If Anyone Thirsts...

 

I am to preach at an outing for children in their last year of primary school and the theme is taken from John 7:37-39:

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

(John 7:37-39 ESV)

It's a text most would be familiar with and yet we may not see how Jesus' statement related to what was going on.

A study of the context reveals that Jesus makes this proclamation during the Feast of Booths, a feast that has several names but that particular name is my favourite. It is probably best known as the Feast of Tabernacles. This was one of the three annual feast but was the most popular.

This feast came at a joyful time of the year (around this very time actually, September into October, the seventh month on the Jewish calendar, the 15 day) when the last items to be harvested came in. It took just over a week and was lots of fun especially for children, I would imagine. During this time all the men journeyed to Jerusalem where they presented a portion of their harvest to thank God for the harvest and pray for the 'latter rain' that would prepare the earth for the next farming season. During the eight day feast, the families left their houses and set up tents or booths where they stayed, and that's why I say the children must have loved it. This was done to remember the way their ancestors lived in tents during their 40 year journey to the promised land from Egypt.

During the eight days, one of the daily highlights would be the time that the Priest would get a golden jug and walk down to the pool of Siloam and fetch water followed by a large procession. He would then return through the same entrance, called the 'water gate' whose name was taken from this very ritual, and go to the alter where another Priest would be waiting with another golden jug holding some wine from the harvest. Together they would pour out the contents of the jugs into basins that would drain to the base of the altar. As they did this the audience would begin singing Psalm 118:25-26 which was a song related to the Messiah.

Save us, we pray, O LORD!
O LORD, we pray, give us success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD.
(Psalm 118:25-26 ESV)

It is at this point on the last day of the feast, when all the people are gathered to see this spectacle for that last time till the passing of another year that Christ stands up and in a loud voice shouts that great proclamation. Jesus was trying to communicate something and he got his point across.

Jesus was saying that he was the salvation of which they sang. Salvation had indeed come to Israel at last! Jesus was declaring that He was Messiah and that everyone who would believe in Him would receive the gift or indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the "living water," and would never be empty again. I am the reality that the water in this ceremony symbolizes-the true life giver through whom the Holy Spirit is also given as John interprets in the text.

What a beautiful picture.

The end of chapter 7 from the point of Jesus' proclamation shows that the people got the point. Even the officers who should have pounced on Jesus for interrupting such a solemn and beautiful occasion were stunned by Jesus' statement and had to come to grips with the thought that maybe this really was the Christ.

Isaiah says:

For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
  and streams on the dry ground;
 I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
  and my blessing on your descendants.
 They shall spring up among the grass
  like willows by flowing streams.
 This one will say, ‘I am the LORD's,’
  another will call on the name of Jacob,
 and another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD's,’
  and name himself by the name of Israel.”

(Isaiah 44:3-5 ESV)

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I Got To Preach

Every week our cell group meets to go out into the neighbourhood doing door-to-door evangelism. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be following up those who attended our evangelistic Braai/BBQ which we hosted last year over Christmas. Well, I joined our cell leader as he was following up a young lady staying at a college boarding house. We bounced but opted to speak to a young lady whose room was just opposite.



During our chat with her, she mentioned that her father had died a few months ago and she was quite confused and had a number of questions. I made an appointment to meet her the following day. I planned to attempt answering her questions. I was not aware that my meeting with her would be the toughest I've ever encountered in all my door-to-door evangelism days.



Contrary to what I expected, this young lady wasn't impressed with God, not because he had taken her father away from her and her family. Her concern was that God had allowed her father, a devoted and active man in his Christian life, to suffer so much in the months leading to his death. Apparently her father had a tumor in his belly which the doctors miss diagnosed. They spent time treating a problem that didn't exist and in the end, when they finally pinned the real problem, it was too late. About 2 weeks before he died, he could not even speak.



This young lady told me openly that she no longer really cared about pushing hard in life but just lived each day as it came. She had lost her drive and will. Her father's relatives had not made life any easier, they had been a source of much pain rather than comfort.



The ball was finally in my court, what was I to say to this young lady? How was I going to "defend God" while maintaining sensitivity to her feelings. I stammered and flipped through my bible and stumbled my way through some sort of explanation.



