Sinners Wanted

Took another break or should I say have another break. Or maybe I am broken. Anyway I reinjured my hand a week and a half ago. I was playing 1 on 1 basketball with my son in the driveway. I realized I was way out of my league even though he was going easy on me.  Well during a ungraceful (I was wearing motorcycle boots) cut to the basket I ran smack into Ben and went flying down on the driveway landing right on my right hand again.  By the time  I got home it had swollen up as big as an orange.  The doctor wasn't sure but I might have a hairline fracture.  So back to wearing a splint for 3 weeks.

So lets pick up where we left off in Luke chapter 5.

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, ²⁸and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
 ²⁹Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
 ³¹Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Well the Pharisees and teachers of the Law are still with us.   Waiting and watching every move that Jesus makes.  But now we are going to meet a new character Levi the tax collector.  Maybe when you think of a tax collector you think of an IRS agent.  You might think its bad enough someone poking into your finances to be sure that you are paying your taxes according to the law.  However a tax collector during Jesus time represented something worse.

•  They were hired under contract to deliver a certian amount of money by direct collection or levies.
• They were Jews who worked for the Roman government
• Their independence allowed them to abuse and collect more tax for their own use through extortion and physical coersion.  Some control of excess reported to the Roman's could lead to persecution, but if the tax collector kept it small scale thier abuses were tolerated.
• Tax collectors worked on the Sabbath
• Considered unclean by associating with gentiles (non-jews)

The Romans were an occupying force that the Jews resented.  To be a Jew and work for the Romans would have been viewed a traitorous by those who belief was orthodox or nationalist.  The Romans believed in Roman gods and Ceaser as a god.  So not only would a tax collector be considered a national traitor but a religious traitor.  The Romans used local people from the district as tax collectors because they would know the people and not be deceived.

So it should come as no surprise to have the comment equating tax collectors and sinners.

So the question asked not directly to Jesus but to His disciples.  At this point the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are cautious about confronting Jesus directly.  As you remember from the last story they were caught muttering amoung themselves.

The religious leaders wanted to have a holy club where only those who were rightous would hang out.  They believed that God would like them for thier good work, thier holy practices and the group they hung around with.  But Jesus has come for the sinners.  He is looking for sinners.  He walked right up to Levi's tax collecting table and said follow me.  Jesus has come to a party where sinners are hanging out to bring them too repentence.

In a sense though he is also poking at the illusion of the religious leaders.  He says has not come for the rightous.  But we know thier are none rightous by thier own works.  So the Pharisees are in a sense being made fun of.  They would have viewed themselves as rightous and deserving of the utmost respect from anyone sent by God.  Jesus leaves them to consider the paradox of thier view.  If they are rightous why is thier compassion for others absent.  Jesus is saying sinners need help.  The Pharisees think the rightous are to avoid sinners.

In reality thier we are all sinners.  The dividing line is not between the rightous and sinners.  But between those who know they are sinners and need the forgiveness of God.  And those who believe they are not sinners, but are rightous in thier own eyes.

If you are really searching for a savior then in order to find Him you need to recognize that you are a sinner and cannot obtain rightousness on your own.  Only through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died on the Cross can we be transformed from our old self to a new person.

Healing

Right now I am sitting on the porch overlooking the bay on a nice sunny morning in York Beach, Me.  My in-laws have a nice cottage bay side.  The air is dry and just the right temperature in the shade.   It has been a real blessing spending the time here the past few days over the 4th of July weekend with family visiting on Saturday.   Also managed to swing down to Newburyport on Sunday to visit my brother and nephews.  

I really missed my church family yesterday.  Last week we were at His Mansion ministry in New Hampshire.  This weekend vacation in York Beach.  Next weekend riding with the Calvary Cruisers up to a church in Albion, ME to encourage the folks at Albion Bible Church.  I don't think I have ever gone 3 Sunday's without being with my home church family.  I hope if some of you are reading this that you know how much you mean to Cheryl and I.

We plan on heading out soon to get back home and do some chores with the remainder of the day.  If the weather back home is nice enough I hope to take a spin with my motorcycle.  I am hoping my hand is healed enough to be able to make the trip with my motorcycle up to Albion (about 2 1/2 hours away).

When I think of the whole idea of healing, I have been amazed at the miracle of how God designed the human body.  The bone that goes from my wrist to the base of my thumb was basically shattered.  The surgery that I had was to insert screws and plate to hold the pieces together while they healed on their own.   We can say that our bodies heal themselves, but in reality they heal themselves because our creator made them to heal themselves.  What a miracle.

