“Bringing Men to Jesus”

“Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon down to the sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Him to place His hand on the man.”

Mark 7:31-32

In a parallel passage Matthew (15:30) described what was happening like this:

“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.”

As Jesus laid hands on them, the people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the cripple made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. With every miracle came a growing confidence in Him. As their confidence grew so did the crowds and soon they were bringing the sick, crippled and hurting with them.

They recognized from following Jesus two important truths:

1. An encounter with Jesus was a life-changing experience.

2. Everything He touched was made whole.

This motivated people! They took time to look around and find hurting people. They looked for those who truly needed a miracle in their lives and then they brought them to Jesus. They did not simply “identify them” as someone who needed Jesus, but they made the effort to lead them to Him. This takes a tremendous amount of faith! Why? Because it exposes what we believe?

I often wonder… “If we have enough faith in Him to follow Him, then why have we stopped bringing men to Jesus?” Are we afraid of having our faith exposed? Are we afraid that He will not do for them what they need? Are we concerned that it will reflect poorly on us if they do not receive? Or are we more concerned about our reputation than their wholeness? We do not see the miracles today, not because God is unwilling to heal, but we are unwilling to “bring men to Jesus”.

These people whom Jesus healed did not show up “two by two” like animals to Noah’s ark. They were found and led there by PEOPLE! In fact, Jesus commanded us to bring them to Him. In Luke 14:21-23, the Parable of the Great Banquet, His servants are instructed to: “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.” Once this was done the servants replied… “Sir, what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.” So Jesus ordered them: “Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.”
Have we, as the church, lost our confidence in Christ’s ability to save, heal and deliver? If we, too, believe that an encounter with Jesus is a life-changing experience and that everything He touches is made whole…shouldn’t we be the first to “bring men to Jesus?”


Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com