Living on mission requires that we share God’s message of rescue to those around us who are far from God...

This week, we are looking at an event from history from the life in Jesus that is recorded for us in the Bible in the gospel of Luke. Wednesday, we looked on as the residents of Nazareth believed that Jesus would do the miraculous for them simply because they were insiders with Him. The residents of Nazareth believed that because they were insiders with Jesus, they should get the best from Jesus.

Jesus confronts the crowds by making the claim that no prophet is welcome in his hometown. Jesus is claiming that no person who proclaims the truth about God to those who consider themselves insiders is met with approval by those who consider themselves insiders. And to back His claim, Jesus refers to two different events from the history of the Jewish people to reveal the reality that the Jewish people who were insiders had repeatedly rejected God and the word of God through His spokespersons the prophets. The Jewish people did not approve of the prophets or their message. Those who were insiders; those who were raised in church; those who considered themselves religious had God’s predictions and promises in the Bible to point them to God but rejected God.

 Jesus is revealing the reality that self righteous religious people who consider themselves insiders would reject His message just as they rejected the prophet’s message. And Jesus is revealing the reality that His message, the message of the gospel was for all of humanity. Jesus was sent not simply for the insiders. Instead Jesus was sent to proclaim the message of the gospel to the outsiders. Jesus was sent to proclaim the gospel to the religious people who were far from God and the irreligious people who were far from God. Today, we see Luke record for us how the crowds responded to Jesus claims in verse 28:

And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.

Upon hearing Jesus claims, Luke tells us that the crowds were filled with rage. They were filled with rage because they were offended by the idea that God would extend the opportunity for forgiveness and a relationship with Him to irreligious people who were outsiders who were far from God. And in their rage, the crowds rose up from their seats, drove Jesus outside of town, and attempted to throw Him off the edge of the cliff that the town was built on.

Jesus however, like a scene from a matrix movie passed through their midst and traveled back to Capernaum, which was His base of ministry. Luke tells us that as Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum, He miraculously healed a man that had been possessed by a demon. Then, if that was not enough, Jesus went to Peter’s house and miraculously healed Peter’s mother in law, who was suffering from a severe fever.

Now, just for free this morning, the reason why Peter had a mother in law was because he was married. I mean that is how you get a mother in law, isn’t it. No one says, I just want a mother in law without being married. As Jesus continued to do the miraculous, the people of Capernaum responded by wanting Him to remain in town. Jesus, however, had other plans, as Luke records for us in Luke 4:42:

When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose." So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Jesus responded to their desire for Him to stay in Capernaum by focusing on the mission He had been given. I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities, also. I must proclaim that God’s promise of a Messiah has been fulfilled as I am the Messiah. I am the Promised One who is anointed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news of God’s rescue from selfishness, sin and rebellion that will usher in the beginning of God’s kingdom”. Jesus explained that He had to proclaim that message for I was sent for this purpose.

And it is here that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to living on mission. And that timeless truth is this: Living on mission requires that we share God’s message of rescue to those around us who are far from God. Just as Jesus was sent on a mission, as followers of Jesus, we have been sent on a mission. And that mission requires that we share God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to those around us who are far from God.

You see, the church is the only organization on the planet that does not exist for the sake of its members. Instead, the church exists for the sake of the mission we have been given by God. And that mission is to be the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus and His message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to those who are far from God.

Living on mission requires that we share the good news that all of humanity has the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for by believing trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.  Living on mission requires that we share that message with self righteous religious people who think that they are insiders when they really are outsiders who are far from God. Living on mission requires that we share that message with irreligious people who are outsiders who are far from God.

And living on mission requires that we fulfill our responsibility to lovingly, graciously, and truthfully share God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel regardless of the response. While the only thing that should be offensive when we share the message of the gospel should be the message, we must recognize that the message of the gospel will be offensive. However, we are not to allow the offensiveness of the message of the gospel stop us from sharing that message. Because, as we have seen Living on mission requires that we share God’s message of rescue to the people around us who are far from God.

So here is a question to consider. Are you willing to share God’s message of rescue to the people around us who are far from God?

Confronting Insider Expectations....

This week, we are looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Yesterday, Luke revealed that as Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, He volunteered to read a section of the Bible called the book of Isaiah.

 

In Isaiah 61:1, the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that when the Messiah arrived, He would live a life that was controlled, influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit. And as He lived a Spirit filled life, the Messiah would preach the gospel to the poor. Now the word gospel literally means good news. And this good news would be proclaimed to the poor, which refers to those who were of low status that were viewed as outsiders who were far from God.

 In addition, the prophet predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would proclaim release to the captives. In the Jewish culture of the day, this was a word picture of the release that comes from the forgiveness of sins. Isaiah also predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would proclaim the recovery of sight to those who were blind. The Messiah would restore the sight of those who were physically blind and give sight to those who were spiritually blind.

And Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would set free those who are oppressed.  The Messiah would proclaim good news that would provide an opportunity for people to be released from the debts that surrounded and overwhelmed them.

Jesus continued to read the first part of Isaiah 61:2, where the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that when the Messiah arrived, He would proclaim the good news about God’s grace that the Messiah would extend towards humanity. And then, in the middle of Isaiah 61:2, Jesus abruptly stopped reading and sat back down.

Luke then tells us that all eyes were fixed on Jesus. Everyone waited with anticipation to hear a great sermon from Jesus that they had already been hearing about. Now a natural question that arises here, and probably arose at the time, was “why did Jesus stop there?” We discover the answer to that question in the sermon which Jesus gave, which Luke records for us in Luke 4:21. Let’s look at it together:

           

And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph's son?"

 

Jesus gave a one sentence sermon: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." In other words, Jesus basically said to them “God’s promise of a Messiah has been fulfilled today as you hear Me speak. I am the Messiah. I am the Promised One who is anointed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news of God’s rescue from selfishness, sin and rebellion that will usher in the beginning of God’s kingdom”.

The reason why Jesus stopped at the first part of Isaiah 61:2 is because the second part of Isaiah 61:2 refers to Jesus 2^nd coming, where He will execute God’s right and just response to the selfishness, sin, and rebellion of humanity. Jesus was fulfilling the first part of God’s promise to humanity by entering into humanity in order to provide all of humanity the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for.

Luke tells us that the crowds in the synagogue responded to Jesus one sentence sermon with glowing approval. The crowds were extraordinarily impressed with the winsome and attractive words that were coming from Jesus. The crowds also recognized that Jesus was one of their own: "Is this not Joseph's son?" they said.

You see, the crowds believed that because Jesus was one of their own, that the result would be that they would benefit from an extra dose of God’s favor because of their close connection with Jesus. The crowds believed that they would receive some spiritual brownie points from God because they were insiders when it came to Jesus. And the crowds believed that their insider status would provide them with insider privileges when it came to their relationship with God and when it came to their relationship with the people and nations around them. However, the crowd was not prepared for what Jesus had to say next, which Luke records for us in verse 23:

 And He said to them, "No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'"

Jesus, sensing the crowds glowing approval of Jesus and growing expectation of what they thought Jesus would do for them, responded by quoting a well known proverb of the day: “Physician heal yourself”. This proverb, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Do for you what you do for others.” This proverb basically says “you must not refuse to do for those who are close to you what you have done for those who were far from you”.

You see, the residents of Nazareth believed that Jesus would do the miraculous for them simply because they were insiders with Him. The residents of Nazareth believed that because they were insiders with Jesus, they should get the best from Jesus. Jesus focus should be on meeting their needs first and then dealing with those who were outsiders. After quoting this well known proverb, Jesus changes the tone of the entire encounter in verse 24:

 And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. "But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."

Jesus confronts the crowds by making the claim that no prophet is welcome in his hometown. Jesus is claiming that no person who proclaims the truth about God to those who consider themselves insiders is met with approval by those who consider themselves insiders. And to back His claim, Jesus refers to two different events from the history of the Jewish people.

First, Jesus reminds the crowds of an event in history that is recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of 1 Kings. In 1 Kings 17, God sent the prophet Elijah to a widow in the land of Sidon during a time of severe drought that plagued the entire Middle East. The land of Sidon was a region of the Middle East that was dominated by the worship of false gods and the people of Sidon were outsiders who were far from God. Upon arriving in Sidon, Elijah miraculously provided food for the widow and her son during a time of extreme drought.

Jesus point is that while Jewish people who considered themselves as insiders were suffering from the famine, God did not send Elijah to do the miraculous for the insiders. Instead, Elijah, as God’s messenger, was sent to do the miraculous to those who were outsiders and far from God. Elijah was sent to those who were irreligious, not to those who were religious and familiar about God’s promises. Elijah was sent to unchurched people, not to church people.

Jesus then reminds the crowds of an event in history that is recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of 2 Kings. In 2 Kings 5, the prophet Elisha was used by God to miraculously heal a military leader from what is now the nation of Syria from leprosy. This military leader was part of a nation that worshipped false gods and was the enemy of the Jewish people. This was a nation of outsiders who were far from God.

Jesus point is that while Jewish people who considered themselves as insiders had many people who suffered from leprosy, God did not send Elisha to do the miraculous for the insiders. Instead, Elisha, as God’s messenger, was sent to do the miraculous to those who were outsiders and far from God. Elisha engaged those who were irreligious, not to those who were religious and familiar about God’s promises. Elisha engaged unchurched people, not church people.

