Jan 31 2021 - John 4 - How do we Welcome Outcasts without Approving of Sin?
30th January 2021
Last week we started looking at the Samaritan woman at the well – and how Jesus reached out to outcasts. After the service, we had a Zoom fellowship time and a great question came up – a conversation about this: As we reach out and welcome and receive those who are outcasts, how do we do that without appearing to approve of sin?
I've thought this myself at different times.
Jesus, in speaking with the woman at the well, has already received and welcomed her, and has already elevated her status. As we look at her in v. 16, we know she is a sinner – and Jesus accepts her.
John 4:16 16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." 17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
Now, we are going to break this down in a few minutes, but there are many stories in the gospels where Jesus reaches out to outcasts, sinners – and receives them and elevates their social status.
What can we learn as we ask that question – how can we welcome, receive, and elevate without approving of the sin?
Each time Jesus welcomes a sinner, He does things differently.
So first, there is not a correct answer – no one size fits all – to this question.
In the majority of the stories, He first welcomes and receives the outcast before ever talking about sin – even if he does.
Now there is one comment that comes up often as we talk about this question.
People say, You have to love the person, and hate the sin.
I have said that – and it is true – and it is helpful to us, as Christians, to remind us that this person – this sinner – is a person who is created in the image of God and is dearly loved by God.
The second way it is helpful is it reminds US that we are sinners just as much as the person we view as the outcast and there is really no difference.
That statement also has some negative connotations. Partly, as we say that, Love the sinner, hate the sin – it is a way to justify our own Pharisaic attitudes of superiority.
What we could be saying is – my sins are minor and few, compared to this person’s sins.
Although this statement may be helpful, if we give this impression to the outcast person we are trying to minister to, welcome and receive – if they have the impression that we ‘love the sinner and hate the sin’ Most are not going to consider what you consider to be sin as sin themselves – what they hear is, you hate ME when you say, ‘love the sinner, hate my sin.’ – and we think, No, no, no, - but that is exactly what they will be hearing.
Even though there is help there, I think Jesus shows us a better way.
Hate the sin, but love the sinner?
The woman caught in adultery: John 8:3-11 – Jesus is teaching a small crowd and the religious leaders bring this woman out and say – this woman was caught in adultery – the very act – Moses’ law says we should stone her – what say you? They are not really concerned that this woman was caught in adultery – what they are really concerned about is what Jesus is going to say about the Law. Jesus is mixing up with all these sinners and unclean people and they are trying to deal with it as they see fit. But Jesus bends down and writes in the sand and says – let the one without sin cast the first stone. And they all leave. All the ‘insiders’ are driven out – and all that is left is Jesus and this woman ‘in the center of the crowd’ – she is brought in as an insider. Jesus receives and welcomes her. And then He turns to her after they have all left – is there no one here to condemn you? They have all left – neither do I condemn you.
Receives and welcomes the outcast.
Offers forgiveness. – takes away her shame.
Tells her to “sin no more”. – and so, He does address it. Don’t jump there first! It is AFTER He has received, welcomed, lifted up, taken away guilt and shame – no condemnation. Go and live differently.
Zacchaeus: Luke 19: 1-10 – was a tax collector – and the worst of sinners – Chief! Zacchaeus – come down – I’m going to your house today! He welcomes him. He goes and eats with him – and says nothing about his sin.
Receives and welcomes the outcast.
Says nothing about sin.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Now we will look at that - it plays an important role.
Woman anoints Jesus’ feet: Luke 7: 36-50 – A Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner – and this sinner – this immoral woman – comes and anoints Jesus’ feet – if He knew what kind of woman this was, He wouldn’t allow this! The Pharisee says. Jesus tells the story of two with debt – one great – one small – both are forgiven, who loves more? The one forgiven more. – And He turns, and what He does – He received and welcomed the woman – He did not cast her off like the Pharisee would have wanted him to. AND then – He praises her and condemns the pharisee! He offers forgiveness. She who sins are many – loved much.
Jesus equalizes the Pharisee and the woman.
Receives and welcomes the outcast.
Praises the woman.
Offers forgiveness.
Jesus Equalized the woman caught in adultery with the religious leaders. Jesus equalized Zacchaeus with the leaders.
This is just an incredible word picture – driving out the insider – the religious leaders and welcomes the outsider.
Sometimes we act like a person’s sin prevents them from being welcomed and received and forgiven.
In these stories, they don’t have to clean all that up – stop doing all that – to receive forgiveness.
No, they are welcomed – and if Jesus sees a need to clear up their sin, He deals with that.
The fourth story is Jesus with this woman at the well. And I don’t intend to sanitize what Jesus is doing – but in doing this, in talking to her – When the disciples come – it appears that He approves of her lifestyle. That is what the disciples thought.
Never let fear of others thinking you are approving of sin hinder you from welcoming and receiving the outcast.
Jesus is not afraid of what people think. They continually accused him of eating and fellowshipping with sinners.
When Jesus asked about ‘all her husbands’ – and the only sin we know for sure in this – is that the man she is living with now is not her husband – what happened to the others, we don’t know. You can’t imagine that all of them died. Maybe she is a serial adulterer. We don’t know.
I don’t think Jesus is there in bringing this out trying to shame or condemn her. The story bears it out – He is trying to help her understand where her life has gone so that He can restore, renew, and help her find hope.
He never tells her to repent. He has already received and welcomed her and there were no qualifications on that. He is going to help restore her.
