Acts 16:6-10

On January 12, 2010, a catastrophic earthquake struck the capital of Haiti.  The devastation to infrastructure and human life was immense: the city a field of dust-covered rubble, the people hurt and helpless.  Rescue workers searched the toppled buildings and cracked concrete for days to bring help to any who survived the quake.  Amid devastation, now and again, there is a miracle.  One such is the story of Wismond Jean-Pierre.  Eleven days after the quake, he was found uninjured in a pocket in the rubble of the crumpled hotel where he worked.  The workers were overjoyed to offer their help to one who desperately needed it.

We can assist in the world with our time or our money, with our encouragement or our support.  God loves and blesses these works.  But Christians have a particular kind of help that is unique and superb, and especially fitting for this broken world.  Luke, the writer of Acts, expressed that help very well.  He said, “God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
 
The gospel is a unique thing.  It’s the message of God’s great love for this world, though it is horrendous rubble because of sin.  It’s unique because it recognizes that those pinned in sins’ wreckage aren’t able to free themselves.  It’s superb because it proclaims the one-man rescue team of Jesus, who died on the cross to free the world from its guilt and sins.  It’s truly helpful because his saving work promises a heaven where everything is whole.  This is the gospel, unique, superb and truly helpful.

We who have been pulled out of the rubble of our sins are blessed to know that message.  We were helped by somebody else as they shared with us our rescuer Jesus.  Our great privilege as members of his team is to now share that help with others.  Many more are trapped in sin.  Sometimes we hear their cries in their actions or questions.  Sometimes they tell us just where they are and how badly they are stuck.  We can help them best by sharing Jesus.  He is real help for hurting people with difficult sins and weighty guilts.  He gives God’s forgiveness for all that traps them.  He offers God’s love to make them whole forever.  As we proclaim the gospel, we bring what they truly need: real help.