We are about to take a break from our preaching through Luke's gospel for the next couple of months. So I have been reviewing what God has been teaching me and hopefully the church from chapters 4-6 of Luke.
You cannot read these chapters and not marvel at God's love for sinners. Jesus gave up heaven, glory and eternal worship, all that he was due and deserved and came to earth and then we see him calling fishermen and tax collectors to come into God's kingdom. Not holding their sin against them but lovingly engaging with them and presenting to them the good news that the kingdom of God is here. The contrast is with the Pharisees who are judgemental and keep sinners in quarantine, never thinking of introducing them to God.
Jesus knows the seriousness of sin, he describes himself as the doctor come for the sick, as the one come for the sinners, he does not minimise judgement or the nature of the commitment he is asking for. He shows us God's great love for people, God's concern for the lost, and then he calls these sinners that he is changing to come and be part of God's salvation plan, to buy into God's big vision of a redeemed humanity, a new grace bought community.
And these chapters challenge me asking the question; have I bought into that vision? Do I share Jesus concern for people? Or do I judge them like the Pharisees? Do I view them as lost people whom God loves in need of salvation or as mission impossible? Chapter 6 of Luke ends with a call to love our enemies in the context of gospel persecution, to value people not our rights or things, to be merciful, to be self examining, to be fruitful and to be active in applying Jesus words to our lives.
Luke 4-6 has been a treasure house as I have studied it and preached it along with others. I am to bear the family likeness as Jesus shows and as God eternally is, merciful, loving engaging with and offering salvation to all.
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