Go and Love: Witnessing for Jesus Like the Samaritan Woman

Introduction

This Sunday at Toulouse International Church, Tibo [À COMPLÉTER : nom complet] is bringing the Word. He usually preaches in French, and this is the first time he has preached in English. For more than a year, he avoided Pastor Roger's invitation. This summer, he understood what was holding him back: fear. "In life, you have two paths: walk by fear or walk by faith." At the end of July, over a coffee, Pastor Roger asked him the question. This time, he said yes.

With his wife, he served full time for five or six years in Marseille, mostly among a Muslim population, supported in prayer by this Church. They arrived in Toulouse nearly two years ago, and they have just launched Campus Family, a ministry to international students. Toulouse International Church is, he says, "a Church of all nations and for all nations."

His message starts from the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and stops on a single verb: "go." He adds, "in parentheses," a second verb: love. Two people in the Gospels show what that means, the Samaritan woman and the man set free in the region of the Gerasenes.

Message outline

1. Go, and love: returning to the Great Commission

• The preacher goes back to the foundation, one of his favorite passages: "Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20). "This is our mission. This is our DNA."
• "When you decide to go, it means you decide to love." Roger and Stéphanie were living comfortably in the United States, surrounded by their family and their neighbors. They decided to come and serve this Church: not only to go, but to go and love.
• In Marseille, an American brother talked only about making disciples. The preacher was caught up in many activities: street evangelism, church planting. He had to admit that he was not making disciples. "We can do a lot of activities and miss the target."
• Making disciples is simple, but it costs. It is not only studying the Bible for an hour a week with someone: it is investing in a life, giving your time, your finances, loving and caring.

2. The Samaritan woman: an encounter at the well

• The woman comes to draw water at noon (John 4:6), at the hottest time, when nobody goes to the well. She probably carries shame, a broken life, difficult relationships. She wants to avoid everyone.
• She comes to get water and she receives living water. Jesus begins with a very simple conversation: "Give me a drink" (John 4:7). He does not begin with worship in Jerusalem or on the mountain.
• "Sometimes, as Christians, we go up to people and talk about the mark of the beast, about 666." Jesus, on the other hand, has a normal conversation. That is what we need to learn from him.
• Then Jesus receives a word of knowledge for her (John 4:16-18): she has had several husbands, and the man she lives with is not her husband. Something shifts inside her. She realizes that she is not talking to a mere man, but to the Messiah.
• The preacher sees in this a gift of the Holy Spirit at work. The Church prayed all summer in small groups for a revival, and he believes that revival comes with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. "Jesus can satisfy you today."

3. Two lies that keep us from going

• First lie: "I am not an evangelist, it is not my business." Is Matthew 28 for evangelists and missionaries, or for all of God's people? For everyone. Saying "I am not called" is an excuse: "Let me play the piano instead."
• The body needs the gifts of the Spirit and the five ministries, the evangelist included, to see revival. But the evangelist is not someone far from the Church: he is on the inside, he equips the saints, he trains and encourages all believers to go and love people.
• Second lie: "I am not trained. I have not studied apologetics, I have not read my Bible enough. I will go later." The Samaritan woman had no master's degree in theology. She was ready for one reason only: she had met Jesus Christ, her Savior.
• "Knowledge is good, don't get me wrong." We all need to grow in the Scriptures and in meditation on the Word. But saying "I can't go because I am missing this" amounts to looking for an excuse. "The people here, in Toulouse, need you."

4. "Come, see": the power of a testimony

• "So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city" (John 4:28). The preacher loves this detail. It was hot, she was tired, the water was vital. But at that moment, her water pot no longer matters: what counts was carrying the good news to others.
• An hour earlier, she was hiding. Now she is speaking to many people, perhaps in a public square. She does not say anything very deep, but something very effective: "Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?" (John 4:29). "That should be our message."
• She shares her story with Jesus. Everyone in the Church has their own story with him. "We are not asking you to understand the whole book of Revelation or the book of Daniel. We are asking you to share what Jesus has done in your life."
• You can say it to a colleague, to a friend: "I was addicted to alcohol, to drugs. Jesus set me free. Come and see."
• "From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified" (John 4:39). Her testimony became a bridge. She did not have all the answers, but telling what Jesus has done for you is enough.

