Reaching out to unbelievers is a hard thing to do. It's made even more
difficult when those unbelievers are hostile and angry.

However we as
Christians are called upon to reach out to them in an attempt to share the
Word of God with them.

We cannot and should not force them to listen.

And we
do not have the ability to change their hearts. That's God's job. Rich
Carlson's sermon looks at some ways Jesus reached out to unbelievers even
when it angered others around Him. It's a nice reminder of Jesus's love for
us.

May God bless,
Carl
website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/

---

REACHING OUT
by Rich Carlson

Let us look at a model Jesus gave us that we are to emulate. John 4:1-6
gives the setting:

When therefore 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 departed 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. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His
journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

Jesus and his disciples have been ministering in Judea, and the word is
getting out to the Pharisees that in fact his disciples are baptizing more
people than John the Baptist is. That is of concern to the Pharisees. Jesus
realizes that, and he doesn't want to have a confrontation over this issue
now, so he decides to go back to Galilee.

MAKE CONTACT WITH THE LOST

In verse 4 it says, "And He had to pass through Samaria." Now we can see by
looking at a map that if you were in Judea, you would naturally go through
Samaria to get to Galilee. Yet if you were a Jew in those days, what you
would do if you wanted to make this trip was go to the east, cross the
Jordan River, then go north until you were opposite Galilee, then cross the
river and go back. Thus you would completely avoid Samaria. To me, if you're
walking, short is good. Why would you turn a three-day trip into a six-day
trip if you didn't have to?

The hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans had grown over a long period
of time. The Assyrians had captured the northern kingdom, and some of the
conquered Israelites had remained there. But they had intermarried with the
incoming foreigners, and therefore, as far as the rest of the Jews were
concerned, they
had committed an unforgivable crime. That represented the very epitome of
compromise. The Jews saw the resulting race, the Samaritans, as unclean. In
fact the Samaritans had even built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, which
is just south of Jacob's well, and therefore they were worshiping in the
wrong place. To the Jews the Samaritans were despicable and to be avoided at
all cost. And because of the way the Jews treated the Samaritans, even
attacking them at times, the Samaritans hated the Jews as well.

Yet Jesus, as a rabbi (a teacher of the law), decides that he needs to go
through Samaria. He decides to go against the social norm and the devout
religious traditions of his day, and to purposefully make contact with
sinners. So he leaves Judea and takes the short route through the city of
Sychar with his disciples. A three-day walk with Jesus-I wish I'd been
there.

In verse 6 we see a wonderful picture of Jesus' humanity. It says it's the
sixth hour. In Jewish time that means noon. In Roman time it means six
o'clock in the
evening. I really think it's probably six o'clock in the evening, and Jesus
is tired and thirsty. So he sits down by the well. The disciples have gone
into the city to get food.

I believe that Jesus needed to go through Samaria in order to teach
something to his disciples, and we have something to learn from this picture
as well. The first principle is very clear: Make contact. If we're going to
introduce people to Jesus Christ, we need to get to know them. We must spend
time with non-Christians. This might well mean breaking the traditions of
the religious establishment. This might mean breaking with some prejudice
that you and I might have. This might mean stepping out of our comfort zone.
What's the best way to catch a cold? Contact with people. What's the best
way to spread a rumor? Contact. What's the best way to make friends?
Contact. What's the best way to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of him
in every place? You have to make contact with people, to befriend and get to
know non-Christians.

But quite frankly, as I look at the body of Christ, at times I'm very
fearful. I think we may be going in the opposite direction. We have
Christian yellow pages,
Christian radio, Christian television, Christian clubs, and Christian
colleges. In this valley alone, we have over one hundred Christian schools.
I'm not saying that these things in themselves are bad, but what I fear is
that we'll do something just like what we did with the inner city: leave the
community and avoid opportunities to meet people who need to know Jesus. But
here Jesus is making specific provision to come face-to-face with people who
don't know him.In John 17:15,18 Jesus prays, "I do not ask Thee to take them
[the disciples] out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one...As
Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world."
The Lord understands the tension. We are to be in the world, yet not of it.
But in our efforts to keep ourselves from being of the world, we are
forgetting to be in it.

Jesus says in Mark 1:17, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of
men." The first topic you discuss when you're going to go fishing is where
the fish are. I like to talk to fishermen, because they always have the
inside track about that topic. Sometimes you have to travel some distance,
and when you get there the fish may be in very inconvenient places. You
might even be in danger of falling in trying to fish for them, particularly
if you're a fly fisherman.

