I believe that God is seeking for each
of us too come and experience His Love, I don’t say this lightly. I truly believe that it is His desire for all
mankind to be saved, do not misunderstand what I am saying here. I am not saying that we are all going to
heaven, sin separates us from God that is why Christ came to be the sacrifice on
the cross so that we may accept God’s love and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. You may be saying, that is easy to say, but
what about somebody that has sinned liked me?
Let us take a look at three different people who Christ went to and
talked to, one He invited to come and be one of His disciples. In Mark chapter two verses 13-17 we read
about Christ calling Matthew to come and to fellow Him. You may be saying what’s the problem with that?
He was a tax collector seems like a good job, but that’s where you are
wrong. Tax collectors were considered traitors
to their own countryman, they made money by overcharging people. The Jews considered them to be worse than
scum. We see that Christ came and asked
Matthew to be one of followers, another odd thing for that time period. A Rabbi never asked anyone to come to them,
instead the students came to them and had to impress them. Yet we see Christ seeking out Matthew,
someone who was a great disgrace to his parents and country. Christ did not care about his past or the
sins he had committed, but cared about what God could do through Matthew.
Then in John chapter four verses 1-41,
we see Christ traveling through Samaria which is something the Jews did not
do. The Jews felt they were better than the
Samaritans, for the Samaritans were Jews who had married the gentiles. This was looked downed upon by all Jews in Israel,
they would never cut through Samaria, instead they would take the roads that
went around Samaria. Christ had a
purpose to go through Samaria He was going to meet with a woman, when the day
started out she had no idea that she was going to experience God’s grace that day. Once again she is an outcast someone the town
looked down upon, but that did not matter to Christ. He met her at the well and talked to her, He
told her all about God’s grace and she came to follow Christ, it is through her
that the whole town came to experience Christ.
We read in verses 39-42, “Many
Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He
told me everything I ever did!” When
they came out to see him, they begged him to stay at their village. So he
stayed for two days, long enough for
many of them to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe
because we have heard him ourselves, not just because of what you told us. He
is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Then
we have the story of Zacchaeus, found in Luke chapter nineteen verses
1-10. Like Matthew he also collected
taxes, we are told that he was the chief tax collector. He was wanting to see Christ, but do to his
shortness he had to climb a tree to see Him.
Christ had planned on seeing him that day, only he didn’t know that
until Christ told him, “When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and
called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! For I must be a
guest in your home today.”(vs5) You see
Zacchaeus had no clue that God would want to seek him out to change his life
and save him from his sins. Many people
today are walking around with no clue that God is seeking them out trying to
get their attention and to let them know how much He loves them. Maybe that is somewhat of our fault in the
church we have failed at letting people know how much God loves them, just like
the crowd that was mad because Christ was visiting with Zacchaeus, “But the
crowds were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,”
they grumbled.”(vs7) But Christ came
into the house this notorious sinner, and the experience changed Zacchaeus
forever. “Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood
there and said to the Lord, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and
if I have overcharged people on their taxes, I will give them back four times
as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation
has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a son of
Abraham. And I, the Son of
Man, have come to seek and save those like him who are lost.”(vvs8-10)
I
want you also to notice something here that only one out of the two people we
have talked about was called to actually go and follow Christ in the sense that
he was to be a part of the twelve. Not
everyone Christ called to come to Him, had to leave their home and go where He
went. The woman at the well stayed in
her home, and witnessed to those around her, Zecchaeus did the same. God is wanting all of us to come to Him so
that we may experience His love, and go to those around us and show them the
same forgiveness and love that He has shown us.
In Luke 6:37-38 Christ tells us to be merciful and forgiving. For let us remember God is seeking for all
mankind to be saved, Luke fifteen verses 1-17 says; “Tax collectors and other
notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law
complain that he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with
them! So Jesus used this illustration: “If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away
and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go
and search for the lost one until you found it? And
then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. When you arrived, you would call together your friends and
neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found. In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner
who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t
strayed away!”
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