A FRIEND OF SINNERS (PART 2) Good day brethren, yesterday we learnt about Jesus telling the Pharisees that, ‘He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’ Jesus was so down-to-earth and in touch with people and life that He was accused of being “a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Matt. 11:9) A friend of sinners, I bet Jesus liked that title, because that is exactly what He came to be. He wept over the city of Jerusalem, because they would not open their hearts to Him(Matt.23:37-39; Luke 13:34) He was saddened when He looked at the crowds of people and saw how distressed and downcast they were(Matt.9:35-38) Jesus was moved with compassion over the deep, deep needs of the people around Him and greatly grieved over the hardness of heart of those who rejected Him. So, that is why He went to the cross- to turn lost sinners into redeemed saints: “ Now all these thing are from God, who reconciled us to Himself [made us His friends] through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) Is that the picture of an irrelevant, uncaring God? Not at all. It is rather the picture of an involved and compassionate Father who sacrificed His greatest love to meet our greatest need. In Christ you and I have been reconciled to God. We are no longer enemies but friends with Him. Romans 5:8-10 says, “ But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since by His blood He did all this for us as sinners, how much more will He do for us now that He has declared us not guilty? Now He will save us from all of God’s wrath to come. And since, when we were His enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of His Son, what blessings He must have for us now that we are His friends, and He is living within us!” One of the hallmarks among friends is that they talk together about important things. Our relationship with Jesus is no different. He has chosen to confide in us what is really on His heart: “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) So what is on the Father’s heart that our best friend Jesus wants to make known to us? God wants us to know that He chose us and appointed us to go and bear fruit that would remain [John 15:16] We have a definite role to play in the Father’s plan of reaching a dying world: 2 Corinthians 5:14,15,20 says, “ For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one die for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Jesus, the friend of sinners, is still reaching out to them through us. We are His feet to go, His arms to embrace, His mouth to proclaim the good news that God wants people to receive His Son and be His friends. The bible says we are ambassadors. That is the calling of every child of God. The question is, are we faithfully representing the KING in this world?
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 05:33:46 +0000
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