ListenDaily – 16 November 2010: 4th in the series...be a gardener
Hello friends,
We continue our look at how Jesus talked about the Gospel with an outsider, today, from John 4:10-15:
Other than the whole "why is a Jewish guy talking to a Samaritan woman" thing, and without stopping to pay strict attention; I think this would appear to be a fairly benign conversation If you were a passerby. The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
Jesus just offered up the Great Gift -- the Living Water. Notice how He doesn't follow that with a sermon. He simply pauses and lets her speak; it's a bit confusing and she, understandably, has questions. "Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Now in words she will not completely understand, but that will cause desire, He continues, just two sentences. Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
And....The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
I know I keep repeating this -- but it is so important; I am not showing you this to get you to memorize some principles used by the Rabbi, the Teacher. So far, these Divine principles look something like this:
Go where people are.
Talk to them.
Be nice.
Let them talk.
Don't be offended by natural questions.
Tell them that once you got something good, and there's plenty to share.
Maybe they will jump right in. Maybe they will jump in later with someone else; maybe they never will. What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3: 5-9
A few more principles:
You will never be able to make a decision for someone else.
God is God.
You're not, but you can plant.
I'm not either, but I can water.
God will still be in charge of making it grow.
More tomorrow!
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Questions:
1. Questions? Comments?
2. What do you think of this approach?
3. Are you willing to try?
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May we trust God to be God. Jim
INTERESTING THOUGHT:
"No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument." Philip Yancey
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