I knew, though, almost immediately, that this young lady felt the way she did about God because she did not understand God's holiness and man's sinfulness. But I really struggled to make my point and she was certainly not convinced. I quickly discovered how much I needed to study this whole subject and be better positioned to respond to such questions.



During our conversation, I received a call from the leaders of a fellowship at DK (David Kaunda High), they wanted me to share a song or two at their meeting the next day. I asked to meet them that same day just to find out who the new leaders were and what they had planned for the year, etc.



I made my way over to DK as soon as I was done with my struggled chat with the young lady. There is a need for sound gospel preaching at the DK fellowship and so I am always keen to offer preachers for their meetings. Fortunately they needed a preacher for the next day and I promised to come with one. I quickly got in touch with my buddy who I thought would jump at the opportunity but he said it was too short a notice. As the evening progressed, it became clear that I probably wouldn't be able to find a preacher in time, and so I decided I'd prepare something in the event that I failed to find someone.



As I sat down to prepare, I had no doubt in my mind as to what I would share if I ended up preaching. I would answer those questions that that young lady had and basically answer the question: "Why do bad things happen to good people?"



Well, I preached at DK the next evening and it was a great experience, it was an awesome experience to share the gospel with 50+ youths. My text was Luke 13:1-9. One of the things I've lacked the few times I've preached is passion. I tend to just talk but this time, I think I thundered (for my standards at least) probably because it was more from the heart than all the other times. When I had exhausted much of my arguments I said something like, "I hope you have began to see why we deserve the very worst from God." And some guys (girls mostly, actually) shouted, "No!". It was pretty interesting, but I think by the time I was done, they could all answer a humble "yes" in their bowels.



The last time I preached, though, it wasn't so great...

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Heart Changer

Opportunities to preach the gospel, I've always felt, should be taken very seriously especially by those called to preach. It's a shame, when after the preaching of God's word, you decide to speak to someone, after, perhaps a church service or evangelistic meeting, and upon asking them how they got saved (since 9/10 Zambians respond in the affirmative when asked whether they are saved), they respond, "Oh, well, I was born a Christian." or maybe "I go to church and do lots of other good things." Upon hearing such a response, I quickly look for the person responsible for such a response, because someone obviously didn't do what they ought to have done. Either the preacher was unclear or lacking in the content of his message or perhaps the particular individual slept through the whole sermon!

I have always felt that preachers should be very clear when preaching the gospel. I have never appreciated evangelistic sermons that are comprised of bombastic words and theological terminologies that unchurched individuals would struggle to grasp. I mean if the majority of your audience is unconverted why use words they probably won't understand? I thought the whole point was to get the gospel message across!

The first/next time I/I'll ever preach, my introduction will be something like this:

"I'd hate for anyone in this auditorium to leave assuming certain things, especially since it's me preaching, and so just to make sure, I'll just make a few clarifications from onset. First off, going to church cannot save you, just like going to the garage doesn't make you a car neither does going to the Bata make you a shoe. Secondly, doing good things cannot save you because the bible says in Isaiah that our good works are like filthy rags before God. Believing in God's existence, lastly, doesn't make you a Christian because the demons believe it much steadfastly than you ever
will!"

This compulsion to always make the gospel plain has landed me in utter frustration. I always thought that if the gospel was preached such that a listener understood it explicitly and the right "atmosphere", one quiet and perhaps one with the hymn "Just As I Am" playing softly in the background, allowing the person to ponder the words of the preacher, then that person was going to get saved. I mean why not?! The sinner has understood the gospel and has had time to think it through-time to reason, how could that individual make it out of that place unrepentant?!

Ofcourse, I was sadly mistaken and terribly disappointed.

Not long ago, I commenced visiting a nearby college, LBTC, where my buddies and I would share the gospel for an hour, 3 times a week. I usually did the sharing myself. I made sure I wrestled with the person's sense of reason, showing them, through questions, that they did not, infact, know the way of salvation and I'd wait until that beautiful question was asked,"How, then, does one become a Christian?" I'd shoot my buddy colleague a quick smile communicating, non-verbally, the words, "We've got him/em' now!", and begin sharing the word ever so passionately. We were good. We had it all figured out. We were going to get the whole college saved before they'd ever have known what hit them. We forgot one thing though, one crucial thing:

It's God who changes the hearts of men.

