scum

Mark 2 

13 Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again 

and taught the crowds that were coming to him. 

14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. 

“Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. 

So Levi got up and followed him.

15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, 

along with many tax collectors and other disreputable, notorious sinners. 

(There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 

16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, 

“Why does he eat with such scum?”

17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, 

“Healthy people don’t need a doctor;

sick people do. 

I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, 

but those who know they are sinners.”

********

I've said this before, but I'll say it again, because it bears saying always.

These are the 4 things that always struck me about the calling of Matthew by Jesus:

1. "Scum" or "notorious sinners" WANTED to be around Jesus. There was something about the way He treated them that encouraged them to endure the way other Jews treated them by coming to see Him.

2. Jesus obviously WANTED to be around these social & religious outcasts.

So....

3. If we claim to be followers of Jesus & claim His Spirit lives in us, shouldn't we WANT to be around people this world considers as "scum"?

4. AND shouldn't we as people who claim to follow Jesus have the kind of attitude & express His kind of love toward people to the degree that the "scum" of our world would WANT to be around us?

it's a matter of emphasis

 "nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless."

1 Corinthians 15:58b

nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

NOTHING you do for the Lord is ever useless.

nothing YOU do for the Lord is ever useless.

nothing you DO for the Lord is ever useless.

nothing you do FOR THE LORD is ever useless.

nothing you do for the Lord is EVER useless.

nothing you do for the Lord is ever USELESS.

nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

love, again

I had to share this passage again...

Every time I read it, God pokes me in the eye about something in it.

Read it again - it's an amazing passage, especially relevant these days.. 

1 Corinthians 13 

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, 

but didn’t love others, 

I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

2 If I had the gift of prophecy, 

and if I understood all of God’s secret plans 

and possessed all knowledge, 

and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, 

but didn’t love others, 

I would be nothing. 

3 If I gave everything I have to the poor 

and even sacrificed my body, 

I could boast about it; 

but if I didn’t love others, 

I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient 

and kind. 

Love is not jealous 

or boastful 

or proud 

5 or rude. 

It does not demand its own way. 

It is not irritable, 

and it keeps no record of being wronged. 

6 It does not rejoice about injustice 

but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 

7 Love never gives up, 

never loses faith, 

is always hopeful, 

and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. 

But love will last forever! 

9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, 

and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 

10 But when the time of perfection comes, 

these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, 

I spoke 

and thought 

and reasoned as a child. 

But when I grew up, 

I put away childish things. 

12 Now we see things imperfectly, 

like puzzling reflections in a mirror, 

but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. 

All that I know now is partial and incomplete, 

but then I will know everything completely, 

just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever:

faith, 

hope, 

and love;

and the greatest of these is love.

love

1 Corinthians 13 

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, 

but didn’t love others, 

I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

2 If I had the gift of prophecy, 

and if I understood all of God’s secret plans 

and possessed all knowledge, 

and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, 

but didn’t love others, 

I would be nothing. 

3 If I gave everything I have to the poor 

and even sacrificed my body, 

I could boast about it; 

but if I didn’t love others, 

I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient 

and kind. 

Love is not jealous 

or boastful 

or proud 

5 or rude. 

It does not demand its own way. 

It is not irritable, 

and it keeps no record of being wronged. 

6 It does not rejoice about injustice 

but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 

7 Love never gives up, 

never loses faith, 

is always hopeful, 

and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. 

But love will last forever! 

9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, 

and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 

10 But when the time of perfection comes, 

these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, 

I spoke 

and thought 

and reasoned as a child. 

But when I grew up, 

I put away childish things. 

12 Now we see things imperfectly, 

like puzzling reflections in a mirror, 

but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. 

All that I know now is partial and incomplete, 

but then I will know everything completely, 

just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever:

faith, 

hope, 

and love;

and the greatest of these is love.

the least

Matthew 25 

31 “But when I, the Messiah, shall come in my glory, and all the angels with me, then I shall sit upon my throne of glory. 32 And all the nations shall be gathered before me. And I will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and place the sheep at my right hand, and the goats at my left.

34 “Then I, the King, shall say to those at my right, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, into the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water; I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes; 36 naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me.’

37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Sir, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you anything to drink? 38 Or a stranger, and help you? Or naked, and clothe you? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’

40 “And I, the King, will tell them, ‘When you did it to these my brothers, you were doing it to me!’ 41 Then I will turn to those on my left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. 42 For I was hungry and you wouldn’t feed me; thirsty, and you wouldn’t give me anything to drink; 43 a stranger, and you refused me hospitality; naked, and you wouldn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

45 “And I will answer, ‘When you refused to help the least of these my brothers, you were refusing help to me.’

46 “And they shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into everlasting life.”

read it all

1 Corinthian 12 

1 And now, I want to write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of you, 

for I don’t want any misunderstanding about them. 

2 You will remember that before you became Christians you went around from one idol to another, 

not one of which could speak a single word. 

3 But now you are meeting people who claim to speak messages from the Spirit of God. 

How can you know whether they are really inspired by God 

or whether they are fakes? 

Here is the test: 

no one speaking by the power of the Spirit of God can curse Jesus, 

and no one can say, 

“Jesus is Lord,” 

and really mean it, 

unless the Holy Spirit is helping him.

4 Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. 6 There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are his. 7 The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.

8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is his gift from the same Spirit. 9 He gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick. 10 He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God’s messages—or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking. Still another person is able to speak in languages he never learned; and others, who do not know the language either, are given power to understand what he is saying. 11 It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have.

12 Our bodies have many parts, but the many parts make up only one body when they are all put together. So it is with the “body” of Christ. 13 Each of us is a part of the one body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But the Holy Spirit has fitted us all together into one body. We have been baptized into Christ’s body by the one Spirit, and have all been given that same Holy Spirit.

