With all the activities going on yesterday surrounding evening services, prayer meeting, hospital visits and choir practice, I was unable to find the time to get my word of encouragement up on the blog! I also forgot to send out an email encouragement to everyone! While I hope you all can forgive me, the busyness of my day actually reminded me of the tremendous challenge involved in a project like the one we are undertaking. We are calling on people to fast (at interval times), pray, and meditate on Scripture consistently for 21 days. That’s a long time! All of us are busy and have lives that tend to get in the way of a project like this. In short, it’s easy for us to miss a day…or perhaps even two. So what do we do when our initial commitment has been “broken?” I say, get right back up and pick up where you left off! In the context of our “Find it Here” 21-day emphasis, just know that if you miss or forget a day of prayer, you need not give up altogether. In fact, upon realization of your missing a day, pick right back up with your commitment and continue pressing on in prayer, fasting, meditation, and preparation for sharing Christ with your lost family and friends.
What’s our other option? To quit altogether every time we face an obstacle? I say no. Press on.
So yesterday, you should have read through John 4 and meditated upon Christ, the soul-winner as you read the exchange between Jesus and the woman at the well. Is there really any better picture in all of the New Testament of what compassionate gospel engagement should look like? If there were any passage worthy of our meditation as we prepare to share Jesus with loved ones, this one is it! Every aspect of Jesus’ behavior deserves our emulation in this passage. A couple of observations worthy of noting about Jesus’ engagement in John 4 (and there are TONS of things that could be said here, but let me limit my comments to only a few!):
*First, Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is a classic example of what some call “cold-call” evangelism. Now I understand that there is a tremendous emphasis today upon the relational aspect of evangelism (i.e. building a relationship first, then sharing Jesus at an appropriate and comfortable time). I also affirm the value of relational evangelism. However, we must not discount the possibility that often in His sovereignty, God arranges situations in which you might have an open door opportunity to share Christ with someone whom you have only just met. In such a case, the relationship is not necessarily there, but the opportunity for sharing the gospel is. In such cases, we must see these opportunities as divine appointments and be faithful to share Christ with the opportunity we have. If we neglect these opportunities by reasoning that we lack the “relational depth” to bring up Christ, we will miss countless opportunities to share Jesus every day. Clearly, Jesus cut through the relational red-tape and did that which showed the greatest possible love for this woman whom he had just met when he addressed her greatest need, namely her need for forgiveness and salvation. Don’t believe or perpetuate the lie that people will only listen to you when they know you. Thousands can give testimony to the fact that an effective witness can be shared on a city bus, in a grocery-store line, or at a sporting event with an otherwise total stranger.
Secondly, we see in various places in this passage that Jesus doesn’t allow himself to be side-tracked with trifling questions or debates but instead goes straight to the heart of gospel-witness by confronting the woman with the message of deliverance. She asks questions at various points that could have led Jesus down the path of pointless debate and contention (i.e. verses 9, 12a, 19-20), but Jesus remains focused on addressing the key issues of sin and redemption by directing the conversation back to Himself and His redemptive work. Often, it is tempting for us to “chase rabbits” and get involved in pointless debates when attempting to share Christ. In an effort to avoid spiritual confrontation or deflect questions of eternal significance, our lost friends and family will often want to change the subject and distract us from the central message of redemption. Have you ever been sharing the gospel and had a lost person ask a question like “why does God allow earthquakes to happen?” or “what happens to those who never hear the gospel?” Now please understand, I am a strong believer that there is definitely a time and place for Christian apologetics. I firmly believe that Christians should have answers for those questions and there are few things more valuable (in my opinion) than investing in a few good apologetics texts and being equipped to debate the merits of the Christian faith (1 Peter 3:15). However, when these questions appear in the context of an initial gospel witness, they are often little more than a thinly-veiled attempt to change the subject and avoid confronting the central truths of the gospel. Don’t allow this to happen. Tell your friends that “these are good questions, and I would like to address them later, but for now, I really want to know what you think about your own relationship with Jesus Christ.” Stay focused. Stay on course. Point others to Christ.
Finally, this passage provides us with an amazing example of a truth long-known by those who study evangelism and church life, namely that newly born-again believers are our greatest source of evangelistic passion. This woman immediately (v. 28-30) runs into town and begins telling others about Jesus. New believers have a tendency to do this, and we must learn to harness that energy for the glory of God so that their testimony and passion burn brightly before days of difficulty set in. We are sometimes afraid to let new converts share Christ for fear that they might not “get it right.” We fear that their lack of theological training and time in church disqualifies them from witnessing to those friends and family who are still under their influence. I say that when we do this, we fail to capitalize on one of the greatest resources available to us in the church. The woman at the well was changed and she wanted her friends and neighbors to know! Her faithful witness led to a tremendous revival in her town! Oh that it would be so today. Imagine if, at the end of our 21-day emphasis, dozens of our friends and family professed faith in Christ and left our church with a zeal and passion to tell everyone they knew about their new faith! We would be wise to encourage this and to continue to encourage new believers to burn brightly and share with zeal. Otherwise, they’ll become dull and disinterested in sharing their faith just like many who occupy pews today.
Well, for day 5, I pray that you will read, meditate, and pray for the lost. Just a thought about chapter 5, take special notice of verse 18. The Jews of Jesus’ day knew full well that He was claiming to be divine. So much did they understand this that they wanted to kill him for it. For those skeptics and outright liberals today who deny that Jesus ever claimed to be the divine Son of God, I would say that they need to reconsider the exchange in John 5:1-18. Furthermore, verse 24 is one of the greatest evangelistic passages in all of John’s gospel. Memorize it. Understand it. Use it. For in it, Jesus states very simply what it means to have faith in Him and the eternal consequences of that choice. He states “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Let’s make sure this Easter that our loved ones “hear” and pray that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, they “believe” so that they may obtain “eternal life” and escape everlasting “judgment.” Let’s pray for these things together!
