Mark 2 -Not The Righteouss but the Sinners

Who will you have dinning with you at your table?

I was talking with Pastor David yesterday and his wisdom is always encouraging. What he was saying was that he loved the new chairs down in the basement and our reasoning for doing it was noble. We want a welcoming environment for new-comers. But, he said we should always be planning evangelism. The chairs are good and it is good for us to be ready for new people, now go and find them. Just like Jesus said in Matthew 28, "go and make disciples of all..." We need to be intentional on proclaiming the good news to those that are "sick." And, the wisdom of Pastor David's many years of doing ministry were showing through in his statement, "you can prepare messages, return phone calls, counsel students, prepare worship experiences, and miss out on the greatest role of being pastors... go and make disciples[evangelize]." Jesus did it. He was eating with "tax collectors and 'sinners.'" When the "religious leaders" saw this, it actually made them question Jesus' disciples, "why does he eat with them?" They can't understand why a rabbi would waste his time with those sorts of people?! And Jesus' sharp response was, "it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." As a youth group we need to be constantly asking ourselves, 'if we have the greatest message ever told, why are we not sharing it with as many other people as we can?' It should excite you to tell others about your Savior. It should be a message that you could not contain if you wanted to. Tell others. Hang with the sinners. Tell them about Jesus and invite them to come and hear the Word. We do not want to be focused on us. We want to love others as ourselves. That means that you should want your spiritually dying friends to come to church just as bad as you yourself want to come. It should break your heart when your head hits the pillow, that you have family and friends that don't know Jesus. We have to be a church that is focused on the Cross. Focused on helping others fall in love with Jesus. And, we should be intentional about who we spend all of our time with. If you are always hanging out with the righteous, who is hanging out with those that need Jesus the most?