When I was in high school the church I went to taught me to fish in the rain
barrel. That is, you brought the people to church, and then they gave an
invitation every week inviting people to come to know Jesus. There's nothing
wrong with that. But I soon found that it was very hard to talk people into
coming to church. And when they were there, they weren't very comfortable.
So if I was successful in getting the fish into the rain barrel, they never
bit in there. We need to be stepping out, reaching out, because we catch
fish someplace else, not at church.

Let's look at the preceding events in this book. In chapter 1 John the
Baptist announces that the coming of the Messiah is imminent. Then he
announces that he is there. In chapter 2 Jesus goes to a wedding, and his
mother tells him there is no more wine. He has some water jars filled up
with water, and the head waiter says, "This is better wine than what we
started with." In chapter 3 a ruler of the Jews sneaks in at night and Jesus
talks to him. Now in chapter 4 Jesus is going to talk to a Samaritan woman
in public as a rabbi.

In Matthew 9:13 he says, "'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I
did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Did you ever consider that
Jesus was probably invited to parties because people liked him? He was good
with people. He loved them, he never put them down, he never showed them
disdain, and he could engage them in the most interesting conversations.
Matthew himself knew that. This tax collector got Jesus into trouble right
away. Jesus went to Matthew's party, and the word got out that he was
talking with publicans and sinners. Jesus says that's whom he came to save.
So the first principle we see is to make contact.

REACH OUT IN LOVE

Now let's see what we learn from verses 7-26. This encounter that surprises
everyone else doesn't surprise Jesus at all. He had it in mind the entire
time.

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. The
Samaritan woman therefore 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.) 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?"
Jesus
answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water shall
thirst
again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall 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." He
said to her, "Go, call you husband, and come here." The woman answered
and
said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well 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." 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." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when
neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the
Father.
You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know;
for
salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the
true
worshipers shall 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." 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." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am
He."

It's evening, time to draw water. Why isn't there anyone else there?
Evidently this well is south of the city between Mount Gerizim and Mount
Ebal in the valley. There is another well in the city, and most people go
there. But this woman is not welcome at that well. She probably is of
notorious character, scoffed at by her neighbors, ridiculed by other women
in the village, and avoided by any decent man who wants to retain his
reputation. But now in verse 7 Jesus shows he cares deeply. In spite of the
facts that she is a Samaritan and a woman, he is a Jewish rabbi and a man,
and they are in public, his heart goes out to her. "Give me a drink," he
says. Just those few words leap over all the boundaries that are there, and
start a conversation that leads to life. Can you imagine the woman's shock?
In verse 9 she evidently recognizes him as a Jew, probably from his accent,
perhaps from his dress. She asks him, "What on earth are you doing speaking
to me, a Samaritan, a woman, in public? What do you want?"

Jesus answers, "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." He uses the metaphor of living water, trying to get the woman to
understand, but she misses it. He's trying to bring the conversation around
to the spiritual, but she's focused on the physical. Even down in verse 15
she's still thinking it would be nice not to have to go out there and draw
water all the time. She demonstrates her spiritual condition-dead. She
doesn't understand what he is talking about. Jesus knows her problem, which
is our problem and everyone's problem: She needs God, the source of living
water, and she has been looking in all the wrong places. She has been
looking for a relationship with a man that will solve everything. Somehow
Jesus knows that, and he also knows it isn't working.

What does he mean by living water? Look at John 7:37-39: "'If any man is
thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the
Scripture said, "From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living
water."' But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him
were to receive...." Jesus wants to give this woman life. He wants her to
experience his Spirit's taking residence in her heart and making her a new
creation. He wants her to be born again.

In verse 16 he says to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." Jesus
now jumps the values barrier. He's getting a little bolder. He desires to
confront her choices.

Then in verses 17-18 he confronts her with the facts, and she begins to see
that maybe she is talking to someone special. They are standing in a valley
between two mountains where the forefathers of both the Samaritans and the
Jews taught and worshiped. Now she immediately turns the conversation, and
our interpretive
options are either that she is trying to get a conversation started about
religious differences to deflect him, or she is trying to get clarity. From
his response, it appears she is doing the latter. Seeing her concern now
about worship, in verses 21-24 he teaches her the truth. He says, "Trust me.
Yes, salvation is from the Jews, and I'm Jewish. But in reality, it is not
at all important where one worships. Let me tell you what the Father is
seeking: He wants men and women to worship him on the inside, in their
innermost being. He wants them to worship him in truth, in the new reality
of a changed life."

