"And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
This lesson very much reflects the attitude and actions of many "Christians" and their "churches" today.
When Jesus and His Apostles chose to eat and associate with what were at that time, known as the epitome of "sinners", the Jewish leadership, the scribes and Pharisees, shamed them and let it be known that they would never do such a vile thing.
Jesus, using an analogy said, healthy people don't need a doctor, it is the sick that need attention. He let them know that He had come to heal just that kind of sick folks (sinners). He was referring to the "publicans" (tax collectors) who were willing to hear Him and who were in need of His saving grace. Jesus made it known that he was NOT sent to those who thought they already knew it all.
Today, the vast majority of those filling the pews on Sundays are self professed saved people who have already received God's amazing eternal grace and have no further need other than Christian fellowship. Instead of spreading the word to every available sinner and "stamping out the vineyards, they huddle together almost totally separating themselves from the sinful world and those who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ the most.
It is a grand and beautiful thing to assemble together as the children of God to exhort and edify each other as we go about our Christian lives, but to spend all our time shunning the very people we are supposed to teach and be living examples for, is simply wrong, just as Jesus demonstrated for those scribes and Pharisees.~
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