Jesus, Our Example for Outreach W/ Al Gemmen

This week we started a series on Madison Square's "four reaches". The focus of this sermon was the example of Jesus for outreach. We took a look at the story of the extraordinary healing at the pool of Bethesda recorded in John chapter 5. Here Jesus gives us 4 methods of outreach:

1.Jesus went to where the disabled, the sick, the marginalized were.
2.Jesus took note of the man’s condition.
3.Jesus took time to listen to him. 
4.Jesus brought healing into the man's life

As is common in Jesus' ministry he gives us practical ways to be his disciples in our context. We are challenged to live out what He showed us in the hurting and broken world in which we live. Jesus' example is for us to practice these methods outside of the walls of the church. We also see from the truth of scripture that WE are the broken and marginalized. Jesus comes to us, takes note of our sinful condition, identifies with humanity by becoming human, and finally offers us healing; the true free gift of Salvation. Have we heard Jesus' words? Have we received this gift of Salvation? Will we follow His example? 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. What a great opportunity to be here this morning. All that's going on in the world. I was writing in my journal about all the things, both near and far. And if you check the news first thing in the morning, your heart just gets racing. And yet the Lord has established this time for us to be here, for us to establish the foundation on him and for him to be the center. So we praise him for that. Jesus, our example for outreach. My name is Al Gammon. I'm the director of community living here at the square, and my mission field is the parish that's around the church. So that's where I spend the majority of my time also with working with some of the outreach stuff like Donut and Meltrotter and some of the other. And so much of that work for me is spending time on the ground and in the streets in the community. So it's building relationships with businesses and neighbors. And so to see like somewhere at the square, a lot of familiar faces come in is such a blessing, and it's fruitful for the work that we're doing. And we have a team that goes out about every week. And actually, I found out I don't see them here. Oh, I I do see them here. People are prayer walking outside of the times that we set. Yes, please. Yes, please. There there is it's open season and outreach. 2026. Open season. It's so encouraging, especially after uh an event like we had the other night and the ones we look forward to this month, that people were just talking amongst themselves and saying, you know what, let's get out there. Let's just pray when we can. So I really encourage you to continue doing that. Um I won't point you out. Um well done. Um as Pastor Andrea said, um Did I say that right? Andrea. Okay. That's your name. Good to see you. Thanks for coming.

unknown 2:18

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

We are doing, we're starting a series on the outreaches or the reaches, and you can see it really cool, and it's just a just a great visual display. And I get to talk about outreach, which is out that door. And I love talking about outreach because that's kind of been part of my life, and and my wife and I um and our ministry for the last like 17 years. So outreach really has a part of of my heart, and it's important to me. And obviously, it's important to the church, the purpose of the church, and it's important to Jesus as well. So that's going to be my focus for this time that we're together here. And so much of outreach is wondering what could be next. And when you say outreach and talk about evangelism and talking to people, I know that a lot of questions come up, like, how can we do it as this urban church here in this neighborhood? And I live, you know, however many miles away, how can it be done? Uh, what does it look like? How can I honor Christ in this? How can we reach out effectively to our neighbors, not just as a project, but as as we build relationships? Uh, how can I not make a fool of myself? Maybe you ask that. What if I don't have the answers to the objections that people might bring up? These are great questions and definitely worth considering. The passage we have today, we will see four strategies for outreach that Jesus gives us, and we will think about how we can apply them to our context, either in our parish or in the neighborhoods in which you might be living. I want to say the four. Um, I don't know if I have a slide for that, but the four are Jesus went to where the disabled, the sick, the marginalized were. Jesus took note of the man's condition, you'll see in this story. Jesus took time to listen to him, and Jesus brought healing into the man's life, and we'll we'll unpack those. So the passage before us is John 5, 1 through 15. We'll read it. If you're able, please stand for the reading of this word. Hear the word of the Lord, John chapter 5, 1 through 15. Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the sheep gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethseda, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, Do you want to get well? Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. Then Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your mat and walk. At once the man was cured. He picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leader said to the man who had been healed, It is a Sabbath. The law forbids you to carry your mat. But he replied, The man who made me well said to me, Pick up your mat and walk. So they asked him, Who is this fellow who told you to pick up pick it up and walk? The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made them well. