Loving the Outcasts

Stories

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:23 ESV

and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

A woman at a well

Eph 4

John 4 ESV

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 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. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.” 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? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 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?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 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. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. 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.” After the two days he departed for Galilee. (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast. So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

John 4

Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

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John 4:7 ESV

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

John 4

This is a story that has been taught over and over. A story that, if you've been in church for any length of time, you have heard and probably know. This unnamed woman sits and has a talk with Jesus then walks away changed. Heard it a bunch of times. But is that how Jesus would remember it? If that how she would remember it? I doubt it.

How can we L

For the sake of the story, lets give this unnamed woman a name. Lets call her Sarah.

As Sarah wakes up that morning, its another day. Another day to make it though. Another battle, another fight. As she thinks about her life. Maybe she thinks what a waste. I had hopes and dreams, of life could be. Dreams of love. Dreams of a family. As she entered that first relationship, love was bliss. It was the dream that she hoped for. But things didnt work out.

Devastated by the heartbreak, feeling unwanted, unloved. She meets another man. Now renewed hope. There are second chances. But met with disappointment. Heartbreak all over again. She's devastated and crushed. Alone.

Somewhere she finds the strength to try this all over again. Despite the stigma she has already gotten. As people now look at her a certain way. You know the look. The look of question. The look of “Its your fault your there. I dont know why you would make those life choices”

She runs through this cycle three more times. Three more husbands. Three more attemts at her dreams. By this point she thinks I really am nothing. I really do come from nothing. Im a worthless samaritian. I dont even know why I try. I just want love. I just want value. I just want satifaction. Something to live for.

As shes still standing there in her room that morning trying to hold together all the emotions as she reminises about the past and how she got to where she is now. She makes it to the kitchen looking out across the city to the well. Seeing a few women left from the morning she waits. Knowing the shame and the stigma that surounds her.

The man she slept with last night still stooped over the bed at 11:30. She knows she needs to get water for the day. She checks one more time. The coast is clear. She grabs her contianer and goes out into the heat. As shes filling her contianer. Still thinking of how she wishes she could be like the other women who went out early in the cool of the morning to get water for thier families. A man says something to her. She almost has to snap out of it. As she looks she sees a jew.

He wants a drink....

John 4:7–10 ESV

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.”

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John 4:16–18 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

john 4:

John 4:27 ESV

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?”

We’ll come back to this story in a minute....

Jake (Someone that loves Jesus but still an outcast)

Jake was a Kid, about my age. Just out of Youth Group. Jake was a little different. He would come up to talk to you and would tell you about his week. He would tell you about some stuff he was reading or his Job. But he would always talk about Jesus. Almost to much…

To the point poeple would avoid him. He just wouldnt stop talking. He was on some medications for add, adhd, and some other mental and behavior problems.

But Jake was an outcast.

I remember one time he said he stopped by my house and I wasnt home. He was telling me how cute our dog was and he just couldnt help himslef he just had to go inside and pet it. So he did. My first thought was I need to lock my door.

Outcasts are not always the people that are on the outskirts fo town, sometimes theyre the poeple you keep at an arms distances. Thats your first thought. Not them, or the Gospel or thier needs.

A few months aftewr that I began to think about Jake and how he was an incredible example of someone that just outright loved Jesus. That week I taught in Youth Group about being more like Jake.

What I didnt know was He was still an outcast. He had dicided to end his own life that wednesday night. He was done.

Tedd (Someone who was a little different, so he was an outcast)

Most of you know the desk that is in my office. It came from a slab lumber shop in brimfield. Ownd by a guy named Tedd. Tedd was a guy a new in passing as a teen. He was a church on occassion. He was a little different. He was a guy that when you were in a conversation you never knew whatg was going to come out of his mouth.

He was a guy that would be blatently honest with you in the most akward of ways. When shawna and I wmovbed back we thought we saw him at lowes but wasnt sure. Later I stopped at his shop to pick up a piece of wood and he said “ Your wife smugged at me in lowes, I know she doesnt like me” “ why would she do that” To which I wasnt sure what to say.

Tedd was a very different guy. People for the most part didnt like him. He was an outcast. Tuesday Tedd decided that it was enough. He was done.

Transition

“People need to be reminded far more than they need to be instructed” - Samuel Johnson

Things to think about as you love the Outcasts

Outcasts are who we make them

We live today in a world of social divide and created outcasts. I would that is divided by race, color, demographic, life choices, circumstances, and monitary standings.

We look at people and see the differences between us. Creating distance. Instead of seeing that in all reality we are the same. We are both in the same boat, unable to save ourselves. In need of the Gospel.

If you look at the life of Jesus, Jesus had no outcasts. To him everyone was loved and beloved. To the point of death. To die for all. But were to busy to say hi. Or to do something kind. Or to tell them about what will truly satisfy.

As a follower of Jesus we should be on mission with Jesus

If you contrast with nicodemus and this woman you can see that they are so different. One being socialy accepted and one being a social outcast. One being

What was the mission of Jesus?

The mission of Jesus is seen clearly througout the gospels. Story after story, life after life, person after person.

Zacchaeus in . The woman at the well in . Nicodemus in . The deaf man in . The stories go on and on.

Jesus’ mission was

Matthew 4:19 ESV

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

But if someone were to look at your life would they say the same. That you were on mission with Jesus

Luke 19:10 ESV

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke

But if someone were to look at your life would they say the same. That you were on mission with Jesus. That in the wake of your life is people that were changed because you chose to love them? To share the Gospel with them. The outcasts.

As Jesus said he had to go through Sumaria, He was ultimately about the mission of the Father. To seek and save that which is lost. Jesus intentionally walked though life seeking to share the life changing news of the Gospel with the ones that no one else would.

Back to the story

John 4:28–30 ESV

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.

John 4:39 ESV

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”

John 4:

This woman and this town would never be the same. Forever changed, because Jesus Showed love and shared the good news of the gospel with, what the town saw, as an outcasts. But Jesus saw her as loved, someone he was going to die for.

Who is your outcast and what are you going to do about it?

As we walk though our day to day life, we see outcasts every day. Some with card board signs, some that we pass in the store or at McDonnell's. Some we have created because of the differences between us. We all know who they are in our life.

What are you doing to show the love of Jesus to them. What are you doing to Share the story of the Gospel with them?

Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1 ESV

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

EHP 4