You see, the Jewish people who were insiders had repeatedly rejected God and the word of God through His spokespersons the prophets. The Jewish people did not approve of the prophets or their message. Those who were insiders; those who were raised in church; those who considered themselves religious had God’s predictions and promises in the Bible to point them to God but rejected God.

Jesus is revealing the reality that self righteous religious people who consider themselves insiders would reject His message just as they rejected the prophet’s message. And Jesus is revealing the reality that His message, the message of the gospel was for all of humanity. Jesus was sent not simply for the insiders.

Instead Jesus was sent to proclaim the message of the gospel to the outsiders. Jesus was sent to proclaim the gospel to the religious people who were far from God and the irreligious people who were far from God.

Friday, we will see how the crowds responded to Jesus claims…

Returning Home...

At the church where I serve, we have launched into a new year with a brand new sermon series entitled living on mission. During this series, our hope and our prayer is to equip and empower us as followers of Jesus to live our day to day lives on mission as a missionary that loves and serves those that God has already placed around us who are far from God in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to them.

 

This week, I would like for us to look at a event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And it is in this event from history that we will see Jesus reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to living on mission. So let’s look at this event from history together, beginning in Luke 4:14:

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

Luke brings us into this event from history by providing for us the context for what is about to happen. After successfully resisting the temptations of the devil after spending 40 days in the wilderness, Luke tells us that Jesus returned to Galilee, which is located in what is today northern Israel, in the power of the Spirit. And here we see Luke reveal for us the reality that Jesus lived His earthly life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus relied on the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit to live the life that we were created to live but refused to live in relationship with God and one another.

You see, Jesus shows us what it means to be truly human. Jesus provides for us the example of how we are to live our lives here on earth. As followers of Jesus our lives are to be controlled, influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit so that we would reveal and reflect Jesus to others as we live in relationship with God and others.

Luke tells us that as Jesus taught in the synagogues of Galilee, news about Him spread throughout the surrounding district. News began to travel about Jesus doing the miraculous. And as Jesus showed up at Jewish religious gatherings throughout northern Israel, the sermons that He was preaching were powerful and word about His preaching spread throughout the region.

Now a natural question that arises here is “well what message was Jesus preaching and proclaiming. While Luke does not specifically tells us what message Jesus was proclaiming, in another account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the gospel of Matthew, we see Matthew reveal Jesus message. So let’s look at Jesus message together, in Matthew 4:23:

From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Now Jesus message, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded like this: “Repent, recognize and feel remorse for how you are living life. Change your attitude and your mind towards the trajectory of your life that is moving away from God back to God, because God has arrived. The kingdom of God has arrived and is at work among you.”

As you might imagine, this message would grab one’s attention. This message would have grabbed the attention of those listening because hundreds of years earlier, God had promised the Jewish people that He would send an redeemer, a rescuer, a deliverer who would deliver the Jewish people from oppression and bring them back to God and back to prominence in the world.

 

And as Jesus traveled from town to town in Northern Israel, news about His miracles and messages continued to spread. And as Jesus traveled, His travels led Him back to a town called Nazareth, which was His hometown. Luke records for us what happened when Jesus arrived in His hometown in verse 16:

He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

Now to fully understand what is happening here, we first need to understand how Jewish people worshipped God in the first century. During the first century, there was only one church. And that church was located in Jerusalem. In the Jewish sacrificial system, there were two times every day that sacrifices were made to God for the sins of the people, one early in the morning and one in the in the late afternoon at 3 p.m. In addition, there were offerings that were expressions of worship and thanksgiving to God. So in order to offer up God acts of worship, one needed to travel to Jerusalem.

However, in addition to corporate worship at the Temple, Jewish people also gathered in synagogues throughout the nation of Israel. Synagogues functioned in a similar manner to how community groups function today. In synagogue, on the Sabbath, portions of the Old Testament were read and explained to the smaller gatherings of Jewish people that attended. 

With that in mind, Luke tells us that after arriving in His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus attended synagogue on the Sabbath. Notice that Luke uses the phrase “as was His custom” here. You see, Jesus made gathering together with followers of God a priority in His life. As part of that priority, as Jesus traveled, He found the local synagogue and attended on Sabbath.  And as part of that priority, Jesus actively engaged in what was happening in the synagogue by reading and explaining portions of the Old Testament to the crowds that were gathered for worship.

On this particular Sabbath, as Jesus volunteered to read during synagogue, one of the leaders handed Jesus a scroll that contained a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. Jesus then opened the scroll to a section of the book of Isaiah that we know today as Isaiah 61.

