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The Road Less Traveled
John 4: 1-42
In his book In the Eye of the Storm, Max Lucado tells about something
that happened to him while he was in high school. Every year, he and his
family used to go fishing during spring break. But one year, his brother
and his mom couldn't go, so his dad let him invite a friend.
A family had decided to spend their vacation one year on a road trip. As
they were driving through a small town in Tennessee, the parents were
trying to convince their children how much better this trip was than a
trip to Disney. They were spending time together, and were able to see
things from the road that they would never see in Florida. The mom
started calling out the names of the places they were passing, Look
isn’t that a beautiful field?, See that post office, Can you see the
water in the creek, Look a Church, the sign says it’s a Church of
Christ…” About that time one of the children piped up from the back, “It
must be a franchise; we’ve got one of those in our town too.”
We are blessed to live in an area with churches all around us. But let
me ask you a question this morning, “Does the world need another Church
of Christ?” I want to get you thinking this morning.
I am committed to being a member of the Body of Christ. I have always
worked in our fellowship and never considered leaving our heritage. I am
committed to the Churches of Christ, but we have just spent 7 weeks
asking if we wanted the church to grow, and in moments of honesty, some
of us said no, I am not interested in wasting my time talking to people
about Jesus, and you are living that answer out in your life.
Some of us said yes, but somewhere else, I am happy like we are and I
don’t want to change that by telling someone about Christ.
And some of us said Yes, and I want it to grow here, but I have no clue
what to do or where to even start. Let me switch gears for a moment; do
you remember the poem by Robert Frost called “The Road Less Traveled”?
Part of it goes like this…
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no foot had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere in ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
Took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I believe that if we really want to make a difference in our community
then that is the type of Church we need to be. The world needs is a
church that is willing to take the road less traveled. And If New Hope
wants to make a difference in this world that’s the very road we will
take.
Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the
road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is
the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find
it.”
There is a narrow way, and only a few find it. It is the road less
traveled It is one that gets the good news out. We have been blessed
with good news to tell! But there are a lot of churches that believe in
the good news, they just don’t act on it. So I believe that the church
that shares the good news unfortunately has become the road less
traveled.
This is a challenge to us as a church. Are we going to be a church that
actually gets the good news out? Jesus who is our great example, shows
us how to share the good news in his dealings with the woman at the
well, in John 4.
The first approach Jesus took to get the good news out was to be moving,
not sitting around waiting.
In verse 4 we read that “He had to go through Samaria.”
Jesus took the road less traveled, literarily when he went to Samaria.
He did not choose a popular path, or the easy path. The text says that
He had to go through Samaria.
The culture and religion of Samaria were distinct from the rest of
Israel because the relationship between Jews and Samaritans was
definitely strained. The religious barriers had been built for over 400
years and only deepened through the centuries. It had gotten to the
point that the Jews would not pass through Samaria on the path between
Judea and Galilee. They would rather go east, cross the Jordan River, go
north or south, bypass Samaria, and then cross the Jordan again when
they neared their destination, it had gotten to that point. But Jesus
had to go through Samaria.
Jesus teaches us that we must be on the move. When He told us how to
make disciples, He said “Go, make disciples.” Not sit still until they
wander across you. Not stay where you are comfortable, hold on to the
truth, and they will come looking for you. But rather get up, get out,
and get going.
The next approach we must take to get the good news out is to be
attractive, not forceful. (7-26).
In verse 7 we read When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said
to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
Do you see how easy it was for Jesus to be evangelistic? Jesus just
starts a conversation with a surface concern and eventually gets to the
heart of the problem. With each interchange, Jesus brings this woman at
the well closer to faith. He just keeps moving to the deepest level of
this woman’s need—her need to be cleansed from sin.
It didn’t have to be water, or thirst. It could have been the weather,
her garment, or the political scene. Anything to get them talking, so
Jesus could talk about the most important thing. But all too often, we
get ourselves so worked up that we lack the patience to go through the
process.
Evangelism has become so hard in the church that, instead of living a
life where our relationship with God just flows from our life , we feel
that we have go to prepare for it like we are getting ready to do some
monumental task. I wonder if you and I would have been so patient and so
gentle with this woman. I wonder if we would have even noticed at all.
In 1992, a Los Angeles county parking control officer came upon a brown
Cadillac El Dorado illegally parked next to the curb on street sweeping
day. The officer dutifully wrote out a ticket. The officer completely
ignored the man seated behind the wheel of the car, as he reached in and
placed the thirty-dollar ticket on the dashboard.
The man in the car made no excuses. He didn’t argue or try to stop the
officer and for good reason. You see the driver was no longer alive. He
had been murdered in his car ten to twelve hours earlier but was sitting
up, seat belt on, slumped slightly forward with blood on his face.
