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Building Bridges: Improving The Relationships In Your Life
Trusting The Master Bridge Builder
1 Timothy 2:3-7 

Introduction: Is It Safe?

I did something on August 2 of last year that I had never done before—I held my breath as I started to drive across the bridge in Sartell. I had never before wondered if the bridge was safe. I had never before really checked out how far above the water the bridge was to see how far the fall would be if the bridge failed. I confess to some uneasiness when crossing the Golden Gate Bridge or the San Francisco Bay Bridge—especially after the earthquake in 1989. I had, however, never given a second thought to the Sartell Bridge. What made the difference? You know already. The day before, on August 1, the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis collapsed killing 13, injuring another 100 and destroying the confidence of thousands. My doubts about bridges only increased when the follow-up report identified the DeSota Bridge just west of the church as suspicious because it was similar in design to the collapsed bridge. It started to seem like every bridge should be named the Bridge of Hope—as in, “I hope it doesn’t fall!” London Bridge Is Falling Down may have been a good childhood game, but it’s one we don’t want to play on real bridges.

Bridges have made many headlines in our area during recent years as we waited for the New Sauk Rapids Bridge wondering if it would ever be built and now wondering how we finish paying for it. Bridges are important. A few years ago, when severe flooding closed some of the bridges along the Mississippi farther downstream in Illinois and Missouri, people were forced to drive over 100 miles to make the drive to work that normally took only minutes. That’s why we pay attention to bridges, how they are built and what makes them safe. They’re important.

For the next several weeks we are going to focus on building bridges in our relationships with other people. God designed us for relationships. He desires to have a relationship with us and He created us needing relationships with other people. The problem with relationships is that it’s very rare to be taught about how to build and maintain good relationships with other people. We are left to do the best we can with the trial and error method—which means there are going to be many errors resulting in difficult trials that can lead to disastrous collapses. Before turning to building relational bridges with other people we begin this morning with the bridge God built to reach us.

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Instructions on Worship

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.

God’s Desire: He Wants Everyone To Be Saved

As believers we often get hung up on theological sticking points like whether or not Jesus died for all people or only for those who actually become believers. We become so consumed with fine tuning the details that we lose sight of the big picture that God created people and He loves people and He never intended for sin to break the relationship that He desires to have with people. Paul’s clearly explains God’s desire to know us.

This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.                                                                           1 Timothy 2:3-4 NLT

What is good and pleases God our Savior?

The answer to this question is given in the preceding verses. It is good to pray for those who serve in positions of authority. In His very nature God embraces order as opposed to confusion. The Creation account in the Book of Genesis highlights how God spoke and out of formless, empty darkness called forth light, sky and sea and land, and all forms of life. God designed the family to provide structure and security. God ordained prophets and kings to lead the people. Therefore, it is good and pleases God when we pray for those who are in positions of authority to fulfill their God-ordained responsibility of leading well so we can live peaceful, quiet lives marked by godliness and holiness. (Wouldn’t you love to someone run for President using that purpose as the main plank in their platform?) This is good and pleases God because it provides the environment in which God’s desire for humanity can be realized.

What is God’s desire for humanity?

God’s desire is for everyone to be saved and to understand the truth! God designed people as the crowning achievement of His creation. Human beings are unique in God’s plan because

God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women.

                                                                                                Genesis 1:27 CEV

Out of all the many wonders of creation God designed people with the ability to have an intimate, personal relationship with Him. He had this relationship with Adam and Eve. He communicated with them directly.

The tragedy is that God has to express His desire for this kind of relationship with us. It was there in the paradise of the Garden of Eden but paradise was lost when Adam and Eve sinned. The bridge analogy breaks down at this point because in the original plan there was no bridge because there was no chasm that needed to be crossed. There was no bridge to fall down or be washed away. Instead, sin created a vast chasm separating humanity from God. The mental picture painted here is of a terrible disaster where the ground shakes so violently that it splits and separates leaving people who have loved each other separated with no way to be reunited.

As the dust settles from this eternally tragic disaster God expresses His desire. He says, “I want everyone to be saved and to know the truth.” If you want to understand the Bible, this is the point at which understanding begins. He is a big God with a big desire.

What is the truth?

The answer to this question is next idea about which we need to talk.

God’s Design: Jesus Is The Only Mediator

Many people choke on this morsel of truth. We live in a world where people love the idea that we all worship the same God who offers many different ways to come to Him. Others propose there are many gods who emanate from the same spiritual center of the universe. Whether is takes the form of one God with many ways or many gods with different ways the intent is still the same: there are many ways to reach the ultimate goal of being at one with the universal spirit. All one needs to do is select what is truth for you and then follow it as sincerely as possible to make it to heaven or nirvana or the seventy virgins or the happy hunting grounds.

I will confess to you that the idea of many ways leading to the same end is appealing. It would be great if being as sincere as possible in following the path of your choosing would get you to paradise. The problem is that it simply doesn’t square up with Biblical truth, which means you would then have to eliminate the Biblical path as one of the many possible paths. Let me explain.

The Bible Says There Is One God

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

                                                                                                1 Timothy 2:5-6 NIV

One of the basic tenets of Christian theology as presented in the Bible is that there is one, and only one, God. It is taught in many places in the Bible (cf. Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; 6:4; Isaiah 43:10; 44:6; 45:5–6, 21–22; 46:9; 1 Corinthians 8:4, 6). This runs directly against the pluralistic religiosity of our modern world that routinely rejects the notion of any form of exclusive religious truth.   We are taught by the spirit of our age that the gods of the Christians, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, and Hindus are to be charitably considered equally valid. If that were true, there would be many ways of salvation, and there would be no need for evangelism. But if there is only one true God, then He is the One in whom all must believe to be saved.

