Jesus was on mission the moment He was born. He said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
• Not just to SAVE, but the need to SEEK them – to help them understand the need to be SAVED.
• The movement is for us to go to where the NEEDS are. Go to where the people are and bring with us His presence, His love and His grace.
So we see Jesus always on the move, the moment steps into ministry.
• The needs of the people met, not just spiritual but emotional and physical needs.
• He provided them with food, and healed them from their sicknesses. He gave hope to those who are in despair.
When the disciples came to Him once and said, “Everyone is looking for you”, His reply was: “Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Mark 1:38)
• He is not willing to stay with those who are already blessed. He is always on the move to where the needs are.
• So Jesus became famous for hanging out with the “sinners” and tax collectors. The sick needs a doctor.
That was Jesus’ mission. And this has become our mission today.
• With the parting commission that He has given us. We are now called to hang out with the “sinners” and tax collectors, with people who need Jesus.
• 2 Cor 5:18-20 “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”
This is not something that comes naturally to most of us, me included. We are hesitant to share the good news about Jesus.
• I’ve to learn to be an ambassador for Christ. I’ve to learn to share about Jesus.
• It is not that we do not know the message; some of us know it for many years.
• It is not that we cannot speak well, because socially I think most of us can hold a conversation with friends very well, much better than I do. We are trained to make presentation at school and at work
Yet we are hesitant, because we have gotten a wrong view or understanding of what it means to share this good news:
(1) We don’t want to offend people. We live in a society that emphasizes freedom of choice and the right to hold one’s own private opinion.
So in our minds, we see evangelism as an aggressive sale pitch, trying to get our potential target to buy our product. And we don’t like being the salesman.
(2) Fear of failure. We don’t like the responses we get. People are sceptical about it, they resent it, they make fun of it, or they may be angry with us.
This focus on the result discourages us from sharing what is truly the GOOD news.
Both perspectives are unfortunate. The right picture is that God is making His appeal through us.
• We are messengers delivering God’s message to those who are in need of knowing the truth – about God and their lives. We are just the delivery man or woman.
• The way any person comes to faith in God is ultimately a mystery which lies in the sovereign hands of God, and not in our hands.
The truth of the matter is all of us can play this role very well, because God is making His appeal through us!
• I want to encourage you today through a testimony of a woman, a very ordinary woman, mentioned in John 4 – the Samaritan woman.
• She became probably the most unlikely evangelist of the NT.
Jesus was on the way back to Galilee from Judea and He went into the territory of the Samaritans.
• No Jew will take this road. It was off the beaten path. Jesus took on a missionary journey, actually, into a foreign land.
• Why? He wanted to meet a woman in need. In need of love, of forgiveness, of acceptance, and of a new life.
She is a lonely woman with a messed up life. She has had five husbands and now staying with the sixth.
• She comes to the well to draw water, at noon, because that’s when nobody is around.
• And she met Jesus! Jesus spoke, and the rest is history.
Fast forward to the end – John 4:39-42
• 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
• 42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world."
Isn’t that amazing? A woman did all these, and a less-than-honourable woman at that.
• The Lord touched her life and then she became an instrument of blessings for her whole town.
• Did she expect this? I don’t think so. Was she trained for this? No.
The afternoon encounter at the well took on a lasting significance.
• It all started with a simple conversation. She noticed that Jesus treated her differently.
• She must have been shocked because a Jew wouldn’t normally speak to a Samaritan, and all the more a woman. Yet Jesus treated her with kindness.
Overwhelmed by his love and gracious words, the woman was moved.
• Something changed in her heart. She believed, and she had to tell someone.
• John 4:28-30 “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
There is nothing really great about this – just invite people to see Christ. We can do this!
(1) INVITE PEOPLE TO WHERE THEY CAN HEAR CHRIST
It was a simple act, but with God’s hand in it, it became greatly significant.
• This forgiven woman did not know “Four Spiritual Laws” nor had she memorized John 3:16. Frankly she couldn’t even be a defender of her faith.
• All she could do, she did - invite the people out to see Jesus.
• Andrew did the same with his brother Simon Peter. Philip did the same with his friend Nathanael: “Come and see…” (John 1:46)
And God did the rest. John 4:39 “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony” (4:39).
• This is what we can do - a simple invitation. Invite someone to church or your small group, just like what you did when you invite friends to JOURNEY OF FAITH.
• She did not know how to explain. She can only lead people to the place where they can hear Christ.
What did she say to the people?
• John 4:28-30 “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
• This man knows me! He is no ordinary man. He told me everything I ever did. It was personal.
(2) SHARE WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE FOR YOU
No one can copy that. That’s your personal encounter with Jesus. It’s real, you know it. You are moved. You are changed. Tell that to the people.
Remember the story of the man who was born blind (John 9), where Jesus put some mud on his eyes and asked him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and he was healed?
• The Pharisees questioned him about Jesus, because they wanted to arrest Jesus for healing on a Sabbath.
• He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" (John 9:25)
This newly healed man didn’t know enough to debate theology, but he was an expert in one area — his own experience. “I was blind but now I see!”
• Everywhere he goes, this healed man will be telling his story, to anyone who is willing to listen. This ex-blind man’s changed life is proof of what has happened.
Your story is His story. God’s grace, His mercy, His love… they are embedded in your life.
• Start with these words: “Let me tell you my story…” and then fill in the blanks.
• Perhaps you were sick and God healed you, you were searching for something meaningful in life and your search ended when you found Christ.
Even if you don’t feel like your story is powerful or dramatic, God can use it.
• People want to know - not that Christianity is a good religion, or that its doctrines are sound, or its teachings are helpful.
• They want to know how lives can be changed. They want to know how Jesus can make such a difference in your life.
• It is the RELATIONSHIP that is worth telling, not the religion.
At the OMF's TAKE FLIGHT conference, in the first workshop, we were asked to do an exercise, charting the timeline of our life – the physical life and the spiritual life.
• If you take time to reflect on your life so far, you will see certain identifiable milestones in your spiritual life, your encounters with God.
• God knows you. He has been watching over you, and guiding you closer to Him.
Share your life journey with God. That’s uniquely yours.
They people came, they saw, they heard. And they encountered Christ themselves.
• Verse 42 tells us: They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world."
• Watch what God can do. Watch what only Jesus can do.
• You can make a difference, if you care to believe it!
