“Sharing The Good News”
April 28, 2002
The Rev. Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh -- Senior Pastor
John 4:6-43
Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I 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 won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
And continuing in verse 27…
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
And continuing in verse 39…
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."
So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. 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 Savior of the world." After the two days he left for Galilee.
There is a word that I need to say in my sermon.
I hope I don’t offend anyone.
I hope that when I say it, no one walks out.
It’s a word that scares some people.
It’s a word some people think is a dirty word.
It’s a word that some people think is something Presbyterians don’t like to hear –
The word is --- Evangelism.
I’m not sure why we don’t like that word.
Maybe it is because when we hear it we’re afraid that the pastor is going to make us work at something that is awkward and embarrassing.
We don’t like to knock on the doors of the homes of strangers. Most of us don’t like to give out tracts and pamphlets to strangers. Most of us don’t feel like we have the training to do evangelism. Many people believe – that’s what we pay the preacher to do – let them do it.
Today we are continuing our study of John’s Gospel, and here in chapter 4 one of the many themes of this text is evangelism. And Evangelism is simply sharing the Good News of Christ and giving people the opportunity to become Christians.
Jesus is on a journey. He rests while his companions go elsewhere to find food for their meal. He sits at a well, and while he is there, a woman comes to draw water from the well.
It is at this point that Jesus begins to practice the art of evangelism.
And through this event, we get to see just how simple evangelism is.
Most of us try to make evangelism a very complicated matter. But it is simpler than you think.
First of all, evangelism is simple because you don’t have to worry about whom to go to.
We want to complicate evangelism. We have all sorts of questions and one of the questions about evangelism is – with whom do we talk to when we evangelize.
Looking at this example of evangelism – the answer is everyone.
You don’t need to complicate matters by trying to decide whom to speak with – just tell everybody about Christ – anyone you run into.
Jesus just naturally and calmly shares the good news of the Gospel with someone he happened to meet at a well.
In the same way, think of the people you run into in the course of the day or week.
You go into a beauty salon or a barbershop and you sit and wait – you strike up a conversation with the person next to you – it’s an opportunity to invite someone to come to Sunrise Church.
You go to work and stand around the water cooler – it’s not a well, but like the New Testament lesson, there’s water, there’s people, and there’s conversation. An opportunity to invite someone to know Christ.
You go to school, or to the health club, or the baseball game, or the movies – anytime you are with people, you have an opportunity to invite someone to come to Sunrise and to get to know Christ.
Evangelism is simple – you don’t have to think about where to find people to share the Good News with – you find them everywhere!
Evangelism is also simple in that you don’t have to worry about what type of person to share the Good News with.
We’re not discerning or discriminating.
The church lets anyone in – good or bad, black or white, rich or poor, interesting or dull, smart or dumb, whatever.
In the New Testament text Jesus does some shocking things. They are not shocking to us, but in that culture of his time, Jesus does a couple of things that no descent person would do.
No man would talk to a woman in the way Jesus talks to this woman. They don’t know each other, and it was considered improper. Nor would a Jew speak with a Samaritan. Now, there is a lot of background history behind why that was, but all in all, it’s the same old story of racism and international conflicts – it’s kind of like Palestinians and Israelis talking right now – both groups have a lot of history and baggage and it is difficult for them to converse.
Jesus doesn’t worry about this. He doesn’t worry about what a person is, or was. He doesn’t worry about whether it is politically correct for him to talk with someone.
He loves everyone, and he shares the Good News of the Gospel with everyone.
See – evangelism is simpler than you thought.
You don’t have to worry about who to invite or where to find someone to invite – just invite everyone.
It’s that simple.
A lot of people think evangelism is a job for professionals. Leave it to the seminary trained pastors.
But evangelism is a job for everyone, and it takes no training at all.
There is training available.
There are programs.
But you don’t have to have special training.
After all, evangelism is nothing more than sharing some Good News that happened to you.
And whenever anything good happens to you, the natural thing to do is to share it with someone.
When I was in college, I started dating my future wife. One night, we decided to get married. After taking her to her home, rather late at night, I went back to my dormitory room to find my roommate asleep. He wasn’t asleep for long. I woke him up because I had something to tell him and I wanted to tell him right then and there.
If you have something good happening in your life, you tell someone. It’s the natural thing to do. It’s not complicated. It’s simple.
Got a new job? Who would keep that a secret? Got a promotion? You’ve got to tell someone or you’ll bust! Did you go fishing and catch a huge fish? You not only tell someone, you embellish just a wee bit.
Jesus died on a cross for you. He changed your life. He comforts you. He guides you. He makes this hard world we live in not only bearable, but pleasant.
Tell me that this is not worth sharing.
Whenever something good happens to you, eventually you want to tell someone about it.
And you don’t need special training for that.
You just do it.
It’s that simple.
Take a look at the New Testament lesson. Not only does Jesus share the Good News with the woman at the well, but the woman herself goes out and shares the Good News with her friends.
She doesn’t wait to grow in Christ.
She doesn’t develop her theology.
She doesn’t start attending Sunday School or Bible Study Fellowship – she just goes out and tells people that something good has happened to her.
John 4:28-29
28 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?"
She doesn’t give out tracts or pamphlets to strangers. She doesn’t give a sermon. She doesn’t organize a Billy Graham style crusade. She keeps it simple.
“Hey, something good happened to me. I want you to come and see.”
That is how simple evangelism can be.
Just tell anyone you see, “Hey, I’ve had a good experience at Sunrise Church. Come and see for yourself.”
It’s not complicated. It’s simple.
It’s simple – but it is important.
Sharing the Good News of Christ with others is important for many different reasons. One reason is that this is a mandate that Christ gave us. It wasn’t a suggestion, it was a command.
In Matthew’s Gospel, after Jesus has been resurrected from the dead, he spent several days with his disciples. Then, as he is about to ascend into heaven, he gives what we often refer to as the Great Commission.
Matt 28:17-20
17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.""
(NIV)
That’s a good reason in and of itself – Jesus told us to evangelize and to share the Good News – what more reason would you want?
But there is more.
There is a sense of urgency about all of this.
We are talking about the eternal life of one’s soul.
In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus and the woman talk about water. But then Jesus begins to talk one level above the woman. She talks about water you drink for your physical thirst but Jesus begins to talk about a spiritual water that quinches the thirst of one’s soul.
"If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
There is thirst that your body feels. There are needs that your physical body requires.
But the soul also has needs. Will you care for your soul? Will you attend to the health of your spiritual life?
Jesus is coming to offer eternal life.
That makes sharing the Good News of the Gospel something of urgent importance.
Most people, when they see someone in physical danger, would speak out or do something.
You stand at an intersection and see someone about to walk in front of a speeding car, the least you will do is say something, “Hey bozo – watch what you’re doing.”
Even if it is someone we don’t know, we’re not going to let someone just walk into danger.
Someone has a heart attack in front of us – we’re going to do something. If we are trained in CPR, we start doing what we were trained to do. If we’re not trained, at the very least we call 911, or just yell, “Somebody help this man.”
There is an urgency about our calling to share the Good News of the Gospel.
Jesus has come to offer living water – eternal life. Somebody ought to share that good news with others.
It’s not that complicated.
It’s really very simple.
Even if you’ve never had any training, all you have to do is to say what the woman at the well said, “Come and see – Christ has made a difference in my life. Come and see.”
