Are Christians the morality police?

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Frequently avoided questions of the Christian faith.
“Are Christians the morality police?” John 4:7-26

Intro…Christine’s blog. “thoughts on church.”
• What happens when we encounter people who have a different set of beliefs than us?
• Can we treat them with respect?
• Is it our job to be the morality police?
• Should non-Christians adopt the moral values that apply to Christians?
• How much time are we allowed to spend with a “sinner” before another Christian will accuse you of being too tolerant or compromising?

Big Picture: When Jesus spent time with “sinners” he engaged them in conversation which helped them see their need for God. We would be wise to do the same thing.

Text: John 4:7-26

Jesus sets the example of how we should encounter “sinners.”
v. 4-6 Jesus broke cultural taboos.
• Jesus took the initiative to speak to a Samaritan woman…
• This was a huge break with culture and tradition.
• He spoke to a woman, (from the hated Samaritans) in public.
• This showed Jesus’ willingness to be with sinners, not so much as the “morality police” but as someone who cared about the deeper things in a person’s life.
• Who is someone you could talk to that would be a break with culture and tradition for you?
• I would hope that all of us are having regular conversations with people who don’t share the same religious views.
• We need to think through what language we use, not too much “Christianese.”
• Think about these words in a Christian context and what they mean to us vs. a non-Christian. Judge, preach, convert, crusader, proselytize, missionary, indoctrinate.
• What do you think of when you hear these words?
For many people outside the church, these words mean:
• judge (to determine that someone else is not as good as you are, to point out the faults is someone else while ignoring your own.)
• preach (to talk down to people, telling them what they ought to do)
• convert (to pressure someone to adopt your way of thinking, believing or living)
• crusader (someone who forces with the threat of violence someone else to accept his faith.)
• proselytize (to constantly attempt to either coerce or seduce others into our religion)
• missionary (someone who tries to destroy indigenous cultures in the attempt to Christianize or civilize those cultures)
• indoctrinate (to brainwash other people into a system on belief)

One of the reasons the Moral Majority failed to have a lasting influence in U.S. politics is because the true majority of Americans felt the leaders of the Moral Majority exemplified all of most of those characteristics.
• That is what my friend Christine is starting to feel about church…

So how do we communicate the truths of the bible without knocking people over or shoving it down their throats?
• I believe we can look to the example of Jesus in this story.
• Even though this woman had a whole list of stuff she’d done wrong, Jesus got to what was really important.
• (Divorced, been married 5 times, “Living in sin,” most likely a bunch of kids from different fathers, a social outcast, she came at midday to draw water because of her shame. Normally women would come to draw water in the morning or evening when it was cooler. This well was located at a major junction of ancient roads.)
• v. 16 “Go call your husband and come here.” NOT, “You did what?”
• It’s almost like Jesus is saying, “Yeah, yeah, I know what you did in the past, let’s talk about the really important stuff, where we go from here.”
• What we need to ask ourselves: “Is it my job to interfere with the process through which God is taking a person, or do we cooperate with God by showing them love and acceptance for who they are in that moment?
• When we look at all the things this woman at the well had done wrong, these are the kinds of lists we come up with for people and then stick them in certain categories. And if we’re not careful, that’s when we’re tempted to be the morality police.
• If all we are is the morality police and stay away from those we disagree with, than we won’t be nearly as effective as Jesus was when he associated and ate with sinners.

v. 9 Jesus spoke with someone who was despised. (Most Jews hated Samaritans.)
• Samaritans were considered by most Jews to be in a continual state of uncleanness.
• So drinking from this woman’s water jar would make a person unclean, yet that’s exactly what Jesus did.
• The phrase “have no dealings” could also have a more specific meaning of “share use of (things).”
• We need to be comfortable spending time with non-Christians without criticizing their language, habits, behavior, values and morals.
• When dealing with people who have opposing religious views, are we willing to set aside our bias and listen?
• We need to be careful that we don’t make judgments without first establishing rapport and credibility through friendship, conversations and other interactions.
• Spiritual wanderers need to know they are loved rather than judged.

What’s the biblical balance? A little bit of both.
• Eph. 5:11, “Have nothing to do with fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
• John 3:17, “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
• Yes, God has called us to reveal his salvation to the world, just remember that we too are broken and sinful and need to be transparent.
• If Jesus were in our city tonight, would he be in all the Christian hangouts, or would he be among the sinners?
• Would we recognize him? Would we tell him, “You have no business spending time with “those” people!

v. 13-15 Only Jesus can give us what we really need and quench our thirst.
• Talk about being “culturally relevant”, the analogy with the water was ripe.
• A person’s deepest spiritual need is to know God personally.
• That can only happen through Jesus, the living water.
• GOSPEL

Conclusion: VIDEO “Reverse thinking”

Q & A?