Building Bridges

God has strategically placed 8-15 people in your relational world that He wants to reach through you. The story of Zacchaeus shows us that Jesus prioritized building bridges over making cases. Instead of condemning the despised tax collector, Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus's home, demonstrating that relationship must come before repentance. When we genuinely care for people and enter their world through hospitality and common ground, we create opportunities for transformation. People are rarely argued into heaven - they're loved into it. This week, consider extending hospitality to one person God has placed in your life, remembering that your role is to be a bridge that connects others to Jesus.

Transcript

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You have been with us for the last two weeks. You know we're in a series of messages called the table. And um, if you grew up in my house, the kitchen table is where life happened. I have three brothers, and every single one of us, when we were in our teen years, uh, we always brought somebody home with us. And so my mom had no idea whether she was cooking for six or twelve or fourteen people. Why? Because we wanted people who were in our lives to be at our table. And the table is kind of a metaphor for what we're talking about in this series, is that God has supernaturally positioned in your life and in my life eight to fifteen people that He wants to use you to reach. And so if we really stop and think about it, our world really amounts to that 8 to 15 people that are sitting at our table. And life is like that. There are people who come to our table and they will sit for a while. Some of them will stay over the course of our lifetime, others will change seats, move seats, trade seats. We'll have new people come to the table, and it will constantly be changing. Last week we gave you a sheet called Who's At My Table? My own people. How many of you got that? And it challenged you to think about the people that God has been supernaturally positioning in your life. That He wants to be able to use you in order to build a bridge from you to them to Christ. We're not the ultimate destination. God wants to use you to lead people to Jesus. And right now, you have been thinking about and you're beginning to pray for those eight to 15 people that are sitting at your table. And the word we use for that is these people are your relational family. The Bible calls that your oikos. And oikos is also God's strategy to grow his church. Not just to grow his church, but to change the world. Why? Because people generally come to know Christ through our relationships. And these are the ones that God is bringing into your relational world that He longs for you to reach. And you may be thinking, well, I don't have eight to 15 people. You probably have way more than you think you do. Some of you, your table will be 6 to 10. Some will be 8 to 16. It's going to vary based on the amount of bridges that you're willing to build in order to reach people for Christ. And you want to invite them to your table to have a seat and settle while so that they don't just observe your life from a distance, but so they can get up close and personal. How many of you remember your first public job where you actually got a paycheck? You know, if you were like me, most of you probably got a job somewhere in high school and you may have started in the restaurant business. Anyone else? That's what I did. In between sports seasons, I figured if I wanted a car, I was gonna have to make enough money to buy one. And uh my goal was to buy this car off one of my friends at school. She had a 67 Ford Fair Lane that was her dad's. It was like basically a sofa on wheels. And uh he wanted 500 bucks for it. You know, that was a lot of money then, because you know, when you're making 215 an hour, it takes a long time to save that much up. So I got a job at Hardy's, and uh the first night I went in to be trained, uh, I recognized the guy who was training me. He was an underclassman and uh he was on the football team. He and I weren't friends, I didn't know much about him, but he definitely knew who I was because he didn't speak to me the whole night except to tell me what to do. And uh so when it came time to close, you know, he hadn't said anything. And so uh the next time I ended up being on shift with him, uh, in between, I had come into the restaurant with a girl that uh I was dating a little bit, uh kind of on and off. And he was super nice to her over the top, but to me, same treatment. And so the next time I'm working with him, I'm the low man on the totem pole, and so I got stuck scrubbing all the pots. You know, I'm at the pot sink at the dishwasher, you know, uh and so I'm cleaning pots and he's over cleaning the grill, and I look at him, I say, Hey, hey, Brian. And he goes, What? I said, Listen, if we're gonna be working together, and and I I've got the feeling you don't like me. And and if you're gonna hate me, I would at least like to know why. And he just was like, Really? You really want to know? I said, Yeah, I want to know. He said, Well, you're an arrogant, self-centered SOB. Exactly what he said. I can't tell you what else he said, but when he said it, I just looked at him and I laughed. I laughed. And it just took him back. He was like, You're you're laughing. And I said, Yeah, yeah. I said, it reminds me of something my dad always said. He said, Steve, if you don't like yourself, nobody else will. And I said that to him, it totally disarmed him. And and we began to talk. And what I didn't realize is this girl I came into the restaurant with that that night, he had been in love with her since he was in elementary school. And so no wonder he hated