Bible Study Notes for Lord’s Day,
July 25, 2010
Luke 5:27-32
“To Call Sinners to Repentance”

27  After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.”
 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.
 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
 31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
 32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Introduction   Familiar words of the old time religion - sin, sinners, sinning, sinful.  Repent, repentance, repenting.

Jesus called sinners to repentance.  Is that still needed today?  How do we call sinners to repentance?  Bribe them?  Threaten them with Hell fire?  Talk them into it?  Shun them until they get with the program?  All these thing have been tried.

I. Sinners - hamartia = to miss the mark.  What mark?  God’s plan for your life - for your lovelife, joy, peace, fulfillment, blessing.  Some people miss that mark, sinners.  Some miss it a little, others by a wide margin.  Some let the devil steal, kill and destroy everything.

II. Righteous - dikaios = correct, right, right on, accurate, hitting the mark.  Attaining God’s plan for your life - your love, joy, peace, fulfillment, blessing.

III. Repentance - metanoia = to change your mind, so that you don’t continue to miss the mark, but become correct, right on, and begin to hit the target.

This is like when an athlete is missing the mark, the goal, the target, the landing.  The coach sees what needs to be corrected and works with the athlete, changing his or her mind about what he or she was doing wrong, so that it can be done right, and so there can be success.

Steps:

A. The realization that what was being done was not working, not fulfilling goals.

B. A method to stop doing the wrong thing, and retrain to do the right thing.

C. A change of mind needs to be maintained, practiced, rehearsed, fine tuned, perfected, so the mark is hit every time.

IV. Re-phrase, re-translate
 32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

“I have not come to call those who are already accurate, but those who are missing the mark to change their minds so they can become successful too.

V. How did Jesus get those who were missing the mark to change their minds so they could be successful in life?

A. What He did not do - Bribe them?  Threaten them with Hell fire?  Talk them into it?  Shun them until they get with the program?

B. What He did

27  After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.”
 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.
 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
 31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
 32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

1. Loved them genuinely just as they were

2. Fellowshipped with them

3. He did not judge them - a friend of sinners

4. He understood their needs, why they did what they did, why they were missing the mark in their lives.

5. He had compassion on them, even to forgive any sins, errors, transgressions.

6. He understood the solution.  Steps:

a. He had to give them the realization that what was being done in their lives was not working, not fulfilling goals.  Show them the far better life God has in mind.

Let’s try it on for size.  The 7 deadly sins, what can we realize about their affect on my life?

Wrath - nobody likes me anymore, people do what I say, but why are they afraid of me?

Greed - why am I not happy with what I have?

Sloth - why am I not advancing in life?

Pride - why am I unable to learn, take advice, get along with other people?

Envy - why can’t I be happy when someone else is successful?

Lust - why am I obsessed with desiring things that are bad for me?

Gluttony - my definition of moderation is - when it’s all gone

Do I need to change my mind so I stop missing the mark of the good life God has in mind for me?  Jesus had to give them the realization that what was being done in their lives was not working, not fulfilling the higher goals.  Show them the far better life God has in mind.

b. He had to give them a method to stop doing the wrong thing, and retrain to do the right thing.

Many times people people do the wrong thing because it’s all they know to do.  Many people become addicts of various things because they don’t know that the joy and peace they seek is found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  They don’t know there is forgiveness and healing in Him.

I don’t believe we have the right to tell people to stop doing the wrong thing, until we show them how to do the right thing.  A better way makes the old way unnecessary, obsolete.

Do you think if people knew that God would provide abundantly for their needs in life that there might be less greed, envy, lust and gluttony?  A better way makes the old way unnecessary, obsolete.

c. He had to impart to them a lifestyle.  A change of mind needs to be maintained, practiced, rehearsed, fine tuned, perfected, so the mark is hit every time.

These are the steps for changing someone’s mind, maybe changing our own minds so we can hit the mark God has for us.

7. The call to “Follow Me”

27  After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.”
 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.
 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
 31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
 32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Has anyone ever hit the mark better than Jesus?  Had a higher calling on his life than Jesus?  Had more love, joy, peace and fulfillment than Jesus?  He calls you, me, and everyone in the world to follow Him, and find God’s high calling for our lives as well.

Conclusions  Jesus truly loves sinners, those missing the mark.  He likes to fellowship with us and show us a better way.  He has great mercy and compassion on us.  He does not judge and condemn.  If we are missing the mark, He knows how to change our minds, correct our thinking, and bring us into success.

If we are trying to call sinners to repentance, can we be like Jesus?

Application to My Life