Evangelism 101
John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”
28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.
36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
41 And many more believed because of his word.
42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
43 After the two days he departed for Galilee.
44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.)
45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.
What is the first truth are text reveals about Jesus? His humanity. Look at verse 31
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
We know from earlier in our chapter 4 that Jesus was weary from His travel. He was genuinely thirsty and hungry. Jesus needed to drink water and eat just like us.
6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
Tell Gracia Burnham’s story. Missionary to the Philippines. Her and her husband kidnapped by Islamic rebel forces. She recalled a time when she was really thirsty and struggling and it comforted her knowing that Her savior understood what she was going through. Jesus knew what it was like to be hungry and thirsty.
But there is also a difference between us and Jesus. Look at verses 32-34
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
What is the main purpose of food? To sustain us right? To give us energy to work and to survive right? Well Jesus tells His disciples. That there is something that sustains Him more than food and that energizes Him more than food. And what is that? Verse 34.
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
What does our text say about us? By nature we focus on the physical and not the spiritual. Jesus and the disciples are traveling and are hungry and thirsty. But they are hungering and thirsting after two completely different things aren’t they? The disciples leave Jesus to go find lunch, while Jesus is on a different mission. He wants to do the will of the Father. He wants to offer eternal life to a socially outcast Samaritan woman. While the disciples are busy finding food Jesus is busy doing the will of the Father. They were seeking food Jesus was seeking hurting souls.
35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.
36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
In conclusion, I want to step back and look at the keys Jesus gives us for evangelism.
The first key is to lead by The Holy Spirit.
4 And he had to pass through Samaria.
The Holy Spirit’s leadership is absolutely essential to one’s being an effective witness. Certainly Jesus could have remained in Judea, where He could have witnessed to many people.
But the Lord of the Harvest, who is The Holy Spirit, knows just when, where, and to whom we should share our faith. One should not mistake, however, of waiting for direction alone.
The Bible directs each believer to be ready for witness whenever asked as a matter of Christian duty. Effective witnessing is the result of prayerful obedience to The Word and sensitivity to The Holy Spirit.
~ Jack Hayford
Second key to Evangelism is to be humble.
He admit His need to the Samaritan woman. Jesus was legitimately thirsty. He needed a drink and He had no way of getting it for Himself
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
So the second key to evangelism is humility.
The third key is Jesus confronted sin.
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
We all have a choice to make. Sin or Jesus. We honestly can’t have both. If you want a relationship with Jesus, we must repent. We must not just confess our sin. We must turn from it. And not just turn from the sin, but turn to God. Look with me at Jeremiah
13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
We are prone to create our own Jesus that is okay with our sin. Our Jesus is more than okay with sharinh our hearts with our idols. Because He is love and Merciful. But if we don’t genuinely repent Jeremiah tells us we will be put to shame.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
So the choice is clear. Will you choose to forsake The Lord or seek Him?
11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
I like how James Hamilton Jr puts it in the ESV Expository Commentary
What sins do we prevaricate about? (prevaricate means “speak or act in an evasive way”) Jesus is not fooled. He sees, and He knows. He will confront us, and we will have to confront our sin.
We will either wallow in our sin or leave it behind as we drink the living water Jesus offers. The choice seems so obvious in the abstract but it is impossible without the regenerating grace of God.
To obey is to worship, and worship is to the soul what water is to the body.
Doing God’s will fills the body.
Transgressing God’ commands leaves us empty.
Doing God’s will makes us strong.
Sinning against the Lord makes us weak.
Doing God’s will increases optimism and joy.
Committing iniquity leaves us deflated and depressed.
Jesus is our inspiration and our example. It is inspiring to see how He engaged everyone according to the two great commandments. Never did He interact with people based on what He stood to gain from them.
Jesus models love for God and neighbor, leaving an example for those who follow Him - that we love everyone we encounter, seeking their best instead of what we can take from them.
~ James Hamilton Jr, ESV Expository Commentary
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