Connecting with People

Fulfilling the Great Commission: Connecting with People

Welcome! Today we continue our series on “Fulfilling the Great Commission.” As I mentioned last week, this series is loosely based on a book called “What Jesus Started” by Steve Addison. Today’s message is entitled “Connecting with People”. Last week we considered God’s heart towards the lost – He loves the lost and has great compassion for them, and as Christ followers we too should have great compassion for the lost. We looked at the Great Commission in Matthew 28, and how disciples are by definition people who make disciples, and thus, as Christ followers, we too should reach out to the lost with the gospel, and as they come to faith in Christ, we should continue to help them grow and become people who themselves can help others come to faith and grow. In this way, the effects of the gospel multiply like wildfire, and this is what we see in the gospels, in Acts, and in the New Testament letters. We also talked about the “Satanic lullaby” in America that encourages believers to “sleep” spiritually and not be about the work of the Great Commission. Shockingly, an Iranian Christian woman living for a short time in the United States wanted to go back to Iran facing potentially severe persecution and possibly even death, because she preferred these threats to the sleepiness she felt in America. How do you feel today? I pray that we are not spiritually sleepy.

The first step to becoming disciples who make disciples is to connect with people. The Gospels and Acts are filled with examples of Jesus and His disciples connecting with people. Let’s first look at what Jesus did.

We know that Jesus called together His initial group of disciples. I would like to point out that this was an activity that was not unique to Jesus but was also done by other prominent rabbis (teachers) at that time. But what Jesus did next was radically different from what the other rabbis did. The other rabbis would meet each day at a fixed location, usually an isolated place, free of distractions and other people, and there they would discuss the scriptures or applications of scripture. Sometimes the listeners would write down what the rabbi would say; other times they would be more interactive. Sometimes two rabbis would meet to discuss or debate a specific topic, and each of their respective disciples would sit together and listen to the conversation, again sometimes writing down what was said.

What Jesus did was totally unlike this. We see the pattern of Jesus’ methods all the way back in Mark chapter 1, verses 35 to 39:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for Him, and when they found Him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. – Mark 1:35-39

Every place Jesus took His disciples, every interaction He had with someone, had a double purpose: first, to show people throughout Israel who He was, His authority, His power, His righteousness, His goodness, and His love; and second, to train His disciples. Jesus did not want to produce twelve rabbis. He wanted to produce twelve people who multiplied their faith.

I am not opposed to seminaries, but it has struck me that the typical seminary model is a lot more like the methods of the rabbis than the methods of Jesus. There is definitely a place for theological training, but Jesus did theological training too. He just did it on the road.

A great example that demonstrates Jesus’ double purposes can be found with His interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, verses 1 to 42. You can read the passage while I talk about it in your Bible; I am only going to put up a few of the verses.

Jesus and His disciples were going from Jerusalem to Galilee. Unlike the route Jews typically took, which avoided Samaria but did so at the cost of adding significant time to the journey, Jesus took them the direct route through Samaria. What did this teach the disciples? That Samaritans are just people and it is OK to travel in their land.

Jesus sent the disciples to get food. While they were gone, Jesus sat down by the well. It was the heat of the day. Now it was expected that you would bring your own means of drawing water and carrying water at a well – typically a leather bucket for drawing out the water, a cup for drinking, and a clay pot for carrying the water to your home. Presumably the disciples had carried the water-drawing bucket with them, so Jesus had nothing to use to draw out the water.

Often a well was some ways outside a village. Getting water was a significant chore often left to the women, who would normally avoid the heat of the day and go early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Even today, this is true in some parts of the world. Even worse, many villages have no well at all, and the people can only get water from poor sources that is contaminated by disease and pollution. There is a Christian-based charity whose mission is solely to dig wells and set up pumps for villages that have no such source of water and to train the locals to keep the pumps operational.  This charity was borne out of one man’s experience serving with Mercy Ships, which provides medical services that would be otherwise unavailable and specializes in treating various deformities, especially facial deformities. I have talked about Mercy Ships in our series on honor and shame given two summers ago.

Back to our story: Because women tended to go for water first thing in the morning or last thing before dark, water gathering would tend to be a social event, and the women would come at the same time. For this reason, a well such as this would normally be unattended at midday. But if a particular woman was viewed with extreme dishonor, then to avoid being shamed further, she might choose to come when nobody was around, even putting up with extreme heat to do so.  

Such a woman came to the well. The cultural expectation would be that Jesus would withdraw some distance away. Once he did so, the woman could draw her water. But Jesus didn’t move.

According to Addison, in the culture of that time, not only would a well-respected Jewish person never talk to a woman he didn’t know in public, he also wouldn’t even talk to his wife in public.  So imagine the shock this woman had when Jesus spoke to her, saying, “Will you give me a drink?”

