Friend of Sinners

Sunday Morning Bible Study

April 15, 2001 – Easter Sunday Morning

Introduction

Webster defines “reputation” as: “overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general; recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability”.

When we think of certain people, of certain names, we get a picture of something in our head. Let’s take a test – what do you think of when you hear the name …

“Duncan Hines” – chocolate cake? Mr. Hines, a restaurant reviewer in the 1930s, never baked a cake professionally.

“Chef Boyardee” – Spaghetti-O’s? Actually, his name was Hector Boiardi, a Cleveland restaurant owner in the 1930s

“Betty Crocker” – a cookbook? Betty Crocker has never existed. The people at Gold Medal Flour invented Betty during a contest promotion, and she's been “alive and well” ever since - for 70 years.

“Aunt Jemima” – pancakes? Another fraud. Aunt Jemima came on the scene in the late 1800s, dreamed up by the owner of a flour mill.

“Uncle Ben” – rice? This Texas farmer had a reputation for producing terrific rice.

“Colonel Sanders” – Fried Chicken? Harland Sanders got his start by serving fried chicken from a Kentucky service station.

-- From "Strange World," Campus Life, Vol. 53, no. 9.

Jesus Christ also has a reputation.

For some of you, you might think of His reputation as a great person, a teacher of good things. For others, you might think of Him as the Son of God, the Savior of the World.

But during the three years of His ministry on earth, Jesus had another reputation:

Friend of Sinners. Jesus said,

(Luke 7:34 KJV) The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!

Matthew (Levi)

(Luke 5:27-32 KJV) And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.

saw

publican – a Jew who was employed by the Roman government to collect taxes for Rome. They were allowed to collect more than they were required to give to Rome, and were allowed to keep the extra for themselves.

It was extremely rare to find a tax collector who was honest. Apparently they found a monument built to a tax collector during the times of the Romans, a monument because he was the rare, honest tax collector.

The Jews even made laws so that a tax collector could not enter into a synagogue.

Levi – also known as “Matthew”, the one who would write the gospel of Matthew.

{28} And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

left – kataleipo – to leave behind; to depart fro; to forsake

Tax collectors were wealthy men. For Levi to leave it all behind and follow Jesus was a pretty heavy-duty thing. Levi saw that following Jesus was more important adding another couple thousand dollars to his IRA.

{29} And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. {30} But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

great feast – Levi was so thrilled with having met Jesus, that he wanted all his friends to meet Him too.

scribes – those who had the job of making copies of the Scriptures. They were experts in the Scriptures.

Pharisees – the religious sect of Jews that believed in supernatural things, angels, the resurrection. They believed in the inspiration of the Scriptures and lived their lives strictly according to the Scriptures and according to the traditions of their rabbis on how they were to live.

eat and drink – In eastern thought, the practice of eating with another person is a way in which you grow closer to them, in which you become “one” with them. You both eat of the same bread, you are both nourished by the same thing. For the Pharisees, they did not want to become “one” with sinful people.

{31} And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.

(Luke 5:31 NLT) Jesus answered them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do.

{32} I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Lesson

Jesus loves sinners

Sometimes we get this idea that Jesus only hangs around “nice people” at church.

There are people who have this idea that if a “sinner” wants to meet Jesus, then they need to go take a bath, put on some nice clothes, watch their language, and go to church with the “nice people”.

Though I like the “bath” idea (J), Jesus doesn’t require people to take a bath.

You may be sitting here in church this morning, hoping that someone doesn’t point you out as one of those “sinners”.

I have news for you. Jesus loves you.

Lesson

Do you have a heart for the lost?

Sometimes when a person has been a Christian for a long time, they kind of get a little distant from the “sinners” in the world. All their friends are Christian, all their friends are “nice people”.

Jesus went to Levi’s house and got to know Levi’s friends. Why? Because they were the ones that needed Him the most.

Illustration

Corrie Ten Boom shares this true story in her book, The Hiding Place:

It was a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there -- the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. "How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein," he said. "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!"

His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.

The woman caught in adultery

As Jesus’ reputation as a “friend of sinners” began to grow, some of Jesus’ enemies saw this as something they could use against Him. And so they set a trap for Jesus, testing His “love for sinners”.

(John 8:1-11 KJV) Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. {2} And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

early in the morning – orthros – daybreak, dawn

{3} And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, {4} They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. {5} Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? {6} This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.

The issue is this – Jesus has claimed to be from God. He has claimed to follow the Law of Moses, yet He has also made it clear that He loved sinners. They are expecting that Jesus will fall into a trap by telling them not to stone this woman. If Jesus does this, then He will be breaking the Law of Moses, and He will be showing the world that He is not from God. What will Jesus do?

But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. {7} So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. {8} And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

We really don’t know what it was that Jesus wrote in the dirt that day. Some have suggested that He was writing down the names of the various scribes and Pharisees, listing their sins after their names. Perhaps He wrote out the Ten Commandments. Perhaps He just scribbled and what He wrote wasn’t important.

