Evangelism Case Studies from Scripture, Part 1
Jason Hill
Evangelism Training • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 17 viewsBefore we dive into man-made evangelism methods, let's take a look at some examples of evangelism from Scripture itself.
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Does Scripture advocate a particular method of evangelism?
Case studies on Methodology
Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21)
Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21)
Context: Nicodemus was a Pharisee
Context: Nicodemus was a Pharisee
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
He was well-educated on the Scriptures and was member of the Sanhedrin religious court.
He knew all the stories of the OT, he had large portions of Scripture memorized, he regularly sat in judgement in the Sanhedrin applying OT Law to various situations, he would have had his own followers/disciples that he taught.
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
He came to Jesus at night, which indicates he is drawn to Jesus but afraid of what people will think of him. (John 3:2)
His question reveals a belief that Jesus is “from God,” but that he is still wrestling with something. (John 3:2)
Nicodemus has a head-knowledge faith, but still realizes that he’s missing something (heart knowledge).
Verse 2 (Nicodemus’ opening line) is not a question but a simple acknowledgement that Jesus is from God. But it’s clear that Nicodemus still wants to ask something, but he can’t put words to it.
I think the best way to phrase the question Nicodemus is trying to ask but can’t formulate is, “I know that you’re from God and you’re the Messiah—that is obvious from the miracles you perform. But why can’t I commit? Why can’t I believe?”
This makes sense of Jesus’ response in verse 3.
Q: What would be a modern equivalent of this situation and question?
Perhaps a well-respected church member comes to you and says, “I’ve been in church for years, I know all the stories and I believe them. But, I’ve noticed that you seem to have joy in your faith, and I don’t have that. Why are you always so joyful? I want what you have.”
Jesus’ “Method”
Jesus’ “Method”
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
vv. 1-2 Jesus listens patiently.
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
v. 3 Jesus sees past the surface-level question to the heart issue and answers the real question.
The word translated “again” (i.e., ‘born-again’) is purposefully ambiguous in the Greek. It can mean “from above” or “again.” Jesus seems to have meant “from above” (i.e., from heaven) but Nicodemus takes it physically as “again.”
Nicodemus misunderstands Jesus’ reply
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
v. 4 Jesus listens patiently as the man misunderstands and asks silly questions.
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You (plural) must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
vv. 5-8 Jesus clarifies his meaning and explains the process of salvation in more detail.
Here, he focuses on the necessity of a spiritual/heavenly birth. The background for “born of water and the Spirit” is probably Ezek. 36:25-27
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Basically, Jesus’ answer is that “The Spirit is going to have to change your heart, this is not something that you can just do on your own. You need spiritual transformation, not more knowledge.”
Jesus does not beg, plead, or manipulate the man into believing. He simply answers the man’s questions and points him to God as the source of salvation.
9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
v. 9 Jesus listens patiently.
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you [y’all] do not receive our testimony.
12 If I have told you [y’all] earthly things and you [y’all] do not believe, how can you [y’all] believe if I tell you [y’all] heavenly things?
vv. 10-12 Jesus points out the inconsistencies in the man’s life and beliefs and asks questions designed to get him to reflect on spiritual truths.
Nicodemus claims to be a spiritual teacher, but doesn’t understand some of the most basic biblical teachings on the necessity of a transformed heart.
Jesus’ rebuke in v. 10 is designed to get the man to reflect. Nicodemus is well-educated but has somehow missed some of the most basic truths in Scripture.
Jesus’ question in v. 12 is designed to get the man to reflect deeper upon spiritual truths and his lack of understanding.
13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
vv. 13-15 Jesus shows how the OT Scriptures pointed forward to him and urges the man to look to Christ for spiritual truth.
V. 13 refers back to OT Scriptures that pointed towards a divine Son of Man and Son of God (Dan. 7:13-14; Pro. 30:4)
4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son’s name?
Surely you know!