The officer was so preoccupied with writing the ticket that he said he
didn’t even notice there was someone in the car. Instead, he wrote the
ticket, got back in his car, and drove off to the next illegally parked
car.
I have always felt the church is much better in dealing with law than
grace. We like the law because it is known and Grace is such a mystery.
Church if we aer going to take the road less travled we must focus on
people’s needs, not their offenses. What this world need the most is not
judgments; what they need most is our Savior.
We have got to learn to find common ground with the people God has put
into our path. This is what Jesus does, He begins on a common
subject—water, and goes from there. We have got to learn to do the same
thing, engage folks in conversation so we can lead them to the truth. We
set aside the cultural barriers and start talking to people where they
are, in terms they understand. Don’t force the issue, or bang them over
the head, but instead exercise patience and let the relationship
develop.
The third approach we must take to get the good news out is to be loving
not prejudging 27-30, 39-42.
Verse 27 says Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to
find him talking with a woman.
I can just imagine this scene. The disciples had gone to find some lunch
and they come back and find Jesus breaking all the rules. And they are
so shocked, they just stand there in silence.
The strictest rabbis of that day refused to allow other rabbis to greet
women in public. But it was more than that, because it is obvious that
she was immoral as well. The evidence is the time of day that she comes
because it is not the normal time that the women came. She was obviously
avoiding contact with others.
Note that there are three strikes against her.
She was a Samaritan.
She was sexually immoral.
And (no offense intended) she was a woman.
For Jesus to even talk to her was a radical gesture. But here is what we
learn from Jesus, we must see the person that God does. Remember that
Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.
People are needy. Those that are without Christ, live without meaning.
But God has a passion for people. God is so passionate about us, it is
as if He is ruthless, reckless and relentless to see us become His
children. That’s powerful. That’s real passion. Do you have that kind of
passion?
As we have seen over the past few weeks, we all would rather avoid those
that are not like us. We like living the Pharisee theory of holiness.
They stayed away from those that were sinners so to not get defiled. But
we were never called to separate ourselves from the world, but to live
in the world to be the salt and light.
It is our calling to give hope to those that are hurting, not judgment.
We need to set aside our prejudices and rearrange our priorities. We are
to remove our bias and indifference. And when we do, we will begin to
see people just like us that desperately need the truth.
The final approach we must take to get the good news out is to be
serving, not self-serving (31-38).
Look down in verse 34 where Jesus says “My food is to do the will of him
who sent me and to finish his work.”
Remember the disciples are preoccupied with lunch. They went into town
to find food and bring it back. But when they showed up He’s talking to
a woman! By the time they get their teeth back in their mouth, their
solution was rather simple, “Shut it down Jesus, the foods getting
cold.” But their out look was off. Have you heard the story about old
Sam and Jed.
Once there was a bounty of $5,000 being offered for each wolf captured
dead or alive. It turned Sam and Jed into fortune hunters. Day and night
they scoured the mountains and forests looking for their valuable prey.
Exhausted one night, they fell asleep dreaming of their potential
fortune. Suddenly, Sam awoke to see that they were surrounded by about
fifty wolves with flaming eyes and bared teeth. He nudged his friend and
said, “Jed, wake up! We’re rich!”
That’s just being an optimist, a glass half full type of thinking. It
might surprise you to know that Jesus was an optimist. When He saw this
woman, He saw opportunity. He had a whole town to win to the truth. In
the same way, we need to take advantage of the opportunities God gives
us. We have an urgent task that is even more urgent than eating.
But the point here is that Jesus is so committed to completing His work
that He refused to eat a meal when it interfered. But honestly
sometimes, we are more interested in meeting our own needs. We need to
get our priorities right, just as Jesus came to serve, so are we to
serve.
Jesus calls you today to serve by engaging others with the truth. He
came so that lost people would get unlost. You see, Jesus did not come
for the religious or the respectable. He did not come for Caucasian,
middle-class Americans. He is the Savior of the world. So why would we
hold back the truth?
Letting our light shine is a lifestyle.
It is far past time that we get committed to something besides our wants
and desires. I have searched the scriptures for years and I have come to
the conclusion that Jesus does not want my idea of how the church should
be run. As a matter of fact every time I open my bible, I am reminded
that God has a plan and I either live within that plan or I live outside
that plan. And there are too many of us that warm a pew every Sunday and
fool ourselves that we are being pleasing to God, while we live outside
His will.
Church we have got to get the good news out. We must get going, get on
the move; we are not to sit still but be a people that actively tell
others about Jesus.
We have got to love people as God does; He places people into your life
so that you will develop relationships so that they may know the truth.
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