5. The man set free: Jesus goes where nobody goes

• In the region of the Gerasenes (Mark 5:1-5), a possessed man lives among the tombs, under severe spiritual oppression, completely isolated from society. "We have all seen people like that, living outside the city."
• The Samaritans were despised, and people did not want to have a relationship with them. This man was rejected by everyone. Every time, Jesus comes where nobody comes. "The Church should go where nobody goes."
• Many people arrive in Toulouse from different countries. "They are in Toulouse, but at the same time outside Toulouse." We do not look at them, we do not take time for them. The Church should react like Jesus.
• Jesus sets this man free. The preacher, who himself went through deliverance after his new birth, encourages us not to be ashamed of it: "We can believe in Jesus, walk with Jesus, and still be in prison on the inside." He recommends the Soul Care training offered by the Church on Tuesday evenings.
• The Church is also called to practice healing. This summer, a friend who works in construction, suffering from a serious back problem, received prayer at the Church. On Monday, he called the preacher: "I am totally healed." This friend, very Cartesian, would not have said it if it were not true. "This is the normal life of our Christianity."

6. "Go to your house": discipleship means obeying

• The man who was set free wants to follow Jesus, to be trained, equipped. But "He didn't allow him, but said to him, 'Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you'" (Mark 5:19). He goes off to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus has done, and everyone is amazed (Mark 5:20).
• The preacher imagines saying to Jesus: "Don't send him now, it's too early, he must be trained first." We often do the same thing with new converts full of fire: "Wait, sit down, learn." And we put out the fire.
• "True discipleship is going." We thought discipleship meant sitting, learning and doing nothing. Yet Matthew 28 says: "teaching them to observe." You can have a head full of Scripture and never obey.
• Why him? Because everyone in that region knew him. Nobody could have more impact than he could. It was the same for the Samaritan woman, whose life the whole city knew.
• We all have a responsibility toward our family, our neighbors, our colleagues. "The Lord has placed you here." Being a missionary does not always mean leaving for Africa or the Middle East. Sometimes Jesus simply tells you: go to your house, to your family, to your workplace, to your university, to your friends.

7. Sent, not because we are perfect

• Two ordinary people, two broken people, who knew shame, pain, demons, suffering. Both met Jesus, and from the very first second they understood what they had to do.
• The question from the American brother in Marseille kept the preacher awake for weeks: "Am I making disciples?" He invites everyone to ask the Lord this question. "If the answer is no, that's okay. But what are you going to do now?"
• All around us, people are struggling with addiction, depression, divorce, drugs, broken families. They need the love of Jesus Christ, but they cannot hear if nobody comes. We have to give up our comfort, our fears, our plans, our priorities.
• "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?" (Romans 10:14-15). "You are sent. I am sent."
• "We don't go because we are perfect. We go because we have met the one who is perfect."
• With emotion, the preacher recalls a baby with a serious heart condition, for whom a network of believers prayed and fasted all summer. The doctors said he would not survive his first breath. He was born on Wednesday, he cried, he breathed, and he went to be with the Lord on Friday morning. In two days, he gathered in prayer believers from France, Belgium, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria. That same evening, his mother spoke for two hours, by video call, about the goodness and faithfulness of God. "You too can have an impact."

Key takeaways

• The Great Commission in Matthew 28 concerns all of God's people. To go is to decide to love.
• You do not need to be trained to witness: the Samaritan woman simply said "Come, see," and many believed because of her testimony.
• Jesus goes where nobody goes. The Church is called to reach those who live on the margins, including those who arrive from other countries.
• True discipleship is not only about accumulating knowledge: it is about obeying and going, starting at home.
• We don't go because we are perfect, but because we have met the one who is perfect.

Personal application

1. Which excuse most often keeps you from going to others: "I am not an evangelist" or "I am not trained enough"?
2. How would you tell, in a few sentences, what Jesus has done in your life, as the Samaritan woman did?
3. Who around you lives "in Toulouse but outside Toulouse," in your city, your neighborhood or your workplace, and is waiting for someone to take time for them?
4. If you ask the Lord today, "Am I making disciples?", what does he answer you?
5. What comfort, what fear or what priority do you need to give up in order to go and love this week?

Verses cited

• Matthew 28:19-20
• John 4:6-18
• John 4:28-29
• John 4:39
• Mark 5:1-20
• Romans 10:14-15

Frequently asked questions

Do you have to be an evangelist to obey the Great Commission?

No. The preacher reminds us that Matthew 28 is addressed to all of God's people, not only to evangelists or missionaries. The evangelist has his place inside the Church: he trains, equips and encourages all believers to go and love people.

What does the Samaritan woman teach us about witnessing?

She had no training and no theology degree. She had just met Jesus, and she simply said: "Come, see a man who told me everything that I did" (John 4:29). Many Samaritans believed because of her testimony (John 4:39). Telling what Jesus has done for you is enough.

Why does Jesus send the man who was set free in Mark 5 back home?

The man wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus said to him: "Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you" (Mark 5:19). Everyone knew him in the region, and nobody could have more impact than he could. For the preacher, true discipleship is not only sitting and learning: it is obeying and going.