The Example From Jesus

We’re winding down the “Move Out” series. By now you might be thinking I either escaped from a loony bin or I belong in one. All this crazy talk about seeking out and having relationships with the nasty, vile, Jesus hating community around us.

And then I want to bring them into our church? They might show up drunk, or high. They might stink and have very colorful language. They might even dress very inappropriately.

Any pastor who would encourage that has to be crazy, right? Well, last week we talked about these kinds of people.

We talked about three groups in the harvest that Jesus has a deep, divine compassion for.

The spiritually damaged, physically damaged, and financially damaged. All are people Jesus wants to be their eternal shepherd.

Our key verse for this series is Luke 10:2. Everything we have talked about comes from the contextual ideas of this verse.

Luke 10:2 KJV 1900

2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

Jesus reached out to the three groups in this harvest. He gives us examples. We can all reap of the great harvest by following two examples of how Jesus reached these people.

Example of Relationship

Example of Compassionate Grace

Example of Relationship

In John 4:5-30 Jesus demonstrates how we can bring people to Him through relationship.

John 4:5–30 KJV 1900

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

We are all familiar with the story. We all reference the woman at the well all the time. But, I think the teaching of this story, while accurate and true, has left out a very important detail. Relationship!

Jesus is sitting at the well waiting for the Samaritan woman. I want you to notice something about this encounter. What’s the first thing Jesus does with this woman?

He asks her to give Him a drink. Jesus doesn’t force His authority upon her. He doesn’t wield His influence. No, He actually gives her influence over Him. “Give Me a drink.”

That’s not an order, that implies His trust in her to provide water from the well. A Samaritan. Samaritans were the worst of people to the Jews. They were the Jews that rebelled against Jeremiah when He came to rebuild the temple.

They were worse than the Gentiles. And Jesus is giving her influence over Him. Her response is something like this. Why would you, a Jew, be asking me to give you anything?

She’s quite hostile and not really interested. She’s not even open to hearing the gospel at this point. But look at what Jesus does here. He starts building a relationship.

He says I give living water. She’s like who do you think you are? You think you’re better than Jacob who, through God, made this well? The one who gave us this place to worship?

He allows her to have some influence over Him. He let’s her tell her beliefs. And He also agrees with her in the small grain of the truth in her beliefs.

He says you’re correct about this well. But whoever drinks from it will thirst again. That built trust and allowed Him to have some influence over her. He brought her to the point where she is now open to hear the gospel.

She’s open to hear the gospel but, she’s not able to yet. Jesus says, if you drink my water you will never thirst again and it springs up to eternal life. She says, if you are who you say you are, then give me some of that water. Then I won’t have to come here every day and draw water.

Jesus has now brought her to the place where she’s able to hear the gospel. She’s still skeptical and basically saying okay prove it.

Jesus gets into the intimate parts of her life. He’s building an intimate relationship with her. He says, “Go get your husband.” I don’t have a husband. That’s right you’ve been divorced five times and are currently living with a man that’s not your husband.

Oh I see you’re a profit. Well tell me how to get that living water. She now wants to hear the gospel. But she still has a hurdle to cross.

She says, “You Jews think the only way is worshipping in Jerusalem, but our fathers worshipped on this mountain.”

She’s basically saying if in deed you’re worship in Jerusalem is true and God honoring, so is our worship here. There is more than one way to God’s forgiveness.

Does any of this sound familiar? Have you experienced anyone like this? Does this sound like any conversations you might have had? Maybe I’m just so crazy that I don’t know I’m crazy.

The woman at the well is saying why should I believe you? What difference does it make in which way I get to heaven? She really wants to believe, but she just needs a little motivation.

Jesus once again allows the small grain of truth to be heard. Notice He doesn’t fully agree. He says you worship what you don’t know. He acknowledges her faithful worship. Then He turns everything on it;s head.

Jesus tells her that the way we worship God is changing. The hour is coming when we will worship God in spirit and truth, not in Jerusalem or on a mountain. And in fact it is already here.

Now she’s motivated. She just has one more hurdle to cross. She says, “I know the Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will tell us all things.” She’s ready to believe. She’s all in, but where’s the Messiah?

Jesus opens her eyes and says, “I who spoke to you am He.” Now she chooses to believe. She’s so consumed by her new found faith that she leaves the water jar at the well. The reason she went there in the first place. And runs back into town to tell everyone in town about Jesus. She brings them to Jesus.

We have the same opportunity to see people be that overjoyed in a new found faith. That’s the power of relationship.

But that relationship must be grounded in the same compassion for people that Jesus has for them.

Example of Compassionate Grace

Jesus has a deep, divine compassion that is full of grace. In John 8:2-11 Jesus gives us an example of this divine compassion full of grace.

John 8:2–11 KJV 1900

2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Jesus is confronted by some scribes and Pharisees. They come busting in dragging this woman along. A woman they caught in the act of adultery. She’s caught, she’s guilty, there’s no way out. Notice how the scribes and pharisees are treating this woman.

