I may not see in front of me, But I can see for miles around when I look over my shoulder, and Lord, it`s clear. You`ve brought me here, So faithful every step of the way. What can I do but follow you, For You are the Way, the Truth, the Life, And You`ve promised never to leave me, My Savior, my friend, From beginning to end.
I Am Found In You
by
Steven Curtis Chapman
Kindness to Repentance, Three
And I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say, 'He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst sort of sinners!' But wisdom is shown to be right by what results from it." Matthew 11:19 NLT
Jesus had received a nickname. They called Him the “friend of sinners”. The greatest preacher ever known; the One and only Son of God; the Great I AM; the burden bearer, was known throughout His ministry for hanging out with people the world called losers. Everywhere He went, Jesus attracted sinners. They loved Him. They weren’t afraid of Him. He even went to their house and hung out with sinners.
Can I ask you a very serious question? Where have all the sinners gone? I know. We are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. God’s grace has saved us. We stand righteous before God’s throne by the blood of Jesus Christ. Somewhere in the process of our being made right with God, the church today seems to have forgotten what it felt like to be lost. Sinners used to flock to Jesus, but for some reason, they aren’t flocking to the church today. In fact, as a pastor, I can honestly say that if someone has really messed up their life, often the church is the last place they feel accepted. We have often made people believe they have to “clean up” before they can “get in”. A woman told me recently she had been looking for a church "home" for 36 years, but had never felt she was "good enough".
Jesus wasn’t really worried about what people said about Him. He basically said “the proof is in the pudding”. You see, Jesus did hang out with sinners. In fact, He was very kind to them. They were being saved by the masses. Know why?
…Because God’s kindness leads to repentance.
FOLLOW UP NOTE: Evidently one sentence yesterday in reference to the "End of Spear" movie was confusing. The line that read "The movie was denounced because the lead character is gay" would have been better written, "The movie was denounced because the actor playing the lead character is gay." I'm sorry if I misled anyone into thinking the actual missionary was gay. It was the actor playing the part.
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