He wasn’t just a man; based on His attire, He was a Jewish man. Not only did Jewish men never speak publicly to women, they never, ever spoke to Samaritans – instead, they looked on them with scorn. As you might expect, Samaritans therefore didn’t like the Jews very much either, seeing them as bigoted and hateful. But not only did Jesus speak to her, He asked her for a drink. This would require that He actually use her bucket and cup! Jews would also never ever eat or drink with non-Jews! Jesus’ request broke so many cultural mandates that it was almost beyond comprehension!

As they talked, Jesus let her lead. The conversation progressively showed her that before her was not only a Jew, but a rabbi, and not only a rabbi, but a prophet, and not only a prophet, but the Messiah, the prophesied Savior, the Christ. He demonstrated His power by revealing that He knew her life story even though she never told Him anything about herself. He demonstrated His love for her by not treating her as everyone else treated her, with contempt, but with respect and concern for her ultimate well-being.

The disciples came back to the well with food they had purchased, and the woman, leaving her water pot at the well, ran back into town to tell everyone to see this amazing person who “told me everything I ever did.” Jesus did not stop her but let her go. In fact, this was His plan! How do I know this? Because Jesus could have gone into town Himself, or He could have instructed the disciples to go into town and relay a message to come to the well (and not just purchase food). But instead He sent the woman. Why? Because even in this brief encounter, the woman was changed. She believed in Jesus. And despite her shame, despite her terrible social status, she now wanted the town to have the benefits of believing in Jesus too. Even this fact, that she now loved and cared for the people that had constantly shamed her, was a radical change that everyone would see immediately. And this is what happened; they came to Jesus, and:

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days. And because of His words many more became believers. – John 4:39-41

In this brief encounter, Jesus not only helped many Samaritan people come to have faith in Jesus, but He also demonstrated many things to His disciples. Even while waiting for the townspeople to come, Jesus refused the food the disciples had bought, saying His “food” is to do the will of Him who sent Him and finish the work. He also said at that point in time,

Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” – John 4:35-38

What did Jesus mean by this? He meant that God had already orchestrated the events that were about to transpire – that many of the townspeople would come to faith. He was even using the sinful past of this “shameful” person to be the initial instrument by which salvation would come. As they were waiting, the town was listening to this changed woman – who previously avoided the people because they were mean to her, who out of her new love for these people, wanted them to also benefit from being with Jesus. Jesus was showing them that when they go out to make disciples, they too should look for a person that God can use to reach their own people.

Note that Jesus sent the disciples away so that He and the woman could have their conversation. If the disciples had been present, she probably would have avoided them altogether and waited to get water until a later time when they were gone. Also, Jesus would have no longer needed to ask her for water, because He would have had the means to get it for Himself.

How else did this encounter train the disciples? It showed them that if they find a person who is open to God, a seeker, they should invest their time with this person, no matter who it was, rich or poor, honored or shamed, male or female, even Jewish or non-Jewish. Jesus instructed both the twelve and the seventy-two, before they were sent out in pairs, to look for a “person of peace” and stay with them if they were receptive. (See Matthew 10, Luke 9, and Luke 10.)

What was a person of peace? Someone who was open to their visit and open to spiritual conversation. Although Jesus did not meet the woman at her home, she otherwise displayed the character qualities of a person of peace. She was spiritually open, interested in worship, and remained fascinated and attentive during Jesus’ conversation with her. Even after Jesus pointed out her sinful life, she did not run away in anger, but remained open to what He was saying.

As they stayed with the Samaritans for several days, Jesus also taught the disciples to put aside their prejudices and to even respect these people as new brothers and sisters of the faith. Jews and Samaritans had been enemies for many hundreds of years. It is hard for us, who do not have multi-generational enemies, to understand just how radical and revolutionary this experience really was. But it is similar to how the Iranians believers, as I mentioned last week, now have such love for the Jewish people that they are willing to lay down their lives for them.

Turn to Mark 5 starting at verse 1 and going to verse 20 and you can see an additional example. Again, I am not going to read the entire account, but you can look at it while I summarize. In the region of the Gerasenes, Jesus came to a seemingly crazy man. He is described as follows:

This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. – Mark 5:3-4

The man was demon-possessed. Jesus sent the demons out of him. The man was then back in his own mind and wanted nothing more than to go with Jesus and the disciples. But Jesus sent him to go back to his own people and testify to what Jesus had done for him. This man did so and the passage says that those he told were amazed. We can assume that many came to faith in Christ.

This man did not look like a person of peace at the beginning of the account. But once he was set free, he was like a different man entirely. He was now receptive to Jesus, and again, the perfect person to reach his own people, because they had last seen him in his terrible possessed state.

