Who Is Your One

Title: Who Is Your One?

Place: BLCC

Date:7/2/17

Text: Luke 5.27-32

CT: Jesus already knows whom we are trying to reach.

FAS: In his book The Gospel According to Jesus, Chris Seay mentions a profound lesson he learned from his father about loving the "bad people":

Growing up, we didn't have a lot of money, so we used to get outfield deck seats (aka "the cheap seats") to see the baseball games at the [Houston] Astrodome. Most of the people buying the cheap seats did so to save more money for beer. After the first few innings, they were drunk, and by the time the seventh-inning stretch rolled around, there would be beer mixed with peanut shells on the floor, spilled beer down your back, and a brawl two rows over and back to the left. It was ugly out there. As a kid, I learned from a lot people that we were sitting with the "bad people."

There was one consistent drunk fan named Batty Bob. He was a self-proclaimed Houston Astros mascot. He'd come to all the games wearing a rainbow wig, and he'd lead slurred cheers in the stands. I remember one time my dad went out to sit and talk with Batty Bob. He spent the whole game with Bob, then walked him out to the parking lot to bring him home with us. I was more than confused, because this guy was one of the "bad people."

When we got home, my dad came to me and explained how God loved Batty Bob. I remember thinking, Really? Batty Bob? And he stayed with us for a few days to get back on his feet. This is when I started to realize that God did not despise these people; he dearly loved them.

Chris Seay, The Gospel According to Jesus (Thomas Nelson, 2011), p. 147

LS: As followers of Jesus we must live out our conviction to reach the “bad people” we meet.

Let’s go straight to scripture this morning.

Luke 5.27-32, 27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Are we expecting evangelism without evangelists? Are we an evangelistic church?

Do people come to Christ from what we do?

What is evangelism?

Evangelism is the preaching or the teaching of the gospel with the intention of exposing God's love to all mankind through Jesus Christ.

Are we a voice for people who are away from God?

Is BLCC a place where someone would feel comfortable coming in to meet Jesus?

Are we expecting our church to just drift into evangelism?

Are we maximizing what we have?

Are we connecting with men?

Are we connecting with women?

Are we connecting with young people?

Are we connecting with people who are not like us?

Are there people who feel like they can come here and worship with us without us judging them?

Are we celebrating our conversion stories? WE should be jumping and rejoicing when a young person like Elle Fulton comes forward and is baptized.

Do you have someone you need to invite not just to church but to talk and meet with you about what Jesus has done for you?

WE all have someone in our lives we need to be reaching out to.

WE should all have our ONES that we want to see find Jesus.

Jesus could see the ONES that needed to be reached. We see him going after one of his ones in our text today. Luke 5.27.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.

Jesus sees this Levi as a tax collector, the worst of the worst to most of the Jews. Levi had to take the job to survive. WE don’t know why he did. I am sure it wasn’t his childhood dream to take a job that would cause him to be hated by his fellow Jews. Jesus knew exactly who Levi was and what he had done and was doing.

You would think he would go up to Levi and say, “How dare you.”

But He doesn’t say anything at all like that. Instead…