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for this day. You've provided and created something so creative and so amazing that we get to be a part of it. We get to join you in what you're already doing. We get to look at the life of your son. He is our example, he is our model, he is our savior. So we pray for this. Word to pierce our hearts. Your word is sharp. Like a two-edged sword. Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so it's an incredible story, really, and there's like there's layers and then there's sub-layers, and then there's like internet layers. And I'll talk about that and why I'd say that. But the first thing that we see when Jesus offers these strategies is he went to where the disabled and the sick, the marginalized, were. Verse 2 through 4. Now they're in Jerusalem near the sheepgate, a pool, which in Aramaic is called the Seda, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. And right off the bat, you see Jesus as our example is walking in this setting. It's not a theoretical visitation by Jesus. He's actually in this place. This pool, we'll talk a little bit about the background, is not at the front gate of Jerusalem. It was not a place that if you were trying to maintain uh ceremonial cleansing cleanliness, you would not be there. You think about this as a describes who was there, a great number of disabled people used to lie. The blind, the lame, the paralyzed. This is where we find Jesus. And this is the kind of place that I think exists in every city. And maybe you can picture something here in Grand Rapids or the city that you live in where you drive through it or you walk through it. It's maybe not the ideal place that you want to be, but this is where you find Jesus going to. So just a little bit on the setting of what it looked like. Um this came just this just came from my study Bible. It said people often gathered and conversed near public baths and pools. This particular pool is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and archaeologists have discovered a Jerusalem pool with five porches, one on each side, and one through the middle, creating two pools. The pools are about 20 feet deep, and together they were about as large as a football field. So yeah, some of your Bibles might have pictures of this, but just two big squares, and then one down the middle, and then these porches and these colonnades all around the outside, and it gave people that couldn't move around a little bit of shade from the sun, and it gave them a place to be. But why did all these people gather at this particular pool? It was a certain group, right? It was those types of people who were at this pool. Well, I'll tell you why, and the key is in verse 7. In verse 7, it says, I've I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. Now in the NIV, there's a footnote and it says, Some from time to time, an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had. Isn't that interesting? And I remember, I I don't remember what exactly, but I remember like this animated Bible thing as a kid, and I remember this story, and this angel came down. This is this is all animated cartoon, and the wing of the angel touched the water and it stirred, and everybody tried to jump in the pool. That's what I remember. And so I'm like, I gotta look this up. So, yeah, like so why if you really want to get like truth of scripture, you just Google. Just Google it, dive in, like, no, this is not true, not true, but I did it anyway for all of you, as an example of what not to do. And so what I discovered was there was so much lore around the pool. Like, was the water actually stirred? Did people ever get healed? Nobody knew, but it was in there, and then one guy said, Well, most of it is just is just pagan. It it's Greco-Roman mythology that this happened. And then another guy said that, well, if you've ever been to like a hot springs, like that's what it was. And so every once in a while, like the the core of the earth would burp up, whatever, and then and then the water would get warm and it would stir just because of that. And then, I mean, as you know, truthfully, like sometimes mineral water has some healing properties, right? So, all this stuff, and I kept digging and I kept digging, and I realized I was getting distracted from the text. Because the point of this pool was not so much about that part, the point is about the people. Why were the people gathered there? They were longing for healing, they were longing to be set free from whatever malady they had, whatever sickness. And this is where we find Jesus. We always see Jesus going out to reach the marginalized, choosing to go to places that others might avoid. So when you when you think about this type of setting, does do any of these type of places pop up into your mind? I can think of some. But can you think of any in Grand Rapids or this area or wherever you live? Places where people are longing for hope. This is where we find Jesus. He goes to these places. Secondly, Jesus took note of the man's condition. Okay, verse five. One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. Uh, when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him uh this question, which we're gonna come back to. But it's so an invalid, it's it's kind of a general meaning, but based on the text, you can see later he says, get up, take your walk, take your man, walk. So we we can draw that conclusion from the text that he he couldn't walk, so he had some kind of condition there. But you see that Jesus engages personally with the person, with the man. You see from other texts, like I'm thinking of like uh Matthew 5, that Jesus sees the crowds. This this was uh the Sermon on the Mount, he right there. He sees the crowds. And in other areas, he he saw the crowds, and he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd. He took note of what was going on. And I'm just thinking about this pool, and I'm thinking, like, why do places like that exist where those people get pushed? Why is that