Jesus' Methods

We hear a lot about letting science guide us today. Ministry is not a matter of science; it is about relating to others. The church is not an organization; it is a living organism made of living parts (people) who are unique. Ministry, teaching, preaching, & sharing the gospel are more a matter of art than science.

Jesus understood and used methods that effectively impacted people’s lives and transformed them.

Jesus went out and looked for people where they were.

In John 10:11 Jesus calls Himself the good shepherd and He says that the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. In the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep, Jesus tells the story of a shepherd who lost one sheep out of his flock of one hundred. The shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep and went looking for the one lost sheep till he found him. Jesus is the one out looking for the lost. Jesus went where the people were. He taught in their synagogues, sat and ate in their homes, and talked with them in the market place. Jesus came for others and He went to the places where they were.

The imperative in the New Testament is go. Jesus commands us as His followers in Matthew 28:19 to go. He does not say to tell the lost to come but we are to go to the lost.

Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”

The mission of Jesus was to go out and spread the gospel to those who needed it, which was and is everybody. Jesus did this by teaching the Word of God and doing acts of service to others in the name of God.

Our mission as the body of Christ is to spread the gospel to people by the teaching of the Word and by doing acts of service to others in Jesus’ name. We do that by going out and connecting with people.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is going out to where people are and sharing the gospel through the Word of God and actives of service in the name of Jesus.

Jesus did not force Himself on others.

When Jesus sent out the twelve and later when He sent seventy-two followers, He told them that if any town that did not receive the message, they were to leave and go to another town. They were not to stay and try and force it on the people.

When James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume a village of the Samaritans that rejected Jesus, Jesus said no and simply went on to other places to share the gospel.

If we try to force the gospel down people’s throats, we are implying two things: first, that more depends on our effort and the pressure we put on people than depends on the work of the Holy Spirit; second, that it is possible for us to decide that a person shall believe, so that his response to Jesus is really our response forced upon him. The heart of evangelism is the sharing of the gospel, not the producing of results.

We are to be like Philip who was led by the Holy Spirit to go to a desert and wait for one man and then simply join himself with that man and ask a question. God did the rest and the man came to give his life to Jesus.

The best definition of evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is sharing the gospel in word and deed and leaving the result to Jesus.

Jesus spent much time training others.

The two parts of what Jesus did of His earthly ministry were sharing of the gospel to large groups and training with the gospel of small groups.

Disciple is the designation used for followers of Jesus more than any other designation. Disciple means learner.

Jesus trained His disciples by teaching them the Word of God. He spent time with the Twelve and by the Word of God trained them and prepared them. 

Jesus trained His disciples by answering their questions. Some of their questions were insightful and deep, and some were out of ignorance and shallow. Jesus did not worry about the quality of the question, but He used them all to equip His disciples with the truth.

Jesus trained His disciples by sending them out to do ministry, to do the work of the Kingdom of God. They were sent out to proclaim the Word of God, to heal, and to exorcise demons from people. The disciples had to depend of Jesus to be successful in doing any of these.

We learn how to relate to and serve Jesus by spending time in study and in going and doing ministry. It not an either-or situation but we are to do both.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making our lives available to Jesus to be used to disciple others.

The manner in which Jesus did ministry was always focused on enabling people to see and hear the truth, to receive the truth, and to live out the truth. He never forced it but went where the people were and started where the people were. He did it with love and respect for the person.  

With Love for Jesus and Others Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                          Joe