In Isaiah 61:1, the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that when the Messiah arrived, He would live a life that was controlled, influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit. And as He lived a Spirit filled life, the Messiah would preach the gospel to the poor. Now the word gospel literally means good news. And this good news would be proclaimed to the poor, which refers to those who were of low status that were viewed as outsiders who were far from God.

 In addition, the prophet predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would proclaim release to the captives. In the Jewish culture of the day, this was a word picture of the release that comes from the forgiveness of sins. Isaiah also predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would proclaim the recovery of sight to those who were blind. The Messiah would restore the sight of those who were physically blind and give sight to those who were spiritually blind.

And Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would set free those who are oppressed.  The Messiah would proclaim good news that would provide an opportunity for people to be released from the debts that surrounded and overwhelmed them.

Jesus continued to read the first part of Isaiah 61:2, where the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that when the Messiah arrived, He would proclaim the good news about God’s grace that the Messiah would extend towards humanity. And then, in the middle of Isaiah 61:2, Jesus abruptly stopped reading and sat back down. Luke then tells us that all eyes were fixed on Jesus. Everyone waited with anticipation to hear a great sermon from Jesus that they had already been hearing about.

Now a natural question that arises here, and probably arose at the time, was “why did Jesus stop there?” Tomorrow we will discover the answer to that question…

Living on mission requires that we lovingly engage those who are far from God and far from us...

This week, we have been looking at a most unlikely encounter that Jesus had with a Samaritan woman who was far from God and others that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of John. Wednesday, we saw the Samaritan woman, exposed by Jesus for attempting to satisfy her deepest thirst from the wrong well, change the subject to a theological debate on worship. The Samaritan woman basically says “You seem to be a man who knows God and God’s will, so I have a theological question for you: my ancestors believed that true worship occurred on that mountain over there, but you people burned down our temple and told us that Jerusalem is where true worship occurs. So who is right?”

Now today, as we jump back into this event from history, imagine yourself as Jesus. Place yourselves in His shoes. How would you respond to this woman’s attempt to change the subject? Would you call her out: “hey don’t try to change the subject! Let’s talk about your life that’s off the rails. Let’s talk about your sin that has ostracized and isolated you from everyone else”. Would you let her change the subject or would you keep the spotlight focused on her? We see how Jesus responded in John 4:21:

 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in 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 an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Now Jesus response, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: That is a great question and what I am about to tell you is 100% true and worthy of trust. You see, a time is coming where location will not matter when it comes to worship. The reason that your worship is wrong is because you really do not know the object of your worship. Since you have rejected most of what the Old Testament says about God you really do not know who God is so that you can worship Him. Jewish people, on the other hand, know who the object of their worship is supposed to be, because they have accepted what the Old Testament say about God. And because the Jewish people have accepted all of the Old Testament, they know that God has promised a rescuer, a deliver, a Messiah, who God had promised would bring them back to God. But, here is the thing; the time has come where those who worship God will do so because the Spirit of God has awakened their spirit to the truth of who God is. Those are the worshippers that God truly seeks. God is Spirit; and those who truly worship Him must do so by the power of the Holy Spirit awakening their spirit to the truth of who He is”.

You see, instead of rebuking the Samaritan woman for attempting to change the subject, Jesus graciously and lovingly answered her question. You see, so often as followers of Jesus we unlovingly provide answers to questions that those who are far from God are not asking instead of lovingly answering the questions that those who are far from God are asking. Throughout the accounts of Jesus life, we see Jesus be incredibly patient, gracious, and loving with those who were far from God.

What Jesus did not have patience for and repeatedly confronted was the self righteous religious people who did not see their need for forgiveness. I mean, do you think that the Samaritan woman did not know that her life was off the rails? Do you think that the Samaritan women needed to be repeatedly reminded of her past selfishness and rebellion? There seemed to be plenty of other people around her who were more than willing to do that. John records for us how the Samaritan woman responded to Jesus answer in verse 25:

 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us."

The Samaritan woman basically says to Jesus “Well one thing about theology that I do know is that God promised a rescuer and a deliverer and when He comes, He will be able to proclaim and teach us what the right answers are when it comes to the worship of God.  And when He comes, we will find out whether I am right or you are right”. What the Samaritan women was not prepared for, however is what happened next, which John records for us in verse 26:

  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

Now this morning, can you imagine what must have been running through the mind of the Samaritan woman at this point? Can you imagine the look on her face? After all, she had already acknowledged that there was something different about Jesus. Jesus seemed to know her life story, even though he had just met her. Jesus seemed to be a person that was inspired by God and knew a lot about God. And Jesus engaged her in a way that was so different than what she was used to by religious people, or irreligious people for that matter. While Jesus called her on her sin, Jesus did not judge her. Instead Jesus seemed to be calling her to something else. We then see John shift the focus of this story in verse 27:

  At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?"

