But you know, very few of those congregations had larger crowds than did the Lord Jesus Himself. Carefully notice that I said “congregations.” Christ never personally pastored a large church – that was a blessing which was given to others. But the Lord Jesus did have enormous crowds of hundreds and even thousands of people at a time. There were days when the numbers were so large He was in danger of being crushed by the mobs. There were occasions when whole hillsides were covered with people eager to hear Him. More than once Jesus resorted to using boats so that He could speak to large crowds without being buried alive, or pushed into the sea to be drowned. And yet, not once did He give away a single bicycle or McDonald’s hamburger. A Christ-like ministry should attract crowds without resorting to gimmicks or compromise. A Christ-like ministry should be as dependent upon the Holy Spirit as was Jesus’ ministry. The techniques of the advertizing world, modern public relations and carnival trickery are not of God. Have people changed so much that they would not respond to the Lord Jesus if He were here today?
Let’s ask ourselves what sort of things the Lord would do to build a church among secular Americans today. Assuming that He would do the same things that He did 2,000 years ago, then here are 3 things: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”
First, the Lord Jesus would continue to love the unlovely.
When Jesus began His earthly ministry there was a highly developed religious caste system in Israel. But when you study how Jesus spent His time, it is obvious that He gave it no consideration at all. Unlike what some might do today, Jesus didn’t go to the mayor, the governor or the president. The Saviour spent time at funerals, weddings, dinners and parties with sinners and common people. The sanctimonious religious crowd got so sick of it that they began calling him a “friend of sinners.” People could sense that Jesus loved them and cared for their well-being. Even little children wanted to be around him, which speaks volumes about the kind of Person He was.
The church-building experts of 1970s used to emphasize buses, door-to-door evangelism and radio broadcasts. But you know, in my years in Bible school, I never heard a word about loving unbelievers. Are you aware that we are commanded to love over 50 times in the New Testament? If we don’t love people, very little else really matters. “He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.” Someone might say, “But the love that Christians are commanded to have is for their Christian brethren.” Exclusively? What about the Sermon on the Mount? “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Was the love of the Lord Jesus confined only to his friends? Remember that there was a time when He had no friends. And without a doubt, before your salvation, you were no friend of Christ.
This is a silly thought but let’s try a mental experiment – Here is a family of six, Mother, Father, two sons and two daughters. You have never met a family which has more love for each other than this family. Everything they do is done together as a family, but never is anyone else included. Their consideration and sacrifice for each other knows no bounds or human duplication. Never do the four kids have any desire to play with any other children. They are home schooled, home churched, and home bound. The parents encourage their children to stay at home and enjoy one another exclusively. What is going to eventually happen to this family if they never go beyond their household? That family is going to die; the girls will be spinsters, and the boys will be grumpy old men. There will be no grandchildren, no extension of the family tree. That family is a picture of a great many good churches. They are filled with love for the children in the family, but not for anyone else. It is not that they are unloving, but rather they are self-loving. And that self-love will eventually mean the death of the family.
When we have visitors come to our church, it is important that they feel important to us. And love is not just a feeling — its an attitude and a behaviour – a commitment. I think that this church has improved over the years, but I don’t want us to forget or to stop growing in this area. Parents with small children will feel loved, if you show genuine interest in their children. Visitors who express some sort of need, like a job or housing, need to hear a concern in our voices. Some folk are very good at remembering visitor’s names and personal things about them. This is a wonderful way to say, “You are important to me.” Of course there is the personal greeting before and after each church service. I have heard of a church that enacted something that they called the “Four minute rule.” Maybe it was in one of those books that I spoke of. Their’s was a church with lots of visitors every week. And the “Four minute rule” was that no member of the church should chat with another member of the church until at least four minutes after the last “Amen.” During those four minutes they should seek out some visitor and spend time with them, before they got to their old friends.
One of the most impressive things Christ ever did was on the occasion when a leper came to be healed. Of course, Jesus is omnipotent and had healed people at a great distances by the mere word or thought. But when this leper came to him, Jesus deliberately broke with tradition and touched his diseased skin. By law this would have made the average person unclean and susceptible to the disease. But that touch told the leper that Jesus loved him, and perhaps that was even more important than the healing itself. I’m not by nature a touchy-touching person, but I have learned over the years that a hand on the shoulder while I shake a person’s hand can be an important unspoken statement. A brief touch on the back of someone’s hand can say more than ten minutes of conversation.
