Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Soul-Searching Walk Alongside Jesus Msg 5 20

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A Soul-Searching Walk Alongside Jesus Msg 5 20 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: If you have brought a Bible with you, please turn
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Speaker 1: to Matthew the ninth chapter, and when you do, you
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Speaker 1: will find in your worship folder and outline that will
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Speaker 1: help keep you and me both on message so that
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Speaker 1: we don't wander through this important journey we want to
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Speaker 1: walk alongside Jesus. We'll use our imaginations some in the
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Speaker 1: process as we relive the scene that is recorded in
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Speaker 1: Matthew nine Versus one to thirteen. Once you locate that,
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Speaker 1: please stand with one another for the reading of the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Jesus climbed into
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Speaker 1: a boat and went back across the lake to his
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Speaker 1: own town. Brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat.
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Speaker 1: Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, be encouraged,
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Speaker 1: my child, Your sins are forgiven. But some of the
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Speaker 1: teachers of religious law said to themselves, that's blasphemy. Does
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Speaker 1: he think he's God? Jesus knew what they were thinking,
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Speaker 1: so he asked them, why do you have such evil
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Speaker 1: thoughts in your hearts? It's is it easier to say
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Speaker 1: your sins are forgiven or stand up and walk? So
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Speaker 1: I will prove to you that the son of Man
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Speaker 1: has the authority on earth to forgive sins. Then Jesus
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Speaker 1: turned to the paralyzed man and said, stand up, pick
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Speaker 1: up your mat, and go home. And the man jumped
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Speaker 1: up and went home. Fear swept through the crowd as
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Speaker 1: they saw this happen, and they praised God for sending
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Speaker 1: a man with such great authority. As Jesus was walking along,
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Speaker 1: he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax
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Speaker 1: collector's boot. Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said
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Speaker 1: to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Later,
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Speaker 1: Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as
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Speaker 1: dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.
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Speaker 1: But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples,
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Speaker 1: why does your teacher eat with such scum. When Jesus
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Speaker 1: heard this, he said, healthy people don't need a doctor,
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Speaker 1: Sick people do. Then he added, now go and learned
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Speaker 1: the meaning of this scripture. I want you to show mercy,
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Speaker 1: not offer sacrifices. For I've come to call not those
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Speaker 1: who think they are righteous, but those who know they
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Speaker 1: are sinners. And by the way, it wasn't that a
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Speaker 1: grand answer to those self righteous scum that we're criticizing him.
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Speaker 1: Little added opinion there that I took a little liberty with.
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Speaker 1: Please be seated. Father, We do thank you for answered prayer,
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Speaker 1: and we realized that in answering you have your own type.
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Speaker 1: I'm table, and you plan not only the depth and
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Speaker 1: breadth of a test, you plan the length of it.
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Speaker 1: You are our God, we heard it sung. You are
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Speaker 1: our only God, one Lord, one faith, only one in
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Speaker 1: whom we trust. To believe in other gods is to
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Speaker 1: follow the teaching of idolatry. We want to follow you, Lord,
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Speaker 1: even though the following includes the unexpected times of disappointment,
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Speaker 1: often surprise, and frequently he deep lingering lessons to learn.
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Speaker 1: I pray for those today who have deep needs in
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Speaker 1: their lives about which they are praying, people they love,
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Speaker 1: who have wondered, and many of whom have never even
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Speaker 1: come near the things of God. I pray that you
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Speaker 1: would encourage them as they wait on you to reach
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Speaker 1: those who are astray. Thank you, Father for never giving
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Speaker 1: up on us, for always seeing us as what we
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Speaker 1: are to become, not what we are. Thank you, Father,
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Speaker 1: that you have not written us off, even though we
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Speaker 1: have failed and will fail again. Thank you for the
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Speaker 1: ability of the mind to imagine. Help us to do
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Speaker 1: that as we take this journey, brief though it is,
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Speaker 1: on this one day with Jesus, our Master, your son.
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Speaker 1: May we feel the boat beneath our feet when we
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Speaker 1: sit in it, the crush of the crowd, and the
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Speaker 1: home as the paralyzed man is brought among us, the
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Speaker 1: prejudice in our own heart when we see you calling
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Speaker 1: a man. All the culture around us hates a tax collector.