So the NT doesn’t give an answer to that question – how do we minister to an outcast without approving of sin – it does give some instruction on when (and if) it is necessary to address sin.
First – we need to recognize the log in our own eye – Matthew 7:1-5
Recognize the log in your own eye: Matthew 7: 1-5
That means before we address sin in someone else’s life, we need to acknowledge we have just as much sin. If we are like, They are so much worse than me, I’m glad I’m not like that – you will only make things worse.
People need restored and rescued: Galatians 6:1 - someone caught or trapped in sin.
Luke 19:10 – came to seek and save the lost
We need to see people as lost, enslaved, captured.
Back when we had cats – we had a family of skunks under our shed. So we got a guy out to set a trap. We thought we saw two skunks in the traps – and we realized one of them – Gracie – was our little cat.
She was freaked – when I set her free – she bolted, and we didn’t see her for two days.
When she was in the trap, I didn’t think – what a shameful cat! You should be ashamed of what you did – instead, I just wanted to free her. And that is how Jesus is with the woman at the well – He just wants to restore her – to free her.
Along with this – it is really easy at times, and we have talked about this at times – acceptable and unacceptable sins – of course, the acceptable sins are the ones that I do and the unacceptable sins are the ones that YOU do! (or, OTHERS do – not you specifically!).
But, what has happened, is some sins have become acceptable for Christians and we don’t even know or believe it is sin. We might look at others and say – of course THAT is sin – but they might look at you and say the same! There are things that are sin that I don’t believe or don’t know are sin.
Let me give you one across the Christian world – we live in a celebrity culture – rock stars, famous people – politicians, rich people – all put on a celebrity worship. The culture, in one sense, worships these people. And there is a celebrity Christian culture – singers, speakers – people put on a pedestal by many Christians – lifted up – called to give addresses and say prayers – and it is a form of idolatry – but it is an acceptable sin – because it is what we do. We do this with pastors and speakers and worship leaders – and we give them a platform – and we allow them to speak for the rest of us! And we think, this is how we serve God – this is how we make Him known! But it is our way of worshiping Yahweh on the altars of Baal - and we see nothing wrong with it!
Next they get into a theological discussion – we may look at this next week:
John 4:19 20 "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Continuing
John 4:27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?”
The disciples were amazed. Not like, the Browns are playing in the Superbowl – like, wow – this is perplexed, dumbfounded – speechless – so much that they are afraid to ask Him what he is doing.
28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.
This woman, other than Jesus and John the Baptist, is the first person to proclaim the gospel in the gospel of John. She is proclaiming it at the level she understands it. When we consider reaching out to outsiders – to the outcast – we think we need to create a ministry – homeless, or whatever.
This is putting the cart before the horse. A ministry to the outcasts needs to be natural and organic.
First – we used to call them Divine Appointments – God giving opportunities during your daily routine.
Jesus was thirsty – He stopped at a well to get something to drink – and from that boring circumstance of His life, amazing stuff was about to happen.
Two Christmases ago, we did our normal tradition – we have no kids in town, so we have a tradition of going to a movie on Christmas morning with a group who are in the same circumstances.
This time, the Ferences went with us – I think it was StarWars – and the second part – going to Starbucks. – and the person serving us at Starbucks was transgender. Cindy was paying – she had a gift card – could you tell me how much is on this – I am a teacher and students give these to me – and this guy starts to tell his story – he just graduated in education and is looking for a job and others are uncomfortable and =unwilling to hire – and Cindy talked to him – here are some things you might consider…
And he thanked her with this heartfelt thankfulness – and I think he was really thanking her for treating him like a person. Because probably all his life – and I don’t understand and I can’t imagine the pain and shame and confusion of this person’s life – and how many times this person was not treated as a person – a person made in the image of God who is loved by God.
And your daily routine will bring you in contact with many different types of folks – and you will have opportunities to receive outcasts.
Second – based on your own experience – the best to welcome outcasts are other outcasts. The ways you have been an outsider will be the place you can best serve from! Maybe your family had alcohol and addiction issues – you might be uniquely qualified to help those with alcohol and addiction issues.
Third we need to develop a heart of compassion
That – to really love these folks and not to make them part of our church growth strategy, but to really love them can only come from God and we need to ask God to help us. We need to get personally involved. Start small – you can’t expect to reach all the homeless people in Akron. But look for one person you can welcome and receive. Maybe volunteer somewhere – and as your heart of compassion grows – get a few others to form a team to do it together. Then, as you become fruitful – come to the church and others can get involved – in a natural, organic way of producing a ministry to the outcast.
John 4:35 35 "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest '? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
The disciples are going to see this harvest – from this conversation of Jesus talking with the woman at the well:
John 4:39 39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done." 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world."
This woman spoke – then Jesus spoke – and a revival took place in this town.
They are not putting her down. “You had your story of faith – and now we have our own faith story – and we are all in this together.”
My hope – that we as individuals – could learn to personally welcome outcasts, sinners, in our context – and then to allow God to truly transform who we are.
Let’s pray.
Lord, teach us – help us – view people as You do. As created in Your image – broken, messed up as we all are – logs in our eyes – but loved, fully, completely by God. Forgiven because of the cross. There is nothing we did to deserve Your love – You gave it to us freely – help us to give to others freely – and not to make them earn or deserve it – because they can’t. You want them to have it freely. In Your name we pray. Amen.
May God bless you and may God give you opportunities this week.