Introduction:
A. I think that most of us know that God loves sinners and wants them to be saved.
1. The Apostle Paul wrote, “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...”(1 Tim. 1:3-6)
2. The Apostle Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
3. And John 3:16 tells us that it was God’s love that caused Him to give His Son to save us.
B. So we know that God loves sinners and wants them to be saved, and we know that God’s plan for reaching sinners involves employing each one of us.
1. But for most of us that is a daunting task. Am I right about that?
2. We feel ill equipped to attempt such a mission, and we fear that our attempts will be unwelcome by the lost we hope to reach.
3. I love the story of the man who prayed every morning, “Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is.”
a. One day he found himself on a bus when a big, burly man sat next to him.
b. The bus was nearly empty, but this guy sat next to our praying friend.
c. The timid Christian anxiously waited for his bus stop so that he could exit the bus.
d. Suddenly the big guy next to him burst into tears and cried out, “I need to be saved. I’m a lost sinner, won’t someone tell me how to be saved?”
e. The timid believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, “Lord, is this a sign?”
C. In our series Devoted To Jesus, we have been seeking a clearer understanding and appreciation for Jesus, so that our faith may be stronger, and that our discipleship might be more complete.
1. With our Annual Friend Day only one week away, it is the perfect time to think about the relationship between Jesus and sinners.
2. What were Jesus’ attitudes and actions toward sinners?
3. What was Jesus’ mission with regard to sinners?
4. I’m guessing that most of us know the answers to those questions.
5. But let’s be challenged again as we take another look at Jesus and try to learn from Him.
I. Jesus and Sinners
A. I want us to open up our Bibles and follow along with Jesus as we see Him reaching out to the lost.
B. Our first visit with Jesus takes us to Matthew 9 and to the home of Matthew, the tax collector turned disciple.
1. Jesus went up to Matthew’s tax collector’s booth and issued an invitation, “Follow me.”
2. Amazingly, Matthew got up and followed him. (Luke adds that Matthew left everything.)
3. Immediately, Matthew put on a feast for Jesus and invited his friends, fellow tax collectors and sinners.
4. The Pharisees, who were Jewish religious leaders, observed all this and asked Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mt. 9:11)
5. That was certainly something that the Pharisees would never do, they were too pure and holy to be involved in such an activity.
6. They had come to believe that the most important thing about religion was separating oneself from evil, including evil people.
7. The Bible says, “On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” (Mt. 9:12)
8. The Pharisees thought they were without spiritual need, and that these sinners were unworthy of God’s attention, but they were wrong on both counts.
9. The Bible tells us that there are none righteous (Psalm 14; 53; Rom. 3), therefore all are sick and need Dr. Jesus.
10. So Dr. Jesus makes a house call. He goes to a place where sick sinners will be and seeks to make a difference through His encounter with them.
11. How many of them became followers of Jesus that day or in the days that followed, we do not know, but Jesus did the right thing, he made himself available to them.
C. Our second visit with Jesus takes us to John 4 and a well in Samaria.
1. On this trip Jesus was truly breaking all the rules.
2. The most religious and faithful Jews traveled around Samaria rather than through it, so as not to become spiritually contaminated.
3. Jesus disregarded that tradition and went right into Samaria.
4. It was noon, and likely very hot. Tired from the journey He sat down to rest while the disciples went into town to buy food.
5. The town well was the most public place in the community.
6. People would come to the well and draw water and catch up on the happenings in the town.
7. Since it was noon, the hottest part of the day, no one was there.
8. Most people came and drew water early in the morning or late in the evening, when it was cooler.
9. A few minutes later, a Samaritan woman came to draw water.
10. I’m guessing that she came when she did to try to avoid encounters with the townspeople.
11. She had had several failed marriages and now was living with a man, and was likely an outcast familiar with condescending looks and verbal attacks.
12. We can only imagine her surprise when Jesus spoke to her, asking her for a drink of water.
13. She said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (Jn. 4:9)
14. From her vantage point, she had two immediate strikes against her, she was a Samaritan, and a woman. No Jewish man was likely to talk with her. But this was no common Jewish man!
15. Jesus proceeded to have a spiritual conversation with her, and used His divine powers to reveal that He was somebody special.