{9} And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. {10} When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? {11} She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Lesson

Don’t be quick to throw stones

I’m not sure why we do it. Some have suggested that it is because we are so insecure and so it makes us feel better to put others down.

I’m not sure that we are always aware that we are doing it. I think for some of us it is an unconscious kind of thing.

I think some of us feel justified in doing it because we feel that it is our duty to be the “sin police” of the world.

But we get ourselves caught in the same trap that the scribes and Pharisees were in, trying to condemn and destroy other people.

Are you a person who tends to encourage people, or criticize them?

So, what do you do when you find someone “caught in adultery”?

(Gal 6:1 NLT) Dear friends, if a Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

Lesson

Go and sin no more

For some of us, we read this story and we relate most with the woman who was “caught”. To you, Jesus says, “Go, sin no more”.

If you’ve truly come to a place where you’ve met Jesus Christ, you will never be the same again.

(1 John 3:6 KJV) Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Jesus loves you too much to just leave you in your sin.

You might be thinking that a person who is addicted to drugs and alcohol and is wasting away with AIDS, that sure, they ought to change the way they live. But after all, what harm is coming from your little sin?

A lot of harm is coming from your little sin. You may not see it yet, but your sin is slowly destroying you.

Illustration

We have a vine that grows on the wall in the backyard. When we first moved into our house ten years ago, I thought it was kind of pretty. I decided to let it go, and within a year it had entirely covered the back wall. At first, I thought it was nice to have a wall of green around our backyard. A couple of months later, I noticed that the vine didn’t stop at the wall. It had begun to swallow up all the plants along the wall. The bougainvillea and roses were disappearing, and I found that the vine was beginning to grow out into our lawn. It had crossed the wall to our house and was beginning to work its way into stucco and the exterior paint. If I hadn’t taken some drastic measures and cut it back, I believe all of Placentia would have been swallowed up (ok, just a little exaggeration).

Why does God call certain things “sin”? Because they are harmful to you. They will destroy you.

Jesus loves you even when you sin, but He loves you too much to let you stay in sin.

The Thief on the cross

Right to the end, Jesus stayed a “Friend of Sinners”.

(Luke 23:32-43 KJV) And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. {33} And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

Calvary – kranion – a skull

{34} Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. {35} And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

derided – ekmukterizo – to deride by turning up the nose, to sneer at, to scoff at

{36} And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, {37} And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. {38} And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. {39} And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. {40} But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? {41} And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. {42} And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

Everyone else had mocked Jesus and this title which hung over Him, “King of the Jews”. But this one thief realized that the title was true. He realized that he was hanging on a cross next to a King. He realized who this King was. He knew that this King would have a kingdom one day, even though He was on a cross dying.

{43} And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Lesson

The gospel

Why could Jesus promise this thief hanging next to him that he would be in paradise that very day? Why didn’t Jesus promise that the thief would be in hell?

You need to understand why Jesus died on a cross.

It was not some horrible, tragic mistake where an innocent person was killed needlessly.

Jesus came to the earth for the very purpose of dying on that cross.

He died on the cross to pay for our sins.

As He hung on the cross, God the Father was pouring out on Jesus all the punishment that was appropriate for OUR sins.

(Isa 53:5-6 KJV) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. {6} All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

With Jesus dying on the cross to pay for our sins, God now has the ability to declare “I forgive you”. He can forgive our sins because they have been properly paid for, paid with death.

But for God to extend to us this free gift of forgiveness, we have to ask for it. We have to be willing to receive it. We must be willing to believe and trust that Jesus has paid for our sins.

When we receive God’s gift of forgiveness, we will be with Him in heaven.

Lesson

Call out to Jesus for help

We Christians have a little prayer we call “the sinner’s prayer”. It’s a way of saying to God that we need His help and that we are coming to Jesus to be saved.

But notice, the thief prayed something much shorter than what we call our “sinner’s prayer”. All he said was,

(Luke 23:42 KJV) …Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

It’s not the actual words that you use that bring about salvation. It’s the cry of a person’s heart. It’s the understanding of who Jesus is and how great your need is for Him.

It may be that of all the stories we’ve looked at this morning, you identify most with this thief on the cross.

You realize that you are a sinner. You realize that you deserve judgment.

I would remind you this morning that Jesus is the Friend of Sinners. And He invites you this morning to call on Him for help. He is waiting.

Introduction

Webster defines “reputation” as: “overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general; recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability”.

When we think of certain people, of certain names, we get a picture of something in our head. Let’s take a test – what do you think of when you hear the name …

“Duncan Hines” – chocolate cake? Mr. Hines, a restaurant reviewer in the 1930s, never baked a cake professionally.

“Chef Boyardee” – Spaghetti-O’s? Actually, his name was Hector Boiardi, a Cleveland restaurant owner in the 1930s

“Betty Crocker” – a cookbook? Betty Crocker has never existed. The people at Gold Medal Flour invented Betty during a contest promotion, and she's been “alive and well” ever since - for 70 years.