She’s a vile, evil, horrible person. She doesn’t belong in our midst. Moses says that she is supposed to be stoned. The pharisees are using this woman as a prop. She’s not even human, she’s just an object they can use to get Jesus.

They think they have Him too. If Jesus says yes stone her, then He’s going against Roman law. Only Rome had the authority to hand down a death sentence. But, if He said no, He was going against God’s law. The law of Moses.

I want you to notice how Jesus treats the scribes and pharisees. He just stoops down and writes something in the dirt. He just completely ignores them. It’s only in their persistence that He stands up and says something.

Jesus was not about to be ordered around or bullied by the pharisees. But when they wouldn’t go away, then Jesus addresses them. “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Then He just turns away from them again, ignoring them once more, and writes in the dirt again. We don’t know what He wrote in the dirt.

Was it the sins of those accusing her? Was it her sins? Or was He just writing things as He was teaching like we do on a chalkboard. Well I guess a whiteboard now.

We don’t know, but Jesus waits for everyone to be convicted by their own sins and leave. Then He stands up when it’s only Jesus and the woman left. He asks, “has no one condemned you?”

She said, “no one, Lord.” Can you imagine what emotions she must be dealing with? What thoughts are going through her head? And I can’t imagine, in that moment, how strong her convictions for her sins must have been.

They must have felt like the world was crushing her. Jesus full of compassion and grace says, “neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

The grace this woman received and the amount of relief she must have felt. Can you imagine? It would be like walking on cloud nine, but in a daze. I don’t know what just happened, but that was amazing.

Again, does any of this sound familiar? How many times have we seen “Christians” in our pews thumbing their nose at a nonbeliever who walked in the church? How many times have we heard “Christians” talk down about how a nonbeliever is acting or talking?

Just like that woman who was not in the synagogue on the day of worship, nonbelievers won’t come into our churches. And for the same reasons, they feel and are by some condemned.

We are called to have the same divine compassion for them that Jesus has for them. We are to show them the same grace. Notice, Jesus didn’t excuse her sin, He didn’t give it a thumbs up. No, He said, “I do not condemn you” That’s grace. But, “sin no more” that’s compassion.

We are to have the same compassionate grace.

So there’s two examples Jesus provides for us. The Samaritan woman was as hostile to Jews as some of society is to the church. Jesus built a safe, loving relationship that allowed her to see the truth.

The woman caught in adultery was a vile, horrible, condemned person among the “faithful” Jews. She was condemned and rejected at the synagogue.

Jesus, gives her compassion full of grace. Jesus gives her the ability to overcome her shame and guilt so she can come to her eternal Shepherd. He gives her a safe place to seek and find salvation.

Our community is full of people just like these two women. People who are hostile to Jesus. People who are living egregiously sinful lives. All are people who need Jesus.

And they just might be more receptive than you think. But, we must follow the examples of Jesus. Build safe, loving, compassionate relationships full of grace.

The world doesn’t respond to and will even reject the church methods of bringing someone to Christ. Jesus used His divine compassion full of grace to build safe, loving relationships. Through those relationships He drew people to Himself.

Reach out to the people the church has condemned. The ones they say are hands off. They are forbidden. They are nasty, terrible, and perverted. Okay, I agree.

But Jesus makes it clear that any of us that has sinned, are equally nasty, terrible, and perverted. Let me give you a little hint here. We all have sinned. Jesus came to save the sinners not the righteous.

Build relationships that allow influence to go both ways. Have the divine compassionate grace of Jesus. Be vulnerable and let the relationship be intimate. Move them through the process.

I know in these examples Jesus does this in one encounter with people. The church for far too long has pushed this idea of sharing the gospel with a stranger and expect God’s miracle for them to accept Him.

Can that happen? Yes, but how many times has it happened to you? How about anyone you know?

It takes time, trust, a safe loving relationship, and the person moving through the process of the harvest. It is ugly. It is nasty. It is uncomfortable.

But, to have a relationship bring someone to Christ. That is so rewarding that it makes everything else pale in comparison.

I know I have said that this is what our church’s mission and vision statements point toward. But, if I’m being truthful, they are not our mission and vision statements. They are God’s mission and vision statements.

Keep praying for yourself and others to desire being a laborer. Keep praying for more laborers. Prepare yourselves to get into the harvest. To be outside your comfort zone.

God has many places, many fields, to harvest. He has a field for us to harvest. We are to remain in that field and do the work of the harvest. Build relationships with the people in that field.

Have the compassionate grace of Jesus for the people in our field. Pray for the people to be seeking Jesus. Pray God brings them to us. And pray for discernment on how to reach those people.

We can’t sit on the sidelines any more and watch the harvest go to waste. We must have the love and compassion Jesus has for those lost sheep. If we do how can we watch them wander aimlessly into eternal death?

Only you can answer where your heart currently stands. Are you satisfied with the fact that you have your salvation and that’s enough? Or, Does your heart break for lost souls so much that you can’t help but try showing them their eternal Shepherd?