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Speaker 1: Help us to sit at that table that was served
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Speaker 1: in honor of Jesus, when those fellow tax gatherers set
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Speaker 1: with him, and when he answered the critics who could
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Speaker 1: never get beyond their own self righteous religion. And before
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Speaker 1: we leave proud of ourselves, may we be broken realizing
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Speaker 1: that we two were prejudiced. We two have written people off.
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Speaker 1: We two have failed to see the potential in a
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Speaker 1: Matthew enable the truth that is printed on a page
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Speaker 1: come alive not only before our eyes, but within our
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Speaker 1: own hearts. And may we leave different than when we came.
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Speaker 1: We're grateful, Father, that we have the privilege of helping
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Speaker 1: our community. May we do so with great joy, with passion,
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Speaker 1: with mercy, reaching out to those in need, who live
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Speaker 1: across the street, across the states, and across the seas.
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Speaker 1: Give us the faith to believe that you will use
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Speaker 1: our efforts to touch children whom we will never meet
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Speaker 1: on this earth, but who will be fed and loved
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Speaker 1: and encouraged. May we realize that the greatest message we
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Speaker 1: have is a message of love from You, our Father,
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Speaker 1: from whom we've learned it. We give our gifts with
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Speaker 1: confidence that they will be used wisely and will for
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Speaker 1: your greater glory. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
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Speaker 1: we pray and we give, and all God's people said Amen.
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Speaker 1: Imagination is a wonderful thing. Something Think about it. It
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Speaker 1: can transport you from the very familiar surroundings to places
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Speaker 1: well far away, places with strange sounding names, places you
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Speaker 1: may never go in your entire lifetime, but you're there
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Speaker 1: thanks to the imagination. You can be besides those that
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Speaker 1: you have admired for years from a distance, who died
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Speaker 1: centuries ago, and you can almost hear their voices and
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Speaker 1: see them in action, and feel how they must have felt.
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Speaker 1: One of the most intriguing books in my library is
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Speaker 1: entitled A Sense of History. It begins with a thirty
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Speaker 1: six page introductory chapter titled titled I Wish I'd been there.
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Speaker 1: I Wish I'd been there. My title is I wish
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Speaker 1: I would have remembered it. I wish I would have
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Speaker 1: been there, And the scholars, the authors, the historians who
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Speaker 1: participate in that writing that chapter name places in American
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Speaker 1: history where they would love to have been in years past.
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Speaker 1: For example, and listen to the imagination, I would like
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Speaker 1: to have been among the small company of sailors in
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Speaker 1: the moonlit pre dawn moment October twelfth, fourteen ninety two,
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Speaker 1: when a lookout aboard a small vessel hailed the sand
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Speaker 1: cliffs of an island never before seen by the eyes
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Speaker 1: of Europeans. Had I rushed to the ship's rail Christopher Columbus.
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Speaker 1: With Christopher Columbus, I would have sensed his triumph and
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Speaker 1: shared in the joy and amazement of his companions. Here's another.
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Speaker 1: I would love to have been there when we declared
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Speaker 1: our independence on that warm sunny day in Philadelphia July eighth,
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Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six, as the proclamation was made and the
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Speaker 1: document was read. Another I would love to have been
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Speaker 1: a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition to confront
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Speaker 1: unspoiled nature in a way that will never again be
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Speaker 1: possible on this planet. Yet another, I would love to
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Speaker 1: have been there at Lincoln's farewell to his neighbors in Springfield, Illinois.
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Speaker 1: In that intimate moment, the President elect spoke of his
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Speaker 1: facing a task greater than that which rested upon Washington.
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Speaker 1: Another named January one, eighteen sixty three, when slaves legally
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Speaker 1: received their freedom for the first time. As flags waved
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Speaker 1: there suddenly arose a strong male voice, cracked and elderly,
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Speaker 1: and began singing, My country tis of the sweet land
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Speaker 1: of liberty, of the I sing. Another historian, I would
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Speaker 1: love to have been there at the surrender at Appomattox.
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Speaker 1: Another I would love to have been sitting alongside FDR
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Speaker 1: when he first got word of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
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Speaker 1: Another when the bomb exploded at Alamagordo July nineteen forty five,
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Speaker 1: And on and on and on. It goes imagination. It
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Speaker 1: can capture the moment and you literally can feel what
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Speaker 1: was felt. I do that every time I open my Bible,
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Speaker 1: every time I read a story from the scriptures. I'm there.