16. When the woman realized who she was talking to, she turned and ran to town and told everyone that she had met the Messiah, and urged them to come meet Him for themselves.
17. A crowd of people came out to meet Jesus and invited him to stay with them, and He did stay for two days and many became believers.
18. So as I said, He broke all the conventional rules.
19. He went into Samaria, and then actually stayed with them for a number of days.
20. He spoke to a very sinful woman whose life had been a terrible mess.
21. These were the kind of people that the religious people of His day avoided at all costs, but Jesus cared about them and went to where they were to help them.
D. Our final visit with Jesus takes us to Luke 19, to Jericho and the home of Zacchaeus.
1. Like Matthew, Zacchaeus was a tax collector, but more than just a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
2. You probably know the rest of the story, Jesus came to town and during the parade of people, Zacchaeus the short man climbed the tree to get a better look at Jesus.
3. Jesus noticed Zacchaeus up the tree and invited himself to dinner.
4. In typical fashion, the self-righteous people complained, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” (Lk. 19:7)
5. But during the visit, Zacchaeus was convicted and repented.
6. Jesus declared, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Lk. 19:9-10)
7. That is the heart and soul of Jesus and His mission – to seek and save what was lost.
E. So do you see a pattern emerging in Jesus’ life and ministry?
1. Jesus cares about lost people, even when nobody else does, and He goes to where they are and reaches out to them.
2. Does Jesus approach them with a caustic, confrontational approach? (Only with those who think they know better religiously).
3. With the lost who are spiritually weak and don’t know they are lost, it appears that He first seeks to simply be with them socially, and in that setting tries to converse with them about significant matters.
4. No fancy, well-organized programs, just a lifestyle of loving, personal outreach.
5. So that was Sinners and Jesus, now let’s talk about…
II. Sinners and Us
A. We are Jesus’ disciples, right?
1. What does that mean? It means that we are followers of His teachings, and are people who seek to carry out His mission.
2. We are trying to walk in His steps and follow His examples.
3. And all that means that caring for the lost and doing something to reach them has to be at the very center of all we think and do.
4. Are the lost really on our minds? And are the lost really in our plans?
5. I believe that is the place we have to begin – our hearts and minds.
6. Praying and planning. Asking God to show us who and how.
7. I believe God will be faithful and will help identify the people with whom we should focus our outreach efforts.
8. Once they have been identified, then we have to plan time to be with them, whether we are meeting them out there somewhere, in their home or in ours.
9. Time together can then translate into invitations to study, or come to worship, or to small groups, or other special events.
10. I firmly believe that the old saying is true – “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Caring equals time and attention.
11. Jesus loved a lot of people into the kingdom, and I’m still convinced that is the most effective way.
B. At times we probably feel it would be so much easier if we could be like Lucy in the old Peanuts cartoon.
1. Lucy said to Charlie Brown, “I would have made a great evangelist.”
2. Charlie Brown replied, “Is that so?”
3. “Yes,” she said, “I convinced the boy in front of me in school that my religion is better than his.”
4. Charlie Brown asked, “Well, how did you do that?”
5. Lucy answered, “I hit him over the head with my lunch box.”
6. Many have tried that approach, but with little success.
C. Let’s keep several things in mind as we try to reach out to the lost.
D. First, let’s remember that we are forgiven sinners.
1. It’s easy for us to forget from whence we came, and that none of us have arrived at perfection.
2. We are still sinners, thankfully forgiven sinners.
3. All of us, myself included, are still weak and vulnerable in many ways.
4. The church must not be allowed to become a self-righteous club with no room or sympathy for sinners.
5. Every sinner has a past, but also a future. The past is often not so pretty, but the future can be grand! Amen!
6. As has been often said, “The church is not a hotel for saints, but a hospital for sinners who need Jesus.”
7. Keeping in mind that we are forgiven sinners will foster compassion toward the unforgiven sinners and will also make us more real and approachable.
E. Second, Let’s remember who are the lost.
1. To be lost means that we are separated from God because of our sin.
2. The consequences of being lost in sin are grave.
3. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23)
4. Hell is the destiny of all who are lost in sin.
5. The Bible clearly teaches that there is a real place called Hell. Jesus talked about hell more than He did about heaven.
