Bridge Builders

Matthew 15:29 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. 32 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33 Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?" 34 Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish." 35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.  

Why would anyone in their right mind come to Jesus? What does Jesus have to offer?

Have you ever heard those questions asked?

Evangelism is essentially a bridge we attempt to build between one who is lost and The One Who can save – Jesus, The Christ.

Many people, (perhaps even most people,) resist crossing the bridge we attempt to build to Jesus because they cannot see Him with their eyes, and because they do not perceive His ability to meet their needs.

“If only they could SEE Christ,” we might say, “evangelism would be easy.” (Easier, anyway.) Since they cannot see Him we are left with attempting to convey His ability to meet their needs.

There is another problem with evangelism. We fail to even attempt to build the bridge to Christ of which we speak.

There is a constant drumbeat to Jesus’ ministry, for this very purpose. Over and over again we see Jesus meeting people’s needs.

He is so busy meeting people’s needs for two reasons. The first is because He has compassion on the people He is serving, and His loving desire is to love the people, and to show He loves the people by His willingness to heal and to feed. These are both deeply felt human needs which supersede all else when the need is present. Hunger will drive a person, as will illness. Nothing will or can keep them away from one who can feed, and nothing will or can keep them from one who can heal.

The second reason is to over and over and over again demonstrate to His followers His ability and His willingness to meet the people’s needs. Jesus may no longer be visible to the eye, but He is still meeting every need of those who are ushered into His presence by the bridge of evangelism. When was the last time you attempted to build one?

-Pastor Bill