Can a drug addict, alcoholic, or a person with mental problems be a person of peace? Absolutely, if he comes to faith and then relies on the Holy Spirit to overcome his addiction. When Timmy Powers, a former pastor of this church, went to Ukraine as a missionary, one of his most fruitful efforts involved a homeless person who was an addict who came to faith in Christ. Not only did this person find healing in Christ and reach out to fellow addicts, he then opened a Christian treatment center that led many others to Christ. After some years, this center sent out people who, through the center, had been saved and set free from their addictions to start additional treatment centers. True multiplication was occurring!

The New Testament is filled with examples of persons of peace coming to faith and going on to bring others to faith in Christ. After Christ died and rose from the dead, the disciples watched God jumpstart the church with the events at Pentecost. God then allowed persecution to occur, which had the effect of spreading the “fire of faith” over a much greater area. People told other people who told other people, and the Book of Acts tells how the gospel indeed spread from Jerusalem, to Samaria, to even the “ends of the earth.”

An example of God using a person of peace in the Book of Acts is the account of Cornelius, which you can read about in Acts 10 verses 1 to 48 (the whole chapter) while I talk about the story. Here is how it begins:

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. – Acts 10:1-2

Cornelius was not Jewish in the sense of being a circumcised convert to Judaism, but he believed in one God, the God of the Old Testament. God gave him a very specific vision in which he was told to send people to go to a certain place to meet Peter, whom he had never met or even heard of, and bring Peter to his home. Meanwhile, God gave Peter a vision that was symbolic for the fact that God was now opening up salvation through faith in Jesus to those who were not Jews at all. The vision included instructions to follow the men who came for him. Cornelius, as a person of peace, gathered those to whom he had influence, family and friends, and Peter told them all the good news about Jesus Christ. They all came to faith in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Just has Jesus had done with the Samaritans, Peter stayed with the disciples for several days, teaching them about Jesus and building them up in their new faith. Although the passage is not specific about what Jesus taught them, I am certain that it included the concepts behind Jesus’ statements that the fields were white for harvest and that they were now to be a part of the Great Commission, to pass on their faith and instruct those who came to faith to do the same.

One more example, from Acts 16, verses 13 to 15:

On the Sabbath we [Paul and his companions] went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us. – Acts 16:13-15

Lydia, like Cornelius, was a person with a good reputation rather than a bad one. She too was a worshiper of God but not Jewish. Again, not only Lydia but her entire household came to faith in Christ. And by opening up her home, she also opened herself up to being discipled so that she too could become a disciple that made disciples.

With all these examples, let us now ask the question: How do we connect with people so that they become disciples who multiply their faith?

The first step is to go to people. I realize that for some of you this is a difficult step, because you simply have a very small circle of people that you already know. In my job I am very fortunate because my circle of acquaintances is large. Clemson is a large place, and my job gives me constant opportunities to develop friendships with faculty and other staff (and there are always new hires to become friends with). I also have spiritual conversations with some students, although of course I need to be careful when initiating such conversations. Faculty Commons gives me additional opportunities.

Even this past week, God helped me to enter into a spiritual conversation with a new staff person that I occasionally work with. It turns out she is already a believer, and we had a mutually encouraging conversation. I am praying for the opportunity to go deeper with another new hire who I do not think is a believer.  

If your circle of acquaintances is small, I encourage you to pray that God would show you how to expand your circle. Maybe you could join a club that has interests common to an interest of yours? Maybe you could meet your neighbors? Maybe God will give you an opportunity when going to a shopping mall to talk to someone who is sitting alone on a bench. The possibilities are endless. Pray that God would show you new opportunities to meet people.

I do want to mention another opportunity – to go out sharing with Brian. Brian can take you either to campus or to an apartment (or even in your neighborhood). This kind of “cold turkey evangelism” is clearly demonstrated in the Bible (and in fact is what we have seen over and over today in the passages we have studied) and can lead to finding people who are receptive to the gospel. Hopefully one of the themes you see in these examples I have given today is that God is always working behind the scenes, preparing people. Our job is to pray and go, trusting God to orchestrate divine appointments for His glory. I know that Brian would love nothing more than to go on such an adventure with you!

The next question is how to move conversations towards spiritual things once you do have contacts. This particularly applies to working with people you already have relationships with. Again, prayer is essential. For me, a key thing is to try to move to deeper topics, struggles people have, fears, and so on. It is essential to make sure you really care about the person, so pray that you would have Jesus’ heart towards them. Once people really see the depth of your love and care for them, they will be more comfortable to open up. Remember Romans 12:15 – rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. Don’t try to fix people’s problems but point them to Jesus who can help them. Offer to pray for them. Tell them about how Jesus helps you in similar situations. In all things keep praying and be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

What if such an opportunity presents itself but you then get afraid and don’t take things in a spiritual direction? First of all, you are not the only person that has done this – I still do it sometimes. Don’t beat yourself up but follow up next time you see them. The door has been opened and you can still go through it! Sometimes it can be very effective to be extremely open and honest in your follow up. You can apologize and tell them that you did want to talk about it but it involves your faith in God, and you were afraid to bring it up because you weren’t sure how they would respond. The person will either tell you they don’t want to hear about faith (which means they aren’t ready and weren’t ready then either) or that it’s OK, which means that the door is now open wide!

