BaptistWay Bible Series for September 16: Engage in holistic witness for Jesus

 • Download a powerpoint resource for this lesson here.

It was a Wednesday in Houston. For a full-time college student and part-time youth pastor, it meant the lecture in the class “Jesus and His Teaching” at 8 a.m. was going to be magically transformed into a Bible study for 25 teenagers at 6 p.m.

I never will forget it. At 4:30 p.m., I should have been polishing my final Bible study thoughts and grabbing some chips, popcorn and soft drinks for the youth. Instead, he walked into my office. “Jonathan, there is a man here to see you who needs some help.”  

The pastor was out for the week, so this 19-year-old youth pastor with zero experience in pastoral ministry had the responsibility of community benevolence. When I looked up, a frail man of about 60 years stood before me, wearing a pink dress.  Yes, you read that right.
 
I don’t know that I ever have laid eyes on a human being that looked more frail and exhausted. The blotchy red lipstick, applied several days ago, was not a good compliment to the pink dress. But then, the green pumps and tattered yellow purse in tow didn’t make for a fine ensemble either. To this day, I am certain the heavy rouge was, in part, meant to cover up the severely sunken cheek bones. The smell was horrifying. It was a sad sight—far beyond the confusion of heavy makeup caked over a salt-and-pepper, stubbly beard.

Now that I have been in ministry 21 years, I’ve learned with about 80 percent accuracy how to discern real need over the swindlers who walk into a church office—the bigger the story the bigger the lie. The faster they talk, the bigger the lie: “I live in Dallas and I’m unemployed, but my aunt lives in Victoria, and I have a potential job there, but we ran out of gas, and this guy gave us some gas, but it must have had water in it because now my car won’t start, but my cousin said maybe it was the alternator, so we walked for three miles because we heard you were a nice guy and you might (insert first breath here) give us some money.” I always ask a simple question: “Ok. What is your address in Dallas?” Eight out of 10 times, they don’t know. Problem solved.

Back to the bearded lady. “‘Been walking for a few days,” he simply said with a deep, gravely sounding voice. “I’m exhausted. Can you drive me to the YMCA on Loop 610?”

Unsure of myself, I stepped out of my closet/office for about 30 seconds to calculate if my gas tank and nearly empty wallet could afford such an excursion. Are you kidding me? I had four George Washington’s and five quarters in my wallet. So naturally, I thought to myself, “I’m loaded!” As I shoved my WWJD wallet back into my jeans, I said to ol’ red lips, “Let’s go.”

Not much was said during the ride. It was rush hour in September, and my air conditioning didn’t work. Since the windows were rolled down, I was worried someone from my church would see me toting around my presumed new hairy-legged girlfriend. I was even more concerned I would not be back in time to lead Bible study at 6 p.m.  

Then, the unexpected happened. God showed up in a single sentence uttered through male lips wearing cracked, red lipstick. “You know, I stopped at five different churches and asked for a ride. They all said they were too busy getting ready for Wednesday night church.”

In a flash, God whispered to my soul words that drive me to this day: “Don’t get so busy with church that you can’t be the church.” Those were the only words my new friend spoke.

Did you catch Acts 3:1? “One day, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon” (3:1). Doesn’t sound like a very important verse does it? But the practical theological implications are huge. Peter and John were on their way to prayer meeting at church. When you read the rest of the chapter, you quickly realize they probably missed church. They could have told the crippled beggar “sorry … on my way to pray.” I fear if we are too busy “doing church” to show compassion, we will miss church as well.

In the earthly ministry of Jesus, compassion had no time restraints. (Please stop and contemplate).  

I love how Matthew’s account of the feeding of the 5,000 highlights Jesus’ compassion (Matthew 14). In mourning the loss of John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples try to withdraw to a private place on a boat. The crowds follow. When Jesus lands on the shore, he sees the large crowd and “has compassion on them.” That compassion led him to do actually do something—heal their sick. Luke’s parallel reports Jesus “healed those who needed healing” (Luke 9:11).

We often view physical healings in scripture as purely physical healings. The body and soul are too interchangeably intertwined for that kind of thinking. Did you notice the crippled beggar in Acts 3 was “walking and jumping and praising God” (3:9). Then, Jesus noticed the crowd was hungry and fed them all. It’s a story of triple compassion. He wasn’t too busy grieving to act upon the compassion he felt. In the earthly ministry of Jesus, compassion had no time restraints.

It was a Wednesday in Houston. I was 45 minutes late in leading youth Bible study. It might just be the greatest lesson I ever taught.

Let’s not be so busy doing “church things” that we miss out on doing Jesus things like “healing those who need healing.”  

Application
Since we are morphing your Bible study group into a “Bible-doing” group, let me suggest a few application points.

1.    If the church you attend gets many homeless people who stop by during the week asking for help, facilitate that need. Collect bottled water, cheese crackers, small cans of pop-top tuna, plastic forks and a gospel track and put them in paper lunch sacks. Give those things to the church staff to distribute so not one person who stops by the church ever leaves empty handed. Even the swindlers.

2.    Once a month, organize a team to do free manicures at your local nursing home. It is a great way to bring healing to people who just need someone to be present.

3.    If you want to be radical, skip Bible study and worship as a group! Make a gigantic batch of homemade cookies, box them up nicely, and go door to door to the homes closest to your church. What better way to find the unchurched than to meet and invite them during the worship hour?