Friend of Sinners
Fenton Moorhead
Luke 15:1-31
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating [being friends] with such sinful people-even eating with them! Luke 15:1-2 NLT
Jesus' critics despised and avoided sinful people.
They saw them as enemies. Their strict observance of religious customs produced an attitude of spiritual pride. They lost touch. To them people far from God had no worth, value, or importance. They were unholy and an offense to God. To be avoided. They concluded that God hated sinners.
Meanwhile Jesus intentionally befriended sinful people.
He saw them as loved by God but caught in their sin. His disciples and followers were everyday people, men and women, including those who had lived ugly and immoral lives.
1. Sinful people were drawn to Jesus not because he cut them any slack morally but because they sensed that they truly mattered to him!
He lived and walked among them, and filled a broken place in their souls. He did not charge for teaching or healing. He was humble and approachable by the lowest of the low and diseased. And when he spoke about the kingdom of God it included them, the poor and powerless, those who needed mercy and forgiveness, who were struggling just to live.
They believed that he truly loved them.
[Jesus came]''to seek and save the lost.'' Luke 19:10 NLT
[Jesus explained] ''Healthy people don't need a doctor-sick people do. I have not come to call those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.'' Mark 2:17 NLT
Jesus came to seek out people who are flawed and broken, people like you and me who have missed the mark of God's standard.
1] I have not loved God above all else.
2] I have not loved my neighbor as myself.
3] I won't bore you with the other commandments I have failed to keep.
2. God is holy and does not grade on the curve ...
Fenton Moorhead
Luke 15:1-31
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating [being friends] with such sinful people-even eating with them! Luke 15:1-2 NLT
Jesus' critics despised and avoided sinful people.
They saw them as enemies. Their strict observance of religious customs produced an attitude of spiritual pride. They lost touch. To them people far from God had no worth, value, or importance. They were unholy and an offense to God. To be avoided. They concluded that God hated sinners.
Meanwhile Jesus intentionally befriended sinful people.
He saw them as loved by God but caught in their sin. His disciples and followers were everyday people, men and women, including those who had lived ugly and immoral lives.
1. Sinful people were drawn to Jesus not because he cut them any slack morally but because they sensed that they truly mattered to him!
He lived and walked among them, and filled a broken place in their souls. He did not charge for teaching or healing. He was humble and approachable by the lowest of the low and diseased. And when he spoke about the kingdom of God it included them, the poor and powerless, those who needed mercy and forgiveness, who were struggling just to live.
They believed that he truly loved them.
[Jesus came]''to seek and save the lost.'' Luke 19:10 NLT
[Jesus explained] ''Healthy people don't need a doctor-sick people do. I have not come to call those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.'' Mark 2:17 NLT
Jesus came to seek out people who are flawed and broken, people like you and me who have missed the mark of God's standard.
1] I have not loved God above all else.
2] I have not loved my neighbor as myself.
3] I won't bore you with the other commandments I have failed to keep.
2. God is holy and does not grade on the curve ...
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