John tells us that the disciples, upon returning from their shopping trip in town, were amazing to find Jesus engaging in this conversation with the Samaritan women. You see, the disciples were disturbed that Jesus was taking the time to talk with a woman, let alone this half breed Samaritan. After all, in the culture of the day, no self respecting rabbi would do such a thing. In the culture of the day, a rabbi would view a woman as a distraction; and a Samaritan woman was not even worth the effort. However, the disciples kept their questions and feelings to themselves. John then reveals the impact that Jesus conversation had on the Samaritan woman in verse 28:

So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

The Samaritan woman left her empty waterpot, the very thing that brought her to the well in the first place, and headed back into town. Arriving back in town, John tells us that the Samaritan woman proceeded to engage the men of the city. The Samaritan woman chose to engage the very men who had ostracized her and isolated her as a home wrecking sinner.

You see, despite of what these men thought of her, there was no way that she could not share what happened to her with them. The Samaritan women overcame the hatred and animosity that those around her felt toward her to invite them to experience what she had experienced with Jesus. Meanwhile, outside of town, John gives a front row seat into a conversation that Jesus was having with His disturbed disciples in verse 31:

 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 were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.

Here we see John and the other disciples basically say to Jesus “Jesus you really need to eat. I know you were exhausted and hungry when we went into town for food, and that was a while ago. So eat some food to satisfy the hunger you must be feeling”. Jesus, however, basically says to them “My hunger has already been satisfied”. The disciples, as is so often the case in the accounts of Jesus life, find themselves trying to explain what seemed to them to be unexplainable. “Who brought Him food”, they asked one another. Jesus, sensing their confusion, responded by saying “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work”, to which the disciples were probably saying to themselves “why does He always have to talk like that”.

You see, just like the Samaritan woman, the disciples were focused on their immediate physical hunger. Jesus, however, was focused on what satisfied what is the deepest hunger that one can experience. Jesus deepest hunger was for people to come to know Him and experience forgiveness and the relationship with Him that they were created for.

Jesus then responds to His disciple’s faulty focus by engaging them in a teachable moment that reveals for us a timeless truth when it comes to living on mission. So let’s look at this teachable moment together beginning in verse 35:

"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest '? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. "For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.' "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor."

Now to fully understand what is happening here, let’s take a minute and imagine that this is a scene from a DVD movie and you are in the scene as one of the disciples. As you are standing next to Jesus on the outskirts of town having this conversation, you see the residents of the town approaching you, being led by the Samaritan woman. As is common in the culture of the Middle East, many of those coming towards you have white turbans on their heads to protect from the dessert sun. And as the residents of the town approach where you are Jesus turns to you and says “lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.”

Now can you picture what that must have looked like? You see, Jesus had sown, or invested in the life of the Samaritan woman, who was an outsider who was far from God and others and who would have been viewed with animosity and hatred, by lovingly engaging her with the truth of who He was. The Samaritan woman then sown, or invested in the life of those in her town that had viewed her as an ostracized outsider by lovingly engaging them with the claims of Christ. And now, as the residents of the city came out to meet Jesus and His disciples, His disciples would have the opportunity to reap the results of all that had been produced as a result of their investment.

And it is here that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to living on mission. And that timeless truth is this: Living on mission requires that we lovingly engage those who are far from God and far from us. In order to embrace and engage in the mission that we have been given by God to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal and reflect Christ to others, we must lovingly engage those who are far from God and far from us.

Living on mission requires that we lovingly engage those who are far from God and may have hostility or animosity towards us. Living on mission requires that we lovingly engage those who are far from God and may be ostracized outsiders in the eyes of others. Living on mission requires that we lovingly engage those who are far from God by graciously and lovingly answering the questions that they have instead of unlovingly providing answers to questions that they are not asking. And living on mission requires that we lovingly engage others who are far from God in a way that helps them see that Jesus is the only One who can satisfy their deepest hunger and thirst.

So here is a question to consider. Are you willing to lovingly engage those who are far from God and far from you?

Attempting To Satisfy A Thirst From The Wrong Source...

This week, we are looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. Yesterday, we saw John give us a front row seat to a most unlikely encounter with a Samaritan woman was who was ostracized and isolated as an outsider who was far from God and was far from others. Jesus, however, responded to this ostracized outsider by asking her for a drink.

The hatred between Jews and Samaritans was such that they did not even speak to one another, let alone offer to drink from one another’s cups. The Samaritan woman basically says to Jesus “aren’t you Jewish people too good for us, so why are you even talking to me”. Today, we see Jesus response in John 4:10:

 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle”?

