John 5:1-45 | Embracing All People
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction: We know come to the end of our sermon series, “Core Values.”
Expectant Prayer
Generous Living
Authentic Connection
Equipping & Empowering
Embracing All People
This final core value is hard. It’s hard to define, clarify and even harder to practice.
It all started back in November 2019 when the church leadership met to talk about Vision 2020.
How we arrived at our core values: “what are the convictions and actions that reveal the strengths of our church?”
I started to explain how back in 2009 MEFC had voted to start Latino ministry. So I said something like this, “When I think about MEFC I think they are congregation that embraces diversity.”
Those that were present agreed with my assessment but not the wording since the word “diversity” can be politically charged and thus potentially misunderstood.
That’s how we arrived to “Embracing All People.”
What do we mean by embracing all people?
Come with me to the gospel of John.
Read John 4:1-9
Pray!
Main idea: We value embracing all people because all people matter to God.
What does MEFC embracing all people look like? Two things. Please keep in mind that these two things are both things that we aspire and things that we are currently working on.
Embracing all people means to
#1 Daily striving to see people as God sees them.
#1 Daily striving to see people as God sees them.
We value embracing all people because every single person is created in the image of God. Did you hear that? Every single person is created in the image of God.
In Genesis chapters 1 & 2 we read the creation account, how everything came into existence. We discovered how God saved the best for last. We read in Genesis 1:26, 27, that on the sixth day, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
These verses tell us the source of all human dignity and the sanctity of human life. Every single person is created in the image of God.
That includes
The unborn and the elderly
Republicans and Democrats
President DT and President JB
Straight and gay
People with different skin color
People with disabilities
American citizens and undocumented immigrants
Vikings and Packers fans.
People who are different from me.
We must strive daily to see people as God sees them. People have inherent worth and value because each one of them is created in the image of God - fallen nature doesn’t take that away.
Let’s go back to the passage I read earlier in John 4. The passage tells us that Jesus was in Judea but departed for Galilee. But notice what v.4 says, “Jesus had to pass through Samaria.”
There are two ways to understand the phrase, “he had to pass through Samaria.”
He had to pass through Samaria because it would mean a shorter more direct route to get to Galilee
When you look closely at the text, Jesus had to pass through Samaria because that was part of God’s agenda. In other words, Jesus has a divine appointment. Whenever John uses the Greek word (dei) “to be necessary,” it always indicates divine necessity or requirement. (ESVSB)
16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
It was necessary to go through Samaria because God was going to bring salvation to that city.
What comes to your mind when you heard the word Samaritan?
Let me tell you about the Samaritans.
Jews despised Samaritans that some would take a longer route from Judea to Galilee in order to bypass Samaria.
The racial tension is so strong that John 4:9 states that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Samaritans were considered ethnic half-breed and defiled with Gentile blood.
In 128 BC the Jewish leader Hyrcanus took over Samaria and burned down the Samaritan sanctuary on Mount Gerizim.
In AD 6/7, during Jesus’ youth, Samaritans infiltrated the Passover celebration in Jerusalem and scattered bones in the temple, thereby defiling it.
Years later (AD 52), the Samaritans slaughtered a company of pilgrims from Galilee who were on their way to Jerusalem for Passover.
The Samaritans were therefore hated and despised. Calling a Jew a Samaritan was very offensive.
There is deep hostility among Jews and Samaritans. One time a Samaritan village rejected Jesus and his disciples in Luke 9. James and John (sons of Thunder) asked Jesus, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
As a church we want aim to daily strive to see people as God sees them. We want to make sure that we don’t see people through a political lens. People are not the enemy.
“We see, therefore, even our most passionate critic not as an argument to be vaporized but as a neighbor to be evangelized. This doesn’t mean that we back down one iota from the truth. But we proclaim the whole gospel of truth and grace, never backing down from either.” Russell Moore, Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel.
Do we see people as Jesus sees people?
35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus’ compassion would move him to go into all the cities and villages including Samaria. Do you see people the way Jesus does that you are willing to go to Samaria?
Samaria might not be that far for you. Samaria represents inconvenience and risk. It’s an investment. Where’s your Samaria?
The neighbor with that yard sign.
The immigrant who is among us.
I takes a simple prayer: God, open my eyes to see people the way you see them.