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Speaker 1: I can feel the pressure in the valley of a
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Speaker 1: Law as David faces Goliath across the vale. I would
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Speaker 1: love to have been alongside Daniel in the lions den.
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Speaker 1: I don't want to be there alone when the Lord
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Speaker 1: gave the lions lockjaw, and he slept all that night
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Speaker 1: comfortably because of the miracle that God had done. I
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Speaker 1: would love to have been with the shepherds in the
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Speaker 1: field outside Bethlehem when they heard the voice of the Angel,
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Speaker 1: or sitting next to Paul the Memortime Dungeon when he
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Speaker 1: wrote his final words to Timothy. When we travel to Israel,
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Speaker 1: we take a journey back guided by imagination. We're sitting
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Speaker 1: on the steps of the Temple, looking south across Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: To the left is the key Drone Valley, and it
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Speaker 1: leads up to the Mount of Olives, the little garden
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Speaker 1: of Gethsemone. On a clear day you can see in
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Speaker 1: the distance. We love to have our guest soloists sing
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Speaker 1: as we're sitting there in a group. I walked today
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Speaker 1: where Jesus walked, ending with marvelous words and felt his
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Speaker 1: presence there. Imagination takes you there without it. It's just
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Speaker 1: black print on white pages, but with it you're there today.
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Speaker 1: You're in a disciple. You're one of the twelve not
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Speaker 1: yet numbered twelve. You're among the early chosen disciples, and
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Speaker 1: you're standing alongside Jesus when he deals with the one
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Speaker 1: who is filled with demons, and you watch him as
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Speaker 1: he casts them out with a word go. When that
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Speaker 1: ends and the demoniac is back in his right mind
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Speaker 1: and clothed and sitting nearby, you get in the boat
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Speaker 1: with Jesus. As we read in verse one, You climb
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Speaker 1: into the boat, smell the fish. A couple of dead
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Speaker 1: ones are left there on the floor of the boat.
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Speaker 1: Maybe you feel the wet net on your leg, as
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Speaker 1: fishermen had once used it not too long ago, and
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Speaker 1: thrown it in the boat, just a little fishing boat
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Speaker 1: to take you aback across that six mile trek from
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Speaker 1: the Gatherines back to Capernaum with Jesus. In light of
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Speaker 1: what just happened, you wonder what the day will hold.
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Speaker 1: You wonder if you will encounter anything like that. And
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Speaker 1: you're in for another surprise, because it isn't long before
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Speaker 1: you're in the house that's packed with people. All the
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Speaker 1: way out the door of that house, and you're listening
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Speaker 1: to the Master as he teaches. Suddenly you feel something
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Speaker 1: on your shoulders and you look up and you notice
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Speaker 1: daylight through the roof. Before long you can see four
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Speaker 1: men holding onto the four lines on the corner of
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Speaker 1: the mat as they let down into the room. The paralytic, quadriplegic, paraplegic.
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Speaker 1: We're not told which, but there he is, and he
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Speaker 1: can't move on his own, and you listen, wondering what
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Speaker 1: Jesus will say. You're surprised to know he doesn't first
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Speaker 1: talk about his paralysis. He talks about his soul, because
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Speaker 1: Jesus knew the culture, in that culture you had that
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Speaker 1: happen to you because of sin, either in your life
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Speaker 1: or someone before you, right or wrong. That's what the
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Speaker 1: many people believed. And Jesus addresses the man's soul before
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Speaker 1: he addresses his paralysis, and he says, be encouraged, my child,
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Speaker 1: in diverse to your sins are forgiven. Your heart beats
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Speaker 1: a little faster when you realize that the one you're
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Speaker 1: following is able to do that. But there are others
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Speaker 1: who are sneering, and they're thinking in their own minds.
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Speaker 1: They're thinking as they say to themselves, that's blasphemy. Who
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Speaker 1: does he think he is God? You know he is that.
