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3 major groups in the New Testament that was a resistant group to Jesus ministry was:
Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes
Pharisees & Sadducees
Socially, the Sadducees were more elitist and aristocratic than the Pharisees.
Sadducees tended to be wealthy and to hold more powerful positions. The chief priests and high priest were Sadducees, and they held the majority of seats in the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees were more representative of the common working people and had the respect of the masses.
The differences between the Pharisees and the Sadducees are known to us through a couple of passages of Scripture and through the extant writings of the Pharisees. Religiously, the Sadducees were more conservative in one doctrinal area: they insisted on a literal interpretation of the text of Scripture; the Pharisees, on the other hand, gave oral tradition equal authority to the written Word of God. If the Sadducees couldn’t find a command in the Tanakh, they dismissed it as manmade.
Scribes
Scribes in ancient Israel were learned men whose business was to study the Law, transcribe it, and write commentaries on it.
Tax Collectors
There are a few reasons for the low view of tax collectors in the New Testament era. First, no one likes to pay money to the government, especially when the government is an oppressive regime like the Roman Empire of the 1st century. Those who collected the taxes for such a government bore the brunt of much public displeasure.
Second, the tax collectors in the Bible were Jews who were working for the hated Romans. These individuals were seen as turncoats, traitors to their own countrymen. Rather than fighting the Roman oppressors, the publicans were helping them—and enriching themselves at the expense of their fellow Jews.
Third, it was common knowledge that the tax collectors cheated the people they collected from. By hook or by crook, they would collect more than required and keep the extra for themselves. Everyone just understood that was how it worked.
Sinner
A “sinner,” to a Pharisee, was a Jew who did not follow the Law (plus the Pharisees’ own rules). And a “tax collector” was—well, a tax collector.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Drawing: Come near, draw near
Tax collectors and sinners were all Jews... Just like Pharisees and Scribes
But because of the self-righteous and judgmental attitude of the Pharisees and Scribes there was always friction!
Yes, Tax collectors were crooks and sinners were disobedient to the Law but they were still human…
Let’s be honest!
The Pharisees and Scribes represented a “System”
Rules and Regulations
The righteous police
Even though they had some type of sin within themselves they wanted to expose others for their outward practice of sin
Tax Collects and Sinners deep down inside struggled with issues
Let’s talk straight up!
We know deep down inside when we are doing to much…
No one knows your life like you do!
No one knows the secret things you deal with like you do!
No one knows what goes on through your mind on a daily like you do!
No one knows like you do, how many times you tell yourself.... I’m DONE
No one knows like you do, how many times you tell yourself.... You HAVE TO STOP
No one knows like you do, how many times you tell yourself.... Starting on Monday
No one knows like you do, how many times you tel yourself..... They are not good for me
Tax Collectors and Sinners were both raised knowing the Bible… But what happened....
What took them off the path?
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
#1 My craving
Desires: craving n. — an intense desire for some particular thing.
An intense desire for my flesh.
Flesh is connected to what is opposite of God’s standards for my life…
It’s what I like but I know I should not have!
1–3 John The Essence of Worldliness (2:16–17)
This means desire that is shaped by the world unaware of and untouched by God, all those desires and plans that are shaped entirely by our impulses and not by the Spirit of God.
#2 I like what I see
1–3 John The Essence of Worldliness (2:16–17)
We might translate lust of his eyes as “desire that comes from what the eyes see.” These desires do not come from the insight that God gives, but are shaped by the world in its ignorance of or opposition to God.
#3 It’s all about me!
1–3 John The Essence of Worldliness (2:16–17)
The third phrase in this trio is boasting of what he has and does. The pride spoken of is self-reliance, self-sufficiency. Either people trust in themselves, or they derive their values, assurance and life from God.
They were caught up in a system that was centered around themselves.
The Pharisees pointed this out about them
But! There was something different about Jesus…
“Tax Collectors and Sinners were drawn to hear Him”
The problem with the Pharisees was that when heard “Them” you heard rules and regulations
You heard everything you shouldn’t be doing but not dealing with the reason “why” I’m doing it.
But! When they heard Jesus speak. Something was different…
First he received “them”
Receive: to receive (person) v. — to willingly permit access to one’s company.
Jesus willingly permitted access to Him…
He knew exactly what they did…
He knew exactly what they were caught up in…
He knew exactly what they were secretly dealing with…
But He gave them access to Him…
Not only did He give the access
He eat with them…
Jesus knew that in order to reach them He needed to have an intimate moment with them…
This doesn’t mean that Jesus condone their lifestyle it meant that this moment would reveal their lifestyle
Zacchaeus (Tell the Story)
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesu said Welcome Home! I don’t come to condemn you but I come to save you
Save: to save (religious) v. — to deliver from sin (and consequential judgment) or save from evil.