by Mitchell Skelton Mark 2:13–17

After a series of revival sermons, a church had prayed enthusiastically for God to give them growth. It happened that one Sunday at worship a known prostitute entered the building and took a seat in the back of the building. Everyone ignored her. After hearing the sermon, she felt the call of the gospel and responded. The preacher and the congregation did not know what to do, much less say. After a very long and uncomfortable silence one well respected man in the congregation stood up, breaking the silence, and suggested that they all pray. He prayed, "Oh Lord, we know that we have prayed that this church would grow and that we prayed that many would hear the gospel and believe. However, when we prayed we didn't know that you would be sending such sinners as this. Don’t you know that we don’t allow people such as this in our church?" It was not until this moment that the members of this church realized that God had indeed answered their prayers!

What is your attitude toward the growth of the Lord's church? Are you ready and willing to accept what God has in store for his church? What about your attitude toward those on the fringe, are you willing to accept them into the fold when God calls? Jesus had an opportunity to show us the proper attitude toward "sinners" in the call of Matthew Levi. Matthew was so excited about meeting Jesus that he wanted all of his friends to meet him. It was during Matthew's "dinner party" that the Pharisees, who saw him there, questioned Jesus' disciples saying, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

Do you, like the Pharisees, constantly find yourself looking for the wrong in someone? Jesus warned of having such an attitude and taught that we should be concerned first and foremost with our own problems. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye" (Matt. 7:3–5).

Jesus didn't view the world as an opportunity for contamination but rather as an opportunity for conversion. When Jesus was traveling in Samaria, he came across a woman who had been married five times and was now living with someone who was not her husband. After Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman he spoke to his disciples with urgency proclaiming, "the fields are ripe to harvest!" (Jn. 4:35). Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel to ALL creation, NO EXCEPTIONS (Mk. 16:15,16).

When you consider the "sinners" of this world, what do you see? Do you only see their problems or do you see past the problems and see potential? The Pharisees looked at Matthew's group of friends and could see no good. Jesus never denied that these people didn't have problems. Jesus acknowledged their problems. Yet, Jesus saw past their problems and looked at their potential (Mk. 2:17).

When 16-year-old Eliza married 20-year-old Andrew, he had never been to school. Others might have written Andrew off as a "lost cause", but not Eliza. She persisted and taught him to read and write. Andrew proved to be a fast learner. He learned so well in fact that years later he became the 17th President of the United States. You see, Eliza's Andrew was none other than Andrew Johnson. /1

How do you view the world? Is the world an opportunity for contamination or an opportunity for conversion? What do you see when you look at the lost souls of the world? Is it only their problems you see or do you see their potential?

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mk. 2:17).

1 Bruce Rzengota, www.sermoncentral.com