Strong tower series Friend of sinners: He was called a friend of sinners; as a matter of fact He was accused of being a friend of sinners. One day Jesus was sitting with some friends who just happened to be sinners; I tell you if we didn’t have sinners to sit with to talk to we wouldn’t have anybody to talk to, would we? The Bible says “all have sinned”; these guys Jesus was talking to were “tax collectors and [notorious and especially wicked] sinners “ quote, unquote. That is taken from Luke 15:1 from the Amplified version. The next verse says “And the Pharisees and the scribes kept muttering and indignantly complaining, saying, This man accepts and receives and welcomes[preeminently wicked] sinners and eats with them.” These were not ordinary sinners, at least according to the Pharisees as recorded by Luke. They were especially and preeminently wicked sinners. I don’t think I know anyone like that. These guys were pretty bad. And yet Jesus received them as His friends.
I saw some people on motorcycles just a couple of days ago and they looked tough; at least they tried to look tough and in my heart the old Pharisaical nature rose up and I silently judged them; there were two men and two women. They were dressed typical of their breed or so I JUDGED THEM. And their bikes were loud…you know the type. But then I thought where would Jesus be and what would He do if he were here (we were sitting on a ferry crossing a bay)? I think He would have got out of the car and went and talked to them, probably started with a comment like, “hey guys nice bikes”. But it wouldn’t be long before He had their undivided attention as He led them to Himself while explaining the plan of salvation.
Maybe you have a loved one whom many religious people have ignored because of their ungodly and wicked ways. And you have sort of given up on them. Jesus will never give up on them no matter how wicked their lives may be, how socially unacceptable they are. The Pharisees saw just how wicked and sinful this bunch were and yet here was Jesus sitting down with them and having lunch with them. Notice also that these especially wicked people were coming near to Jesus to listen to Him. Yes He accepted and received and welcomed these preeminently wicked sinners even to the point of sitting down to eat with them but He did it so that He could talk with them about their soul’s salvation. We might have to sometimes step out of our comfort zone to win people to Christ but wouldn’t it be worth it? The shepherd in Jesus’ parable found in Luke 15 certainly had to leave his comfort zone in order to find his lost sheep but what rejoicing there was when he found that one lost sheep. Jesus is a Friend of mine!p.s. I don’t recall any record where it says a Pharisee had any friends, I guess they never learned how to make a friend

Before starting a series on the Tabernacle which will come in September, I had a thought that I wanted to share and so this will be the initial blog for Godspattern.

Revenge is sweet someone has said. Another saying in our times goes like this, “I don’t get mad, I just get even.” The other day we were driving to town and I was driving the XG in the center lane of a four lane street and I wanted the right lane but a young man in a nice new style Ford pickup cut me off and wouldn’t let me in and soon I discovered after he passed by that he had really wanted my lane anyway. In fact he was going to the same place as me so he had to cut back into my lane again. He had to get there first. You know the type. They would run over you if they had to in order to be first. What a jerk!
But then we came upon a place where we had to detour and he being first was ahead of me(makes sense don’t it), so he got to go into the wrong street first. So I in turn now became first and I got to take the lead and said to my wife….revenge is sweet!
Stupid, stupid, stupid. It didn’t last for long, he passed me going down a hill, on the outside lane and got wherever we were going first. Now isn’t that a stupid story? Yes, you agree “it is.” It is just as stupid as a Christian who seeks revenge from another Christian who perhaps knowingly or unknowingly has brought pain to bear by saying something they shouldn’t have said, or maybe it was an action that never should have happened. Sometimes we may not say it but we think (what a jerk!) The Bible says “vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay.” Have you ever been hurt by someone, maybe even someone you love and you wanted to hurt them back? And perhaps you did just that…you hurt them back, you got even? What good did it do you?
There is no room in a Christian’s life for getting even. No room for revenge.
Jesus said something like “if your enemy thirsts…give him a drink, if he is hungry …give him some food.” That may not be word for word …but that is the gist of it. And He was talking about our enemies ,sooo …if we are to treat our enemies like that, how about somebody we love, even though they said something that hurt or they did something that hurt. Sometimes you hear a person say, “I’ll never trust him or her again.” That may be well and good in some cases but not in every case. The Bible says that we are to be imitators of God, read it in Eph. 5:1-2…I’ll read it for you from the Amplified New Testament, “Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example] as well-beloved children [imitating their father] and walk in love, [ esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.
You can turn to Philippians 2 and read in the third verse these words in the last part of the verse, “let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves]. I’ve got to finish verse four also (can’t leave it alone) -“Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others.”
What can I say now? I was as much a jerk as the guy in the truck. I repented this morning of such trivial foolishness.
But what about you? You who have sought revenge against your brother or your sister or perhaps someone even closer? Revenge is not sweet …..it belongs to God….it’s not for us.
How does this story relate to the study on the tabernacle, you ask? Well the Tabernacle is all about sacrifice and love is all about sacrifice, is it not? p.s. read all of Philippians 2, it’s all about love…RC