Kingdom Principle: God loves the sinner through Jesus Christ and calls him to repentance and life in his name.
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The Religious Elite see the Sinners as Worth-_______________
Luke 15:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
15 1 Now the tax-collectors and the sinners were all in the habit of gathering around Jesus in order to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the scribes were constantly grumbling, saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them!”
This designation, “tax collector and sinner” seems to identify a certain group of people. And it isn’t those who hate Jesus and his message of salvation. It is those who the Pharisees deem as not being worthy of salvation because of their rejection of their religious standards.
“the Pharisees labeled them sinners because they were not meticulous or did not care to obey their rulings on purity standards of the Mosaic law (see John 7:49). “Sinners,” then, can simply be those who do not practice religion the way others think they should.
The externals of worship are not nearly as important as the internals of our hearts before God in our worship. We ought to strive, beloved to be a group of people, to whom sinners, or the outcasts, the poor and the needy are drawn to, not repelled by.
Jesus didn’t accept sinful behavior, which is made evident by this text, but he did see the sinner as worthwhile human beings, made in God’s image, under the tyranny of sin, and needing salvation.
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Jesus sees the Sinner as Worth-___________________
Luke 15:3–5 (ESV) — 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Jesus Loves the sinner. His desire is to save the sinner.
John 10:2–3 (ESV) — 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:14 (ESV) — 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
John 10:27 (ESV) — 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
What is our attitude toward sinners who have lost their way?
The sinner is drawn to Jesus because he genuinely loves and cares for them, and an expression of that care is to call them out of their sinful behavior.
John 8:7–11 (ESV) — 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Questions to Consider
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Who in your life is God calling you to welcome in? How might you love them and help them see their need of Christ?
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In what ways is God changing you by his grace? What are some things God is calling you to repent of and to trust him in his life saving power?