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Speaker 1: They don't what I love about the story, And here
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Speaker 1: I allow my imagination to race a little. I love
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Speaker 1: it that Jesus can read their minds. They didn't say
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Speaker 1: it out loud, They said it to themselves. Sort of convicting,
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Speaker 1: isn't it. Remember stuff you say under your breath, and
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Speaker 1: you bet nobody heard you. It's all known by our Lord.
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Speaker 1: He hears their thoughts. So he said to them, why
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Speaker 1: do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? I mean,
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Speaker 1: the man who is paralyzed is still there. Nothing's been
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Speaker 1: done yet. So Jesus is addressing the skeptics. You're listening
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Speaker 1: because you're a young disciple and you wouldn't know how
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Speaker 1: to answer them. He's not intimidated. He says, is it
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Speaker 1: easier to say your sins are forgiven? Or stand up?
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Speaker 1: In what kind of a question would that be? What
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Speaker 1: do you have to have authority to forgive sins? And
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Speaker 1: to prove that you have such authority? One is made
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Speaker 1: to stand up and walk. You can do miracles, And
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Speaker 1: he's showing his role as Messiah, the one who can
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Speaker 1: do that. And they don't know that, they don't believe that,
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Speaker 1: so they're standing and listening interestingly, they don't answer. So
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Speaker 1: he says, I will prove to you that the son
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Speaker 1: of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.
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Speaker 1: Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, stand up,
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Speaker 1: pick up your mat, go home. The man jumped up
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Speaker 1: and went home. You know what I like about the
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Speaker 1: story here, it's so nonsense. There are no signs outside
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Speaker 1: the house that say come see the miracle worker. There
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Speaker 1: are no tickets sold, there's no emphasis on the one
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Speaker 1: doing the miracle. It's on the power of the authority
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Speaker 1: of God working through him. And the man gets up
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Speaker 1: and he goes home. Fears swept through the crowd. Well,
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Speaker 1: I would imagine they saw what had happened. And by
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Speaker 1: the way, the miracle was instant. It wasn't come back later.
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Speaker 1: And let's see how you're feeling. He was immediately healed
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Speaker 1: of his paralysis, and they were grateful that they praised
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Speaker 1: God for sending one with such authority. You think that's it.
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Speaker 1: That's today. Now we can walk along with Jesus and
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Speaker 1: spend time quietly by him. But that's not the plan.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, Jesus, while he's walking along,
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Speaker 1: we have Mark and Luke to thank to know that
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Speaker 1: they were alongside the Sea of Galilee, so they're out
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Speaker 1: by the water's edge. One of the writers says that
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Speaker 1: everyone is following him, but there's one that isn't following.
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Speaker 1: He's sitting in a tax booth. He's looking watching what's
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Speaker 1: happening outside, but he's not a follower. He's sitting at
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Speaker 1: his tax collector's booth, and he is one hated man.
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Speaker 1: I told you he was a tax collector. That ought
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Speaker 1: to be enough. But if you knew then, if you
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Speaker 1: knew now what they knew, then you'd be saying to Jesus,
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Speaker 1: whatever you do, you don't call him to join our group.
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Speaker 1: He's a tax collector. Let me fill you in. This
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Speaker 1: may help. There was never a more unlikely candidate for
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Speaker 1: the office of Disciple or Apostle than Matthew. The authorized
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Speaker 1: version calls him a publican. Publicaney were tax collectors taxgatherers.
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Speaker 1: They were so called because they dealt with public money
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Speaker 1: and with public funds. The problem of the Roman government
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Speaker 1: was to devise a system whereby taxes could be collected
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Speaker 1: as efficiently and cheaply as possible. They did so by
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Speaker 1: auctioning the right to collect taxes in a certain area.