a thing? All all over the world and all throughout history. Why do we embrace some and exclude others? Why is there racism? Why is there ethnic cleansing? Why are walls being built? So much of it is fear about what we don't know, but it's so common to our experience as humanity is people are excluded and they're set over here. Are we trying to protect what we've built? What's ours, our type of people? Well, if you like theology and you like to party, I would like to introduce you to a man named Miroslav Wolf. I did not make this up. Miris Miroslav Wolf is a professor of theology at Yale and the director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. Okay, this guy says going to the pool was a redemptive, just going to the pool was a redemptive act by Jesus. He's saying no, Jesus is saying no, these people are not outcasts, and there is hope for them. The man's condition is not defined by the setting, it was defined by the presence of Jesus. He says that spending time with the tax collectors and sinners of the outcasts of his day, and this is something I found so cool, he renames and remakes. Jesus made clean things out of truly unclean things, people caught in the snares of wrongdoing, people who, like tax collectors, harm others in order to benefit themselves, or people who, like prostitutes, debase themselves in order to survive, or people who, like most of us, are bent on losing their own souls in order to gain a bit of the world. Such people were forgiven and transformed. Jesus renames and remakes. What what do you call that? What is that word when somebody is re named and remade? This is redemption. This is what Jesus is in the business of doing. The mission of remaking impure people into pure people aimed at tearing down the barriers created by wrongdoing in the name of God, the Redeemer and Restorer of Life, whose love knows no boundaries, by the double strategy of renaming and remaking, Jesus condemned the world of exclusion, a world in which the innocent are labeled evil and driven out, and a world in which the guilty are not sought out and brought into communion. Isn't this the type of world that we want? Jesus knows that by embracing the outcasts, he underscored the sinfulness of the persons and systems that casted them out. By simply walking into this setting, he is saying this place is not lost and not forgotten and not out of the bounds of hope. Oh, Mirislav, I can't even say my own made-up names right. I'm so captivated by that concept. If you go back to the text, here's here's another verse that really stuck out to me. In verse 3. Here, a great number of disabled people used to lie. The blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. They used to lie. Why did they used to lie there? Is it because when Jesus showed up? Like people realize now there's no use to staying by the pool because true healing comes from this healer. Do you have any used to places in your life? Do you know of any? Do you know of any use to situations? I think of uh years ago we took a youth group on a mission trip in Mexico, and there was a um a place that they took us, and it was uh well the guy said this, he said, um, this used to be a brothel and a bar, and terrible things happen here. Now it's a church. It used to be this, but now it's that. Or, I don't know if you guys knew this, on the corner of Fair Street and Division, so it's right over here. There used to be a bar there. But now it's an embroidery shop. I think that's so funny because we, as an outreach team, we prayed for that building. And I mean, I'm just picturing like the devil, he's like, all right, we're gonna do a bar, and people because there was violence there a couple years ago. There was two people who lost their lives in a shoot in a shooting. We're gonna create a place of chaos and violence, and that's gonna be what we're gonna do with this. The devil says this, and then Jesus is like, no, I gotta I got a different idea. And like, like, bring her in, and this like old lady comes in with like a shopping cart full of yarn and like thimbles and stuff from like Field's fabrics. Hello! And she opens an embroidery shop. What this type of transformation should inform how we pray. Take the worst, expect the best, and see what God does with it. Wow. So funny. Uh when we walk the streets, and I'm I'm I'm speaking a lot of walking the streets because that's that's what we're called to do. Psalm 24, 1 says, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. We proclaim it up and down the streets. We've been on every street in the parish and prayed this. Jesus takes note of the man's condition and he looks at the greater condition of this uh pool. So, what hope is Jesus bringing the condition that you are in? What hope and restoration are you bringing to somebody else? Alright, next. Third, Jesus took time to listen to him. In verse 6. He saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, and he asked him, Do you want to get well? I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. So Jesus takes time to interact with man. He just knows, he doesn't just notice him, but he has a conversation. He asks him this crazy question. He says, Do you want to get well? Isn't that a bizarre question? I mean, it seems like Jesus knew about the situation. It says that he he he observed him and he learned. Like he knew he would have known. He'd been there for so long. 38 years. Why did he ask him that particular question? He asks him to get to the heart of the issue. What is the real issue? His answer, he says, he says, well, I'm trying to he says, uh, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. You think about that story in Mark 4 where the friends brought the guy and tore through the roof? Right? He didn't have that. Jesus said in that case, like, I see the faith of your friends. This guy didn't have that. He didn't even have that. He's in rough