Differing perspectives

 

Mat 9:9  And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. 

Mat 9:10  And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 

As Jesus sat at meat, many sinners and publicans came and sat with Him. That is probably the greatest of all testimonies to Jesus we ever saw. The meek and lowly came to Him and were allowed to be there! No one shushed them, shooed them, or claimed superiority.

What a fantastic thing to happen, they had dinner with God and no one stopped them. The outcasts, the downtrodden walked right in and sat down.

Mat 9:11  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 

Oh wait someone did say something, the “righteous” or should that read “self Righteous”? Pharisees. They said why does your Master (master in this respect means teacher) eat with the sinner and publicans. Now where else should a teacher eat except with those that need teaching? The Pharisees associated with the pharisees, they saw the outside “unclean” world just from a distance. They did not understand what was going on around them, the revivals, the healings from a common perspective for they did not know the common perspective. They were looking at the world through stained glass windows!

Perhaps we have lost this vision, this personal touch in the post covid united States but church, we must revert to this type if we are to bring about the survival of this nation ass we knew it.

The people absolutely loved Jesus for the access, the approachability and the personalness. The Pharisees were more worried about following the Law they had made, that they could not associate with the unclean, they forgot who they were here for.

We must set the example yes, we must be set apart from, yes, but we are not any better than they are. 

We are just saved by Grace with (hopefully) a renewed mind, a new perspective. That is the whole difference between us and them.

We have what they need, how will they know it if we are not among them? If we are not Living the set apart, consecrated life? 

Among them just as Jesus; but not of them, just as Jesus.

The Gift of God

 

As we look at the Birth (Christmas), we have to remember that the Birth, death, Resurrection and ascension are all part of the same life, the same death, the same purpose: To redeem mankind.

Luk 2:11  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 

Luk 2:12  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 

For if we have The birth of The Savior announced we must ask saved from what? Saved from poverty? Saved from disease? Saved from traffic jams? To what end does the Savior strive? Why should I care?

Christ the Lord is born in the city of David, a sign was given meaning a detail for them to know that what the messengers said was true, you will find the babe in a manger in swaddling clothes and the shepherds found exactly what they were told to look for.

Luk 2:16  And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 

Luk 2:17  And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 

Luk 2:18  And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 

When the Shepherds (yes I capitalized this for now they are Good Shepherds telling all the good News of Christ) heard saw and verified they went out telling all they saw. Then those that were told wondered at the things they were told. A grand scale announcement made to Shepherds who were then telling all they come across of this Savior, this Gift of God to a lost and dying world.

On a side note here, just for the sake of symmetry this field, this area where the shepherds are just outside of the city, about 5000 feet (just shy of a mile) from Bethlehem, was the very same place that David watched over his father flocks. David was a Shepherd from whose line the Good Shepherd was coming from so the shepherds of David’s town get to announce the Birth of David’s final successor to the throne.

Yet when the Shepherds heard of this Gift they went out and told all they came across, they made known abroad, meaning they didn’t just tell the locals they went throughout the land telling of the wondrous events of that night. Of the Gift of God that was given and announced by a multitude of Angels in the sky.

The Angels announced a Savior, the Gift of God and the Shepherds took that knowledge that gift to all the world around them (as far as they could anyways).

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

What was the Gift of God? Jesus the Savior is the gift of God. He was given why? So that we should not perish but have life everlasting. The fires of Hell, the flames, the place of eternal darkness where the worm dieth not, that place of torment eternal and unforgiving is what we are to be saved from.