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Speaker 1: The man who bought that right was responsible to the
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Speaker 1: Roman government. Don't forget that Matthew was a Jew. But
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Speaker 1: he's working for Rome. And you already know what the
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Speaker 1: Jews thought of the Romans. So he's a turncoat. He's
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Speaker 1: got his hands in Jewish pockets, but he's answering to
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Speaker 1: Roman authorities. And there was an agreed sum. He was
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Speaker 1: to collect anything he could raise over and above that
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Speaker 1: he was allowed to keep as his commission. Obviously, the
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Speaker 1: system lent itself to grave abuses. Many a tax collector
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Speaker 1: became a wealthy person through illegal extortion. The system had
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Speaker 1: to be led to so many abuse had led to
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Speaker 1: so many abuses that in Palestine it needed to be
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Speaker 1: brought to an end. Taxes, however, still need to be paid,
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Speaker 1: and there were still abuses. Three great stated taxes a
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Speaker 1: ground tax, by which a man had to pay one
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Speaker 1: tenth of the grain of his grain and fifth one
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Speaker 1: fifth of his fruit en vne. There was an income tax,
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Speaker 1: which was one percent of a man's income. There was
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Speaker 1: a poll tax, which had to be paid by every
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Speaker 1: mail from the age of fourteen to the age of
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Speaker 1: sixty five, and by every female from age twelve to
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Speaker 1: age sixty five. These were statutory taxes and could not
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Speaker 1: well be used by tax collectors for private profit. However,
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Speaker 1: in addition to the taxes, there were all sorts of
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Speaker 1: other taxes. A duty on anything from two and a
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Speaker 1: half percent to twelve and a half percent on all
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Speaker 1: goods imported and exported. Tax had to be paid to
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Speaker 1: travel on main roads, to cross bridges, to enter market
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Speaker 1: places and towns or harbors. There was a tax on
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Speaker 1: pack animals, tax on wheels and axles of carts. They
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Speaker 1: were purchased, taxes on goods bought and sold in light
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Speaker 1: so that all kinds of people were needed to collect
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Speaker 1: these taxes, and it wasn't difficult for such a person
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Speaker 1: to line in his own pockets. In addition to collecting
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Speaker 1: taxes which were illegally done, these taxgathers were therefore universally hated.
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Speaker 1: They had entered the service of their countries conquerors, and
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Speaker 1: they amassed their fortunes at the expense of their country's misfortunes.
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Speaker 1: They were notoriously dishonest. They made a flourishing income by
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Speaker 1: taking bribes from rich people who wished to avoid taxes
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Speaker 1: which they should have paid on and on. So these
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Speaker 1: guys were hated. In fact, I thought about this. I
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Speaker 1: think the average Jew looked upon those fellow Jews who
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Speaker 1: were taxgatherers as independent Roman scoms or i s independent
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Speaker 1: Roman scoh as who they were, and they hated him
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Speaker 1: for it. So don't call Matthew to be one of
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Speaker 1: the disciples. I mean, he ripped off my uncle. He's
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Speaker 1: the same guy who got rich on Jesus reaches out
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Speaker 1: and says to Matthew, follow me and be my disciple. Oh,
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Speaker 1: he's gonna be one of us, this tax gatherer. Matthew
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Speaker 1: got up and followed him. Luke adds he left everything
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Speaker 1: and followed him. He closed down his business. He sent
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Speaker 1: words to his colleagues. I'm through. He notified the Roman authorities.
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Speaker 1: I'm no longer involved. I'm now a follower of this
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Speaker 1: man who's changed my life. If that wasn't enough, now
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Speaker 1: pay attention. Being a disciple, Matthew invited Jesus and us
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Speaker 1: see it, Jesus and his disciples to his home. Luke
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Speaker 1: tells us it was in honor of Jesus, who was
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Speaker 1: the guest of honor, and he brought him along with
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Speaker 1: many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. Don't you love
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Speaker 1: the word others. It's kind of like saying, we want
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Speaker 1: you to come and bring along your wife and other gossips.
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Speaker 1: See what it does. It puts everybody in the category
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Speaker 1: of a gossip. Bring along this man and also other
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Speaker 1: crooks who worked alongside him. The point is the room
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Speaker 1: is filled with people that you and I would have
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Speaker 1: looked down on because of what they did for a living,
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Speaker 1: and they're all sitting together at this table and having
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Speaker 1: the time of their life. Matthew's there because he's so
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Speaker 1: excited about their meeting his master, whom they do not know.
