JESUS, A FRIEND OF SINNERS

Jesus, A Friend of Sinners

by Pastor Mark Taylor

“The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and you say, behold a friend of publicans and sinners!”  (Luke 7: 34)

In our age of Facebook, many of us have a lot of FB friends.  Most of our "friends" share common interest and values.  I know it is difficult to be nice to those who are not nice to you.  But our Lord Jesus said: "You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I say unto you Love your enemies, bless tham that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.  That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."  (Matthew 5: 43-48).  I know this is very difficult and without the power of our Holy Spirit it is probably impossible.  But think about where you were in your life before God started loving you and forgave you.

I don't think the Lord is saying we are to put our lives in danger by living in or returning to abusive or life threatening situations.  I would think a practical application of our Lord's words would be to feed hungry people or provide medical help without trying to evaluate whether they deserve it or not.  God fed the children of Israel for 40 years in the wilderness even when they were disobedient to His instructions.

Think about this for a minute.  Our Lord, until His birth, had never been around sin.  Our Lord had never before been around a sinner.  He fellowshipped with the Father.  He had nothing to do with sinners.  He was ministered to by the angels and praised by the saints in Heaven.

Then suddenly, He was thrown into sin.  He lived with sin, though He never sinned.  His entire life was occupied with sin from Bethlehem, and it will be so until the rapture.  His lips never said a bad word, his mind never entertained an evil thought. yet He choose to come to earth to be with us.

When Jesus choose his disciples, he choose sinners.  Matthew was a tax collector, Peter, James, and John were fishermen.  Others had secular jobs.  None of them were priests, preachers, or scholars.  He choose ordinary people with ordinary problems.

He helped the woman at the well who had been married five times and was living with a man who was not her husband.    Jesus was a friend of blind Bartimaeus beside the road.  He went to eat with Zacchaeus who was a very unpopular person in the area because he was a tax collector.  He was a friend of a woman caught in the very act of adultery.  He was a friend to the thief on the cross.  He told him  “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Today, we need to be more like Jesus – A Friend of Sinners.  We need to minister to those who are at rescue missions or are homeless.  We need to minister to those in nursing homes.  We need to minister to those that feel that they are not good enough to come to church.  Because Jesus is a Friend of Sinners.

Have we forgotten that we are sinners. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  “There are none righteous, no not one” (Romans  3:10).  We are saved and on our way to heaven because of one reason – Jesus is a Friend of Sinners.  

Reach out to someone today.  Ask yourself “What Would Jesus Do?” when you see someone struggling with sin.  “He lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. (John 8:7 KJV).  Remember that Jesus is a Friend of Sinners and any friend of Jesus is a friend of mine.