Pharisees grumbling about Jesus
Why?
Eating with tax collectors and sinners
Who do we eat with?
What kind of people do we allow into
our home?
What kind of home are we comfortable
visiting?
providing
music for social events at homes of very wealthy - feel out of place
not
sure what to do when welcomed by someone from a different social
class
What
about entering the home of someone troubled?
poverty
psychological
difficulties with negative results
illness
Where’s our comfort zone? More
important, where does it end?
example of Nigerian Christians from VOM
video
people in Mexican slums playing musical
instruments made from trash
What do we think of the very poor or
the very rich who are trusting in Jesus?
Yet as we explore this, we’re putting
ourselves again in the place of the Pharisees.
Which one of us deserves to be welcomed
to the riches of heaven?
Which one of us deserves to be accepted
by the Lord of all?
What kind of a home do we have to
welcome Jesus?
filthy
heart
filthy
mind
poverty
dead
and rotting carcasses, dead in sin
We’re just the kind of people we
would avoid being with.
Shift focus from our perspective as
Pharisees
Our Lord’s attitude
Jesus humbled himself
entered
our world
entered
our family
entered
our life
entered
our home
No room for pride, only room for
gratitude
How could he judge us? Sternly - we
should be destroyed by his holiness
How does he visit us?
grace
mercy
peace
comfort
food
to eternal life
drink
that will make us never thirst again
protection
perfect
love which casts out all fear
The greatest joy we could have, the
greatest joy we could imagine, all pales before the Lord Jesus who
gives us repentance and forgiveness, creating joy in heaven. Would we
like all heaven to rejoice? Repent before the Lord. He is the one who
comes to find us when we are lost. He is the one who comes to rescue
us. He is the one who is willing to change us from inside out. Jesus
is the one who visits us.
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