Jesus, Friend of Sinners
Transcript
Thank you so much for listening to what God is up to. And we're going to slide into a message today called Jesus Friend of Sinners, which I thought would be appropriate with sharing the ministry today. So resources I'm going to be sharing from the Word of God and also from an author, Judith Smith. He wrote a book called Jesus Is and I just absolutely love it. So I want to just kind of give you a disclaimer real quick. I don't mean to condone sinful behavior by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think that you have to be in a sinful place to reach sinful people. That's not what Jesus did, right? He remained righteous, he remained holy, and he reached out in love to the sinner.
I want today to be good news for each and every one of us personally as sinners and encouragement for us in regard to the sinners that are in our lives. So back when I started 99 one, I read through the Gospels really slowly, like, God, is this really you, Jesus? Would you really go to these places? And what I realized as I looked on through love goggles, is that's what Jesus did? He responded to sinners, he had a thing for sinners. I mean, it was so much so that as I mentioned earlier, he died for them, which is great news for me and I know it's great news for you. So the religious legalistic leaders annoyed him. He hung out with sinners. He said stuff like, it's the healthy, not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick.
And I think sometimes we can get that twisted. We know ourselves, we know how nasty we can be on the inside. We know what we've done. And then sometimes we can get so cleaned up and squeaky that we forget what it was like to be the sinner. That terrifies me. I never want to get so squeaky that I forget what it was like to be outside of the grace of God. And if we aren't careful, we can begin to see Jesus as a sin pointer outer. Do we have that video? No. Okay, well, I have a great video that I'll share with you at some point, but we can actually get to a place where we see Jesus as a sin pointer outer instead of embracing us right where we're at.
So let's just take a minute to pray and just kind of settle ourselves and be ready to receive the Word today. Father, we want to thank you that you saved this sinner, that you saved us, that you went to the cross for us individually. God, we thank you Lord, for the sinners that You've placed in our lives, that we get the privilege of loving. Well, God, we thank you for the ways you will move today. We open our ears, open our hearts, and give you permission to have Your way in us. And it's in your precious name, Jesus, that we pray. Amen. Now, aren't you so glad that Jesus doesn't go around pointing out and shaming people for their behavior? I mean, I'm so thankful for that. We deserve separation.
Sin separates us from God, but instead we see Jesus becoming a friend to sinners like ourselves. The Bible describes Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke as a friend of sinners. A friend defined@dictionary.com, says a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard, a supporter, a person who was on good terms with another, a person who is not hostile. That's how Jesus feels toward the sinner. So why does Jesus love like this? Well, I believe the answer is found in Romans chapter two, verse four. It says this it's his lovingkindness that leads us to repentance. It's his lovingkindness that leads us to repentance. So we're going to look at Scripture today and see how Jesus reacted when he was confronted with a sinner. Jesus sees the sinner.
We're going to look at Luke, chapter 19, at a man named Zacchaeus. And I want you to think about how Jesus sees you. And then we're going to look at how Jesus calls the sinner from Matthew nine. And I want you to think about the fact that Jesus calls you and then Jesus forgives the sinner found in Luke, chapter seven, with a sinful woman. And I want you to think about how you have been forgiven. So first of all, Jesus sees the sinner. He saw Zacchaeus in Luke. Chapter 19. Now, Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and tax collectors were looked down upon. They were outcast. Now, there were a few reasons why tax collectors had this view in the New Testament. I mean, first of all, no one likes to pay money to the government, right?
But especially if it was the regime, the Roman regime, that ruled in the New Testament era. Many tax collectors were Jews who worked for these despised Romans. And what they would do is they would cheat their own people. They would line their own pockets. So they would up the ante and line their own pockets. So here Jesus is found in Scripture, and he's entering into Jericho. He was just passing through and there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a short little man, and he was the chief tax collector. He was rich, and he really wanted to see Jesus, but the crowd was so thick, he couldn't see him. Now, I don't know if you guys like to go to New York City. I love going to New York City.
