Building Bridges

What is the purpose of a bridge?

Have you ever crossed a bridge that made you anxious?

What about this bridge was concerning?

Most of us cross bridges everyday to get to work or go other places in our area. Living in a city with a major river, there aren’t many places you can get without crossing a river.

How many of you remember this bridge?

I remember people talking about how dangerous this bridge was. I loved crossing it. I remember when they were building the new bridge. I remember when the barge exploded underneath it and the railroad bridge.

Bridges are constructed to get us from one side of a river or creak to another. It there wasn’t a river or a valley to cross, we wouldn’t need them.

What are some bridges people built that influenced you and helped connect you to a relationship to Jesus and His Church?

As followers of Christ, we should be building bridges to help connect people with Him.

If we look at the example Jesus set for us, He met people where they were. He was the bridge to connect them to God as well as others.

Matthew 9:9 ESV

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

Matthew was a tax collector.

What do you know about tax collectors in the first century?

How would the Jewish community have viewed Matthew?

How do you think their perception of Matthew affected his perception of himself?

Jesus invited Matthew to follow Him. He extends this invitation to all people.

What does it mean to follow Jesus, and why is this invitation so life-altering?

There isn’t anything we can do to get ready to follow Christ. There isn’t any Bible study. There isn’t anything we do to make up for anything we have done wrong prior to following Him. We just have to decide to accept the invitation He has presented us with.

Once we do this, we begin to realize the price which was paid for us to be able to have the relationship we do with Christ. Once again, there isn’t anything we can do to restore the relationship we have with God. It was all done through Christ and the sacrifice He made for us on the cross.

When we come to the place we realize we all start from the same place, we won’t look at those who aren’t believers from us. The only thing which is different is we have accepted the gift of salvation. There is nothing different from the place we started as those who are sinners who need to accept this gift.

We should be able to bridge the gap with our own experiences.

How does Jesus call to Matthew encourage you personally?

In light of His call to you to go and make disciples, how does Jesus’ call to someone like Matthew challenge you?

Matthew 9:10–11 ESV

10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Besides Matthew and his tax collecting friends, who else was at the gathering?

After Matthew had the encounter with Jesus, he hosted a dinner. His friends and others were there. They were all looked down on by the Pharisees. According to the way they practiced their faith, Jesus shouldn’t have associated with them because of the work they did.

What trouble might there be between these two groups?

Why is it significant that Jesus spent time with both of them?

What did the Pharisees’ question indicate about their view of tax collectors?

What did it indicate about their view of themselves?

Why were the Pharisees (and anyone who views themselves as well or healthy before God) wrong about their condition?

John wrote about the church in Laodicea and their view of themselves in Revelation.

Revelation 3:17 ESV

17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Jesus kept trying to communicate with the Pharisees that they were in as much need of spiritual help as the tax collectors and other sinners He was meeting with. However, due to the way they viewed themselves, they wouldn’t and couldn’t build the bridges that were needed in order to grow others as well as themselves.

If we become self-righteous the way the Pharisees did, we cannot build the bridges to those who are in need of them the way Christ wants us to. By His response to the Pharisees here though, we see Jesus was willing to build a bridge for anyone who was willing to follow Him.

Matthew 9:12–13 ESV

12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

What do you think Jesus meant when He said, “Those we are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick?”

He was telling the Pharisees that since they were looking for help from him, that He would go wherever those people who needed Him and wanted to listen to him and what He had to say and share.

Before this section of scripture as well, Jesus had been out doing a lot of physical healings. He was now beginning to draw crowds of people who were wanting to be healed of their physical ailments.

It’s here we see Him talking about the spiritual healing he could offer as well, which was more important that the physical healings He was performing.

Why do you think Jesus distinguished between mercy and sacrifice?

The second verse is actually quoted from Hosea.

Hosea 6:6 ESV

6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Jesus is trying to remind them God wants more than sacrifice and for you to know His Word. He wants to see you practicing what you know. He wants to see evidence in your life. He wants to see the head knowledge applied to your life so it becomes heart knowledge.

Jesus was using the Old Testament statement to show them they didn’t know as much as they thought they did. Their view of themselves and of others was causing a gap that didn’t need to be there. The gap they were creating was between man and man. They should’ve been trying to help people realize the gap that was between them and God and helping them find a way to bridge the gap.

Jesus summed up His ministry in verse 13

Matthew 9:13 ESV

13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The heavenly Father sent Jesus to build the bridge for the lost.

What does this distinction look like for us today?

As followers of Jesus, we are to show mercy to the needy around us, pointing them to Jesus, the source of spiritual healing.

Questions to think about:

One of the reasons we don’t build bridges with lost people is because we might not go where they are. Or if we do, building bridges may not be on our minds.

Where are some places you can connect with people who haven’t recognized their need for Jesus? If you’re going to go there, what should be your mindset?

We are called not only to build bridges to Jesus, but also to have real relationships with other people. Is our group a place where unchurched or unbelieving people feel welcomed?

How can we be more engaging with the unbelieving or unchurched people in our group?

Who are the specific people that you can be gin to build bridges with in order to invite them into a relationship with Jesus and with His church?