Instead of responding to the animosity of the Samaritan woman by ignoring her, Jesus chooses to engage her. To understand the nature of this engagement, we first need to understand something about water. In the first century, there was two ways by which one obtained water. Either you obtained water from a well or you obtained water from a river or stream. Now, water that is in a well does not flow but is stagnant. However, water from a flowing river or stream was viewed as being living or active. That water, as a general rule, was also better water to drink.

Now, with that in mind, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that if she knew about the free gift that God wanted to offer her, and if she really knew who she was talking to that was asking her for a drink, she would not be responding with animosity. Instead, if she really knew who she was talking to, she would be the one taking the initiative to engage him for the water that He would provide her.

You see, while the water from the well that the Samaritan woman was pursuing could maintain life, the water from that well could not produce life. However, Jesus is offering the Samaritan women water that was living and active and could produce the life that she so desperately needed and was lacking. Jesus was echoing what the prophet Jeremiah said some 600 years earlier in Jeremiah 2:13:

"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.

The Samaritan woman however, was not focused on receiving the water that would produce life. Instead, she was solely focused on meeting her immediate personal needs to maintain life. The Samaritan woman basically says to Jesus “well who do you think you are? Are you saying that you are greater than our ancestor Jacob, because he gave us this well? I do not see any water in your hands and I do not see a river nearby. And anyways weren’t you just asking me for a drink a minute ago? So, who do you think you are and where do you think you are going to get this great water from, anyways?”  We see Jesus response in verse 13:

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."

Jesus basically says to the Samaritan woman “everyone who comes to drink this water will have to come back again later, because this water only maintains life. This water may temporarily reduce thirst, but this water never removes the thirst. However, the water I have, this water removes even the deepest thirst. The water that I have becomes a source of water that produces life”.

And once again, we see the Samaritan woman miss the point. Instead, the Samaritan woman responds with a focus on her pressing immediate needs. Just as the prophet Jeremiah had proclaimed, the Samaritan woman was focused on attempting to satisfy her deepest thirst from the wrong source. We see Jesus reveal this reality in the Samaritan woman’s life in verse 16:

 He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."

Instead of being frustrated at the Samaritan woman’s faulty focus, Jesus lovingly reveals her faulty focus. And it is here that we see why the Samaritan woman was at the well at high noon. Here we see why the Samaritan woman was ostracized and isolated from the community that she lived in.

And here we see why the Samaritan woman was an outsider who was far from God and far from others. You see, the Samaritan women had not been divorced one time. The Samaritan women had not been divorced two times. Instead, the Samaritan women had not been divorced five times. And now, the Samaritan woman was living with a man who was not her husband.

You see, the Samaritan woman was focused on satisfying her deepest thirst from the well of relationships with a man. However, those repeated relationships were empty wells that held no water and could not satisfy that thirst. And now the Samaritan woman had a story. A story of being a home wrecker; a story of being an adulterer; a story that left her far from God and far from others, ostracized and isolated; a story that you might relate to this morning. Maybe you have been trying to satisfy the deepest thirst in your life with position, power, or pleasure, only to find that you may reduce the thirst for a while, but the thirst only returns.

Now you might be thinking to yourself “well Dave that does not sound like Jesus is being very loving here. I mean it seems that Jesus just called her out as a sinner. How can you say that Jesus was loving here”. If you are here this morning and those questions are running through your mind, I just want to let you know that they are great questions to be asking. And my response to those questions is this: The reason I can say that Jesus was loving here is based on how the Samaritan woman responded to what Jesus said. We see her response in verse 19:

 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

You see, the Samaritan woman did not respond to Jesus by being offended and bailing on the conversation. Instead, the Samaritan woman did what we all tend to do when we find ourselves vulnerable after being exposed for who we truly are. The Samaritan woman attempted to change the subject. Exposed for attempting to satisfy her deepest thirst from the wrong well, the Samaritan woman changes the subject to a theological debate on worship.

The Samaritan woman basically says “You seem to be a man who knows God and God’s will, so I have a theological question for you: my ancestors believed that true worship occurred on that mountain over there, but you people burned down our temple and told us that Jerusalem is where true worship occurs. So who is right?”

Now imagine yourself as Jesus. Place yourselves in His shoes. How would you respond to this woman’s attempt to change the subject? Would you call her out: “hey don’t try to change the subject! Let’s talk about your life that’s off the rails. Let’s talk about your sin that has ostracized and isolated you from everyone else”. Would you let her change the subject or would you keep the spotlight focused on her?

Friday, we will see how Jesus responded…

A Most Unlikely Encounter...

At the church where I serve, we have launched into 2014 by launching into a brand new sermon series entitled living on mission. During this series, our hope and our prayer is to equip and empower us as followers of Jesus to live our day to day lives on mission as a missionary that loves and serves those that God has already placed around us who are far from God in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to them.