And one time went to go see the Christmas tree and the crowd was so thick that I felt like I could pick up my feet. I'm not a little girl. I felt like if I picked up my feet, I would just get carried along with a crowd. And that's kind of how I think about Jesus walking into Jericho. People were pressing in on every side. Everybody wanted a piece of Jesus. And so everyone's around right here. And Christ looks out and up and sees this man, this chief sinner, chief tax collector, up in a tree trying to get a peek at Jesus. And this is what the word has to say. He entered. Let's see Zacchaeus. Oh. So he entered Jericho. And then he says, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.
So Zacchaeus hurried down and he came down, and then Jesus received him joyfully. And when they, the crowds, the religious leaders saw it, they began to grumble. And they said, he has gone to be the guest of a man who was a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold Lord, 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's salvation has come to this house, for the Son of man came to seek and save the lost. Zacchaeus said yes to Jesus and his life was forever changed. Jesus sees the sinner and he sees you. And then Jesus calls the sinner. This story can be found in both Matthew and Mark. I'm going to be reading actually out of Mark today.
It says, then Jesus went to the lake shore again, and he taught the crowds that were coming to him. And as he walked along, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at his tax collector's booth. So he's walking by Levi, doing his sinner thing, and he says, hey Levi, follow me and be my disciple. Now, what he did not say is, Levi, you've got to jump through some hoops. Can you get cleaned up a little bit? Stop doing what you're doing, and then you can follow me. No. He saw him right there. And Jesus says, Levi, come follow me and be my disciple. So later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many other tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. And I love how the word says this. There were many of this sort among Christ's disciples.
And then when the teachers of the religious law who were pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they said to the disciples, why does he eat with such scum? And when Jesus heard this, he told them, healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do. I have come not to call those who think they are righteous, but those that know that they are sinners. Jesus calls the sinner, and Jesus calls you to follow him right where you are at, right? I mean, if one or two say it, we may as all say it. Amen. And then finally, Jesus forgives the sinner. This is a sinful woman. She was forgiven.
She was a harlot who had heard of Christ's teaching and she was changed, found in Luke chapter seven, it says, one of the Pharisees asked him, Jesus, to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisees house and reclined at the table, and behold a woman of the city who was a sinner. When she learned that he was reclining at the table at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now, I can't even imagine what that scene must have been like. A woman would have been so inappropriate there, especially a harlot, and here she comes in to anoint Christ.
And then when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman who was touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answered him and said, simon, I have something to say to you. Wouldn't that be scary if you thought that? And then Jesus was like, I have something to say to you. He said a certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 500 Daenery and the other 50. And when they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon answered, the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. And Jesus says to him, you have judged rightly. And then turning to the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman?
I entered your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins are many, but she has been forgiven, for she loved much, but he is forgiven little, loves little. And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. Your faith saved you go in peace. Jesus forgives the sinner, and Jesus forgives you. So Jesus went to Zacchaeus. He went to his house, and he became a guest of a notorious sinner. And Jesus went to Matthew's house and he ate with tax collectors and other sinners in full view.
He allowed the sinful woman touch him and anoint him, and he forgave her sins. Now, these people are equivalent today's pimps, prostitutes, and crackheads. In that culture, to eat with someone would be to identify with them. Jesus associated with people who were shunned by upstanding Jews and religious people. No self respecting person would risk befriending them for fear of being found guilty by association. In Mark's gospel, as I mentioned, the religious leaders said, Why is he eating with such scum. Everyone agreed that Jesus was a good man, but making friends with bad people just did not make sense. But here's the thing. Jesus didn't care about the scandal. He cared about the scandalous. That's something personal for some people in the room. That's something personal that I had to come to terms with. Jesus didn't care about my scandal.
He cared about me. He liked spending time with sinners. He was God. He was perfect. And he spent much of his three and a half years of ministry hanging out with bad people. He talked with them. He ate with them. He cried with them. He'd have been good company here at Thrive City, crying all the time. He served them. People were not a charity project to Jesus. He cared about them. He offered them unconditional hope and compassion. I think this is really good news. So what do we do with it? What do we do with this news moving forward? I think that we need to remember that we are to be growing in our faith, right? I mean, like, we get saved. We come to the saving knowledge of Christ, and then we grow in our relationship with Him.