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Speaker 1: But as you would imagine, the Pharisees were looking in
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Speaker 1: the windows and they were squitting their eyes, and so
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Speaker 1: they asked his disciples. So maybe one of you heard them,
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Speaker 1: what is your teacher? Why does your teacher eat with
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Speaker 1: such scam? Can you tell me how he gets away
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Speaker 1: with this and calls himself a spiritual leader? What would
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Speaker 1: you have answered, And, by the way, great point, would
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Speaker 1: you have felt uneasy? At the table. Would you have
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Speaker 1: felt yourself comfortable sitting with a whole group of people
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Speaker 1: like the those your parents had taught you to hate,
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Speaker 1: and those that you had learned now that you're an adult,
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Speaker 1: that you cannot trust. Got a whole table full of
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Speaker 1: these disreputable sinners, and the Pharisees saw it. Being self
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Speaker 1: righteous as they were, they wanted to know how you
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Speaker 1: can eat with such scum. At that moment, it's great
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Speaker 1: to be a disciple. You look to Jesus for the answer,
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Speaker 1: and he gives a classic answer. Look at this without
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Speaker 1: any preparation. He responds, healthy people don't need a doctor.
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Speaker 1: Sick people do. Isn't that great? I love that answer.
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Speaker 1: What does it tell you about yourself. I'm not here
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Speaker 1: because people are healthy. I'm here because people are sick.
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Speaker 1: That's why the Father sent me on this mission called
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Speaker 1: redemption or salvation. And then he added, he says this
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Speaker 1: to these self righteous Pharisees. You go and learn the
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Speaker 1: meaning of the scripture. Now we quote Hoseah six, verse six.
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Speaker 1: Check it for yourself. I want you to show mercy,
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Speaker 1: not offer sacrifices. You are busy involved in the liturgy
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Speaker 1: of your religion, you have it down pat You've got
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Speaker 1: the answers for whatever is asked of you, and you
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Speaker 1: always come out smelling like a rose. You are the
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Speaker 1: star of the show. You are the most important person
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Speaker 1: in the group. I suggest that you learn the meaning
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Speaker 1: of the scripture first, to show mercyacid Pacid is the
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Speaker 1: Hebrew word. It's the idea of loving kindness. Show loving kindness,
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Speaker 1: and not spend your time bragging about the sacrifices that
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Speaker 1: you offer. Not come to call those who think they
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Speaker 1: are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. By
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Speaker 1: the way, I love it that Jesus called Matthew to
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Speaker 1: be one of the disciples. I love it that he
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Speaker 1: would sit down at the table with him and with
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Speaker 1: his cronies to illustrate how much what a scandal it was.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to take you back to nineteen seventy eight
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Speaker 1: to a ballgame that you will not remember, but you
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Speaker 1: will remember an event if you're a football fan. It's
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Speaker 1: the Gator Bowl. Ohio State is the Ohio State is
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Speaker 1: playing Clemson, Okay, and Ohio State is coached by a
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Speaker 1: man named Woody Hayes. Stay with me. Sports fans already
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Speaker 1: know where I'm going. Woody has trouble restraining his anger
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Speaker 1: and feels passionate about Ohio State and they're fighting to
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Speaker 1: win this game, and one of them and the quarterback
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Speaker 1: throws a pass right into the arms of Charlie Bauman,
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Speaker 1: who is a linebacker for Clemson. He catches the ball,
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Speaker 1: intercepts it, and runs it in the other direction and
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Speaker 1: winds up pretty close to where Woody Hayes is standing.
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Speaker 1: Remember what happened, you football fans. Remember Woody lost it
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Speaker 1: and he hit the kid in the throat, and it
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Speaker 1: got on national television and it was repeated over and
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Speaker 1: over and over and over. Appropriately, Woody Hayes was fired
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Speaker 1: from Ohio State and he became a recluse. He was
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Speaker 1: a hated man. There were very few who still would
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Speaker 1: even want to talk to Woody Hayes. He had blown
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Speaker 1: it royally. I understand from a private source that something
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Speaker 1: happened to turned things around. There was a very special
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Speaker 1: sports event, a gala held in honor of some who
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Speaker 1: were being awarded for their athletic ability, and coach Tom
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Speaker 1: Landry at that time coach of the Cowboys, was invited
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Speaker 1: to attend, of course, and guess who he brought as
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Speaker 1: his guest. Yep, the one you wouldn't have talked to
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Speaker 1: and I wouldn't have either. Most likely, he invited Woody
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Speaker 1: Hayes to be his honored guest and to come with him,
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Speaker 1: had him sit right by him and for the first time,
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Speaker 1: and who knows how long he was able to connect
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Speaker 1: again with the public, the real world that had written
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Speaker 1: him off. Which reminds me of a brief conversation I
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Speaker 1: had with a man this morning who said to me
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Speaker 1: with a broken heart, I've been written off. The details
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Speaker 1: I'll not go into, nor would he want me to,
35:42
Speaker 1: but he said I was once a part of ministry
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Speaker 1: and I blew it and I'm nobody now. So I
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Speaker 1: have to ask you, have you written anybody off? I know,
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Speaker 1: I know, if you were to take your time, it
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Speaker 1: would probably lead to the story of a scandal, and
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Speaker 1: you know a lot about it, and you know the
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Speaker 1: embarrassed when it caused, and the hurt to many people.