But what about the man in our story? 
Luke 5:24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

The man was paralyzed.  Obviously beyond the natural healing that is built into the way our bodies are created.  In this passage there appears to be a relationship between the man's need to be healed, sin in his life and Jesus authority to forgive and heal. 

We live in a fallen world because of sin.   There is sickness, disease and violence that cause our bodies not to be all that God would desire for us.   Also specifically we may be sick due to our unrepentant hearts and rejection of God's grace.   We may find healing through

• Medicinal care
• Natural healing of our bodies
• Prayer and repentance
  
• Or the miraculous power of Jesus

In this story the man first of all received forgiveness from Jesus.   Then Jesus makes the point that to demonstrate that He has the authority to forgive sins, He also miraculously heals the man.  What is the result? The man went home praising God.  Those who saw were filled with awe and proclaimed to each other "We have seen remarkable things today".

The healing that takes place in this story is a demonstration of who Jesus is.  He is the Son of God.  He is God.   Those religious groups that use the Bible as the cornerstone of their faith, yet deny the divine nature of Jesus would have real trouble with this passage.  The proposition here is Jesus performed a miracle to prove that He had authority on earth to forgive sins.  The Pharisees in a sense were correct that only God can forgive sins on behalf of God.

So what have we learned about our savior from this story?

• He is in opposition to the established religious order as represented by the Pharisees
• He has compassion on those seeking healing
• He has the authority to forgive sins
• He has the Power and Authority to heal
• He is God
• He commends the faith of those who trust in Him
• He is concerned about our heart attitude

From this passage we have learned alot about the Savior we are searching to know.  Next time we will look at Luke 5:27 - 32.

Forgiveness

Just got home a little while ago, from spending time at His Mansion in Deering, NH.  This was a trip planned by the Calvary Cruisers as an opportunity to minister through service.  We went over on Friday night.  Unfortunately we didn't ride motorcycles for several reasons:

• the weather the past several days has been on and off thunderstorms
• Got home from work too late to avoid riding at night
• Plus I don't have a motorcycle (that makes it tough).  Actually have put down a deposit and am picking up a new one Tuesday night.

 Anyways back to our trip to His Mansion.  After breakfast on Saturday morning we were taken to the mission field in order to save the cucumber plants from weeds.   This might at first not seem like a bold service for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  However His Mansion is an incredible ministry that provides long term Christian residential care for young adults struggling with addictions and abuse.  So any work that they needed done is a ministry and on the day we were there they needed weeds pulled.

Not only did we have an opportunity for service we were able to share several meals with the staff and residents. As is always the case when you go somewhere to provide encouragement and support, you end up being blessed and in turn more encouraged by God's grace than before.

In this post I would like to continue with a look at Luke 5:17- 26.  As I mentioned several posting ago I wanted to look at this passage from several perspectives.

• The challenge of the Scribes and Pharisees
• The faith of the friends
• The priority and power to forgive sins
• The healing
  

We have already looked at the first 2 in the previous posting.  This time I would like to discuss the priority and the power to forgive sins.    I have included here again to refresh you memory.

Luke 5:17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

The man mentioned in this story is paralyzed in such a way that he is unable to walk.   His friends go to extraordinary steps to bring him before Jesus.  The hope is that Jesus would heal him and the man would be able to walk.  However the scribes and pharisees are present and looking to charge Jesus to expose Him as a fraud.   He was treading on thier turf.  So what does Jesus do, He looks at the man and says "...your sins are forgiven you.".  We have already discussed the reaction of the scribes and pharisees, so lets look at our reaction.


We might be surprised that Jesus didn't heal the man right away.   Why did he forgive his sins.  How did Jesus know that the man needed his sins forgiven?  In reality this is exactly what is needed by everyone.  I will only include 2 more verses.

1 Kings 8:46 "When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly';

Rom 3:22b For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 Everyone has sinned.  Everyone has a broken relationship with God.  We have all put ourselves first.  We rebel against the authority of God.   And we all feel that emptiness.  We fill that emptiness with pleasure, abuse, selfish pursuits, vanity and so forth.  But none of these bring satisfaction.   We go around hurting, seeking healing.  So the man that came to Jesus also had that hurt.   The priority is the forgiveness of his sins.  A restoration of his relationship with God. 

The Pharisees made a good point, only God can forgive sins.  When Jesus healed the man and demostrated His power.  It signified He was God.   He had the authority and power to forgive sins, heal the broken spirit and the broken body.

If you do not know Jesus as Savior, than you are in worse shape than the man who was paralyzed.  You are walking around with a broken relationship with God.   You have not experienced the incredible healing of His forgiveness. 

To find out more on how you can know God's forgiveness and receive eternal life check out "The Bridge to Eternal Life".