14 Yes, the body has many parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And what would you think if you heard an ear say, “I am not part of the body because I am only an ear and not an eye”? Would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 Suppose the whole body were an eye—then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything?

18 But that isn’t the way God has made us. He has made many parts for our bodies and has put each part just where he wants it. 19 What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part! 20 So he has made many parts, but still there is only one body.

21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

22 And some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. 23 Yes, we are especially glad to have some parts that seem rather odd! And we carefully protect from the eyes of others those parts that should not be seen, 24 while of course the parts that may be seen do not require this special care. So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important. 25 This makes for happiness among the parts, so that the parts have the same care for each other that they do for themselves. 26 If one part suffers, all parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

27 Now here is what I am trying to say: All of you together are the one body of Christ, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. 28 Here is a list of some of the parts he has placed in his Church, which is his body:

Apostles,

Prophets—those who preach God’s Word,

Teachers,

Those who do miracles,

Those who have the gift of healing;

Those who can help others,

Those who can get others to work together,

Those who speak in languages they have never learned.

29 Is everyone an apostle? Of course not. Is everyone a preacher? No. Are all teachers? Does everyone have the power to do miracles? 30 Can everyone heal the sick? Of course not. Does God give all of us the ability to speak in languages we’ve never learned? Can just anyone understand and translate what those are saying who have that gift of foreign speech? 31 No, but try your best to have the more important of these gifts.

10:13, again

 I published this yesterday - I thought it so important I'm gonna publish it again today...

********

 I had to share more about 1 Corinthians 10:13.

To me, it's a VERY important statement by Paul.

I read the New Living Translation (NLT).

But I've provided some of what other translations or paraphrases have presented this verse.

Just think about the astounding truth of this single verse...

Bottom line? We have NO excuse succumbing to temptations...

1 Corinthians 10:13

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. 

And God is faithful. 

He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. 

When you are tempted, 

he will show you a way out 

so that you can endure. (NLT)

********

No temptation has come your way that is too hard for flesh and blood to bear. 

But God can be trusted not to allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. 

He will see to it that every temptation has a way out, 

so that it will never be impossible for you to bear it. 

(JB Phillips - one of the early contemporary translations)

********

But remember this:

the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. 

Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you. 

And no temptation is irresistible. 

You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, 

for he has promised this 

and will do what he says. 

He will show you how to escape temptation’s power 

so that you can bear up patiently against it. 

(The Living Bible - a paraphrase first created when I was in college?)

********

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. 

All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; 

he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; 

he’ll always be there to help you come through it. 

(The Message - a paraphrase created in the late 20th century)

********

Any temptation you face will be nothing new. 

But God is faithful, 

and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle. 

But He always provides a way of escape 

so that you will be able to endure 

and keep moving forward. 

(The Voice translation which first came out in 2011)

10:13

 I had to share more about 1 Corinthians 10:13.

To me, it's a VERY important statement by Paul.

I read the New Living Translation (NLT).

But I've provided some of what other translations or paraphrases have presented this verse.

Just think about the astounding truth of this single verse...

Bottom line? We have NO excuse succumbing to temptations...

1 Corinthians 10:13

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. 

And God is faithful. 

He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. 

When you are tempted, 

he will show you a way out 

so that you can endure. (NLT)

********

No temptation has come your way that is too hard for flesh and blood to bear. 

But God can be trusted not to allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. 

He will see to it that every temptation has a way out, 

so that it will never be impossible for you to bear it. 

(JB Phillips - one of the early contemporary translations)

********

But remember this:

the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. 

Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you. 

And no temptation is irresistible. 

You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, 

for he has promised this 

and will do what he says. 

He will show you how to escape temptation’s power 

so that you can bear up patiently against it. 

(The Living Bible - a paraphrase first created when I was in college?)

********

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. 

All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; 

he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; 

he’ll always be there to help you come through it. 

(The Message - a paraphrase created in the late 20th century)

********

Any temptation you face will be nothing new. 

But God is faithful, 

and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle. 

But He always provides a way of escape 

so that you will be able to endure 

and keep moving forward. 

(The Voice translation which first came out in 2011)

2 passgaes

I couldn't choose which of these 2 passages to share, so I'm sharing both 😁

********

Matthew 10 

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 

36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, 

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 

38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 

39 A second is equally important: 

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

(So, boil it all down? Love God, love others - LGLO)

********

Ok, y'all - we've got NO excuses - we can't say "the devil made me do it" or "I just couldn't resist - I was just SO overwhelmed."

1 Corinthians 10

13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. 

And God is faithful. 

He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. 

When you are tempted, 

he will show you a way out 

so that you can endure.

all things to all people

 We've lost sight of this in our daily walk as followers of Jesus...

1 Corinthians 9

19 Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.

22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

workers

This is Jesus talking here...

Matthew 20 

1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage[a] and sent them out to work.

3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. 5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.

6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’

7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’

8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. 9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. 10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. 11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 12 ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’

16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

good to remember

12 

Psalm 103:12-18

He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass;
    like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—
    as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever
    with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
18     of those who are faithful to his covenant,
    of those who obey his commandments!

sexual sin

1 Corinthians 6 

13b You can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. 

They were made for the Lord, 

and the Lord cares about our bodies. 

14 And God will raise us from the dead by his power, 

just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? 

Should a man take his body, 

which is part of Christ, 

and join it to a prostitute? 

Never! 

16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, 

he becomes one body with her? 

For the Scriptures say, 

“The two are united into one.” 

17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

18 Run from sexual sin! 

No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. 

For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 

19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, 

who lives in you 

and was given to you by God? 

You do not belong to yourself, 

20 for God bought you with a high price. 

So you must honor God with your body.