Luke

4 Inneffective Ways To Reach The Lost

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What are some common mistakes we make in trying to reach the lost? In this message we contrast four ineffective ways we try to reach the lost with the way Jesus reached the lost.

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4 Inneffective Ways To Reach The Lost

Luke 5:27-32

I think all of us realize that it is our duty to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to those who are lost in their sin. The big question is, “How are we to do it?” Or, to reverse the question, “How are we not to do it?” Probably the best way to understand how we are to reach the lost is to study Jesus Christ, and how He reached them. That’s exactly what we have in Luke 5:27-32.

This morning, we will look at the Calling of Levi, and then the Correcting of the Leaders, and then draw out from it four ineffective ways to reach the lost, and then look at the way Jesus reached the lost.

1. The Calling of Levi

5:27 “After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And He said to him, “Follow me.” In order to appreciate this story, we need to understand how orthodox Jews regarded tax collectors in the first century. A tax collector worked for the Romans. He took money from his own people (the Jews), and gave it to the Gentiles! On top of that, tax collectors were notorious for being shady and deceptive. Remember John the Baptist’s counsel to tax collectors: “collect no more than you are authorized to do” (Luke 3:13). Tax collectors had figured out all kinds of ways to extort more tax than what was really due. Everything above the amount Rome required went straight into their pockets. Remember the description of Zacheus: “he was rich” (Luke 19:2). Law-keeping Jews considered tax collectors as low-lifes, scum, on the part with prostitutes. They would not associate with them. They considered their money to be unclean. They would not talk to them, have fellowship with them, or go on a journey with them. He must never give hospitality to a tax collector, nor accept hospitality from a tax collector. To an orthodox Jew, a tax collector was an “untouchable.” He was despised and hated and a complete outcast.

It was to a man like this, that Jesus deliberately went up and commanded him to follow Him. Unthinkable! Jesus is talking to him! What’s more, He is calling Him to become one of his disciples, into the inner circle of His fellowship. How can He do this? He’s defying all the orthodox Jewish conventions of His day. That’s not all. Soon, Jesus will be reclining at a table with not only one tax collectors, but a whole crowd of motley sinners.

5:28 “And leaving everything, he rose and followed Him.” There was something that Matthew saw in Jesus Christ that compelled Him to follow Him. More than likely, Matthew had heard Jesus teach before, and probably had seen Him heal the sick and cast out demons. It may have been that his conscience began to get the better of him. He knew he was guilty before God, and he longed to be forgiven. Perhaps Matthew had been present when Jesus declared that the paralytic’s sins were forgiven. There was something within Matthew that was drawn to this unique Jewish rabbi. Jesus promised eternal life, forgiveness, entrance into a new kingdom, and Matthew longed for this.

So… he left everything and followed Him. Matthew left his tax booth. Now, that’s not such a big deal for a fisherman. Earlier we read that Peter left everything and followed Jesus, but later Peter went back to his fishing boats and nets. However, once a tax collector turned his back on his tax collecting business, he could never go back. The Romans would never trust him again. Matthew was turning his back on a very lucrative trade. His cheating and deception had gotten him much money. Notice, that later he made a great feast in his house, and there was a great crowd of people that came for this event. Now, if you have a house big enough for a large crowd to enjoy a feast, you must have some serious money. But now, it didn’t mean anything to Matthew. He saw Jesus as the treasure hidden in the field and now for joy over that treasure, he is willing to sell all he has to buy the field. Matthew in this act of turning away from his old life and embracing Jesus Christ, is converted. He is saved. He finds forgiveness and life.

2. The Correcting of the Leaders

5:29 “And Levi made Him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.” So, why is Matthew throwing this party? Obviously, it is because he is so happy and excited to have found the Messiah, that he wants all his friends to know Him too. It’s a sad thing that the longer a person is a Christian, the fewer “sinner” friends he has. Usually the most effective witnesses are new converts, because they still have friends who are sinners. The longer you have been a Christian, the harder you need to work on developing friendships with non-Christians, because they just aren’t going to happen otherwise.

Mark calls this group “tax collectors and sinners.” Why would Matthew invite tax collectors and sinners to his home? Why not invite some righteous, upstanding Jewish citizens? Because he didn’t have any friends among upstanding Jews. He had been excluded from their society, so the only friends he had were others like himself.

5:30 “And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” These religious leaders were shocked and appalled. They would never have considered eating and drinking with the likes of them! Eating and drinking with others was a very personal and intimate affair. The Jews in that day usually ate without any utensils. They would simply dip a piece of bread into a common pot and eat it, kind of like us sharing chips and dip. These Pharisees were aghast. They tried to stay as far away from sinners as possible. They didn’t want to be polluted by them. But here was Jesus, who many believed to be the Messiah, openly eating among them. When they invited Him to come to their party, He came! What’s more, He seemed to enjoy being among them! And they seemed to enjoy being with Him!

5:31-32 “And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Jesus is using a little analogy here.

