The J Word 2: Be Social

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus is walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew. They were fishermen by trade, and on this day, they were throwing nets into the water. They were two ordinary men with no predisposition to be pastors, teachers or missionaries. But, Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And, they left their nets and followed him.

Jesus was walking; Jesus was social. Jesus was among people.

In John 4:1-6, Scripture says, “Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them – his disciples did). So, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually, he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon, a Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.”


Jesus was on the move, baptizing people and making disciples. Jesus stopped to talk with people. Jesus was social.

As we move out of our comfort zones, and begin talking about Jesus, we can anchor our journey in these verses. Jesus was social; His followers must be social, too.

I have not always been comfortable talking and writing about Jesus because, honestly, I wanted everyone to like me. Someone (can't remember their name) once told me, "When you start talking about Jesus, by name, none of your friends and family will ever come around you." Jesus - the very name of Jesus - has always polarized people. His name draws a line in the sand and we must choose – belief or unbelief. In Matthew 8:18, the disciple writes, “When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his (followers) to cross to the other side of the lake.” Personally, I believe Matthew gives us a metaphor. Disciples must choose a side and make it known.


Talking and writing about Jesus takes us off the fence, and puts us on one side of the lake. Declaring the Lordship of Jesus in our lives separates us from those who don't believe in Him, and that may well include dear friends and family, neighbors and coworkers. For most of my life, I resisted getting off the fence. In 2007, I made a decision to take a stand – to really move to the other side of the lake, and to help bring others over, introducing others to Jesus.


Go back to the verses above. Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, and says, "Follow me." In circulating among people, Jesus is making disciples. His encounter with the woman at the well leads to an invitation to follow Him. Jesus doesn't model an isolated life. While we are called to take a public, confident and confessional stand for Him, we also dedicate our lives to introducing others to our new side of the lake. But, to do that, we must be social – to be “out there” among people. We must have our eyes wide open to talk about Jesus.

And, there are no excuses worthy of failing to be among those who need Jesus.

The woman at the well was a Samaritan. Simply, Samaritans were race-mixers and Jews typically hated them because of it. Samaritans represented the race-mixing of Jews with pagans. On top of that, the woman at the well was sleeping around. Jesus encounters her and begins an exchange about faith, and He did so without prejudice. Jesus saw people as God saw them; and we should see people as God sees them, too. We must face our prejudices and leave those behind.

Twice, in the early story of the woman at the well, we see that Jesus was tired and weary from his travels. But, it did not stop Him from talking to someone about faith. As someone who is following Jesus’ example for living, well, no excuse – not tiredness, not hunger, not stress – nothing can get in the way of my desire and interest in talking about Jesus.


How far do we go in being social? Being social does not mean compromising morals and values to do so. I do believe our faith journey will take us to uncomfortable places and uncomfortable situations. In calling the disciple Matthew, Jesus faced ridicule to socialize with the hated tax collectors. If you don’t have unsaved people in your life, what good is your life in following Jesus? So, be social, but be careful. I tell my boys, all the time “Protect your witness.” Lean on the Lord as to where you should go and how you should behave.. Listen to His leading. We must be “in the world” to talk about Jesus, but we can’t be “of the world” and expect people to see His reflection in our lives. Pray for discernment – that’s the best and only counsel I can give you. When we are pursuing God with a goal of introducing people to Jesus, He will always provide us just the right place to be and just the right thing to say. Lean on Him.

1. Commit each day to following Jesus and being out among people. We do not worship a God of isolation. This is a calling on the lives of everyone – man and woman, husband and wife, father and mother, son and daughter, sister and brother. 

2. Approach everywhere you go as if God has one person there who needs to hear about Jesus from you. See restaurants, Wal-Mart, the grocery store, the post office, the workplace, the golf course, the tennis courts, and the ballparks – see everywhere as a mission opportunity.
3. See every person as if that person is Jesus to be loved and served.

4. Pray for God to give you clarity in words and actions, and pray for God to bind back Satan’s influence.
5. When presented the opportunity, just tell people why you follow Jesus.

There is one fact.

You will never introduce someone to Jesus if you aren’t out among people.

And, if I’m not among people, talking about Jesus, I’m not really following Jesus myself.