scum

Luke 5

27 Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector's booth.

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

28 So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.


29 Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor.

Many of Levi's fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them.

30 But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus' disciples,

     "Why do you eat and drink with such scum?"


31 Jesus answered them,

     "Healthy people don't need a doctor—sick people do.

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

     but those who know they are sinners and need to repent."



We're not like Jesus, are we?

We don't hang out with "scum", do we?

We only hang with Christ followers, don't we?

We don't want to be seen with people that our Christian friends would consider marginal or unseemly, do we?

We don't do that because we think people will think we're friends with them, & maybe are like them,don't we?

We're afraid it will "harm our witness", don't we?



What would our lives be like if the people who influenced us to follow Jesus had felt the same way as we do about hanging out with people who aren't Christ followers?

our flocks

Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you.

Watch over it willingly,

     not grudgingly,

     not for what you will get out of it,

     but because you are eager to serve God.

1 Peter 5:2



...flock...

God gives us people to look out for.

And as the years pass, that "flock", that group of people changes, as they move in & out of our lives.

Too many times we think that the only people with "flocks" are preachers / ministers.

But we all have flocks- people God has purposefully brought into our lives to influence & impact.


I don't remember who it was early on in my adult life who once said to me something I've carried with me since...

     "God often doesn't permit us to choose to whom we minister...

     "...nor does He often allow us to choose who ministers to us."


I see many people (myself included) who have missed opportunities of influencing people because we think ministry only happens at a church, with a minister, &/or in a healthy sized group.


I doesn't matter where God has put us...

     in a cubicle at Geico,

     building houses,

     doing shift work in manufacturing,

     or living quietly in semi-retirement in a mountain community...

God will & does bring people into our lives to whom we have a set task of caring for, influencing, & impacting in ways that only we can.


Perhaps we should look around this week at the people who move in & out of our lives, & look for opportunities to be Jesus to those people.

selected verses

Don't know who this is for, but I feel like someone(s) need to read these selected verses from Peter's first letter.



1 Peter 4

1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain,

      you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had,

     and be ready to suffer, too.

For if you have suffered physically for Christ,

     you have finished with sin.

2 You won't spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires,

     but you will be anxious to do the will of God.

3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy;

     their immorality and lust,

     their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties,

     and their terrible worship of idols.



4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do.

     So they slander you.

5 But remember that they will have to face God,

     who will judge everyone,

     both the living and the dead.



  7b be earnest and disciplined in your prayers.

8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other,

     for love covers a multitude of sins.

9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.



10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.

     Use them well to serve one another.

11 Do you have the gift of speaking?

     Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.

Do you have the gift of helping others?

     Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.

Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.

All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.



12 Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through,

     as if something strange were happening to you.

13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering,

     so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.



14 So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian,

     for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.

15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people's affairs.

16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian.

Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!



19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God,

     keep on doing what is right,

     and trust your lives to the God who created you,

     for he will never fail you.

a pretty tall order

1 Peter 3

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind.

Sympathize with each other.

Love each other as brothers and sisters.

Be tenderhearted,

     and keep a humble attitude.


9 Don't repay evil for evil.

Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you.

Instead, pay them back with a blessing.

That is what God has called you to do,

     and He will bless you for it.


10 For the Scriptures say,

"If you want to enjoy life

  and see many happy days,

keep your tongue from speaking evil

  and your lips from telling lies.

11 Turn away from evil and do good.

  Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,

  and his ears are open to their prayers.

But the Lord turns his face

  against those who do evil."



What would our lives be like if we lived like this - especially when we look at verse 9?


What would our world be like if we lived like this?


And why won't  / don't we live like this?

favor

Unless the Lord builds a house,

     the work of the builder is useless.

Unless the Lord protects a city,

     guarding it with sentries will do no good

Psalm 127:1


The older I get, the more I believe that what we are able to be & do is all about God's favor.

I can't tell you how many times I've planned something for months, put it together, & then pulled it off, all with little to no results.

At the same time, sometimes I've felt compelled to be or do something by God, followed His leading for the preparation of it, & then been or done it with results far & beyond whatever I could have imagined.

The difference?

God's favor.

So what was the difference?

In the first, using my own insight & "wisdom", I was being or doing what I thought God would want me to be or do under my own steam.

In the second instance, I was being or doing something God was compelling or leading me into, something that scared me, & something I KNEW I couldn't pull off in my own strength & "wisdom" - it was all up to God, or I was sunk.

It's all about God's favor.


Did any of this makes sense?

I hope so - it's been a slow lesson for me to learn & digest.

Don't be as slow as I've been  ;-)

some verses

Psalm 126

4 Restore our fortunes, Lord,

     as streams renew the desert.

5 Those who plant in tears

     will harvest with shouts of joy.

6 They weep as they go to plant their seed,

     but they sing as they return with the harvest.



1 Peter 1

2 God the Father chose you long ago,

     & the Spirit has made you holy.

As a result, you have obeyed Jesus Christ

     & are cleansed by His blood.


4 For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children.

It s kept in heaven for you,

     pure & undefiled,

     beyond the reach of change or decay.


6 So be truly glad!

There is a wonderful joy ahead,

     even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.

7 These trials are only to test your faith,

     to show that it is strong & pure.

It's being tested as fire tests & purifies gold -

     & your faith is more precious to God than mere gold.



I wish you were sitting here with me right now

     & I could tell you want is going on in my head

     & how these verses are what I needed to hear this morning.



In the years to come, if you forget about me, who I was, or what I did, try to remember this one thing...


     read the Bible every day.

all I know is what it says...

James 5

1 Look here, you rich people:

      Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.

2 Your wealth is rotting away,

     and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.

3 Your gold and silver have become worthless.

The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire.

This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment.

4 For listen!

     Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay.

     The wages you held back cry out against you.

     The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven's Armies.



5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury,

     satisfying your every desire.

You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.




Most of us are considered rich, compared to the rest of the world.