01/27/2024
God loved us while we were still sinners, and He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to redeem us even though we were sinful unclean people living immersed in a dark and lost world. Knowing this, how is it that we find it so hard to look at the sinners in our personal surroundings with loving eyes rather than disdain, and why is it so difficult for us to love them as God loved us… while they are yet unrepentant? Why is it that we have become comfortable in our church environment where we are surrounded by saints, and yet, are so uncomfortable when a sinner wanders in off the streets to visit a Sunday service? Have we become exclusive rather than inclusive when it comes to our faith in Jesus Christ? Perhaps we have forgotten the purpose of the Great Commission… it wasn’t meant that we should deliver the gospel to the saved, but to deliver it to the lost so that they might be saved.
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”“
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
Yesterday I was reading through my Facebook page while I ate lunch, and stumbled across a post in which a man (Stephen Wilson Jr.) was being interviewed regarding the music he was performing, and had written, after his father’s death. I clicked on the link and listened to a couple of his songs. They were wonderful thought provoking songs, and his latest album had been declared to be one of the best of 2023 by Rolling Stone Magazine. He sang about events from his life, and in one song he recalled his father, and how he tried to walk away from his father’s influence on his life. This is rather common amongst many young men who are seeking to become their own selves, and to have a life of their own. So I was enjoying his music, and mentally exploring his lyrics, when something happened… he used the Lord’s name in vain in his title song, and I felt myself wanting to stop listening, and to block his ad from my Facebook page. I asked myself why he had to do this in a song that was otherwise very good, and that would have a wide appeal to many young men.
Listen to Stephen Wilson’s song “Father’s Son” and see how it affects you, and how the use of the Lord’s name in vain makes you feel when it is uttered. Did it change your perception of this man or his song? Did it make you want to sit and break bread with him as Jesus did, and talk to him about this, or to delete the link to his song altogether?
https://youtu.be/ILizBwKgUVs?si=vfPwKvk2S73YuLXl
Then as I was about to stop his song the Holy Spirit spoke to me and gave me remembrance of Jesus dining with sinners, and in that moment I was embarrassed, and asked the Lord for His forgiveness for wanting to distance myself from this man. I had lost sight of the gift that this sinner, a man that God loved just as much as he had loved me, had been given, and I was overcome instead by his current sinful behavior. I had lost sight of this man’s pent up goodness and was bound up instead to the affect that the world had on him. Hasn’t this happened to all of us at some time in our lives? Do we look away when passing a homeless person cussing in the street, move to another pew when a neighbor is in church that we believe is living a life that others might associate with us, or do we refuse to befriend someone at work or school who we could speak to of Christ?
“And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.””
Matthew 9:10-13 ESV
So often we sit safe behind closed doors and talk about how God loves us, and Jesus has redeemed us, without so much as opening that church door a crack, or lifting a window to let in the breath of God. Have you ever wondered why most sanctuaries have doors at all, or why their windows are fixed shut so that they can’t be opened? Who are we closing in, or are we closing out the world and all its lost souls? Perhaps we have forgotten, like I had when I listened to Stephen Wilson Junior’s song, that we are all our Father’s sons.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your breath that enters through your open windows, and all the lost souls that come in through the doors of faith we leave open for them. Thank you for having loved us Lord when we were standing outside looking to enter those selfsame doors, and longing to breathe in a breath of that cool clean air. Praised be your name for sending Jesus to redeem us of our sins, and for pouring your Holy Spirit over us to give us understanding and remembrance of your Word. Thank you for allowing us to call you our Father, and for hearing you say that we are your sons, your daughters, and your friends. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who can hear us take your name in vain, and still find enough love for us in you to send your own Son to the Cross to wash those words from our mouths and save our souls. I pray today for Stephen Wilson Junior, and ask that you open every window and door that leads to you for him. I pray that his mouth is washed clean of every word that is distasteful to you, and that he is blessed as he mourns over his earthly father’s death. He has resolved the inner conflicts he had with his earthly father, and I pray that he now makes peace in his soul with you. I pray that he is welcomed by the full bride of Christ, and that he finds welcoming comfort among your children. He is named Stephen… show him that he might believe and never doubt. Let him touch the side of Jesus so that he will be transformed in Him by your mercy and grace. Help us all to accept the Great Commission we have been given, and to answer your call to go out into the world of sinners to dine with them, and to speak to them of your Son Jesus. Strengthen us Father, that we not be afraid, and will always see that we are your children… help each of us to believe and say “I am my Father’s Son”.
Rich Forbes