He is saying that He is a physician, and these tax-collectors and sinners He is surrounded with are the sick. The Pharisees and scribes are the “well”. Actually they were only righteous in their own estimation. They too, were sick, like everyone else, but they just didn’t realize it. So, what are the Doctor’s orders? What is His prescription if you want to be healed spiritually? He calls you to repentance. That is His prescription. If you want to get well, you must repent. His medicine is His gospel – His life, death and resurrection. The way you take this medicine is by repenting. So, what did Jesus mean by “repentance”? We actually see a living example of repentance right in this story. Matthew had repented. How do we know? Because he left everything and followed Jesus. That’s actually a good definition of repentance – it is turning your back on your old life, and embracing Jesus Christ and the new life He provides.

Well, with that as our background, I want to look at the example of Jesus Christ as our example of how to reach the lost, and how not to reach the lost. As Christians, we are ambassadors for Christ. That is, we are His official representatives in this world. Thus, our attitude toward lost people ought to reflect His attitude toward lost people. Our methods of reaching them ought to reflect His methods of reaching them.  So, let’s take a look at 4 ineffective ways of reaching the lost, and then contrast that with Jesus’ way of reaching the lost.

1.      Do Not Hang Out With Sinners, and Don’t Call Them To Repentance:  Many Christians never spend time with sinners out of fear that they will be polluted by associating with them. Of course, sinners sin, and the believer is concerned about a life of personal holiness. He knows that “bad company corrupts good morals” and so has a healthy fear that he may find himself lapsing into sin if he hangs with sinners. However, as good as the motivation is to live a righteous and holy life, it’s not good enough to keep us from interacting with the very people that Jesus came to save. This was actually the great error that the scribes and Pharisees made. They withdrew from tax collectors and sinners out of a fear that they might be tainted by them. Just as Jesus was a physician of souls, so as His ambassadors we should see ourselves also as physicians of souls. Well, what kind of a doctor would he be if he refused to see any patients with infectious diseases for fear of contracting the disease himself? He would be of no good to anyone! He might have all the medical knowledge in the world, but he can’t actually heal any sick people. So too, we must get involved in the lives of lost people, if we will ever do them any real good.

So, what is the net result if we do not hang out with sinners, and don’t call them to repentance?  Nothing! We have zero impact. Sinners aren’t changed for the better, and we are not changed for the worse.

2.  Do Not Hang Out With Sinners, But Do Call Them To Repentance:  Here’s another mistake we often make. We call sinners to repentance from a distance. We have no real relationship with them. We extend no real love to them. We offer no sincere friendship to them. Thus, there is no compassion extended toward them. In Matthew’s parallel account, he adds a very significant statement. In Matthew 9:13 Jesus adds, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus is telling these religious leaders to go and figure out what Hosea meant when he wrote, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” The scribes and Pharisees were really good at sacrifices. They had burnt offerings, and meal offerings, and libation offerings, and sin offerings, and they offered these offerings at all the correct times and places, feasts and festivals and holy days. However, God says that what He really desires is mercy. They neglected mercy, while striving to fulfill the Law. Jesus says that God wants them to focus on showing mercy. For these religious leaders that would have meant that God wanted them to extend love and grace and kindness to these “sinners” and seek to find a way to alleviate their misery, and bring them into God’s favor.

Maybe you know a person on your job, or in your neighborhood, or at your school. Their sinful ways bother you, so you just avoid them. They smoke, and drink, and use drugs, and use filthy profanity, tell dirty jokes and are sexually immoral. From time to time the conviction of the Holy Spirit becomes strong in your life that God wants you to witness to them, so you just blurt out something about them needing to turn from their sin and live for Christ. Or you hand them a gospel tract, or write something spiritual in their Christmas card. Of course, the problem is that you haven’t done one thing to try to become a real friend to them. Jesus was called “the friend of sinners.” Would anyone give you that title? So, when we “witness” to someone about Christ, but yet never take a personal interest in that person, what is the result? Usually nothing. The lost person instinctively feels as if they are just your “project”, and that you are simply trying to fulfill some kind of religious obligation.

There is a prominent web site called www.goddhatesfags.com.  It is sponsored by Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Since 1991, this church has conducted over 33,000 demonstrations, holding signs that read, “God Hates Fags”, “Fags Hate God”, “AIDS Cures Fags”, “Thank God For AIDS”, and “Fags Burn In Hell.”  Now, honestly, how many homosexuals have they actually seen converted through those methods? I would venture to guess that there have been precious few, if any. They may be absolutely right that homosexuality is sin and obnoxious to God, but the way they are going about calling them to repentance will produce little to no fruit. They are the classic example of those who don’t hang out sinners, but do call them to repentance.

Jesus didn’t make this mistake. He hung out with sinners. He ate with them. He listened to them, and He spoke to them. They could tell that He loved them, and had their best interests at heart. Rather than being repulsed by them, He was drawn to them. He had compassion on them, and showed mercy to them.

