Intimate Fellowship with Sinners

"He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.  And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.  So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.  And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”  So he hurried and came down andreceived him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”  And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”  Luke 19:1-10


"This action of Jesus going to a sinner's home should cause us to think about the way Jesus relates to sinners. Jesus does not keep his distance from sinners, like the Pharisees and teachers of the law; nor does he preach condemning sermons at sinners, like the Pharisees and teachers of the law. If Jesus had conformed to their practice of devotion to God, moral purity, and separation, they would not have been outraged by his behavior. What is so shocking and unacceptable to them is that Jesus desire to have intimate fellowship with sinners. He visits with them. He sits down and eats with them. He invites them to the homes of his friends and disciples. He goes gladly into their homes; he even invites himself to be their guest, just as he does with Zacchaeus. He welcomes them joyfully, and in return, they welcome him joyfully."

Jerram Barrs, Learning Evangelism From Jesus. 89.

Imitating Jesus in the World

From Jerram Barr's book, Learning Evangelism From Jesus. 


"Instead of retreating, isolating ourselves, and condemning unbelievers and our culture. Jesus calls us to something very different. He desires that we give ourselves to the understanding of the culture around us; he urges us to stop condemning the world and unbelievers; his passion is for us to listen to his prayer for us, that we night be in the world as he was in the world; he is eager for us to imitate him and to give our lives gladly to love and to serve non-Christians. His desire is that we be like him, and that we commit ourselves to developing intimate relationships with non-Christians. He wants to teach our church members and our children to do the same-no matter what the belief system and the lifestyle of the people around us"

Definitely something I need to be reminded of. 

Every Longing of the Heart

From Jerram Barrs's The Heart of Evangelism:


"The Gospel fulfills every right longing of the human heart. It answers every honest question of the searching mind. It delights and surpasses every good impulse of the creative imagination. It meets and transcends the ache in every soul to come to know the living God. C.S. Lewis write concerning his own conversion that he was surprised by joy when the hopes and desires of his inner being were completely satisfied as he was humbled before God and as he put his trust in God's Son, Jesus Christ."