“Back to the Well, Refreshing Your Spirit” is our topic. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “I will give you living water….that gushes up to eternal life.”  (John 4) That is our text. The water is the presence of God. The question is, how do we “drink the water” that refreshes our spirits?

It is so common that we barely notice. Every Sunday we read a few passages from the Bible. Scripture reading is an indispensable part of our corporate worship experience and it is equally indispensable to the refreshment of our souls. So this sermon can be summed up in this simple prescription: To refresh your spirit, read The Bible.  

ELIJAH

Let me illustrate. Elijah was a prophet who lived in Israel about 2800 years ago. Ahab was the King and Jezebel was the queen and they were horrible, absolutely horrible and Elijah challenged them for their idolatry and for their cruelty. Being the evil people they were and because they had the power to do so, they threatened Elijah’s life and Elijah had to run and hide.

Exhausted, frightened, lonely, he ends up hiding in an isolated, desolate, barren mountain cave. In his state of despair, he asks God to let him die. God speaks to him and says, “Why are you here?”  Elijah replies, “Everybody else has forsaken you and I have tried to be faithful and now I am here all alone hiding in this cave of desolation. Everything is lost. Let me die.”

Then God said to Elijah, go and stand in front of your cave and wait for the Lord to pass by.  Elijah moves to the mouth of his cave, somewhere up the side of the mountain, and there he waits. A mighty wind roars and blows boulders around and nearly pushes him off the mountain but God is not in the wind. An earthquake shakes the mountain from the bottom up but God is not in the earthquake. Finally, a fire burns every thing that can burn on that mountain but God is not in the fire. And then, using the language of the “New Revised Standard Version,” after the fire there was “a sound of sheer silence” and God speaks in the silence. Then God tells Elijah that he is not alone but that there are 7,000 others who have been faithful.

As you were listening and perhaps remembering the story, did you find yourself identifying with Elijah or with his emotions? Have you had your own feelings of isolation and desolation?  Have you ever wanted to just hide out in the cave?  Most of us have had parallel experiences. And then we hear that God spoke to Elijah in the silence and have hoped that God will come to us in our time of need. God will not leave us. And we learn that God is often heard, not in moments of dramatic intervention but in times of silence, in the quiet and reflective time.

This is one way that we are refreshed by the scriptures. We hear and see that which God did in the ancient past and we expect that, just as God was faithful then, God will be faithful now. Those ancient stories become the messengers of God’s present faithfulness. 

That is why we read The Bible.  Those ancient stories and the ancient instruction and the old old poetry of the Psalms instruct us in what we can expect from God today in Topeka, Kansas.

In saying that, I need to say something else and this is the most important thing that I will say today. I want to quote John 1:14. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”

We often refer to The Bible as “The word of God” and there are good reasons for that. The Holy Spirit of God often speaks to us through the words of the scriptures. We really do hear God’s word through The Bible! 

But as we say that, we must remember that Jesus Christ is the word of God – The
Bible says that Jesus Christ is the word of God. “The word became flesh” --- talking specifically about Jesus, “and lived among us.” If you want to hear God’s word most clearly, you must listen to Jesus! Jesus is the word of God.

And how do we know about Jesus? We know through the pages of The Bible.  As a Christian I believe that the ultimate purpose of scripture is to reveal Jesus and I believe that Jesus is the key to reading the scripture…Jesus is the key.

What does that mean? If you are reading the scriptures and you think that God may have a word for you, the first question that you must ask is this, “Does this conform to Jesus?” If your word does not conform to Jesus, then it is not from God. That is why you must begin with the Gospels, the stories of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

From Jesus, we learn how much God loves us and we learn that which God expects from us. He loves us so completely that he sent Jesus to die for our sin. He loves us so completely that he forgives us of our sin. And God fully expects that as we accept his offer of forgiveness that our lives will be transformed to be more like the life of Jesus. God really does expect us to repent.

Secure in the love of God that we know through Jesus, we read The Bible. We memorize words like these and repeat them frequently; just soaking in the love and grace that God has for us.

“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1

“Come unto me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.”  Matthew 11:28

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord. Romans 8: 28

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38

“I have learned to be content with whatever I have….” Philippians 4: 11

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4: 13

As we drink the deep waters of the scriptures we are led to Christ and as we drink the sweet water of Christ, we are led into the presence of God. And as we live in the presence of God, we find the truth of God’s love, the truth that springs up into eternal life.

God gave us this remarkable gift, the gift of The Bible, a gift for the ultimate refreshment of our souls. I urge you, drink deeply.