Pro. 30:4 uses rhetorical questions in lines 1-4 to refer clearly to God, then asks the reader a rhetorical question in line 5 that indicates that God has a son (whose name no one at the time knew)
Jesus is saying, “I am that Son, so if you want spiritual understanding, you need to look to me. Only I have been both in heaven and on earth and have the ability to explain these truths to you.”
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
vv. 16-17 Jesus (or John) explains man’s need for salvation and God’s plan for salvation.
God’s love and mercy
Necessity of whole-hearted belief in Jesus (not just head-knowledge)
God’s judgement upon those who reject the Son.
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
vv. 19-21 Jesus (or John) explains the connection of faith to good works and eternal life.
Good works come from a heart that loves God. “his [good] works have been carried out in God.”
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:4-42)
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:4-42)
Because this is such a long passage, we’re just going to take it piece by piece.
Context
Context
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Samaritans and Jews were not on friendly terms due to a long history of warfare and racism.
Strict Jews viewed Samaritans as perpetually unclean and would have never drank from their utensils.
In this culture, men and women did not fraternize.
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”
6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Women usually drew water early in the morning or in the evening, when it was cool. Her presence at the well in midday might indicate she was a social outcast.
Samaritans had a separate temple (on Mt. Gerazim in Samaria), a different Pentateuch, and a different version of their history from the Jews.
This context would be similar to sharing the gospel with a Jew or Muslim today; there is some shared background, but lots of barriers and potential for misunderstanding and offense.
Jesus’ “Method”
Jesus’ “Method”
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
vv. 7-9 Jesus uses unexpected kindness and breaks social norms to create an opportunity for conversation.
The Jews may have had no dealings with the Samaritans, but it was probably mutual. She would have had a lot of negative expectations and hostility towards Jews and probably was trying to get away from him as quickly as possible.
Jesus’ request shocks her into speaking with him and creates an opportunity where most people would not have expected it.
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
v. 10 He uses a bridge from a natural, mundane topic (and felt needs) to transition the conversation to spiritual matters and point her need for Christ.
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
vv. 11-14 Jesus listens patiently, refuses to get entangled in debate, and redirects the conversation back to her heart.
She’s baiting him—both Jews and Samaritans claimed direct lineage to Jacob. But, Samaritans had intermarried with other.
Jesus could have won this debate, but kept his focus on the woman’s heart instead.
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
vv. 15-18 Jesus ignores her sarcasm and presses deeper into spiritual matters, calling out her sin.
The woman’s reply is either a literal misunderstanding or (more likely) a sarcastic dismissal of Jesus’s invitation. Instead of just leaving, Jesus presses deeper into something she can’t just dismiss—the obvious, glaring sin issue in her life.
He’s not doing this to be mean or judgmental, but to press the healing truth of the gospel where it’s needed most in her life.
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”
vv. 19-25 Jesus listens patiently, refuses to get entangled in debate, and redirects the conversation back to her heart.
The woman’s reply is a defensive strategy—to shift the focus off a painful, deeply personal topic (her adultery/infidelity) and onto something impersonal that she can argue about.
Jesus could have argued and won, but instead sidesteps the argument and focuses the conversation back to him.
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
vv. 26 Jesus gives an invitation to believe.
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
vv. 27-30 Jesus waited for her response and didn’t allow himself to be peer pressured into leaving.
Imagine the pressure you would feel to leave when others show up and see you in the middle of this social awkward encounter.
Had Jesus left when his disciples showed up he would not have had the opportunity to share with the rest of the village.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
vv. 31-38 Jesus kept his focus and didn’t get distracted.
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
vv. 39-43 Jesus used the newly converted woman to provide more opportunities for evangelism and discipleship and left her to continue the work.
When an unbeliever converts, it is most likely that most of their friends are also unbelievers. A new convert is a passionate witness, but they will probably need help evangelizing their friends.
This not only brings in more souls, but provides a built-in support network for new believers.