6. Paul wrote, “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.” (2 Cor. 5:11)
7. Before people can understand the good news, they must realize that there is bad news.
8. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory and must turn to the only remedy for their lost condition – the grace of God given through the sacrifice of Jesus.
9. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)
10. So who are the lost? All who have not received the gift of God that is found in Christ Jesus.
F. Third, Let’s remember that many who are lost don’t know they are lost.
1. One preacher I read about had visitors come to him and say, “Last week in church you said that we could be saved. We don’t understand. Saved from what?”
2. Some people don’t know anything different from sinful lifestyles and unchristian ethics they have lived with.
3. People do get used to the dark.
4. Isn’t it interesting that bars and nightclubs are never well lit?
a. The dirt, grease, grime, broken fixtures and worn furniture is all hidden in the darkness.
b. In the same way that murky light hides the human sinfulness of drunkenness, profanity, lust and adultery.
5. Have you ever been in a movie theatre in the middle of the day and had your eyes adjust to the darkness, only to come out into the light after the movie? When inside you didn’t realize how dark it was.
6. Many are in the darkness and don’t even know it. They have gotten use to it.
7. And when blinded by the light, many run back into the darkness, as Jesus said, “men loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil.” (Jn. 3:19)
8. So some are lost and really don’t even know it.
G. Fourth, Let’s remember that some know they are lost but stay lost for several reasons.
1. One of those reasons is shame.
a. Many people are afraid that God cannot accept them because of their sinful past.
b. Guilt and shame can keep people from accepting God’s love and grace and the love and grace of God’s people.
2. A second reason that the lost sometimes stay lost is pride.
a. Pride says, “I want to do it my way. No one can tell me anything. I don’t need help.”
b. Pride says, “I don’t need grace, I want only what I deserve.”
c. Pride says, “I’d rather die in my sin, then repent and be baptized.”
d. Like Namaan in the OT who was told to be baptized in the Jordon River too be healed, who initially said that river was too dirty and beneath him. He wouldn’t do it.
e. Pride can certainly get in the way.
H. Finally, Let’s remember that we do have the answer.
1. Howard Hendricks said, “In the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering.”
2. In truth, many people in our world aren’t sure what the questions are, but we have both the right questions and the right answers.
3. Helping people ask those questions and seek the answers is the challenge.
4. This is where I believe preparation, patience and persistence are necessary.
5. Preparation – we must get ready to ask questions, answer questions, and share our story.
6. Patience - I read a story this week about a young lesbian couple who decided to attend church one Sunday.
a. It was a small congregation of mostly elderly people. Most of the people were either gray haired, blue haired or no haired, and these two stood out like sore thumbs.
b. The congregation greeted the young ladies with such warmth and acceptance that one of the gals was drawn to come back again and again.
c. She was invited to potluck dinners and was urged to join a small group Bible study.
d. Through her Bible study she came to see her lifestyle as harmful and sinful, but she did not leave the lesbian life right away.
e. She said the congregation was unfailingly patient with her as, over and over, she took two steps forward and one step back.
f. That little church waited patiently for the Great Physician to do His careful work.
g. She eventually repented and accepted Jesus as her Savior, but it took time and patience.
6. Persistence - I like the old story of the lady who regularly invited her friend to church and to special meetings at church, but the friend never came.
a. For some reason, the Christian lady kept track of the invitations, and as she made her 50th invitation she pleasantly mentioned that this was the 50th such invitation she had given her.
b. The friend initially declined the invitation, but continued thinking about the persistence of this friend.
c. Finally she decided that if her friend thought it important enough to invite her 50 times, then she really should check it out.
d. She liked what she experienced and later became a Christian.
7. So preparation, patience and persistence are key!
Conclusion:
A. As we conclude this sermon let me end with two requests.
B. First, if you are already a follower of Jesus, then reach out to others on His behalf.
1. Those of us who are saved should not want to go to heaven alone.
2. Let’s take as many with us as we can!
3. A good place to start might be with invitations to next week’s Friend Day.
C. My second request – If you are not already a follower of Christ, then accept His invitation:
1. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt. 11:28-30)
2. Oh the blessed wonder of having Christ our Savior, the gentle and humble one, lift our burdens and take away our sins!!