In 2008, Christian artist Brandon Heath released the song Give Me Your Eyes. It was birthed over a meal Brandon had with a friend and co-writer, Jason Ingram.
“We had a conversation over Chinese food that we wished we could have God’s perspective on things,” he said. “If we did have His perspective, we’d wish we could have it for long periods of time, rather than just for a few seconds. That was the beginning.”
All those people goin' somewhere, why have I never cared?
Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missin'
Give Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see
If God would give us an honest evaluation as to how we saw people in 2020, would he say we saw the crowds with compassion? Or as the enemy?
Daily striving to see people the way God sees also implies...
#2 Following Christ’s example by meeting people where they are in life.
#2 Following Christ’s example by meeting people where they are in life.
Want to hear something shocking? (Probably won’t surprise you).
Alan Roxburgh, in his book Joining God, Remaking the Church, Changing the World, shares the following statistic:
If you were born between 1925 and 1945, there is a 60% chance you are in church today.
If you were born between 1946 and 1964, there is a 40% chance you are in church today.
If you were born between 1965 and 1983, there is a 20% chance you are in church today.
If you were born after 1984, there is less than a 10% chance you are in church today.
Brothers and sisters, we are not in Kansas anymore. We are in Samaria. Welcome to Samerica!
Look at what Jesus did.
Christ was constantly meeting people where they were in life.
He met a Samaritan woman at the well in Samaria.
He met the respected religious leader Nicodemus who who came to Jesus for answers. (Never too old)
He met the tax collector Zacchaeus as he went through Jericho.
He met the woman with the issue of blood on the way to Jairus’s house.
He met Saul of Tarsus who was on his way to kill Xtians.
He met the dying thief on the cross. (never too late)
Jesus could’ve minister to people only in church (synagogue). That was not possible due to distance, racial tensions, sickness, etc. So he would meet them where they were not only physically but spiritually as well.
The statistic that I read to you earlier: If you were born after 1984, there is less than a 10% chance you are in church today.
Problem or opportunity?
Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to invite the neighbor over for a meal.
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.
Jesus says, open your eyes! The harvest is here!
Immigrants are a wonderful mission field.
Surveys conducted in 2007 by the Pew Hispanic Studies Center reveal the following important facts:
19.6% of Hispanics identify themselves as “Protestant.”
68% say that “religion is very important.”
69% “pray daily.”
83% of Hispanic Christian converts cite “the desire for a more direct, personal experience with God as the main reason for adopting the new faith.”
These surveys confirm the fact that large numbers of Hispanics are spiritually hungry and are searching for a more direct and personal experience with God.
Latino Ministry. As a church we could have asked Latinos coming to Morris, learn English first and then we will reach out to you.
Instead the church voted to start a Latino ministry.
Meeting people where they are does not mean approving of their sin. In other words, Embracing all people does not equal approving of their sin.
Rosaria Butterfield, The Gospel Comes With a House Key, As a former gay rights activist and English professor at Syracuse University, all while living a lesbian lifestyle, Butterfield began working on a book about the Religious Right. Around that time, she was contacted by a pastor named Ken Smith who had read some of her writing and wanted to provide a friendly and intelligent Christian voice in her life. Smith and his wife invited Butterfield to have dinner with them, and this relationship encouraged her to read the Bible and eventually turn to God.
“They had me in their home, they treated me like their daughter … we talked as friends, they accepted me but didn’t approve of (my lifestyle),” she said. “They treated me with respect. They asked people to pray for me but they didn’t exploit me or act as if I was a project. I started reading the Bible for research, but then at a certain point it was no longer research.”
Jesus is a clear example of this in John 8 (woman caught in adultery)
Meeting people where they are in life requires investing time and resources developing a relationship.
Let me share with you about an organization that seeks to meet people where they are in life: Options for Women in Morris.
We support their work financially every month as part of our local missions.
1. Tell us about the missions of OFW
2. Who does OFS? Is it just for women?
3. What are some ways people can partner with OFW?
4. What story comes to mind when you think about the impact OFW has in our community.
Conclusion: You have a choice to make when you walk out of these doors. Invest in 1 in 2021
You can know a lot of cooking recipes and not cook.
Communion
In order to see people how God sees them we need to remember that we are all in need of the gospel. There is equal footing at the cross.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
