January 15 Jesus and The One Luke 15:1-2
The One=the one who is lost and separated from the Father
Four insights about Jesus and The One:
1. The One is drawn to Jesus
2. Jesus loved being with The One
3. Some people isolate themselves from The One
4. Christ-followers must overcome their isolation to do life with The One
Illustration about losing something that was near/dear and going at great lengths to find it.
Turn with me to Luke 15:1-2. This morning we begin a new series entitled “The One.” At the beginning of this new year, it’s a series to help us refocus our lives to be on mission with God. Remember what Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10 This is why Jesus came. From the nativity in Bethlehem to the cross on Calvary, Jesus came for one purpose: to seek and to save and rescue and redeem those who were lost and separated from the Father.
Let me ask you a serious question: how focused are you on the mission of God? You might be thinking: Mission of God? Is he serious? I’m just trying to figure out how to pay for all the stuff I bought for Christmas! Mission of God? My marriage is hanging on by a thread; what’s all this talk about mission of God? Let me just say to you, A life that is ordered after God’s values and priorities is a life that experiences His favor in all areas of life. Remember Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Matthew 6:33 The first step in aligning your life with God is to get on mission with God. Are you on mission with Him? Are you seeking after those who are lost and separated from the Father? If you’re like me, you need to recalibrate your perspective and lifestyle in order to align yourself with the heart of the Father who gave His one and only Son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life.
So let’s read our text for today and get refocused. “All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!” Luke 15:1-2
Let me make some comments about the text we’re studying this morning.
Let’s identify the different characters. Tax collectors: they were the worst kind of guy; Jewish in ethnicity but not in practice; they actually worked for the Roman govt. They were widely known as extortioners: they would overcharge their fellow Jews and pocket the difference.
Sinners: generally this term would describe people who were not religious and pretty public about their sin. This could include prostitutes & thieves—but also people who just went about their lives without paying much attention to God or the things of God.
Tax collectors and sinners were excluded from the religious community. When a religious person would see them, they’d go “eeewhh” (can I get a 3 second of Fallon doing it?)
The Pharisees: the root of the word means to separate or detach. There were well known for being the holier than thou group. They did not spend time with regular, run of the mill folks. They were also considered the experts in interpretation of the Law, that is, the 1st 5 books of the Bible. So they weren’t anti God or anti Bible—so what was their problem? Their problem was that they viewed the Scripture through a lens that focused them on the sins of others and absolutely blinded them to their own sin.
The Scribes: were a sect of the Pharisees. Originally the scribes are seen in the Old Testament as those who prepared and issued decrees of the king of Israel. But by the time Jesus walked the earth, their duties had devolved into 2 activities: making new copies of the Law (by hand of course; no copy machines), and teaching their own spin on the law, which in effect subjugated the Scripture to their own perspective. They were a pretty mean group.
So the Scribes and Pharisees looked on those who did not know the law or follow the law with great contempt. And because of that, the Pharisees & scribes would refuse to eat with them. To understand that completely, you’ve got to understand what eating meant to those in the ancient near east. There was no fast food, not because McDonald’s hadn’t been invented yet, but because a meal was a time of protracted discussion, story telling, fellowship, of intimacy and transparency. They would linger over a meal for 2-3 hours. If you ate with someone, you communicated to each other that you valued them, esteemed them, and cared about them. No way the Pharisees would be caught dead eating with someone who everyone knew was a low-life!
But here was Jesus eating with these these irreligious people. And since Jesus was teaching the law, they considered him a Rabbi. Rabbi was a title given by the Jews to the distinguished teachers of the Law. Jesus was teaching the Law allright. Unlike anyone else. And when they kept seeing Rabbi Jesus, they grumbled and complained about this among themselves--and Jesus overhears them. So Jesus launches into 3 of the most well known parables in all of His teaching: the one sheep that was lost out of 100 sheep; the one coin that was lost out of 10 coins, and the one son who was lost out of 2 sons. We’ll get to those in the next few weeks. But this morning, let’s talk about Jesus and The One. When I use the phrase, The One=the one who is lost and separated from the Father
Four insights about Jesus and The One:
1. The One is drawn to Jesus
Did you notice the first verse? All the sinners and tax collectors were swarming to be with Jesus. Jesus has a special impact on those who are far away form God.
Survey after survey indicates that the irreligious have no problem with Jesus. 94% of Americans believe Jesus was a real person. The majority of Americans believe Jesus to be a model in moral teaching and conduct. They admire His willingness to forgive, His kindness and compassion toward hurting people. Irreligious people have no problem with Jesus. They do have a problem with religious people. They are more repelled by legalism/phariseeism/holier than thou folks than they are Jesus. (need a 30 second clip of church lady/dana carvey sounding holier than thou about dancing or ??) The One is not interested in your church or your number of memorized verses or how many times you go to church each week—but he/she is drawn to Jesus.
2. Jesus loved being with The One
Jesus didn’t have torque up the courage or the desire—He was naturally drawn to those who were lost. He spent so much time with them that it hacked off the religious community.
What would you do if you called up to get an appointment with me and my executive assistant told you I didn’t really have much time for church folk cause I was out playing golf or line dancing with a bunch of irreligious folk? You’d blow a gasket. “How dare Pastor Russ spend time with people who don’t go here or serve here or give here. I’m more important than those folks he’s hanging with!”
Jesus loved spending time with The One. There was a special place in His heart for the One who was lost and separated from the Father.
3. Some people isolate themselves from The One
The churchy people (Pharisees/scribes) built barriers. They wouldn’t eat with them, they wouldn’t socialize with them—they wouldn’t even touch them for fear it would make them unclean.
What are our barriers to hanging with the One? With those who are lost and separated from the Father? A Busy life? we’re busy people, aren’t we? We’re so busy running to soccer practices and life groups and church that we don’t have time to genuinely engage The One. We’re busy—and we’re fearful. What if they impact me more than I impact them? What if they ask me questions about Jesus I don’t know the answer to? What if they see I’m a sinner too? So our busyness and fear creates a barrier that isolates us from them. I’ll tell you another barrier that is tragic: we just don’t care enough to build the relationship. We just don’t care enough that they are lost; we don’t care enough that they are destined for an eternity in hell separated from the Father. God help us!
4. Christ-followers must overcome their isolation to do life with The One
Just think about how accessible Jesus was to those who were far from God. He walked with them; talked with them; ate and drank with them, so much so that it hurt His reputation amongst the religious folk:
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Matthew 11:19
This year we’re going to talk a lot about The One. And starting right here off the top, I’m challenging you to take two steps and make two commitments that will move you toward the one.
First, put on a Matthew party the night of the Super Bowl the night of February 5th. We call it a Matthew Party because when Matthew the tax collector got saved, he called all his friends over for a dinner so that they could meet Jesus. We’ll be giving you some simple how tos in the next couple of weeks, but for now, let this lodge in your heart to use that evening focused on the one.
Second, in a moment I want you to get up and walk to the boards around the room and right the first name only of the one that you know God has placed in your life who is lost and separated from the Father. After you write their names on the board, text us their first name so that we can assemble a prayer list. And you covenant with God to pray for them every day until they come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
You have called me Higher song—people go to boards.