And if you are not sure that you buy the whole Jesus, Bible, Church thing, our hope for you is that this series you would help you see what Jesus calls His followers to be so that you can see how He feels about you and what He calls His followers to do when it comes to engaging you. That way, you can cut through the bad experiences that you may have had with Christians and churches to see the truth when it comes to what Jesus calls His followers to be truly about as they live around you.

This week, I would like for us to look at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. Now the gospel of John was written the person who had perhaps the closest relationship with Jesus while He was on earth, a man named John. And it is in a section of the gospel of John that we see John give us a front row seat to a most unlikely encounter that Jesus had during His time here on earth. And it is in this unlikely encounter that we see Jesus reveal for us a timeless and true principles when it comes to living on mission. So let’s look together at this encounter, beginning in John 4:1:

Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John  (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

John brings us to our front row seats for this encounter by providing for us the context in which this encounter would take place. John explains that once Jesus knew that the Pharisee’s, who were the self righteous religious people, became aware that Jesus had become more popular than John the Baptizer, Jesus left Judea and went to Galilee. You see, Jesus knew that His growing popularity would be viewed as a threat by the Pharisee’s to their position and power that they loved. And Jesus knew that the Pharisee’s would attempt to harass and attack Jesus, just like they had done to John the Baptizer.

So, Jesus decided to leave Judea and the Pharisee’s animosity in order to continue the mission He had been given in Galilee. John states that Jesus had to pass through Samaria. But this morning, what is so significant about Samaria that John would mention the fact that Jesus had to travel through there?

To answer this question, we first need to understand a few things. The first things that we need to understand is where Samaria was located in relation to Judea and Galilee. Judea is located in what is now southern Israel. Galilee is located in what is now northern Israel. And in between Judea and Galilee was the region that John referred to as Samaria.

Now this leads us to the second thing that we need to understand, which is the history of the people that lived in Samaria. You see, at one time, Samaria was a part of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Then, in 722 B.C., the Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In order to help control the regions that they conquered, the Assyrians developed a strategy that involved deporting large numbers of Jewish people and replacing them with large numbers of people from the nation of Assyria. The Assyrians who moved to Samaria worshipped false gods and simply added the worship of the One True God to their worship of their false gods.

Over time, the Jewish people began to intermarry and adopt the religion and culture of the Assyrians. These Samaritans then rejected all of the Old Testament except the first five books and refused to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. Instead, the Samaritans built their own temple on Mt Gerizim in 400 B.C. Now as you might imagine, the Jewish people did not respond well to what was happening in Samaria. And over time a great deal of animosity built between the Jewish people who lived in southern Israel and the people who lived in Samaria.

The closest cultural comparison would be that the Samaritans were viewed in a similar way to how a black and white married couple would have been viewed in the southern United States in the 1950’s. The Jewish people came to view the Samaritans as “half breeds” and wanted nothing to do with them. The Jewish people would later burn down the temple in Samaria in 128 B.C.

So if a Jewish person had to make a trip from Judea to Galilee, they would often cross the Jordan River in Judea, travel north until they reached Galilee, and then cross back over the Jordan River to get into Galilee. That is how much the Jews hated the Samaritans. 

However, Jesus had to pass through Samaria. John then tells us that Jesus arrived at the city of Sychar, which is located here on the map. Upon arriving in the city, Jesus, tired from the long trip, decided to rest at a well. John tells us that it was the sixth hour, which was noon. So, Jesus, wearied from His trip, is sitting by a well in the heat of the dessert day, when a most unexpected encounter occurs. We see John record this most unexpected encounter beginning in verse 7:

 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

John tells us that as the disciples headed to town to get lunch, as Jesus rested by the well, a Samaritan woman approached the well to get some water. Now, this morning, here is a question to consider: Why is the Samaritan woman getting water at the well at noon? Would that be the time that you would choose to go get water from a well if you lived in the middle of a dessert? Would you go get water at noon in the summer here in Bullhead City?

No, you wouldn’t. Instead you would do what most of us do, which is to go out to get water either early in the morning, or late in the day, when the sun is not at its highest and hottest point. You would only go to get water at noon if you did not want to see anyone else. You would only get water at noon if you wanted to avoid people.

So what does that tell us about the Samaritan woman? You see, the Samaritan woman was ostracized and isolated from the community that she lived in. The Samaritan woman was an outsider who was far from God and was far from others. Jesus, however, responds to this ostracized outsider by asking her for a drink.

John then gives us a glimpse into the animosity between the Jews and Samaritans by how the Samaritan woman responded to Jesus: "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" You see, the hatred between Jews and Samaritans was such that they did not even speak to one another, let alone offer to drink from one another’s cups. The Samaritan woman basically says to Jesus “aren’t you Jewish people too good for us, so why are you even talking to me”.