me. He absolutely hated me. But that night, after work was over, we went out, sat on the hood of our cars, and and just talked at probably two in the morning. And what I didn't realize is that God had supernaturally put him in my life. He didn't have a father. His father was dead, his mother was uh paranoid, schizophrenic, in and out of the hospitals, and his older brother was in prison. And so he began to show up at our house and sit at our table. As a matter of fact, he became one of my best friends all through high school and into college, and I still track him. I know what's going on in his life with his family, his boys, and uh God used that opening to bring him and give him a seat at our table. He loves my dad, thinks of him like a second dad, and he loved my mom. My mom had the gift of hospitality, and whoever showed up at the door, you were not leaving our house without something to eat. And what I didn't realize at the time, but I've learned over the years, is that many of the people that God has in your eight to fifteen are way closer to Christ than you think they are. And we oftentimes judge them based on who they're hanging out with, their friends, their habits, their hobbies, not realizing that God has gifted you and equipped you to supernaturally reach those people. Let me give you a case in study. If you've got your Bibles, let me invite you to turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19. As you're turning there, uh let me just remind everybody April 15th is coming. Anybody know what that is? Tax time. You know, I don't know too many people who like paying taxes. In Jesus' day and time, it was no different. To be a tax collector was to be the most despised person in your town, in your region. And yet, at the very same time, these were people that Jesus longed to reach. And reaching the people in our oikos is a purpose we all share equally. It's not Pastor Jeremy's job to reach the people in your 8 to 15 world. It's not Pastor Austin's, it's not my job. God supernaturally positioned you to reach those people. Why? Because they're watching you and they want to know is there room for me at your table? Is there room for me to get up close and personal and see whether this Jesus you talk about is for real? So Jesus is going through the town of Jericho. And everywhere Jesus goes, word travels ahead of him. Everybody wants to see him. And this guy in Jericho, his name is Zacchaeus, he's positioned just the best you could be if you were a tax collector. You're at the crossroads where everything moves, commerce, trade, and everything that came through Jericho and out of Israel, he taxed it. He got a cut off of it. Not only did he get a cut off of it, but he had people under him. And all of his people, he got a cut of their stuff. And so he's super rich and he's also super hated. And in everybody's opinion, he's far away from God. But when he hears that Jesus is coming through town, he is curious. He's heard enough about Jesus that he wants to see him up close and personal. There's just a problem. Look at what it says in verse 3. It said, he tried to get a look at Jesus. But when the parade was coming through town, it says he was too short to see over the crowd. And being curious, he is not about to let that stop him. He is used to getting his way. And so what does he do? He's wearing his rich robes, and he does something unthinkable in that culture for a man to do, a grown man, he takes off running. He wants to get ahead of the parade. And think about this for just a second. You know, I think childlike curiosity is one of the things that God uses to draw people to him. And there's people who look at you, and some of them love you and hate you at the same time. Kind of like my friend Brian. He wanted what I had, but he wasn't in a position. And so what does he do? He runs ahead of the parade, climbs up into a sycamore fig tree, and hides himself in the branches so that when Jesus comes by, he can get a good look. This is what it says. Look at what it says in verses 4 and 5. I love it. It is so rich. So he ran ahead, climbed the sycamore fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. I can imagine Zacchaeus thought, there's no way he can see me. I'm hidden up here. But Jesus stops, looks up, and not only does he see him, he knows him by name. And he calls him out. Zacchaeus. I can see the branches parting. You know, he's he knows my name. Can I tell you something? There's some of you here today you don't know Jesus, but he knows you. You don't know Jesus as your Savior, but not only does he know you, he's got your name written on the palm of his hand. He's looking and he's calling you. And so here, Zacchaeus says, and Jesus calls him out, and he said, Quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today. You know what that word for home in the Greek is? Oikos. It's not a brand of Greek yogurt. Oikos is your household, it's your relational group. And he said, Zacchaeus, I know you're never gonna invite me to your house. Guess what? I'm gonna invite myself. Talk about awkward. Anybody? Anybody ever had somebody invite themselves over to your house? Not only did Jesus invite himself, he said, I'm bringing these guys with me. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, all 12 of the disciples show up at Zacchaeus' house. Now, think about this for a second. It's not that Zacchaeus can't handle it. He's what? Filthy rich. But guess what? He's spiritually poor. He's bankrupt. He's as far away from God as you can think. And so when the crowd hears Jesus calls Zacchaeus out, they think, okay, he's gonna hit him with thunderbolts and lightning. He's gonna get what's coming to him. He's been stealing from us. God, send him to hell. That's what the crowd was thinking. Jesus wasn't thinking that way. Jesus was thinking, I'm gonna build a bridge to this guy that nobody else is reaching. And you know, it was the religious people that were thinking that. They hated him. They thought he was already too far away from God for anybody to reach in. Just maybe that's the reason nobody in his hometown tried to reach him. I want you to think about the people that are around you that people think are unreachable. Could it be that one of those people are meant to be sitting at your table? Could it be that one of those people is somebody that God wants you to build a bridge to? Here's the point. Jesus intentionally entered into Zacchaeus' Zoecos. He invited himself. Can I tell you something? If you are waiting for an invitation for from the people in your 8 to 15 to come into their world, it's probably not going to happen. You're going to have to put yourself out there and invite them. You're going to have to build a bridge. Before people in your 8 to 15 will see their need for Christ, they have to see Christ through you first. I love the way this happens. Zacchaeus quickly came down, took Jesus' house in great excitement and joy, but the people were displeased. He had gone to be the guest in the house of a notorious sinner. You know what bridge building is Christ-like. Jesus always moved towards people, not away from them. And I want you to think about this. In general, most people move toward Jesus. Here, Zacchaeus is somebody, everybody thinks far away from God. He's curious and he's moving toward Jesus. Do you know the kind of people Jesus attracted and that followed him? They were broken, hurting people just like us. They were people whose lives were filled with guilt and shame, and they were wondering, God, is there any possibility that there is a way back to you? Because I feel so far away from you right here, right now, at this moment, I don't think it's even possible. And then somebody builds a bridge. And it's Jesus. There's another reason I think people move toward Jesus is that they genuinely believed he liked them. Me? Zacchaeus? You want to come to my house? Wow. People don't care how much you know until they know that you really care about them. Can I tell you something? As we try to build bridges to the people in R8 to 15, the ones that God's put in your world, one of the first things you're going to have to do is pass the sniff test. No, I'm not talking about your underarms. You're going to have to pass the sniff test because they're going to want to know, are you really interested in me as a person? Are you just using me to put another notch on your spiritual belt? Do you really care about me enough to get to know me? Are you really willing to step into my mess, into my world, and show me the love of Christ? Or is your motive something else? Unless you are genuinely interested in people, they're going to know it immediately. You can't fake it. You can't fake it and you can't hide it. They want to know if you're willing to build a bridge before you try to make your case. I think that's the mistake we oftentimes make when we're trying to reach our 8 to 15. We want to make a case for Jesus, and yet we haven't built a bridge yet. So, how do you build a bridge? When you build a bridge, you need to prioritize relationship before repentance. You know, I wish everyone would come to Christ on the first try. In my world, it doesn't usually work that way. If you're a pastor, everybody's got their guard up. They know you're going to talk about Jesus. They know you're going to ask where you at with Jesus. But you've got an advantage over us. Even though they know you're a Christian, they're not going to expect that you're really interested in them. But when they see that you are, guess what? It will open doors, prioritize the relationship before you begin to try to move them toward repentance. Listen, here's what Paul said in the Romans 2.4. Listen, surely you know that God is kind. Wow, God's kind. I thought God was angry, harsh, judgmental, judging. But the reality is, none of us would have ever come to Christ if it was all about the fear of hell. It's God's kindness that leads a person to want to change, repent, because he's trying to lead us to repentance. Relationship before repentance, your presence before proclamation, hospitality before transformation. So here Jesus is sitting at Zacchaeus' table, and his servants are scrambling to fix meals. Wait on them, extend hospitality. And Jesus and the disciples, they're talking, it takes a while. You don't just whip up a meal for 15 to 20 people. So it takes a while. And during that time, they have conversation. During that time, I think Zacchaeus honestly believes Jesus is interested in him. And he's sitting there and he's and he's getting to know Jesus and Jesus is getting to know him. I think the realization hit Zacchaeus that wow, I I don't deserve to have this man sitting at my table. Much less coming into my house. And he was so overwhelmed about how far apart he and Jesus were that he wanted to change. And so why people are looking in the windows of Zacchaeus's life. They're actually doing that, watching what's going on. Zacchaeus stands up, look at what it says, verse 18. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood up before the Lord and said, I will give half my wealth to the poor Lord, and if I've cheated anyone on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much. May God bless your tax return, and you get back four times what you think you should. Zacchaeus' heart was changed. Why? Because Jesus built a bridge. And look at what Jesus says. Salvation has come to this home today. For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which is lost. Why does this matter and why should it matter to you? When it comes to reaching your 8 to 15 people, salvation came to Zacchaeus and it immediately extended to his relational world. Faith came through the relationship and then it extended to the entire family. I used to do a lot of mission trips to Honduras, Nicaragua, Central America. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch came through and it totally devastated not just cities, towns, it devastated nations. It wiped out their infrastructure. There was so much rain that fell and buried towns and people, and tens of thousands of people died during that flooding of Hurricane Mitch. And there was a town outside of La Saba as we would go into minister and mission. And we it was along the Pan American Highway, and there was a bridge that crossed the Choltec River, Cholteca River. And uh when Hurricane Mitch came through, it totally wiped out everything, all the roads and everything. And it was amazing, it left the bridge intact. And so here you got this bridge that's setting in the middle of nowhere. The river rerouted itself so that it was connected to nothing. And it became known as the bridge to nowhere. And so here that bridge is, and if you're on the bridge, you can't get off, you can't go bar, you're just stuck. And then in the people's minds, even after the bridge was repaired and extended and the highway reconnected, it was still known as the bridge to nowhere. You know what? It doesn't matter how big a bridge is, how strong it is, if it is not connected to the highway, it misses its purpose. The same thing is true as it applies to churches and to people. The church is called the ecclesia. That's you and me. It's not the building, it is the people. And whenever we lose sight of our most vital purpose, you know what we become? We become bridges to nowhere. We're just safe and secure in our salvation, but we don't go out, we don't bring anybody in. We're bridges to nowhere. God wants to use you to reach the people in your relational world. Listen to what Jesus said before he left the planet. In Acts 1.8, he said, You will be my witnesses. I like to insert the word bridge builders. In Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Can I tell you something that we often mess up when it comes to evangelism? In our effort to build a bridge to them, we forget that we're not the destination. They don't need to become like Steve Taylor. Jesus is the destination. Why? Because he's the only way to the Father. Jesus is the bridge. And Jesus is the only way that our sins are forgiven, that a way is made for us back to God and to be with him for eternity. And if we're not building bridges to Jesus, what are we doing? Let me give you two or three things to leave with today. Hospitality is evangelism. When you open up your home, you're doing way more than serving a meal. You're opening up your life. And your presence builds trust. So if you have not yet built a bridge to the people in your 8 to 15, begin to extend hospitality to them. If you know something that they enjoy doing, think about your own hobbies, your own gifts and your own skills. Listen, God's supernaturally gifted all of us with different things, and some of us with natural talents and abilities. If somebody on your 8 to 15 likes to play games or cards or golf, then build a bridge through what God's giving you. I take a lot of people fishing. I think Jesus said, Come follow me, I will make you a fisher of men and a fisher of fish. So I try to do both at the same time. Common ground opens gospel doors. Common ground. So look at your hobbies, your interests, the books you read. Find a way to use it. And last, you can't influence people you're not willing to get close to. Influence increases with proximity. Influence increases with proximity. Paul got this. Paul said, even though I'm free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people, religious, non-religious, meticulous, moralists, loose living, immoralist, the defeated, the demoralized, whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ. But I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet to a God-saved life. Why would Paul do that? Why should you do that? Listen to what Paul said. He said, I did all this because of the message. The message. There's a God who loves you. He wants to know you. He's looking for a relationship. And he sent his son Jesus to build a bridge to you so that your sins could be forgiven, so that your name could be written in heaven, so that you could know Christ here and now and eternally. He said, I didn't want to just talk about it. I wanted to be in on it. I wanted to be in on it. You know what? The people. They're going to have to be loved into it. Loved into it. So here's your challenge, Christians. This week. Do one act of hospitality towards somebody in your age to 15. One. Think about one person that God's already had you put on your list. One. Invite them for coffee. Invite them to Chick-fil-A on campus. My tree. I don't mean send me your bills. But if you do that, I may pay. You never know. Invite somebody into your home. Cook a meal. Play a game. Find a way to connect. And guess what? God will use it. God will use it. And in the process, you might just discover they're closer to God than you think. And maybe you walked into this place today thinking God doesn't know your name. That he doesn't care about you. Can I tell you, God knows more about you than you could have ever imagined? From before the world began, he looked into the future and he saw you and he planned for you and he purposed for you. And he sent Jesus to make right your every wrong. He sent Jesus so that you could be forgiven. And so that a bridge could be built by his blood back to him. So you could have the relationship God intended from the beginning.