shape. Jesus knew why the man was there, but his listening gave dignity and challenge. And I I really wrestled with this question for myself because has Jesus ever asked you? Well, let's okay, let's back that up. Have you ever prayed for something? And then Jesus says, Well, do you want me to deliver you from that? Do you want to be healed from this? Because I found that in my own life, I I am sort of comfortable with the predictedness of some of my sin patterns. Like I kind of get it, they're a little bit comfortable, and it just sort of works. And when he says, Do you want to be healed? it dives into what's the real issue. And for this man in this in this story, his dependence had become on others. And then also on this pool. He took time to listen. He saw him, he learned. So if you're if you're thinking about outreach, um it's a process. You see people and then you learn about them. These are these are the two phrases that we find. In verse 6, he saw him and he learned. It is so important in outreach to listen to the people around you. It's so important to hear the perspective. And you like Christian community development, one of the foundations for that is community listening. And so you go into your community and you try to listen, and the risk is that you come with your own ideas and your own uh fixes for the problem. And that might be faster, but it doesn't get into the heart of the issue. And I thought of this situation that happened to us again, uh mission trip to Mexico. We went down there and we wanted to help, and so we said, Well, you know, we just want to do something, we want to paint or something. So we painted this building pink. All right, like everybody felt great, matching t-shirts, the whole thing. The next summer we went back, it was green. They didn't need it painted, they were just giving people stuff to do. That one example changed sort of my philosophy of listening to the community, how important it is. And if you really want to dive into this, um, the book When Helping Hurts unpacks a lot of this, you can check that out. But one of the issues with listening is there's barriers. There's barriers to us when things are unfamiliar. One of the barriers is fear. Ray Bakke, who is a pastor and professor uh in both Seattle and Chicago, he taught, he taught churches how to be more urban focused. He's got a lot of good material. But his research showed that most of the barriers are internal. So it's not necessarily the, as he puts it, the big bad neighborhood. It's it's our own internal wrestlings. And one of those, honestly, is fear. Fear is often based on false assumptions and not enough information. So if you're afraid of something, like in the neighborhood, ask yourself, is this real? Or do I just not have enough information? Another thing about fear, who knows what the Bible says about fear? Don't do it. Don't do it. But who's gonna break the cycle of fear? I got an idea. How about the people redeemed by the love and power of Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit? How about we break the cycle of spirit of fear? This book, The Art of Neighboring, says confronting our fears regarding our neighbors can be hard work, but it's worth it. There's a lot of peace that can come to your life when you know your neighbors, you can grow to be a person that isn't controlled by fear. A much better way to live. So fear can be a barrier. We don't have enough time. That's a big one. We're all busy, we all got stuff going on. The hard thing about this barrier is if you want to make an impact in your in this parish or in your neighborhood, you have to make choices about your schedule. That's just that's just kind of how it works. And I'll I'll tell you a little bit because we we're busy, we got four teenagers, and life is crazy. So I had just a couple ideas. But number one, you got to make the main thing the main thing. If the main thing is what Jesus says to go love your neighbors as yourself, you have to ask him, how can I do that when I'm so busy? He'll help you figure that out. Secondly, eliminate time stealers. So Michelangelo, who is an amazing sculptor and masterful ninja with the nunchucks, pause for laughter, said when he was sculpting David, his famous sculpt sculpt sculpture, out of marble, he said, All I'm doing is removing what is not art. Wow. Remove what is not art. So make the main thing the main thing. Eliminate time stealers. Be interruptible. John Orberg says love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing that hurried people don't have. Be interruptible. And fourthly, make it make make interaction part of your regular activities. This is a good one for people with lots of kids and you're busy, and um there's just a lot going on. So, John, do you eat eggs? You eat eggs, chicken eggs? Yeah. For example, go to Great Giant, buy some eggs. Do you go to the library? Take your kids to the library, go to the library at the corner of Hall of Madison. Do you need ice for summer at the square? Yes. Go to the party store down the street and buy ice. Walk places. You have to get tacos, one of my son's favorite things to do. Walk to the taco truck. These are just ways, very practical ways, to just make it part of your regular activities. Park two blocks away from the church and walk in. Fear is a barrier, not enough time can be a barrier, and then training. We'd love to offer you guys some training. Hopefully, um this fall, we can offer some things and just give you some tools. Or you can ask ChatGPT for a list of questions that aren't creepy to ask my neighbors. And ChatGPT will look into your soul and read your mind and give you what you want. So, Jesus, by listening to the man, led him to appropriate action. The fourth point is Jesus brought healing into the man's life. Verse 8. Then Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your mat and walk. At once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and