But as we grow, we cannot forget that there's a world that needs the light and the love of Christ. Jesus didn't trade his righteousness or his holiness. He didn't lower his standard to befriend the sinner. What he did was he was Jesus, and he was attractional one. Peter, chapter one, verses 15 through 16 says, but just as he who called you is holy, be holy in all that you do, be holy because I am holy. Now, to be holy means to be set aside for sacred use. As you grow in your relationship with the Lord, be holy. Be set aside for the work and the plans that he has for you.
Now, in regard to our own personal journey with Jesus, the apostle Paul, who was a chief sinner turned Christ follower, he tells us in Philippians three, verses seven through 16 I'm going to read it to you from the message version. This is what he says. He says, Everything that I once thought I had going for me is insignificant. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by Him. I don't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I can get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ, God's righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Jesus personally, experience his resurrection power and be a partner in his suffering and go all the way with Him till death itself.
Paul goes on to say, friends, don't get me wrong. By no means do I count myself an expert in any of this, but I've got my eye on the goal where God is beckoning us onward to Jesus. I'm off. And I'm running and I'm not turning back. So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us that want everything that God has for us. If any one of you has something less in mind, something less than total commitment, god will clear your blurred vision. Yet now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it. I see it as like a parallel journey. We work on ourselves and our relationship with Jesus. But at the same time, let's remember that Jesus is a friend to sinners. I want to end today with two challenges that we can walk away with.
The first one is Jesus is a friend to this sinner. Am. I a friend to myself, and I really believe, as I was preparing this and going over and praying for you, I really believe that some of you are going to need to hear this today and you're going to need to take it personally. I mean, if we're going to come to church, let's take it personally, right? So this is for some of you. Open up your heart and listen to what he has to say. This is one of those undercover areas that if we aren't careful, we can get really messed up in, especially if we learn to behave more than we know before we know that we belong. If we haven't dealt with forgiving and accepting ourselves, we can get this really warped.
Because religion says this behave, then believe, and then you'll belong. First you got to act right, think right, and then you'll fit in. But the Gospel, which is the good News, says something completely different. It says, oh, you belong you'll come to believe and then you'll behave. Another way of saying is Amazing Grace, great faith, then good works. Ephesians, chapter two, verses eight through ten, states this for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. It's not of ourselves. It is a gift from God. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Divine Order says this, first comes grace, then comes belief, then comes good works.
God wants us to accept his free gift of forgiveness for us to get over our bad selves and receive what he has for us as sinners. Now, I've had the privilege of walking alongside an incredible woman named Christine Fisher. She has a ministry of she's actually a part of 99 one, but she also has a ministry where she comes alongside women who have made a decision to abort and thank you. That's going to be good. We'll focus. But she has a ministry that goes right oh, whoever they took care of it.
Yes. Good job.
So Christine has a ministry that she comes alongside those who need forgiveness for aborting their children. And I was one of those women who went alongside her, who was alongside her to find my own forgiveness and so I've had the privilege of walking with these women. Now, it's one thing to know that you're saved it's a whole other thing to know that your shame was scorned. I was a woman who had received Christ, but I walked around in shame and my walk ended up becoming a little bit warped because I wasn't able to embrace the fullness of God forgiving all of my sin, even the guilt of my sin. Hebrews twelve tells us that Jesus scorned our shame at the cross. That's a weird word. What it means is that he ignored it. He ignored it. He ignored the shame of my abortions.
He ignored the shame of my abortion. So the fact when I came to Christ, I thought, my God, as long as he forgives me, I can never get over what I've done, not only once, but twice, but what I failed to realize. And it took me about 15 years to receive his fullness of his healing and the fullness of the release of the shame. But then a whole other thing to walk in the freedom of that. I can stand here and say it to you today, not because I'm proud of it, but because of what Christ has done. Christ does a full work, a complete work on the cross when he forgives our shame. It's amazing.
So the journey that brought you to this place right now, all of that makes you, and it'll give you passion and compassion for other people that he brings into your life. Ephesians 317 says, your roots will grow down in God's love and keep you strong. If your roots are just about your good behavior, it'll be shallow. You'll just be flailing around in the wind. Embrace the fullness of God's salvation, which comes with the forgiveness, complete forgiveness and a release of the shame. Jesus is a friend to sinners, so be a friend to yourself. And then finally, challenge number two, jesus is a friend to sinners. Am I? And I think that we all have to say sometimes, like, is my pharisee showing? Jesus befriend right.