“Aunt Jemima” – pancakes? Another fraud. Aunt Jemima came on the scene in the late 1800s, dreamed up by the owner of a flour mill.

“Uncle Ben” – rice? This Texas farmer had a reputation for producing terrific rice.

“Colonel Sanders” – Fried Chicken? Harland Sanders got his start by serving fried chicken from a Kentucky service station.

-- From "Strange World," Campus Life, Vol. 53, no. 9.

Jesus Christ also has a reputation.

For some of you, you might think of His reputation as a great person, a teacher of good things. For others, you might think of Him as the Son of God, the Savior of the World.

But during the three years of His ministry on earth, Jesus had another reputation:

Friend of Sinners. Jesus said,

(Luke 7:34 KJV) The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!

Matthew (Levi)

(Luke 5:27-32 KJV) And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.

saw – theaomai – to behold, look upon, view attentively, contemplate (often used of public shows)

There is something about this man that catches Jesus’ eye. NAS – “noticed”

publican – a Jew who was employed by the Roman government to collect taxes for Rome. They were allowed to collect more than they were required to give to Rome, and were allowed to keep the extra for themselves.

It was extremely rare to find a tax collector who was honest. Apparently they found a monument built to a tax collector during the times of the Romans, a monument because he was the rare, honest tax collector.

The Jews even made laws so that a tax collector could not enter into a synagogue.

Levi – also known as “Matthew”, the one who would write the gospel of Matthew.

{28} And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

left – kataleipo – to leave behind; to depart fro; to forsake

Tax collectors were wealthy men. For Levi to leave it all behind and follow Jesus was a pretty heavy-duty thing. Levi saw that following Jesus was more important adding another couple thousand dollars to his IRA.

{29} And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. {30} But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

great feast – Levi was so thrilled with having met Jesus, that he wanted all his friends to meet Him too.

scribes – those who had the job of making copies of the Scriptures. They were experts in the Scriptures.

Pharisees – the religious sect of Jews that believed in supernatural things, angels, the resurrection. They believed in the inspiration of the Scriptures and lived their lives strictly according to the Scriptures and according to the traditions of their rabbis on how they were to live.

{31} And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.

(Luke 5:31 NLT) Jesus answered them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do.

{32} I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Lesson

Jesus loves sinners

Sometimes we get this idea that Jesus only hangs around “nice people” at church.

There are people who have this idea that if a “sinner” wants to meet Jesus, then they need to go take a bath, put on some nice clothes, watch their language, and go to church with the “nice people”.

Though I like the “bath” idea (J), Jesus doesn’t require people to take a bath.

You may be sitting here in church this morning, hoping that someone doesn’t point you out as one of those “sinners”.

I have news for you. Jesus loves you.

Lesson

Do you have a heart for the lost?

Sometimes when a person has been a Christian for a long time, they kind of get a little distant from the “sinners” in the world. All their friends are Christian, all their friends are “nice people”.

Jesus went to Levi’s house and got to know Levi’s friends. Why? Because they were the ones that needed Him the most.

Illustration

Corrie Ten Boom shares this true story in her book, The Hiding Place:

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. "How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein," he said. "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!"

His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.

The woman caught in adultery

As Jesus’ reputation as a “friend of sinners” began to grow, some of Jesus’ enemies saw this as something they could use against Him. And so they set a trap for Jesus, testing His “love for sinners”.

(John 8:1-11 KJV) Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. {2} And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

early in the morning – orthros – daybreak, dawn

But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. {7} So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. {8} And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

Lesson

Don’t be quick to throw stones

I’m not sure why we do it. Some have suggested that it is because we are so insecure and so it makes us feel better to put others down.

I’m not sure that we are always aware that we are doing it. I think for some of us it is an unconscious kind of thing.

I think some of us feel justified in doing it because we feel that it is our duty to be the “sin police” of the world.

But we get ourselves caught in the same trap that the scribes and Pharisees were in, trying to condemn and destroy other people.

Are you a person who tends to encourage people, or criticize them?

So, what do you do when you find someone “caught in adultery”?

(Gal 6:1 NLT) Dear friends, if a Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

Lesson

Go and sin no more

For some of us, we read this story and we relate most with the woman who was “caught”. To you, Jesus says, “Go, sin no more”.

If you’ve truly come to a place where you’ve met Jesus Christ, you will never be the same again.

(1 John 3:6 KJV) Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Jesus loves you too much to just leave you in your sin.

You might be thinking that a person who is addicted to drugs and alcohol and is wasting away with AIDS, that sure, they ought to change the way they live. But after all, what harm is coming from your little sin?

A lot of harm is coming from your little sin. You may not see it yet, but your sin is slowly destroying you.

Illustration

Why does God call certain things “sin”? Because they are harmful to you. They will destroy you.

Jesus loves you even when you sin, but He loves you too much to let you stay in sin.

The Thief on the cross

Right to the end, Jesus stayed a “Friend of Sinners”.

(Luke 23:32-43 KJV) And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. {33} And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

saw