Why
Do
You Eat And Drink
With
Such Scum?
Scripture
Luke
5
27 Later,
as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at
his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my
disciple,” Jesus said to him.
29 Later,
Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor.
Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with
them.
30 But the
Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to
Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”
32 I have
come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who
know they are sinners and need to repent.”
Observation
“Why
do you eat and drink with such scum?” Jesus'
answer to that question, “Healthy people don't need a doctor –
sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are
righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
So until we
realize that we are sinners who are in need of a Savior, until we
realize we are sick with a terminal illness called sin, we will never
repent and turn to Christ for salvation.
Kathy's Dad,
Clayton Bearden, is a great example of this. You couldn't ask for a
better man than Clayton, “Mr. Clean” as he was known by his
fellow pipefitters and friends. He was a good man. He didn't go to
church, but he made sure that all of his kids went to church. He had
a rule in his house, “If you didn't go to church then you couldn't
go out and do anything else on Sunday!”
I remember
sharing the Bridge of Life with him. I drew out the Gospel
presentation on a paper towel and told him to look at it and think
about it. At that time he thought that being “good” was going to
get him to Heaven.
Kathy's Dad at 67
finally started going to church. Kathy and I were in Seminary in
Texas preparing for the mission field and we had come home to Tampa
for a visit.
We were talking
to Clayton about his attending church and he told us that they had
just had the Lord's supper at church, but he did not take it. He
said, “The deacon passed the plate to me and gave me a look when I
didn't take it, he should have known that I wasn't a Christian.”
When we heard him
tell that story it made us very excited because we knew that he now
realized that he was lost and that being good wasn't going to get him
to Heaven.
It was a few
months later during a Revival service at the church that Kathy's dad
surrendered his life to Jesus. And WOW, what a changed man he was
after that!
Until
someone realizes that they are lost and in need of a Savior they will
never repent and turn to God.
Application
I
will continue to share the Good News of Jesus with people. I will not
give up on them.
How
about you?
Ephesians
2:8-9
8 God saved
you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for
this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation
is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can
boast about it.
Prayer
Heavenly
Father, thank You for opening up the spiritual eyes of my
father-in-law and saving him. I pray that if anyone reading this blog
thinks that they can be good enough to earn his or her way into
Heaven show them that they are lost and that they are in need of a
Savior. I pray for their salvation.
John
5:24
24 “I
tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God
who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their
sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
1
John 5:11-12
11 And this
is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son. 12 Whoever
has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have
life.
Romans
10:9-10
9 If you
openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For
it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God,
and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
Daily
Bible Reading: Genesis 12,13,14; Luke 5
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