You could create the most quiet atmosphere and even add a melancholic tune in the background after sharing the most passionate gospel message, with the clarity of the Lord Jesus Christ himself but if God is not pleased to send his Holy Spirit to convict that soul, that poor soul will not get saved!

That is why I always say to my friends that the man of God must spend more time praying than he does preaching because he, the preacher, only does less than 25% of the work, and that might be giving him too much credit! God does the most part. A preacher cannot always get his stuff right. He may be lacking in clarity, passion, depth or even general gifting but if God chooses to use him, his "below par performance" could save a hundred. Perhaps just one statement he utters could be the line God uses to bring home his own. And yet the most gifted man can preach the most powerful sermon in all senses, whereby, as my buddy says, "You feel like you could get saved again.", and yet not a single soul gets saved. Why? Because it is God who changes hearts.

It all really comes down to the one who God chooses to use, we should all pray that God is pleased to use us.

Now to the reason why I began writing this. There are people who seem like they'll never change. We all know them. The irresponsible relative (friend, colleague, father*, mother, brother, sister, cousin, uncle, aunt or gran) who is a constant burden and refuses to amend his/her ways. Always promising to change but nothing ever matures. The perpetual drunk we see all the time in the neighbourhood, reeling and cursing. Those mad men and women we see in the streets who have been passed as having suffered permanent brain damage. Those members of our communities born Muslims or Jehovah's witnesses or Atheists etc, who adamantly refuse to even hear the gospel. Those workmates or schoolmates who have no interest in the things of God.

These people make me thank God that he does the 75%+ of the work in as far as preaching the gospel is concerned. Because if it was left to us, how could we reach the above mentioned, many of whom hear the gospel but refuse to listen to it? How would we reach those who don't even want to hear the word "Christian"? Thank God that he's the heart changer. Thank God that there is still hope for those who we can't seem to even reach because with him nothing is impossible. Our role in the matter is to be played on our knees-praying that God would be pleased to change their hearts and saved them just like he saved us for Jesus sake, Amen!

*This article is dedicated to my sister Mwila, "Mwils, we're praying for the heart changer to change his heart!"

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Preaching & Fixing

The past two days have been fantastic!

Thursday

I mentioned in my last post I think, that I was to preach at a school nearby, DK. I also mentioned that it was a long story. Well, it’s a long page! I preached on Thursday, a 3 week old sermon.

I got home Thursday evening at about 20.30hrs. I met my dad at the door, found my mom in the sitting room. She looked at me with eyes which asked, so… how did it go? I read her mind and said, “Mom, I am lots of things but I am no preacher!”

About a month and a half ago I asked my buddy if he could let me come preach at his school where he is a leader of the youth meeting there every Thursday evening. He was much obliged. The guys at the school already know me because I sing quite a lot over there. They appreciate my singing there but obviously didn’t think of me as a preacher. Anyways, my buddy told me I was on about 2 or so weeks later to preach an evangelistic message on the topic, “The joys of becoming a Christian.” I had a problem with that, read about it on the post titled, “Where you really repentant”. A week before I was to preach, my buddy tells me, “Look man, there’s been a mix up in the schedule, you are to preach after this coming Thursday instead of the Thursday itself, sorry.” I’m like, “Cool bro, I’ll be ready.” Well, I thought, “It’s just a mix up, everything is fine.” The next week comes through and it’s a holiday on the day I am to preach. In the morning my buddy tells me that, the numbers might be low because people might travel home for the long weekend but if not I’ll preach, if they travel he’ll push me to the next week.

DK is a boarding school. It’s a secondary school. It also has “A Level” students who are not necessarily regarded as ordinary students. The “A Level” students have an “A Level” Fellowship. It meets every Thursday evening at 18.30hrs. Only “A Level” students attend so when I say I sing at DK, what I mean is that I sing at DK to the “A Level” students who attend the meeting. The attendance tends to be very good. It’s always surprised me how that so many non-Christians attend the “A Level” Fellowship. It has since dawned on me that they attend because the only other thing they are allowed to do at that hour is study!

