Jesus, Friend Of Sinners

After all, the Bible does say, in 1 Corinthians 15:33 -

"Bad company corrupts good character."

I think it’s important to grasp the fact that Jesus did all the influencing - he never allowed the world to influence him.

We are called to be separate from the world, not allowing it to tear us away from love and allegiance to Christ.

But what does that really mean? Does it mean that we should shun all contact with people who aren’t yet believers in Christ? No! A thousand times, no! (to quote D.L. Moody!)

Unless you’re ready to move into a cave somewhere to avoid contact with people, you will be in situations where you will have the opportunity to influence people. And by the way, there is nothing in Scripture that supports a lifestyle of avoidance of people who need Jesus.

In fact, the overarching teaching of Jesus is that rather than shrink from society, we’re to invade and impact it.

Look at our example of Jesus in our passage here, and I think we can find a very important principle:

* Presence does not necessarily mean participation.

If we aren’t willing to be around people who need Jesus, then how will they hear the good news of forgiveness, a home in heaven, and a changed life? As an example of this principle, let me read a portion by Joseph Aldrich, from a message he gave once.

[Education in the Red-Light District, Citation: Joseph Aldrich, "How to Be a Redemptive Person," Preaching Today, Tape No. 113.]

When my wife and I went to Dallas Seminary, we decided we wouldn’t live in the "cemetery" housing.

Instead, we lived in the high-class, red-light district.

If you want to get an introduction to life itself, that’s the place to be.

We made a commitment to take one non-Christian person, couple or individual, out to dinner once a week.

Did we ever get a liberal education.

But what fun; we had people coming to know the Lord right and left in that place, because we simply loved them.

We opened our home to them. (SermonCentral.com - Contributed by: A. Todd Coget)

By and large, these types of people won’t be coming to church, because they see the church as out of date, irrelevant, and uncaring. So we have to be the church to them. In other words, we need to display the love of Christ to them.

Where do we do this? In the workplace, in your natural relationships, in your bowling teams, in your interactions with other parents of your kids’ sports teams, in how you interact with the sales clerks, and even how you drive. Don’t get me started about how I see some people drive - especially those with little fish stickers on their car...

But folks, let me just say this as we get ready to move on to the third habit of Jesus. Jesus was a friend of sinners.

What about you? Can anybody accuse you of that? Can anyone who is not yet a believer in Jesus point to you as someone who genuinely cares for them?

Boy, I hope so. And so does Jesus. Because he’s counting on us to represent him to those who still need him.

Jesus had the habit of being around all kinds of people. Let’s look now at the third habit we see exhibited in this passage, and that is that...