walked. It was at this pool that Jesus performed a miracle showing that he is greater than any human disorder, and that superstition and religious folklore are foolish and a feeble substitution for faith in God. So Jesus saw the man he had a conversation with, and it led to action. Okay, this is the part that's so key. All of these things must lead to action. Because that's how the ushering of healing and hope that Jesus can be brought to someone's life. How let me let me give you an example from Matthew 25. You can follow me there if you want. Otherwise, I'm gonna read it. Why action, why healing, why action is so important. Matthew 25, starting at verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right, the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you are blessed by my father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. And now watch this, for I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The king will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me. Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes, and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you did not look after me. They will also answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger needing clothes, or sick in prison, and did not help you? And he will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Seeing an action is vitally important to the Lord. Vitally important, because inaction is equally as important. So the question for the church for us is how do we fit into this? Are people finding Jesus here, or are we offering them a really nice swimming pool? I've thought about this too. Like, do you think the guy who was healed ever recommended to anybody else to go to the pool for healing? Of course not. So I think about our community, I think about events like Summer at the Square, I think about relationships that several of you have, and I wonder, are people pointing out to others, you gotta go to Madison? Because that's where Jesus is. You'll find hope and healing there because that's where you'll find Jesus. And I wonder, too, are there people here today that have been sitting here for 38 years and are still wrestling with that question that Jesus gave us? Do you want me to heal you? So, how do you feel about Jesus' example for outreach? Is it overwhelming? Yeah, maybe. Is it encouraging? I hope so. I'm encouraged. But keep in mind, like this is sort of the springboard that Jesus gives us. This is the point of contact because at the end, when he ascended, you remember Matthew 28, the Great Commission, go into all the world, make disciples. And that's what so many of these reaches are about. These reaches are about making disciples. The first point of contact can't be the end goal. The end goal is to make disciples, teaching them to obey. All I have commanded you, and I will be with you to the very end of the age. So as we close, I want you to think about your self in the story of Jesus, and particularly with the four that I mentioned. Um Jesus went to the where the marginalized are. He took note of his condition. Jesus took time to listen, and Jesus brought healing into man's life. First, he came to us. Did he not? John 3 16, God sent. God loved the world, he gave his one and only son. He came to us. That no one, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. He took note of our condition. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We're all, the ground is level at the cross, as we've heard. We're all in need of a savior. He took time to listen. The most effective way he came to listen was John chapter 1. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. He walked the same dusty trails that we walk. He has the same temptations presented to us as we do, the struggles. He took time to listen, and he offered us healing. He offered us healing. It says in Romans, all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. This is what Jesus does for us, for me, for you. This is the motivation. Do you know that work? That's a question, my friends. Do you know the work of Jesus? Do you want to be healed? Do you know that work? Do you know that healing? And have you responded? What has been your response? Is there even now, as you're sitting here, is there something that is holding you back from doing this today? One of the things that we offer here at Madison is prayer servants at the end of the service, and they line up here. And if any of this you're struggling with, or any of this you've gotten resolution with, or you just want to tell somebody what God has done, we invite you to come up at the end of the service. And may this be the motivation that we have for outreach. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, you've given us a tremendous gift in your son. You did not leave us as orphans, but provided healing. Lord, you provided a way for us. So I pray that every person in this room has made that decision to follow you. To say, yes, we do long to be healed. So please teach me your ways, Father. Help me to follow you. And God, we pray this too for our community, that we would be ambassadors, that in this very day somebody might be compelled just to go, just to go to the store, pick up something you need for lunch, and say, Yeah, we're with Madison Church. We pray for you all. Or in your own context, we pray, Lord, that we would be motivated by your action, by what example you've given us. We pray this all in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, who's ready? We're gonna close with a song, but please rise for the blessing if you're able. It's a blessing from Hebrews chapter 13. I thought it was very fitting for this challenge, the outreach challenge. Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant, brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will. And may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.