I wonder how many people who are far from God feel the same way about the Christians that they encounter in their day to day lives. Just something to think about.

Tomorrow, we will see John reveal Jesus response to us…

Living on mission requires the humility and the passion to go to those who are far from God...

This week, we have been looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Wednesday, we saw Jesus turn the tables on those that were at a dinner party that He had been invited to attend by telling a series of parables. Jesus unpacked the reality that we are to humbly place ourselves before those who are far from God.

However, the self righteous religious person believed that, just as it was for those at this dinner party, the invitation to God’s dinner party for all eternity in Heaven would be for only a select few. From this self righteous religious person’s perspective, only a select few would be invited to be a part of God’s kingdom in Heaven. Today, we will see that this self righteous religious person’s statement led Jesus to launch into a third parable, which we see beginning in verse 16. Let’s look at it together:

  But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'  "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'  "Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.' "Another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.' "And the slave came back and reported this to his master.

Now to fully wrap our minds around this parable, we first need to make sure that we notice a few things. First, did you notice that the man who was the head of the household gave two invitations to the dinner party that he was going to have? As was normal for the culture of the day, the head of the household issued the first invitation in verse 16. This invitation would have been given well in advance and would have been similar to an RSVP in our culture today. This invitation was necessary so that the head of the household could make the necessary preparations in terms of food, beverages, and the like for the dinner party. Then, in verse 17, we see the head of the household send his servant out with a second invitation. This invitation was to let the invited guests know that it was time to go to the party.

Second, did you notice that the invitation was to many, not to only a select few? Jesus tells us that the head of the household invited many. However in verse 18, Jesus explains that they all alike began to make excuses. Now just as it is today, an excuse is simply an attempt to avoid something by making a statement that provides a reason to reject the invitation.

Now this leads us to the third thing that we need to notice, which is how lame these excuses were. All of these excuses involved preplanned activities, not last minute emergencies. So, basically what happened is that those who had been invited gave the impression that they were interested in attending the dinner but in reality had no intention on actually attending the dinner.

Fourth, did you notice that all of these excuses come down to an issue of priorities? All of those invited either chose to make their possessions or their personal pleasure a priority over the invitation to attend the dinner party.

And fifth, did you notice that all of those that were invited would have been very similar to the people that were also in attendance at the dinner party that Jesus was at? These were people who appeared to close to the head of the household in terms of their proximity and their social status. These were people who were well off financially and appeared to be insiders with the head of the household. However, while they may have appeared to be insiders who were close to the head of the household, their rejection of the invitation to attend the dinner party revealed that their relationship with the head of the household was not a priority in their lives.

After the servant shares with the head of the household the excuses of those who had been invited, we see Jesus continue His parable by revealing the head of the household’s response in the second half of verse 21:

Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'  "And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' "And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"

The head of the household, furious that so many had rejected his gracious invitation to have dinner with him, commanded his servant to go back into the city to invite the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. In the culture of the day, these would have been outsiders who had little or no position, power, or influence.

After extending the invitation to those who were outsiders, the servant returns to his master to explain that there was still room for more to attend the dinner party. The head of the household, who desired that his dinner party be filled, responded by commanding his servant to go and invite even more people. This time, however, the servant was directed to travel far and wide so as to compel them to come to the dinner party.

Now the word compel here literally means to strongly urge. You see, the head of the household wanted as many people as possible to enjoy the dinner party. And the head of the household was willing to send his servant further and further away from home in order to extend the invitation. However, for those who thought that they were insiders who were close to the head of the household but rejected his invitation, they were not going to receive another invitation.

Now can you imagine what was running through the mind of the self righteous religious person who had wanted to make himself look spiritually mature? Jesus had just blown up all of his categories. The point that Jesus wanted to drive home to all the self righteous religious people at this dinner party was that God was extending an invitation to many people to be a part of His kingdom. The point that Jesus wanted to drive home to all of the self righteous religious people at this dinner party was that God was willing to pursue people who were far from God and would be viewed as outsiders so that He could strongly urge them to accept His invitation to be a part of His kingdom.

The point that Jesus wanted to drive home to all of the self righteous religious people at this dinner party was that God was on a mission to humbly and passionately invite not just a few privileged insiders, but many, many outsiders to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for.

And it is here, in these series of earthly stories designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to living on mission. And that timeless truth is this: Living on mission requires the humility and the passion to go to those who are far from God. In order to embrace and engage in the mission that we have been given by God to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal and reflect Jesus to others, we must have the humility and the passion to go to those who are far from God.

Living on mission requires that we humbly place others who are far from God before ourselves instead of looking down on others who are far from God. And living on mission requires that we passionately go to those who are far from God by loving, serving, and investing in their lives.

So here is a question to consider. Are you willing to humbly and passionately go to those around you who are far from God?