So, that evening as I am walking out the door to go to the meeting where I am to preach, the power goes at home. I arrive at the school only to discover that the power is gone their too! It doesn’t come back until after about an hour and a half I think it was. So I don’t get to preach. I begin to wonder what issues God seems to be having with my preaching at DK. I must mention that two of my friends where very supportive of me. When I told them I’d be preaching at DK, they totally made sure they’d be there to support me. I am quite discouraged but my buddy tells me, I’ll preach the next week.

The next Thursday, the day before yesterday, comes through and guess what, Zambia is voting, it’s a holiday! What is up with God?! My buddy tells me numbers might be low again as people will go for a long weekend. I’m not impressed. My buddy tells me to pitch just incase the numbers are good. I really doubt that they will be good so I even go play soccer that afternoon. While playing soccer my buddy sends me a message on my cell. “The numbers will be poor”. This time pushing the date will be very difficult because the rest of the Thursdays are taken. I return to my soccer game actually happy because I wouldn’t have to cut my soccer game short to go and preach. Well, after the game, I call my buddy on his cell; I tell him I want to preach to whoever’s there. He encourages me to do so.

This time my faithful friends bail out on me. I was playing soccer with them and they say they are tired and can’t support me that evening. I am pretty discouraged but I just say, “No problem fellows, I’ll let you know how it goes.”

I get to the meeting; I find the room empty, under or maybe just over 10 people. Attendance is poor. I get up there and preach.

I was really motivated to preach that night. Not that the sermon was powerful or anything, but I wasn’t at all discouraged by what was going on around me, the postponing, my friends, attendance etc, none of it really got to me. Infact it encouraged me. The postponing, attendance and my friends bailing on me was divine, I knew it was. Everything seemingly going wrong was no mistake, God knew what was happening and I thought If I preach like everything had worked out like, attendance was good, like my friends where there, like it was the original date set, in other words, if I conquered the trials, something big was going to happen, maybe someone would get saved. I was so convinced of this that I was not at all discouraged by what was going on. I almost saw it as funny. Like God was pulling my leg, or trying me.

Anyway, I preached on true repentance. We are all sinners, I worked hard to show this even going to the extent of showing examples from Romans 3 and Psalms 52:1-5 or is it Psalms 53, I forget. I then went on to show that God is Holy, A fella even started dosing! Ha, ha, it was so funny how those things were happening to pull me down! But as I said, I was so convinced something big was going to happen, maybe not immediately but definitely. I then said that God loves us despite and inspite of our sin. He puts up with us. I ended by addressing those who are saved. I urged them to preach true repentance, see my post with the same heading, last paragraph. I addressed those seeking God. I told them ask God to make you realise you are a sinner, only then will you truly be sorry. I ended by addressing those who, “[were] not even interested in what I have been saying tonight”. Like that fella who sat at the back who even had the courtesy to stick one earpiece into his ear while I was talking to listen to the radio on his phone or whatever. I said, “If you are here and you are saying, I don’t need God, am happy the way I am, happy with my wrong doing, I don’t give a damn about God. I only have this to say to you. Don’t go to God because you love him; go to him because he loves. He wants you so badly, he loves you. He loves you so much that he will still have open arms when you have been brought down to your knees, He will always love you.” Amen.

It was great to preach the good news and you know what, I want to do it again!




Friday

I’ve written so much, am so tired. But Dad is really smart. We have this display in the sitting room that is connected to a timer. Everyday, the display lights light up its contents from 19.30hrs to 21.30hrs. Dad came up with the brilliant idea of removing the timer and connecting the display to the switch for the sitting room lights so that whenever you turn the sitting room lights on, the display lights go on as well.

Dad then took the timer to the switch for the geyser and timed it to turn on certain times of the day, rather than be on at all times of the day, brilliant! I actually did all the work while dad issued commands and blamed me for the screws which went missing! It was fun, chao,

Mwindula.

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