfy us.
Summarized from a Tim Keller sermon, titled, "The Gift that Fully Satisfies":
https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/changed-lives-9171/
To begin, Christ talked to her. At that time, Jews didn’t mingle with Samaritans, and men wouldn’t talk in public to women they didn’t know. Also, she was an outcast (drawing water from a well alone at noon, rather than a cooler and busier hour of the day). In approaching her, Christ broke racial, gender, social, and moral barriers and showed Himself as a bridge between polar opposites in society.
What Christ was about to give to the woman was “the gift of God.” One with strength, money, power, or other indicators of social status wouldn’t have a higher chance to get it. It was and is a gift for everyone.
Second, Christ linked the Gospel to something important and desirable. Christ compared the Gospel to water, which is paramount for survival. Unlike laws that we are forced to follow, water is something one desperately needs.
Lastly, Christ showed her what she was pursuing would never satisfy her. When the Samaritan woman asked for the living water, Christ told her to bring her husband, a non-sequitur response. The woman had had five husbands, and the man with her at that point was not her husband. Christ wanted her to see that what she was seeking, be it water or men, would never be enough. She always had to return for more.
Irrespective of what we pursue—money, health, possession, beauty, sex, power, friendship, family, importance, or intelligence—we will never be satisfied. We always want more, and these things can destroy us.
But Christ’s living water wouldn’t abuse us. We don’t need to earn it. It is a gift.
On the cross, Christ asked for water, which symbolized Christ experiencing unquenchable thirst when His Father had forsaken Him. Because of His suffering, we can have the gift of the living water, the gift that can fully satisfy us.
Summarized from a Tim Keller sermon, titled, "The Gift that Fully Satisfies":
https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/changed-lives-9171/