In verse 25 she says, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called
Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." You see,
she has some
knowledge. She has remembered something she has been taught, but it hasn't
affected her lifestyle. And then in verse 26 Jesus says this to her: "I who
speak to you am He." Can you hear her breath stop? She is face-to-face with
the Messiah, Jesus.

In the setting we learned to make contact. What should we learn from the
encounter? John 3:16 is a very familiar verse: "For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life." Jesus is living out that principle in this
passage. He is modeling for us how to reach out in love. He doesn't first
try to change her living situation, her background, or her lifestyle. His
compassion causes him to see her desperate loneliness and personal despair.
He understands the death she is experiencing and he cares. "The wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord"
(Romans 6:23). He wants her to have that gift.

At times I am fearful that we forget that people are lost, that though they
are putting on a good front, they are in desperate need. We have the gift of
God, don't we? He has made us part of the process of demonstrating that love
to others, hasn't he?.

We need exactly what this woman experienced: to encounter Jesus again,
face-to-face, and understand his love once again. That's what I'm personally
praying for. We need the fresh breath of the Spirit blowing in our face the
way a cold morning sea breeze hits you in the face, makes you catch your
breath, and wakes you up. I'm convicted at this point. John introduced this
book with these words (1:14): "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth."

We need to behold him. We need to look in his face and understand his
essence.

We need to

"...Look full in his wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace."

BRING OTHERS TO JESUS

What do we learn from the responses in verses 27-42?

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He had been
speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do
You
speak with her?" 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. In the meanwhile the disciples were requesting Him,
saying,
"Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not
know
about." The disciples therefore 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. 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;
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."

And from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the
word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have
done." So when the Samaritans came to Him, they were asking Him to stay
with
them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of
His
word; and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of
what
you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that
this
One is indeed the Savior of the world."

There are three responses in this section: the disciples', the woman's, and
the Samaritans'. Let's look at the woman's response first (verses 28-29).
Notice her
actions: she leaves something, she goes, and she says something. Verse 28 is
interesting. What does she leave? Not Jesus, but her waterpot. She has every
intention of coming back for her waterpot. But the importance of the
physical has been superseded by the importance of the spiritual. She needs
to go and tell
somebody. To whom does she go? Only to those who will listen; the text tells
us the men listen. That makes sense, doesn't it? And did you notice all the
theological training and Bible study courses and equipping that she is able
to gain between the well and the city? What does she say? Simply, "Come and
see a
man who told me all the things that I have done. This is not the Christ, is
it?"

It's a wonderful response.

Observe how the Samaritans respond (verse 39): "And from that city many of
the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who
testified, "He told me all the things that I have done." And then what
happens? They ask him to stay two more days. "And many more believed because
of His word; and they were saying to the woman, 'It is no longer because of
what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that
this One is indeed the Savior of the world.'" See what happens? They
themselves personally encounter Jesus face-to-face. They recognize him as
the Savior of the world and they individually respond to him.

But for our purposes the response of the disciples is even more telling
(verse 27): "...His disciples came, and they marveled that He had been
speaking with a
woman...." They think to themselves, Why is he doing that, in public? This
is a Samaritan woman. What's going on? We just went to the city and got him
food, didn't we? Why would he be speaking with her? But they're beginning to
get the point that he is a little different, because they don't have the
courage to confront him directly. In verse 31 they tell him they have gotten
the food, and they ask him to eat. But he is evidently preoccupied with
something else.

As the woman was, and as we are sometimes, the disciples are earthbound
here. They are seeing life only on the surface. They mistakenly thought that
the purpose of this was to get to Galilee in three days instead of six. And
all of a sudden they're finding out that they're going to spend two more
days right where they are. They think life is presently about eating and
drinking. They think Jesus is standing there because he needs to drink. But
he says, "I have food that you don't know about." Verse 33 confirms that
they are completely missing the point: "No one brought Him anything to eat,
did he?" They are still earthbound, unlike the woman who has now departed.

