A Cross Cultural Christ

The Heart of Being Cross Cultural

Who do you think of a lot who needs a relationship with Christ? Write it down.

One thing I want to start off with saying, when you live like Christ people are gonna start talking and get upset and start stirring up stuff. A lot of times it can be people in the church. That have became more like the Pharisees rather than Christ

I talk about Jesus, all the Christians love me I walk like Jesus now they wanna judge me, ain't it funny? I'm duckin' stones thrown from the Pharisees -Wild Things by Andy Mineo

When we first opened this passage we see Jesus left Galilee because the Pharisees started talking. He knew if they talked too much they would try to bring about the crucifixion quicker than it needed to be. The Pharisee like are going to want to stop anything godlike.

The Christ-like intimidates and scares the Pharisaic-like.

Pharisees were all about themselves not God. The Pharisees only ministered to the Jews, the church people. They played it safe making themselves looking good and designing church for their comfort. When you live Christ-like among the Pharisaic-like their fragile religion is going to start being cracked and they gonna lash out more aggressive than the dope head or porn addict or homosexual because they truly understand the breadth of their depravity and they don’t want to acknowledge it. So keep in that mind because if you live cross culturally, without borders people are gonna get shook and are going to critique. Being cross cultural sometimes ministering in ways not particularly your style. Also be ready to use the moment as a teaching moment because not all who criticize are going to be Pharisees. Some are gonna be people a little bit less mature in their faith and have not seen cross cultural faith truly lived out. Take time to mentor them and bring them alongside you.

Lessons From Jesus’ Cross Cultural Experience

How do we know this passage is about Jesus crossing boundaries/cultural divide. What you know about the Jews and Samaritans? They did not like one another. The Jews pushed them away because they were not full blooded Jews. They were descendants of biracial marriages. So one Jesus is interacting with someone “his” people did not associate with. Secondly this woman probably did not have a good reputation. She had been married five times and was now with a sixth man. I know personally this is not a woman i would want to be talking to with no one else around even if it was in a very public open place. This woman was also at the well when not many would have been there. She was there at noon, you would typically go early in the morning or late in the evening to get water. So it appears she could have been trying to avoid people. But Jesus was not trying to avoid her. They had a divine appointment.

Jesus did not define this woman by her sins or cultural opinions.

Their are a few things I think we can take away from this encounter:

Gospel conversations start out of everyday conversations.

Jesus conversation did not start with “Repent you sinner”. It started with a simple request for something to drink. And that conversation flowed into a gospel conversation. Flowing into spiritual things should come natural to us as we grow closer to Christ.

Acknowledge the outcast.

Jesus when asking for that water was also in a sense acknowledging her. Was communicating he saw value, that he did not see her as trash, because he was asking for water. So he was gonna have to drink from what she drank from.

The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith Article: Can the Gospel Be Presented across Cultures? (John Mark Terry)

Jesus Himself is the supreme example of cross-cultural ministry. Jesus left heaven to minister on earth. He was the first incarnational missionary as God in the flesh. In a similar way, Christians today should live the gospel among the cultures of the world. Jesus also demonstrated His concern for reaching other cultures by witnessing to the Samaritans, an ethnic group despised by the Jews of His day (Jn 4).

We are all human and all are sinners.

We all have something in common. We are human. We have all messed up. None of us is greater than the other. Samaritans and Jews both traced their heritage back to Jacob. Guess what if you could trace your heritage back far enough we all gonna end in the same place. Noah…then Adam. And you want to know something awesome. Scientist will tell you if you go back between 5,000-7,000 years ago everyone alive today would have the exact same ancestors. Guess what if you go with the genealogies in the Bible and the known historic dates in the Bible the age of the earth you get is around 6,000 years.

Prepare people to reach their people.

In this passage did the disciples or the Samaritan woman bring more people back to Jesus? We are to minister to all ethnes. But who are you typically going to be the most effective in reaching? “Your” people. Out of the countries I've been to the one i have the most success in is here. But what ministry opportunities have helped me grow the most? the oversea opportunities. Crossing cultural divides pushes us to grow and wrestle with things and to be faith in action.

Acknowledge their sin, but don’t harp on it.

Jesus acknowledged her sin, but he did not berate her over it. He acknowledged it and moved on to sharing with her the key to living water. When you do wrong do you really most of the time need people to tell you of your wrong? No. You know it.