Written in RedSeeing People the Way Jesus Does

 

Truth without compassion condemns.  Truth without grace creates distance.

Trust God in the process of changing lives.

 LUK 19:1 And He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and he was a chief tax-gatherer, and he was rich.

3 And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4 And he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.  

LUK 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."6 And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.  

LUK 19:7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." 

19: 6 And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly....8 And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." 

19:9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.  

10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." EZE 34:11 For thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 

Main Point: We are be followers of Jesus in seeking and saving the lost. We need to take the initiative to reach out to the lost around us. We are to take the first step. Just as God sought us out.  

Jerram Barrs in his book, “ Learning Evangelism from Jesus says, “We are to imitate Jesus by being intentional about developing intimate fellowship with sinners. This means that we are to make the effort to build such close relationships with unbelievers, regardless of their beliefs or way of life, that we delight to eat and drink at one another’s tables and visit joyfully in one another’s homes. This will mean that we are going to get to know people who are considered by some of our churches to be sinners--- the kind of people that God-fearing people should despise”

This is what they said about Jesus. LUK 15:1 Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.2 And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."