Eating With Sinners

Lance Cole

What Jesus Said • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Luke 5:27–32

Sinners (Hellenistic Period)

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Eating with Sinners

Introduction

We are often told we are doing this wrong or we should be doing this other thing.

The truth is that most of the things people say we should be doing is not in the Bible. Pews are not in the Bible, pulpits aren’t in the Bible, alter calls are not in the Bible.

Even the types of music that we do are not in the Bible.

Many of the traditions that we have (and love) are less than a 100 years old.

What we need to understand is that “church” is not about this building, it’s not about 3 songs and a sermon or whatever it is that we decide to do.

There is a reason that we have church. Does anyone know what that is?

What’s our purpose?

We need to get to our purpose as a church.

Today, we are going to see how Jesus responded to criticism with his ministry. They tried to tell him what he was doing was wrong.

That will lead us to what we should be doing.

Luke 5:27–32 NKJV

27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Pick Your Side

The first things here is that Matthew (or Levi) picked a side. He chose correctly, he chose Jesus.

This wasn’t an easy choice for him.

He was a tax collector. Tax collectors weren’t liked by their fellow Jews.

But they were financially secure.

It says he left all and followed Jesus.

Have you left all?

Now as he was leaving, he threw a giant party.

He would have invited all of his friends. He wanted them to hear about Jesus.

It was this feast that Jesus attended that started the battle.

Pick Your Battles

You can’t be any more wise than what Jesus is right here.

He doesn’t engage with Scribes or the Pharisees here. Jesus picked his battles wisely.

We often pick battles that we don’t need to fight.

Paul tells us in Colossians 4 how we should behave towards those who are not Christians.

Colossians 4:5–6 NKJV

5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

I read this scripture last week. I may quote it next week.

He tells us to behave wisely. We need to use wisdom like Jesus did here.

Let our speech be with grace. It also says that our speech should be seasoned with salt.

Salt does 2 things: it helps things taste better and it helps preserve

What we say to non-Christians should be tasteful and it should have a long time impact.

We don’t Pick Our Battles like we should.

Too many times I see things that people post on social media that isn’t tasteful.

It’s not seasoned with love.

Here in Luke 5, Jesus pointed to salvation which all of them could agree on.

We need to Pick Our Targets.

Pick Your Target

There are many times that we don’t pick our targets well.

I remember a story about a missed shot on a deer.

This guy came back and said he missed the deer. Another older wiser hunter asked him “What was your Target?”

The younger hunter said it was the deer. The older hunter said what part of the deer.

The younger hunter needed to pick a target on the deer.

That’s what we need to do.

We all need to think about this: What’s our target?

We are ready to argue about what we ought to wear, or how we should behave, but that’s not the target.

Our target is the same as Jesus’. It is salvation.

Culture is changing. Us Christians in America have been asleep while everything changed.

We can’t continue like we used to.

The target, our message, hasn’t changed, but the way we present it does need to change.

We need to show the world the love of God.

We need to tell them the message, the good news, the Gospel.

We are sinners and we have wronged God.

We need to tell them that Jesus took our punishment upon himself and died so that we can be reconciled with God.

Then he rose on the 3rd day to prove that he has power over death and the grave.