{"id":11255,"date":"2020-08-30T20:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T03:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_5_12-26-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-08-30T16:15:11","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T23:15:11","slug":"luke_5_27-39","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_5_27-39\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI Don\u2019t Believe in Christianity Because Some Christians I Know Are Hypocrites.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 5:27-39 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s passage is Luke 5:27-39.\u00a0 There are so many lessons we can learn from today\u2019s passage.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 5:27-28 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 27-28:\u00a0 Back in Jesus\u2019 time, tax collectors were despised in Israel.\u00a0 That is because tax collectors had a reputation for being crooked and money hungry, known for charging Jews more taxes than they actually owed to the Roman government and pocketing the difference.\u00a0 \u00a0Jewish tax collectors were seen as traitors, since they were working for the Roman emperor while profiting at the expense of their fellow Jews.\u00a0 Levi was one such Jewish tax collector.\u00a0 Notice, however, that Levi\u2019s occupation, background and reputation did not keep Jesus from inviting Levi to follow him.\u00a0 It also did not keep Levi from leaving everything to follow Jesus.\u00a0 Levi (also called Matthew) would become one of Jesus\u2019 first disciples and apostles, and would go on to author the gospel of Matthew, the first book in the New Testament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n
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  1. God loves people regardless of their background or reputation.<\/strong>\u00a0 Irrespective of your past, Jesus wants a relationship with you.\u00a0 Jesus is greater than a person\u2019s background, reputation or past.\u00a0 Jesus came for everyone, died for the sins of everyone to rescue everyone because He loves everyone!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Don\u2019t discount a person\u2019s need for Jesus or their usability in God\u2019s kingdom just because of their background.\u00a0 We all need Jesus, and we all can be used by Him.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Luke 5:29-32 (NIV)<\/strong>
      \n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
      \n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
      \n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
      \n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”<\/em><\/p>\n

      On verses 29-32:\u00a0 After deciding to follow Jesus, Levi holds a big party (\u201ca great banquet\u201d) at his house for Jesus.\u00a0 (Indeed when we decide to follow Jesus, it\u2019s something worth celebrating.) \u00a0Notice who attends the party: \u201ca large crowd of tax collectors and others\u201d (v29).\u00a0 In other words, Levi\u2019s workmates, relatives and friends are hanging out and having a party with Jesus. My guess is that the Pharisees and teachers of the law were not invited to Levi\u2019s party.\u00a0 They just saw the party from a distance and complained to Jesus\u2019 disciples that Jesus went for dinner \u201cwith tax collectors and \u2018sinners\u2019\u201d (v30).\u00a0 (Notice that in this case they complain to Jesus\u2019 disciples, but not to Jesus himself.)<\/p>\n

      Jesus replies, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (v31-32)\u00a0 To paraphrase Jesus, \u201cjust as a doctor comes to help the sick and not the healthy, I\u2019m here to help those who know they\u2019re messed up and need help, not those who think they have it all put together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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      1. You and I must choose:\u00a0will we be religious Pharisees, hanging out only with religious people and criticizing those who seem far from God?\u00a0 Or will we follow Jesus and go where unchurched people are and love them?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0We need to do the latter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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        1. Often the ones who are best at bringing their friends to Jesus are new Christians like Matthew, passionate about their newfound faith in Jesus, active in inviting their unchurched friends to meet Jesus.\u00a0 I pray that you would\u00a0be a \u201cnew Christian\u201d every day of your life \u2013 that is, be passionate and hungry in your relationship with Jesus and be intentional about building and maintaining friendships with people who don\u2019t know Him<\/strong>.\u00a0 When you do this you will never run out of friends to lead to Jesus.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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          1. Have you ever thought (or heard someone say), \u201cI refuse to believe in Christianity or go to church because the Christians I know are such hypocrites\u201d?\u00a0 Remember this: what binds Christians together is not that we all think we\u2019re so good and perfect.\u00a0 Much the opposite, what binds Christians together is the belief that we are all messed up sinners who need a Saviour and that Saviour\u2019s name is Jesus.\u00a0 While our goal as Christians should be to grow more like Christ in our character, to get healthy, mature and strong like Jesus,\u00a0don\u2019t be so surprised when you meet an imperfect Christian, just like you shouldn\u2019t be surprised to meet a sick person when you\u2019re at a hospital<\/strong>.\u00a0 God is patient with the Christians around you, just as He is patient with you.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Luke 5:33-35 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
            \n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
            \n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
            \n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”<\/em><\/p>\n

            On verses 33-35:\u00a0 Trying to find some way to discredit Jesus\u2019 ministry, the Pharisees and teachers of the law point to how John the Baptist\u2019s disciples and the Pharisees\u2019 disciples fast, but Jesus\u2019 disciples do not (v33).\u00a0 Jesus responds by suggesting that fasting is for those who are waiting for the kingdom of God to come, whereas now that Jesus has arrived on the earth, the kingdom of God has also arrived and thus there was no need for his disciples to fast.\u00a0 Jesus compares his arrival to the arrival of a bridegroom and how when the bridegroom is with his buddies they are there to celebrate, not to be solemn and sombre together.<\/p>\n

            By the way, does that mean there is no point in Christians fasting today?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Elsewhere Jesus give instructions on fasting (Matthew 6:16-18).\u00a0 Later in the book of Acts, Paul, Barnabas and their church in Antioch will fast (see Acts 13 and 14).\u00a0 Fasting can still be an effective way to remove distractions, draw near to God and anticipate Jesus coming again.<\/p>\n

            Luke 5:36-39 (NIV)<\/strong>
            \n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
            \n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
            \n38\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
            \n39\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

            On verses 33-39:\u00a0 Jesus told these two parables to show that the message of the Pharisees and Jesus\u2019 own message cannot fit together.\u00a0 Trying to fit Jesus\u2019 message into the Pharisees\u2019 teachings is like trying to put a new patch of cloth on an old garment, or like trying to pour new wine into old wineskins:\u00a0 you\u2019ll just end up destroying both and missing the point of both.<\/p>\n

            What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t try to fit Jesus and his message into another religious system or worldview.\u00a0 Otherwise, you\u2019ll miss the point of who Jesus is and what Jesus came to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Lord Jesus, thank You that You came for broken, imperfect people like me. \u00a0Thank You that regardless of my background or my past mistakes, Your love still reaches to me.\u00a0 May I show a similar love to others as the love You showed me.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN
            \n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

            Today\u2019s passage is Luke 5:27-39.\u00a0 There are so many lessons we can learn from today\u2019s passage.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

            Luke 5:27-28 (NIV)\u00a0
            \n27\u00a0\u00a0After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,\u00a0
            \n28\u00a0\u00a0and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

            On verses 27-28:\u00a0 Back in Jesus\u2019 time, tax collectors were despised in Israel.\u00a0 That is because tax collectors had a reputation for being crooked and money hungry, known for charging Jews more taxes than they actually owed to the Roman government and pocketing the difference.\u00a0 \u00a0Jewish tax collectors were seen as traitors, since they were working for the Roman emperor while profiting at the expense of their fellow Jews.\u00a0 Levi was one such Jewish tax collector.\u00a0 Notice, however, that Levi\u2019s occupation, background and reputation did not keep Jesus from inviting Levi to follow him.\u00a0 It also did not keep Levi from leaving everything to follow Jesus.\u00a0 Levi (also called Matthew) would become one of Jesus\u2019 first disciples and apostles, and would go on to author the gospel of Matthew, the first book in the New Testament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11256,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11255\/revisions\/11256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}