by Jerry Senn
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (I Timothy 1:15, ESV).
“A Sinless Friend of Sinners. When Jesus came to earth, demons recognized him, the sick flocked to him, the sinners doused his feet and head with perfume. Meanwhile he offended pious Jews with their strict preconceptions of what God should be like. Their rejection makes [us] wonder, Could religious [people] be doing just the reverse now? Could we be perpetuating an image of Jesus that fits pious expectations but does not match the person portrayed so vividly in the Gospels?
“Jesus was a friend of sinners. He commended a groveling tax collector over a God-fearing Pharisee. The first person to whom he openly revealed himself as Messiah was a Samaritan woman who had a history of five failed marriages and was currently living with yet another man. With his dying breath he pardoned a thief who would have zero opportunity for spiritual growth.
“Yet Jesus was not a sinner… The Pharisees and teachers of the law searched in vain for proof that he had broken the law of Moses. He had defied certain of their traditions, yes, but at his formal trial the only ‘crime’ that stuck was the one he finally acknowledged, his claim to be Messiah.
“I view with amazement Jesus’ uncompromising blend of graciousness toward sinners and hostility toward sin, because much of church history I see virtually the opposite. We give lip service to ‘hate the sin while loving the sinner,’ but how well do we practice this principle?” (Excerpt from “The Jesus I Never Knew,” by Philip Yancey, pp 258,259).
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16, ESV).
Lead me to some soul today, O teach me Lord just what to say, Friends of mine are lost in sin and cannot find their way. Few there are who seem to care, and few there are who pray. Melt my heart and fill my life, give me one soul today!