One tip I can give you: raise your flag early in a relationship. People don’t use this phrase anymore, but it was a common Christian phrase around a hundred years ago. To raise your flag is to reveal that you are a Christian. I like this terminology. I think of a ship coming across another ship in the open seas, back in the days of pirates. Until the ship raised its flag, you didn’t know if you were looking at a friend or an enemy.

My experience is that it is far easier to raise your flag early in an encounter with a new person than later. The longer you wait, the more awkward and difficult it seems to become. So I strongly encourage you to find ways to “raise your flag” super early in a relationship, with even the first conversation, if possible. You don’t have to share the gospel in detail the first time you meet someone, although sometimes even that might be totally appropriate. But mention church, or prayer, or faith, or God, or use the term “blessed” or something like this and keep doing this every time you get together with the person. Each time say a little more and raise the flag higher. Some people “see” better than others, so over time, become more and more clear about your faith, and become more and more specific about Jesus. Some people won’t see the flag at all until you really lay things out.

Praying for someone in their presence is a powerful way to raise your flag, and it is generally easy to do. In my experience, it’s the saying “Can I pray for you?” that is the harder part. Once you actually start addressing God, my experience is that God’s peace comes over me, and I simply address to God the need that has been expressed. This approach also shows people by example something quite radical – the fact that someone can actually have a personal loving relationship with God.

Is it OK to invite people to church as an evangelistic tool? It depends on the person and the circumstances. Early in my journey from atheism to faith I would have never been willing to go to church.  Again, pray that God would give you wisdom.

If there is a theme here, it is to pray. I encourage you to share the people you are praying for with someone else so that two people are praying. I cannot understate how important I believe prayer was to my coming to faith in Christ. I went from not caring about spiritual things to becoming hungry to read the Bible. That radical transformation in my thinking began once people were praying for me. My closest friend gave me the exactly perfect materials at exactly the right times, and there was no way he could have known what to give me without prayer. His first book was the Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom. This true first-person account shows a Christian non-Jewish family giving up everything, even life itself, for the sake of protecting Jews in the Nazi occupation of much of Europe. There was no way for the person who gave it to me to know just how perfect it was for me at just that time. Only God could have revealed that to him. So pray and pray and pray!

If I could give you a second main takeaway, it would be to pray bigger – not just for the opportunity to meet new people that might be open to the gospel, and not just for salvation of the people you do become acquainted with, but that God would lead you to a person of peace, someone who would, after coming to faith in Christ, in turn lead their whole group of family and friends to Christ as well.

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. – 2 Tim. 2:2

I have heard someone in the national Faculty Commons organization refer to this verse as 2 Timothy two two two two two two… because it goes on and on and on to person after person after person.

After hearing all this you may be thinking, this all sounds great, but I’ve heard a lot of it before, and I just don’t see how I can meet new people. Or you may be thinking, I just don’t have time to do this – I’m a homeschooling mom, or my job sucks out every once of my energy, or I am so busy with school that I barely have time to sleep, let alone do something like this, or I just am no good at this, or I’m afraid, or I just don’t want to; my heart is just cold.

If I have described you, then again, I am going to ask you to do those two things that I already told you to do. Number one, pray. I mean, really pray! Make this your number one prayer. Pray it multiple times every day. If you feel like you first need to confess your resistant heart, do so. But then pray that God would both show you what to do and create divine opportunities for you. I promise you that God will answer this prayer! In His timing and in His way. But He will answer it!  And number two, tell someone what it is that is impeding you so that the two of you can pray together.

I want to close today with a video. This is one of the guest speakers at one of Kanye’s concerts. I consider myself a teacher of the Word, but this guy is definitely a preacher of the Word! I encourage you to do everything he tells the people there to do. Stand up when he says stand up. And do the hand motions! Also, as he talks from Mark 5, as we have done today (but a different part of the chapter), read the passage as he talks. After this video, which runs about nine minutes, I’ll wrap up with prayer.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0N6vRYcTk&feature=youtu.be
Video starting at 1:02:00 and ending at 1:11:41]

Let’s pray. Lord, when it comes to becoming disciples that make disciples, we admit that we feel unqualified, afraid, and even resistant. Change us! Conform us to Your will! Help us to watch for You, walk with You, and wait on You as You work in us and in our circumstances so that we can become what is impossible for us in our own strength, disciples that produce multiplying disciples. In Jesus Name, Amen!