Thinking outside “the religious box” (2)

“I have come to call…those who know they are sinners.” Mark 2:17 NLT

Mark 2:17 NKJV

17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Thinking outside “the religious box” (2)

There is a difference between loving nonbelievers and loving their ways.

Paul says, “Find common ground with everyone, doing everything [you] can to save some” (1Co 9:22 NLT).

1 Corinthians 9:22 NKJV

22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

So:

(1) Be courteous. “The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down” (Col 4:6 MSG).

Colossians 4:6 NKJV

6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

(2) Be genuine. “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it” (Ro 12:9 MSG).

Romans 12:9 NKJV

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

Because Jesus found common ground with the woman at the well, she made peace with God, then brought her friends and family to meet Jesus (See Jn 4).

John 4:7–42 NKJV

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him. 31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

You have to spend time around nonbelievers to introduce them to Christ.

When Levi invited Jesus and His disciples as dinner guests with tax collectors and other disreputable sinners, the Pharisees asked,

“‘Why does he eat with such scum?’…Jesus…told them…‘I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners’” (Mk 2:16-17 NLT).

Mark 2:16–17 NKJV

16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Author Mark Roberts observes: “Table fellowship signified deep intimacy. To eat with someone was to share in their life and to allow them into yours…

The Pharisees, who were committed to the highest standards of ritual purity…expected Jesus to do as they did, keeping plenty of distance between themselves and questionable types who might compromise Jesus’ holiness.”

Jesus didn’t see people as “scum,” and wasn’t concerned about maintaining a religious facade.

He ate with sinners because they needed His help and were open to receive it.

How about you? Are you willing to get your hands dirty?

Are you more concerned with what people think about you than you are about those who need Christ?