So in verses 34-38 Jesus tries to explain his perspective. He says, "My food
[in other words, what really nourishes me, what really keeps me going] is
doing the will of the Father." What is the will of the Father? In John 6:40
he says what the Father's will is: "For this is the will of My Father, that
every one who beholds the Son, and believes in Him, may have eternal life;
and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." He is telling the
disciples, "What I am focused on is doing the will of my Father. That's the
whole reason I exist on earth. I don't want to lose one of his precious
flock. I want them to behold the Son. I want them to look at me, see me
face-to-face, consider me, discover whom I am, and trust me for eternal
life. And I'm looking forward to raising them up on the last day and
presenting them to the Father. That's what my life is about, disciples. How
about you?"

They are standing in a place that is known for its corn crops. They had a
saying: "Four months and then you will harvest." What Jesus is saying is,
"Don't miss the point. The physical is really demonstrating the spiritual."
Verse 39 confirms what happens. The Samaritans are coming out from the
village. They have responded to a woman who said, "Come and see." They're
coming out in twos and threes, men and women, in their off-white robes,
walking across the field. What does Jesus say? "Look into the fields-they're
white for harvest. It's not about corn, it's about people. It's not about
traveling, it's about making contact, and reaching out in love. That's what
life is about, that's why I've come." He's telling them to get ready. In
verses 36-38 he further explains: "Look, some have been sowing...." For both
the Samaritans and the Jews there is a lot of history in this place. A lot
of seeds have been planted here. They have been told that Messiah is coming.
Some of those prophets who have gone before have watered. Now the Samaritans
discover that Jesus is here, so he's saying to his disciples, "Please
participate with me in the harvest, and let the sowers and the reapers
rejoice together. Wake up! Don't miss the opportunity."

Jesus is saying the same thing to us today. "Please look into the fields.
They're white for harvest. And be careful where you look. The ones you're
looking for may be those you would never suspect: the rejected ones, the
outcasts, the ones who have no hope, the ones you thought would never come,
the ones you thought you would never approach. They are thirsty for answers,
they are hurting and bleeding, looking for salvation in all the wrong
places." Some of us are asked to sow seeds. Some of us are asked to water.
But some of us are asked to reap those men and women for whom Jesus died.
Jesus is saying to us, "Please love them the same way I do."

What do we have to do? The same thing the woman of Samaria did after she met
Jesus. "Come and see-isn't this the Christ?" she said. The model directs us
to
bring others. Look at John 1:40: "One of the two who heard John speak, and
followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found first his own
brother
Simon, and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which translated means
Christ). He brought him to Jesus." Make contact, reach out in love, and
bring
others. That is the model of Jesus. That's the normal pattern. That's why
the Billy Graham Association calls the encouragement for us to do the same
Operation
Andrew.

I've been quite convicted that I have spent so much of my time ministering,
both here and overseas, that I've forgotten about the folks in my own
neighborhood,
even folks across the street. My wife and I have been convicted to pray. All
of a sudden the woman across the street wants to walk with my wife in the
morning.
And all of a sudden her daughter came to me and said, "Rich, would you help
me with my mathematics this summer? I'm not doing well." All of a sudden
I've had a
chance to share the name of our plumber with them. We're still praying.

If you have been thinking of someone in particular, write their name down.
Then take the names that come to mind and pray about these people. Pray
about how you can make contact with them, reach out to them in love, and
bring them to Jesus. Let's remind each other to pray, and support each other
in prayer. And then
let's rejoice together when people start coming to Jesus and meeting him
face-to-face.

The Scripture quotations in this message are all taken from New American
Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Copyright© 1995 Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church.

This data file is the sole property of Discovery Publishing, a ministry of
Peninsula Bible Church. It may be copied only in its entirety for
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products offered for sale, without the written permission of Discovery
Publishing. Requests for permission should be made in writing and addressed
to Discovery Publishing, 3505 Middlefield Rd. Palo Alto, CA. 94306-3695.

Reaching out to unbelievers is a hard thing to do. It's made even more
difficult when those unbelievers are hostile and angry. However we as
Christians are called upon to reach out to them in an attempt to
share the Word of God with them. We cannot and should not force them
to listen. And we do not have the ability to change their hearts.
That's God's job. Rich Carlson's sermon looks at some ways Jesus
reached out to unbelievers even when it angered others around Him.
It's a nice reminder of Jesus's love for us.