LUKE 7:34 – The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
THEME OF THE DAY. ARE WE KNOWN AS JESUS WAS KNOWN? I was driving through my neighborhood heading to an appointment when I noticed my neighbor walking her dog. I stopped in the street, put my window down, and said, “Hello, how are you? How is your family?” She stopped and conversation unfolded. She is a kind, upright moral person with strong family values. She also is not a professing Christian. As I asked about her family, we began a conversation covering a wide range of topics. From the blessings of children, the challenges of the world we live in, and the need for stability and commitment, not only in society, but the family unit, it was a good exchange. By the way, don’t think people won’t talk about the scary world we live in and the need to “go back to the basics” such as morality, commitment, and stability in our society. They will. They just don’t have the answer and that opens the door to talk about the Lord and His Word. In the course of our conversation, I heard my neighbor say things like, “We need to look at the positive in things and focus on that. Positive thinking will help us overcome negative situations.” Then I weighed in . . . “Yes, God has greatly blessed all of us but despite this, I think the greatest problem we have in the world is the person we greet in the mirror every morning. Selfishness or living self-centered is what is the core problem in life.” She responded, “Yes, there is truth to that.” But before I could elaborate and take the conversation to sin and the Savior, I was blocking traffic and had to move on. Lord willing, our talk will continue.
Today’s nugget is about engaging our neighbors or people in our spheres of influence with redemptive, Gospel-directed conversations through the development of redemptive, Gospel-directed relationships. For sure, pass out tracts, preach the gospel with words, but don’t look at lost people as some type of “spiritual projects” to only tell them about Jesus and nothing more. No, the work of the Gospel is both proclamation – words spoken – and affirmation – lives lived like Jesus and that with great compassion for the lost. One of the most encouraging titles our Lord Jesus was given by unbelievers is mentioned in today’s scripture – “friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34). This is important. If we are not striving to build redemptive relationships through befriending and serving unbelievers in our spheres of influence, then we are confused as to why we are still on this earth. Jesus calls us to be separated from the world but not isolated from people in the world who need to know Him. Something is wrong in our understanding of being salt and light in our culture if we don’t have sinners who view us as friends; people who care about them and show it by actions. Should our neighbors and people in our worlds know us only as “church going people” who don’t seek to know them, then we mistake Jesus’ call to separation from the world with isolation from the people of the world. The result is we will be off mission. We will be viewed as religious people who live in a Christian sub-culture in our culture. And we will have no impact for Christ in the larger culture. .
A good application right now would be for us to ask the question, “Am I known as a friend of sinners by sinners?” How we answer will tell us a lot about our understanding of our Gospel responsibilities and the level of Christ’s love controlling us.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to see the lost people in my world as Jesus does and befriend them as He did.”
QUOTE: “Love of Christ in the lives of His people always produces a love for those who are yet His people.”