So, what is the net result of not hanging out with sinners, but calling them to repentance? Well, we are not made worse, but the lost person is not made any better.

3.      Hang Out With Sinners, But Never Call Them To Repentance:  This is the opposite error. Some believers, with a big heart of compassion for sinners, spend all kinds of time with sinners. They hang with them, eat with them, drink with them, go to games or the movies with them. The problem is, they never get around to calling them to repentance. They talk about everything except for Jesus Christ, and their friend’s need to repent and turn to Him in faith. This person is afraid of calling their friend to repentance, because they feel that if they do, their friend will leave and they will lose all opportunity to influence them. Of course, the problem is, that they are not influencing them now! As long as they never call their friend to repentance, they will never influence them for Christ. We may like to hang out with sinners, just because we like them as a person, and not because we want to bring them to Christ. So, their salvation is not in our thoughts, and so we never call them to repentance.

Now, what is the net result of hanging out with sinners but not calling them to repentance? Well, they don’t change for the better, but we change for the worse, because we start embracing some of their sinful ways by being with them so much.

4.      Hang Out With Sinners, and Call Them to Repentance, but Indulge in the Same Sinful Practices that They Do:  This is the mistake that some Christians make. They witness to their friends, but indulge in the same sins that they commit. They use filthy language, get drunk, look at porn, sleep with their girlfriend or boyfriend. This person’s witness has absolutely no power. There is no evidence of grace upon his life. If you want your witness for Christ to have power, you must live a holy life. The moment you begin to gravitate toward sin, your witness also begins to lose power.  In 2 Cor. 6:15-18, Paul says, “Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord, and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Lord Almighty.”  In this passage Paul says that believers are to come out from their midst and be separate. Is Paul saying that believers should not hang out with unbelievers? That Christians should withdraw from the world, and only spend time with other Christians? I don’t think so. I believe Paul is simply telling them that they are to be separate from non-believers regarding sin and holiness. A believer’s life should be separate and distinct from an unbeliever’s in the sense that they must separate themselves from their sin. That is not to say that a believer should not pursue a friendship with an unbeliever. It is simply saying that a believer’s life should be marked by holiness.

I think that Jude 23 gives us a great balance at this point. Jude writes, “save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” If we are to save people, snatching them out of the fire, we are going to have to interact with them. We are going to have to get to know them. At the same time we are to hate even the garment polluted by the flesh. In other words, we are to love the person while hating the sins that are destroying them.

Now, let’s contrast those 4 ineffective ways of reaching lost people, with Jesus’ method of reaching lost people. What did Jesus do.

Jesus’ Way – Hang Out With Sinners and Call Them to Repentance.  Oh, this is so simple! Why do we not do this? Why do we get it so wrong all the time? When Jesus was invited to a party filled with sinners, He went, and I bet He had a good time! Somehow Jesus was able to spend time with sinners, and call them to repentance, without their feeling condemned by Him. In fact, sinners liked Jesus! Listen to Luke 15:1, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him.” Friends, people don’t draw near to listen to someone they think is only going to condemn them. They don’t draw near to someone that they think hates them and despises them and is repulsed by them. They draw near to someone that they believe cares about them. The tax collectors and sinners instinctively knew that Jesus cared about them, and loved them. His interest wasn’t in condemning them. They were already condemned. His interest was in saving them. In Mark 12:37 it says, “and the great throng heard Him gladly.”

In Luke 7:34 Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at Him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” Folks, would anyone describe you like that? Would they criticize you as a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners? Of course, a Christian will not be a glutton or a drunkard, but if you offer friendship to sinners, they will respond by inviting you to spend time with them.

Perhaps a good question to ask is, “How do sinners feel about me?” Do they feel about me the way sinners felt about Jesus? Sinners liked Jesus, and wanted Him to be with them, and heard Him gladly. If sinners don’t like you and want you to spend time with them, perhaps you are not very much like Jesus. Perhaps you are more like the Pharisees and the scribes. Tax collectors and sinners would never dream of inviting one of the religious leaders over to their home. Why heap up even more condemnation upon themselves? But they did enjoy being around Jesus.

I’ve got an assignment for you this week. It’s a very simple assignment, but if you take it seriously it can have radical implications for your life and your usefulness in the kingdom of God. Here it is. We’ll just call it “Neighboring.” Begin with the neighbors who live on your left and your right, and the three neighbors across the street from you. Focus on doing 3 simple things:  1) learn their names; 2) find out what they like to do; 3) figure out a way to serve them. I encourage you to jot all this information down on a piece of paper that you can pull out and pray for them often. One of the best and easiest ways to accomplish this, is to hold a pancake breakfast, or a barbecue and invite your neighbors over. We did this recently, and had a great time getting to know our new neighbors that just moved in. Remember, though, that as you get to know them, you need to have the boldness and courage to call them to repentance. That means that you call them to forsake their old life, and follow Jesus. Will you seek to follow Jesus’ example? Will you seek to be a physician of souls like Him? Let’s pray.