Dave spoke this morning from Matt 15:30, which tells us ‘Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.‘ Time and time again during the lifetime of Jesus, we see great numbers being drawn to Him; He was hugely popular because He loved people (Matt 9:36), met their needs and taught them. (Matt 13:34) We do well to learn from His example so that we can see the church grow as people are drawn to Jesus.
Jesus associated more with ordinary people than with the rich or religious leaders. He truly loved people. We as a church need to be loving others more than we love ourselves. Heb 13:2 reminds us that we must show hospitality to all and must welccome all. People need to feel love and acceptance before they will open up to us. Even if we do not approve of people’s actions, we can still accept them as they are, because this is how God treats everyone.
All needs were met by Jesus, regardless of whether the people then chose to follow Him or not. He met needs without expecting anything in return, and we too need to be prepared to give selflessly to other people.
Jesus taught profound truths in simple ways. We must be prepared to do the same, answering people’s questions as they raise them and letting others set the pace with what they ask. We need to be able to explain the gospel in simple, straightforward words, not hiding behind religious vocabulary, but explaning things simply to help people grow in an understanding of the things of God. We have to be be prepared to be available to God to use to reach out to others. Each of us has a part to play in a growing church.