Jesus attracted crowds because He loved them, and that is certainly something that we can emulate.
Also He kept many of those people by MEETING THEIR NEEDS.
But remember, that meeting NEEDS is not the same thing as filling people’s WANTS.
Christ Jesus often met people asking them, “What do you want me to do for you?” Sometimes the answer was obvious, but He asked anyway. And sometimes Jesus met a physical need in order to establish a beach-head for evangelism. As a general rule, before we can share the god news with people, we have to get their attention.
What can we offer the people of this community that they can’t get anywhere else? Of course there is the gospel, and other aspects of Bible knowledge. But what do we have, short of bribes and gimmicks to draw their attention to the Word of God? That is where ministry comes into play. We have the ability to meet some people’s needs in Jesus name. And it takes us right back to expressions of love. Is there anyone out there in that world of yours in need of a friend? Is there any comfort that you can give to someone? There are people out there struggling with guilt, which you might be able to help. When you help people like that you are definitely behaving in a Christ-like manner. There are people burdened with worry that you might be able to assist. The world is filled with loneliness – something which a mere visit can help alleviate.
These kinds of actions can be performed by nearly anyone. And many times they lead indirectly right back to the Lord’s church. Every time our church meets someone’s need, a good rumor is started about us. When enough of these good rumors get spread around, then we’ll see more people investigating us. That will do more good than fifty people out on church visitation every week for a year.
Something else that attracted people to the Lord Jesus, was His PRACTICAL, INTERESTING TEACHING.
Not always, and not everyone, but many of the common people enjoyed listening to the Lord. They were amazed and impressed and enthusiastic about what the Lord said. At times they were absolutely spell-bound. They were overcome by His authority and beyond the normal knowledge.
What Jesus did was direct His thoughts towards things that really were important to his hearers. The problem is that most people don’t know that salvation from sin and fellowship with God is important. So Jesus usually began with people’s needs, hurts and interests. When He began his ministry in the synagogue of Nazareth, he chose as a text a passage from Isaiah. “The Father has appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to the captive, to the blind and to the mistreated.” From the outset Jesus emphasized his ministry of meeting people’s needs.
Of course, In addition to the Lord’s healing ministry – His going about “doing good” – He was a preacher and teacher. By the way, when verse 23 says, “Jesus went about… healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people”… The “sickness” and “disease” are not a redundant repetition. The sickness is sickness and the Greek word “disease” is “malakia” – any sort of malady. The Gospel, as you know speaks of “good news.” The Lord Jesus shared it in both capacities – “good” and “news.” There is a ton of bad news for every ounce of good news in the world today. Deliverance from sin and the plagues that sin causes, is indeed “good.” But what about the “news” part? What gets people’s attention? Look around. We pay attention to things that threaten us – like terrorists or storm warnings. We notice things that are unique and new. And we like things that we value and enjoy. If I could convince you that Mica Peak was really an ancient volcano and it was getting ready to erupt, perhaps that would get your attention. But if the ground was shaking and there was black smoke billowing off the top of that hill then you might become really interested in my message.
Jesus’ sermons often started with practical everyday object lessons. He talked about trees and animals, the weather and sometimes even politics. But then he began to teach – He turned to the Word of God, the textbook of eternal truth. With wisdom beyond any of us, he took Old Testament scriptures and applied them to His listeners. And He was able to show to them that their problems were all anticipated by God. After His teaching and Biblical exposition He moved on to the good news of the kingdom of God. Generally speaking, people around us don’t have any quarrel with us in what we believe. But they do have a problem when what we believe is linked to them personally. This is our problem, mine and yours, to create an interest in people for the things that we are saying. And I don’t claim to be proficient in this area – I see my need.
Mark 12:37 makes an interesting comment about the teachings of the Lord Jesus. It says that “the people heard him gladly” – they liked to listen to him. I know some preachers who seem to think that they’ve failed if their people enjoyed their message. Some of them proudly say that its not our business to entertain. Maybe that is why many non-church people consider church to be the most boring place in world. Pray for your pastor, because dull preaching is a problem. No, it is not my commission to entertain, but neither is it my job to put people to sleep. Truth poorly delivered is going to be ignored, no matter how important it might be. But it is obvious through television that people will listen to absolute foolishness if it is interesting. Jesus told stories to keep the interest of his hearers. Then He spoke of profound things in simple ways to keep them interested.
Pray that our church might have a ministry more like that of the Lord Jesus.