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Speaker 1: But have you written that fallen person off? There's something
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Speaker 1: here more than just another story about a man on
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Speaker 1: a tax booth being called to be a disciple. There's
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Speaker 1: something about the answer Jesus gives where he says physicians
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Speaker 1: are not those who come to help those who are healthy,
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Speaker 1: they're not needed by them. And physicians are those who
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Speaker 1: work with those who were sick those who were spiritual.
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Speaker 1: Physicians work with the outcasts. It's our responsibility. My heart
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Speaker 1: goes out. Jesus would say, to the outcasts, those who
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Speaker 1: live in the muck and mire of disgrace and shame,
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Speaker 1: My mission field is to reach them. I was sent
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Speaker 1: to claim the hearts of those who were sinful. By
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Speaker 1: the way, might as well say it, A lot of
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Speaker 1: us have been around churches a lot longer than we
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Speaker 1: were around the outcasts. Our whole world is church. Our
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Speaker 1: friends are church people. We know best the church songs.
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Speaker 1: When we have a dinner party, it's church folks we invite.
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Speaker 1: We don't have a lot to do with a neighbor
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Speaker 1: who doesn't understand our world, especially if that neighbor's living
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Speaker 1: a life that's shameful in our standard of living. I
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Speaker 1: think it was Howie Hendrix who said it doesn't take
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Speaker 1: the average Christian more than three or four years to
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Speaker 1: remove from his or her life those who are lost.
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Speaker 1: As we center more and more attention on only those
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Speaker 1: who are saved, it's a comfort zone. They understand our world,
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Speaker 1: but that is not Christianity. I love the quote I
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Speaker 1: was given this past week, written by Robert Murray mcshaine.
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Speaker 1: The Christian is a person who makes it easy for
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Speaker 1: others to believe in God. I like that. It's not
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Speaker 1: a thorough definition. It's not a theological statement that is
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Speaker 1: meant to be studied by theologians. It's a general statement.
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Speaker 1: Listen to it. Let it linger. The Christian is a
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Speaker 1: person who makes it easy for others to believe in God.
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Speaker 1: Do you know what I think? I think Jesus did.
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Speaker 1: That's why Luke tells us that a lot of his
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Speaker 1: were people like this. Is that interesting? They felt very welcome.
40:09
Speaker 1: I appreciate the honest writing of George MacLeod. I'll simply
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Speaker 1: argue that the cross be raised again at the center
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Speaker 1: of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of
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Speaker 1: the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was
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Speaker 1: not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on
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Speaker 1: a cross between two thieves, on a town garbage heap,
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Speaker 1: at a crossroad of politics so cosmopolitan that they had
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Speaker 1: to write his title in Hebrew and in Latin and
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Speaker 1: in Greek and at the kind of place where cynics
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Speaker 1: talk smut and thieves curse and soldiers gamble, because that
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Speaker 1: is where he died, and that is what he died about,
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Speaker 1: and that is where Christ's men and women ought to
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Speaker 1: be and what church people ought to be about. I
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Speaker 1: appreciate your silence. It means you're thinking, let a message
41:32
Speaker 1: land hard, especially if you're the type to write off
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Speaker 1: individuals because of a lifestyle. This is a great time
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Speaker 1: to come to terms with the fact that you may
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Speaker 1: very well be a recovering pharisee. When was the last
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Speaker 1: time you spent an evening with a lost person or
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Speaker 1: found yourself comfortable in a group of them where they
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Speaker 1: told jokes you wouldn't have told, or they drank beverages
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Speaker 1: you wouldn't have drunk. It's their world, It's not ours, admittedly,
42:26
Speaker 1: But it isn't it interesting that Jesus said, I've come
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Speaker 1: not to call those who think they're righteous, but know
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Speaker 1: their sinners. Do you think you're righteous? Have you forgotten
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Speaker 1: the fact that you also are irs an independent, rotten sinner.
