It's Too Good Not to Share — Red Hot Series | The Bridge Church Hampton, VA

The moment Levi met Jesus, his first instinct wasn't to keep it to himself.

He threw a party.

Not a quiet, private moment of reflection. A feast. And he invited everyone he knew — tax collectors, sinners, people the religious crowd wouldn't be caught dead sitting with. Whatever had just happened to him, Levi was convinced it was too good not to share.

That was the heart of this week's message at The Bridge Church in Hampton, VA, as Pastor Edwin Jones continued our Red Hot series with a word from Luke 5:27–32 titled "It's Too Good Not to Share."

The Man Nobody Expected Jesus to Call

Tax collectors in first-century Israel were not just disliked — they were despised. They worked for Rome, collected more than was owed, and pocketed the difference. They were considered traitors by their own people and ceremonially unclean by the religious establishment. Levi was the last person anyone would have expected Jesus to single out.

But that's exactly who Jesus walked up to.

"Follow me," He said. And Levi got up, left everything, and followed.

No long deliberation. No list of conditions. No negotiating his reputation first. The call was simple and Levi's response was immediate. Something about the invitation from Jesus made every other option in his life seem smaller by comparison.

The Party That Said Everything

What Levi did next reveals more about the gospel than a sermon could. He went home, threw a great banquet, and filled the table with his people — the people who looked like him, who lived like him, who the rest of the world had written off.

He didn't clean himself up before inviting them. He didn't wait until he had all the answers. He just brought them to the same table where he had been welcomed.

That's what genuine spiritual fire does. It spreads. A person who has been genuinely changed by an encounter with Jesus doesn't hoard it — they want everyone around them to experience what they experienced.

"It's too good not to share" isn't a ministry strategy. It's just the natural response of someone whose life has actually been touched.

What the Pharisees Missed

The religious leaders watching from the outside couldn't understand it. Why would Jesus eat with people like this? Why would He surround Himself with the wrong crowd?

Jesus' answer is one of the most clarifying statements in all of Scripture: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

The Pharisees had religion. Levi's friends had need. And Jesus went to where the need was.

For a church that wants to stay red hot, this matters. It is easy to build a community that is comfortable for people who already have it together. It is much harder — and much more like Jesus — to build a table that has room for the people who don't.

Who's at Your Table?

The challenge Pastor Edwin left with the congregation wasn't complicated, but it was convicting.

Think about the people in your life who don't know Jesus. The coworker, the neighbor, the family member. The people you care about who haven't yet experienced what you've experienced. Are you bringing them to the table?

You don't have to have a theology degree. You don't have to have the perfect words. Levi didn't. He just opened his home and introduced his friends to the one who had changed his life.

The gospel is too good to keep to yourself. And when you've actually felt the weight of what Jesus did — not as a concept, but as something real — sharing it stops feeling like an obligation and starts feeling like the most natural thing in the world.

Watch the Full Message

Catch "It's Too Good Not to Share" on our Messages page or on YouTube.

New to The Bridge or ready to get more connected? Plan your visit or join a Connect Group. We meet every Sunday at 8:15, 10:00, and 11:45 AM at 35 Tide Mill Lane, Hampton, VA 23666.