Thoughts From Luke - Day 21

                                               Luke 5:18-32
¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
²² Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. ²⁶ Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
²⁷ After 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, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But 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?”
³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

        As fishers of men, how are we practically to do that? How do we convey to people that their fundamental need in life is forgiveness of sins in a way that they will receive it? Luke gives us some different means to do this in this passage.

      First of all, bring people into the presence of Jesus. The guys in my Sunday School class just put on a 3G event which is God, Guns, and Grub where there is all kinds of opportunities to shoot targets and watch things blow up. They also put on a wild game supper that serves deer, bear, squirrel, possum, elk, and all kinds of gross things that has wildly popular. At both of these events the gospel is preached and guys that wouldn't normally come to church are brought into the presence of Christ. We also put on a corn maze/hay ride, upward basketball, Christmas and Easter programs, etc., for the express purpose of bringing people into the presence of Christ. The easiest way is just to invite people to church. Andy Stanley gives these three "not" clues - things are not going well, I'm not prepared for..., I'm not from around here. Listen for those and act on them.

       Secondly, Jesus just went up to Levi and said "follow me", and he did! We don't know any back story here like had Levi heard his preaching or seen His miracles? All we know is this appears to be a "cold" invitation. Jesus, by spending time with the Father, was aware of people who were primed for the gospel- but it is also possible that He said this to everyone and Levi was the only tax collector to respond. One thing we do know is that tax collectors were very unpopular and needed the grace, love and acceptance that Jesus had to offer. We need to look for those people around us and befriend them. We need to offer them Christ but also commit our time and love to them which is very tough in our very full schedules. Pray that God would help you love the unlovely and show you who that one is, in your path.

        Lastly, attend non Christian functions. This is another hard task for us. Most people love any activity with an open bar but Karen and I run from those even though there are two to three a year that we have opportunities to attend. Why? Because they aren't our scene. We feel awkward and we make other people feel awkward just by our presence. The fact of the matter is that Jesus didn't feel awkward at these nor did people feel tension with Him there. He saw these as a great opportunity to spend time with the non-religious crowd. I'm quick to say that there are really no unbelievers in my life to witness to, yet, it is probably my fault as the party scene stresses me out. I run from crowds where I am the odd ball. Jesus didn't. Pray for boldness to say yes to these invitations and then courage to not compromise your beliefs but winsomeness to have people enjoy your presence even though you don't fit in.

      Lord, help me to look for these opportunities to be a fisher of men in my sphere of influence. Amen