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Speaker 1: So am I. And the day we forget that is
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Speaker 1: the day we start looking in through the window wondering
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Speaker 1: why other people are not doing what we think they
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Speaker 1: ought to be doing. We're not in charge of other people.
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Speaker 1: We have a full time job taking care of ourselves.
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Speaker 1: I know I do, and I know that before God,
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Speaker 1: I'm an undeserving, rotten sinner to the core. And if
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Speaker 1: He had not reached me, you don't even want to
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Speaker 1: know the lifestyle I'd be living. I'd have never gotten
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Speaker 1: the woman I got to marry me. I would have
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Speaker 1: never ever had any kind of impact in the lives
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Speaker 1: of other people. But the grace of God, he reached
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Speaker 1: down and looked at me inside my own tax collector's
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Speaker 1: booth and invited me in to his band of men
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Speaker 1: and women. And for that I'm eternally grateful. That's why
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Speaker 1: I call this a soul searching walk alongside Jesus. I
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Speaker 1: think the disciples were forever, forever amazed at their Master.
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Speaker 1: They were far tighter than he was, far more judgmental,
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Speaker 1: far more prejudice. Would you have invited Woody Hayes to
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Speaker 1: that event? See what I mean. It's just the way
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Speaker 1: we're put together, and we've learned bad habits because we
44:43
Speaker 1: have gotten religious without realizing that the Christian is the
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Speaker 1: one who makes it easy for another person to believe
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Speaker 1: that there is a God. I urge you to take
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Speaker 1: this to heart. You don't need imagination to do that.
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Speaker 1: In fact, you have to deal with reality. And it
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Speaker 1: isn't very comfortable. Just as I am without one plea,
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Speaker 1: but that that blood was shed for me, Lamb of God,
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Speaker 1: I come just as I am. But a great song,
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Speaker 1: What a great approach as we stand before our God,
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Speaker 1: who knows the whole truth. You know what happens when
45:50
Speaker 1: this occurs. We learn a vital lesson in humility of
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Speaker 1: our pride. Here as we walk out those doors, don't
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Speaker 1: we we do? Let's bow together? It was the psalmst.
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Speaker 1: W prayed, Search me, O, God, and know my heart,
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Speaker 1: Try me and test my thoughts, see if there be
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Speaker 1: any wicked way in me, and then lead me in
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Speaker 1: another way, the everlasting way. Your pride taken over. Have
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Speaker 1: you found yourself really becoming prejudice, really narrow, self serving,
46:58
Speaker 1: so easy to get like that. It's a great moment
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Speaker 1: for the believer to search our hearts, and for you
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Speaker 1: who are without Jesus, to know that He loves you,
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Speaker 1: died that you might live forgives you that you might
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Speaker 1: walk in purity, not in shame or heartbreak. I invite
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Speaker 1: you to come to Him today just as you are,
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Speaker 1: just as you are, soul searching our Father. We admit that,
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Speaker 1: and suddenly these thirteen verses jump off the page and
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Speaker 1: find a place in our own lives. We can see
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Speaker 1: ourselves lived right here in the print of these sentences.
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Speaker 1: And that is Bible knowledge at its best. So teach us,
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Speaker 1: Father the value of walking in grace and truth. Guard
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Speaker 1: us from self serving statements and prejudicial looks and caustic comments.
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Speaker 1: Help us to be among your your propagandists, those who
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Speaker 1: make it easy for people to know you. Free us up, Father,
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Speaker 1: from our self made righteousness, and bring us to the
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Speaker 1: cross and leave us there. I pray this for myself first,
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Speaker 1: and then for all of us together, in Jesus' name,
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Speaker 1: I ask him. Everyone said amen. The preceding message, A
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Speaker 1: Soul Searching Walk Alongside Jesus, was copyrighted in twenty sixteen
49:32
Speaker 1: and twenty twenty one, and the sound recording was copyrighted
49:35
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
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Speaker 1: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
49:44
Speaker 1: use is strictly prohibited