Jesus described the appeal of the many gods with many ways thinking.

Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.

                                                                                                Matthew 7:13-14 The Message

It is, of course, much more severe than achieving a successful life.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.                                 Matthew 7:13-14 NIV

How I wish the broad way would work! It would mean the salvation of almost all people. It doesn’t because…

The Bible Says There Is One Mediator

A mediator is someone who intervenes between two parties to restore peace or to ratify a covenant. As Job struggled to understand all the disasters that fell upon him, his friends advised him that he must have sinned and placed himself at odds with God. Job says his problem is that there is no one to mediate between him and God.

If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.

                                                                                                Job 9:33 NLT

Job describes the condition of humanity. A mediator is needed—a mediator identified as the man Christ Jesus. You need to know there is no definite article in Greek. A better translation would be: There is only one mediator between God and man—Christ Jesus Himself man. This acknowledges the need that the human

side of the equation needs to be present to qualify Him as the mediator. Jesus, as the perfect God-Man is the only one then who qualifies. The writer of Hebrews highlights this role.

But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.                                                                Hebrews 8:6 NLT

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.                                Hebrews 9:15 NIV

You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.                                                                 Hebrews 12:24 NLT

How I wish the broad way would work! It would mean the salvation of almost all people. It doesn’t because…

The Bible Says Ransom Is Required

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

                                                                                                1 Timothy 2:5-6 NIV

The word ransom is a rich theological term. It expresses Christ’s death as the sufficient substitute for our spiritual death.

We are familiar with ransoms. When someone is kidnapped everyone waits around the phone for the kidnappers to call to present their terms for ransom. The ransom price is the agreement of what will be accepted as payment to secure the release of the victim. Usually the price—at least on TV and in movies—is some amount of millions of dollars.

In this case the ransom price is far more expensive. The price is the life of Jesus. Jesus didn’t just pay a price for our ransom. He exchanged Himself and became the victim in our place. His payment is sufficient as a ransom for all. This doesn’t mean that all will be saved. It means it is sufficient for any and all who choose to rely upon Him as mediator.

Another way to translate mediator is the word bridge. There is only one bridge between God and people. That bridge is Jesus. He spans the gulf that separates sinful humanity from holy God. Jesus came to earth, in obedient submission to the Father, to provide that bridge. This truth is at the center of the creeds expressing our faith. Find a hymnal and turn to number 15—The Nicene Creed where we read:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Of all that is, seen and unseen

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through Him all things were made.

For us and our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

Everything that makes us Christian states there is one God and there is one way. Many gods would provide many ways but those many gods and many ways are not the same God. There is no wiggle room here. This is not a both/and situation where both options can be true. There is an either/or scenario where one is right and one is wrong—deadly, eternally wrong.

How I wish the broad way worked! The problem is it leads to destruction. The way to life is the narrow gate.

You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.              Matthew 7:13-14 NLT

With that we are ready to look at…

God’s Delight: We Proclaim The True Faith

We bring delight to God when we proclaim the true faith of Jesus as the mediator provided at the proper time.

And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.         1 Timothy 2:7 NIV

Jesus proclaimed the truth. In fact He said that He is the truth.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.                                                                     John 14:6 NIV

I wish I could tell people that the broad way works. It doesn’t. There is one way and only one way for the gulf between God and man to be bridged. After comparing Jesus to the cornerstone that was rejected Peter declared,

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.                                                  Acts 4:12 NIV

We can tell other people the truth gently and with sensitivity and with great respect, but the matter of first importance is to tell them the truth.

1.      God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you

2.      Sin destroyed that relationship

3.      While people may try many ways to please God, He has given us the only way to please Him in Jesus. Jesus died in your place to satisfy God’s righteous standard.

4.      In order to have a relationship with God you need to confess to Him that you have sinned, ask Him to forgive you in Jesus’ name and turn control of your life over to Him.

Conclusion: The Purpose of a Bridge

The purpose of a bridge is to get you from one side of what separates you to the other.

I remember crossing the Straits of Mackinac by ferry in the 1950s. The Mackinac Bridge was nearing completion as one end extended from the Lower Peninsula and one from the Upper Peninsula. I remember my parents were excited as they talked about how the bridge would make it so much easier to travel between the two peninsulas.

It did. There have been several times I have crossed the bridge that united the state.

The bridge making it possible to have a relationship with God is very different.

Construction takes place from only one side of the gulf.

All of our best efforts to span the gulf separating us from God are useless. Doing the best we can do and trying to be the nicest person we can be are vain attempts to do only what God can do. He is the Master Bridge Builder.

Construction materials are the flesh and blood of Jesus

God could have decided to make obeying the 10 Commandments the way to come back to Him. He could have decided that we needed to rely upon sacrifices made at temples. He could have decided that we needed to make regular pilgrimages to Jerusalem. What He decided was to provide Jesus as the ransom for sin—the testimony given in its proper time.

When it comes to your salvation there is only one decision to be made. Will you use the bridge provided by God? Jesus is the only bridge between holy God and sinful people. He invites you to cross the bridge with Him.