I mean, we all have an inner pharisee that tries to get out sometimes, you know what I mean? Like, no sooner do you get done with a bad habit if you guys smoke, whatever. I mean, I usually come out of the strip club smelling like a skunk. But anyway, I remember when I stopped smoking and I was like two months later, and I was like, when I was around somebody who's smoking, like, why do we do that? Get over yourselves, right? So when we see pharisees in the Bible, what they're doing is they're usually pointing out one thing. They're pointing out sinners. They're condemning people. It was a part of their daily routine.
So rather than rejecting people out of a false sense of superiority, rather than judging and condemning those whose lives don't measure up to our standard of holiness, we need to remember that we are desperately in need of God's grace ourselves. We have to be very careful to remember that we all have a journey and God shows up in the journey. I mentioned that I had been a part of the ministry, forgiven and set free. And it was early on in my relationship with Christ that I went to a Bible study. And in the Bible study, somehow someone brought up the topic of abortion. And of course I wanted to hide behind a chair. I felt like a spotlight was on me. And one of the women said, what kind of a monster would do that?
And honestly, listen, I felt like a monster not only once, but twice. And I thought, these people can never know the true know. I'm thankful, Jesus, that you are doing a work in me, and I'm thankful for the fullness of the forgiveness that you've given me, but these people can never know me. And how sad. We have to be really careful about the way that we respond to the sinners in our lives. As I mentioned before, I see monsters with the potential of a redeemed life. So let's be careful with our words. Luke 637 says, do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Matthew Henry commentates, and he says, we ought to be very candid in our accentures of others because we need grains of allowance ourselves.
Exercise toward others that charity which thinks no evil, bears all things, believes and hopes all things, and then others will exercise that charity toward you. God will not judge you and condemn you, and men will not. They that are merciful to other people's names shall find others merciful to theirs. We need to be careful in the way that we love others, the way that we love the other sinners in our lives. Let's wrap up this morning as we grow in Godliness, let's remember that God calls us to love on the sinners in our lives. And that's not easy. I've got some in my life that I'm like. My message is coming right back at me. But why am I here? Why am I here? My life's been redeemed. I could go into heaven today if God takes me home.
But there's work to be done. There's work to be done there'sinners in our lives that need the love and the hope of Christ. That's my motto. I'm going to take the law of God, the truth of God and the grace of God. And I want to meet right in the middle and to love people well where truth and grace collide. That's love. And so I want to pray for two aspects of our lives today. I'm going to ask that everyone close their eyes above their heads. Let this be a holy moment for the person next to you. I want to pray for those that are having a hard time being a friend to yourself. And please don't peek. I peek during prayer. I know I do. So please don't pull annie. But you know that you've been forgiven.
But you also know that you are living in shame. I want to remind you today that.
Christ came to obliterate, that he ignored the shame on the cross. He ignored your shame. He has redeemed your life so you could be set free. Set free indeed. No longer walking around with the shackles of shame that can keep you hindered. He has come to set you completely free. And if you're here today, you know you're saved, but you are still walking around in shame. Would you lift your hand today and say, I need to be set free of the shame that has been like.
Shackles on my life.
Hands all over this place. Don't peek. Don't peek.
Hands all over this place. We're in this together, people. Father, I thank you for those that are brave enough to raise their hand today. God, I thank you that you have come to obliterate their shame. Obliterate it. You ignored it on the cross. It's over. It's done. Oh, my friends, I want you to remember that today it is over. It is finished. It is done.
Walk in freedom. Walk in the freedom that's been offered to you today. Walk in the full freedom of salvation. And then I want to pray for those. You have a sinner in your life who drives you nuts, drives you absolutely nuts, and you lose your salvation every time you're around them. You got to remember that you might be the only Bible they're reading. You might be the only Christ that they see. And if that's you like me today, would you lift your hand and say, lord, help me to love them? Well, okay. I'm in their in my life for a reason. Let me take full responsibility and be your witness. God, would you help us to love well, help us to get out of your way. Let us not block you, Holy Spirit, for the work that you want to.
Do in the lives around us. And then finally I can't wrap up without giving opportunity.
