A CALL TO REACH ANYONE Mark 2:13-17
INTRO:
1. Read a small booklet several years ago by Joseph Stowell entitled (I hope this is right) Loving Those You Would Rather Hate.
He talk about the issues of homosexuality, race, ethnic diversity, etc.
2. I read a story the other day about a homeless man. Smelling of the streets he attempted to attend a church. There he met resistance from the people until he eventually went outside and sat on the steps of the church. The Lord spoke to him and asked, “What’s the matter?” He replied, “The won’t let me into their church.” “That’s okay,” replied the Lord, “I’ve been trying to get in there for years and they won’t let Me in either.”
3. Who are the people that we would not want to relate to? Is it because of their appearance? Their lifestyle? Their heritage? Their religion?
4. This is God’s desire: “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
5. Jesus give us a good example in these verses of how He wants us to reach out to anyone he sends our way.
I. LOVE: COMPELLED TO REACH ANYONE
A. While teaching on the lakeside, Jesus encounters Levi.
B. Levi was:
• Hated tax-collector. In those days no one knew how much taxes they owed, so it was easy for the tax-collector to get as much as he could to line his own pockets.
• Ostracized by the Jews. They were considered traitors who worked for the hated Roman government. Would not allow a tax-collector in the synagogue. They were believed to be liars so their testimony would not hold up in court.
• These were men who were classed with murderers, robbers, harlots, sinners, and of course Gentiles.
C. Jesus heart reaches out to Levi, not because of what others saw, but what he sees as the potential for a life given to Him.
D. It is easy to concentrate on the outside of someone, but does the love of God compel us to see others with the eyes of Jesus? Levi becomes Matthew, with means “The gift of God.”
E. When I lived in Effingham, IL, we had a man by the name of Granville, that was unique in his behavior and dress. Because of this he had separated himself from the others of our community. My District Superintendent came one day to preach in our church, and he had stopped to get a drink, and met Granville there. He spent about a half an hour speaking and witnessing to Granville. My first reaction was very negative, but then I began to realize that Dr. Hancock did not know are even care about Granville and his separation from the community. All he saw was a man in need of the Savior!
F. We need to allow Jesus to use us to share with anyone.
II. ACCEPTANCE: CRAVING TO RELATE WITH ANYONE
A. One of the first things that Matthew did was to invite his friends to meet with Jesus.
B. His friends would have been like him – tax-collectors and sinners.
Note: The longer we are Christian, the smaller our circle of influence with the world becomes. Christ met Matthew as He was ministering along the lake. He was always looking for opportunities to minister.
C. A clear distinction was drawn between those who kept the law and those whom they called the people of the land. The people of the land were the common mob who did not observe all the rules and the regulations of conventional Pharisaic piety. By the orthodox it was forbidden to have anything to do with these people. The strict law-keeper must have no fellowship with them at all. He must not talk with them nor go on a journey with them; as far as possible, he must not even do business with them; to marry a daughter to one of them was as bad as giving her over to a wild beast; above all, he must not accept hospitality from or give hospitality to such a person. By going to Matthew’s house and sitting at his table and companying with his friends Jesus was defying the orthodox conventions of his day. Barclays Daily Bible Study
D. We have worked so hard to insulate ourselves from the world:
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
2 Cor 6:14-15
We cannot be tied to the world and their system of values, goals and direction.
E. But have I isolated myself from those Jesus wants to save?
Lived In a Plastic Bubble
Because his body had no immune system to fight disease, a lad in Texas lived out his short life inside a bubble. For more than 10 years he lived in the plastic dome, isolated from the infectious agents that others live with which could prove fatal to him. He breathed filtered air, ate sterile food, and until his final days was touched only by hands wearing sterile rubber gloves. Some Christians believe isolation is the only way they can keep from “being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
Source unknown
F. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 2 Pet 3:2-5
III. FORGIVENESS: COOPERATE IN THE RESTORATION OF ANYONE
A. Jesus tells us that: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
B. For us to join in the ministry with Jesus, our concern is to bring people to Jesus for His salvation.
C. This most important way for us to do that is to be forgivers our self.
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matt. 6:14
Witnessed to Daughter’s Killer
Charlie Hainline is a layman at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is a man who radiates the love of Christ, and is serious about sharing his faith with others. One year, his goal was to lead 1650 people to faith in Christ (5 a day)! Once, he was out witnessing with a couple of other folks, and though he didn’t share the gospel, he sat there and smiled broadly as a teammate did. When the teammate was finished and asked if the person would like to trust Christ and receive the gift of eternal life, the person replied, “If being a Christian would make me like him (point to Charlie), I want it!” Charlie’s life wasn’t a bed of roses by any means. His daughter was kidnapped, killed, and her head was found floating in a canal. When the murderer of his daughter was caught and convicted, Charlie went to jail in order to witness to the man.
Source unknown
D. Jerry Cook, in his book, “Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness”, says of Catherine Marshall, that she suggests that forgiveness is releasing another from your own personal judgment. Taking your personal judgment off a person doesn’t mean you agree with what he has said or done. It simply means you will not act as his judge. You will not pronounce a guilty verdict on him.
E. When we do this, we are free to love anyone! We are not their judge or jury. We are called to love them into the kingdom!
CONCLUSION:
Jerry Cook once remarked that he had a call from another pastor in the community who was upset with him. He complained that many of his people were coming to his church. At one point he said, “You know what you are? You’re a garbage collector.” The first pastor thought for a moment, and agreed. They were garbage collectors. They had become a place for the human refuse of life to go so that God could recycle them. After he told his congregation this, a man who owned a garbage collection agency came up to him and said, “That’s great. Up the street was a landfill that we used for 10 years to dump trash and garbage. You know what is there now? A beautiful park!” (Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness, Jerry Cook, p. 22)
God want to take people whom the world sees a refuse and put them at our door. If we don’t want them, He will find someone who will!