If you do not know Christ and you've heard about him and you don't even really know why you're here today, but you're like, okay, putting Christ first, inviting Christ into my life, I haven't really done that. Or maybe you did it a long time ago and it's time to rededicate your life. If that's you and you're like, okay, I need Jesus. I'm like sailor's diving my life into the ground right now. I need to hand over the reins. If that's you, would you no one looking. Lift your hand. This? Yes. Yes. Anybody else? I want to let this be a holy moment. Yes. Thank you, Lord. Day of salvation. You'll never regret it. Best day ever. Best day ever. Best day ever. Let's all repeat this together. Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you for dying on the cross for me.
I admit that I'm a sinner and I need a savior. I want to follow you. I invite you to be Lord and leader of my life. Help me to follow you every day. I want to leave my old life of sin behind and follow you and heal my broken relationship with God. Amen.
Pastor Ben: Can we take a quick second and honor Pastor Annie for the word that she shared with us? Thank you. A couple of things in our remaining moments left together. If this morning you made a decision, I don't want you to leave that decision here. I want to help provide you with some next steps, some guidance to get you plugged in. If you made a decision, just take out one of the connect cards in the pew in front of you. You don't have to do it right now, but before you leave, just write your information on there. Maybe write a little note about what God is calling you to do or the decision that you've made and just drop it in the box in the back.
I would love to talk to you later this week, connect with you and make sure that we have some good next steps. One of our core values here as a church, we believe that generosity is a privilege, that giving of our time, our talent, and our treasure is not an obligation, but it's an opportunity for us to give back the first and the best that God has given us. And so one of the ways in which we are able to worship God is through our giving. So if you're new here, if you're checking us out for the first time, I'm not asking anything from you. I just want the best that God has for you. But if you call this your church, I believe that the giving of your first and your best is an amazing way to worship God and that God honors.
One of the things that we've been saying lately is that we give God our best and he blesses us with the rest. And so if God's calling you to give this morning, you can do so in a couple of different ways on our website, thrivecity Church Give. You can text any amount to 84321 or you can give old school the box at the back. But I wanted to let you know, it's already been mentioned this morning that we do partner with 99. One we're able to support just a little bit each month that we're looking to hopefully increase as we continue to grow as a church. But I wanted to let you know that this morning we're going to give a gift of like $500, if that's okay to help. And then this is where you guys come in. So we're going to start.
With $500 and then 10% of whatever is donated today of our general giving, we're also going to give to 99 one because we believe in what they're doing. You believe in what they're doing. Listen, their heart, their mission, the work that they are doing in the city of Syracuse is so close to us here at Thrive City. And what we want to see. I want to see every man, woman and child have an opportunity to experience a thriving life with Jesus as they come to know him, as they find their freedom from their past, their hurt, their shame, their addictions, whatever is holding them captive, they can learn. They can discover their purpose, who God has created them to be, their true identity as a son or a daughter of the king.
Then ultimately how they can then make a difference in the lives of those around them, look, it's not just a ministry that we are hoping to support, it's who we are. They're part of our DNA as a church. Isn't that exciting? And so as we grow as a church, I cannot wait to see more of this happening because church I oftentimes hold back just a little bit, sharing the bigness of the God sized dream that he's placed in my heart. I truly believe that this church in and through what God is doing in our church, we will see the spiritual landscape of the city of Syriac change. And this is part of it.
By being able to just financially support just a little bit to help what they're doing, we are going to see God do big things because the places in which we sometimes see as the biggest mess, that is where God is going to do the biggest miracle. So I'm hyped, I'm not trying to preach a whole nother sermon but I'm just excited. So we're going to close by singing one last song together. It's a song that we know would you please stand? We're going to sing and glorify. Jesus, we thank you that you have saved us, that we are just sinners in need of a savior god, we thank you that while were still sinners, you died for us.
So Jesus, we thank you this morning that you are a friend of sinners and if you are a friend of sinners, then so are we. So Jesus, this week change the way that we look at people, the way that we view them, that we can see people, the way that you see them as sons, as daughters worthy of inheriting the kingdom of God, the work in us and through us, Jesus, we worship you and we sing. All hail, all hail King Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth. Let's sing this together, church.