The tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus to listen to Him. Jesus was the holiest man walking on earth and the natural mind would think that sinners would go as far as possible away from them but instead they came to listen to Him. They didn't go to the Pharisees in the temple all those time yet the Pharisees practiced righteousness? Why?
What was the difference between Jesus righteousness and that of the Pharisees? Jesus had compassion on the sinners. He looked at them as sick people who were wasting see away due to their sin and He loved them and was willing to die for them. He knew that what God requires of Him was not sacrifices but compassion. He came to call sinners to repentance. Mathew 9:13, 12:7. Sinners and tax collectors would sense in their hearts that Jesus was not judging or condemning them but they could feel the love and compassion Jesus had for them. It was not acting but reality. What fills your heart is like perfume, even if you don't speak, one can sense it in a distance. The smell of the Pharisees was judgment and condensation and sinners couldn't go to them.
What is your attitude towards sinners? Do you have compassion for them and long to bring them to repentance or do you condemn them instead? Jesus did not come to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. Learn from Jesus. Be compassionate towards sinners.
Jesus gave a parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd left the 99 and went searching for the lost sheep and when He go found it, he joyfully carried on his shoulders and brought it back.
There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than the 99 who need no repentance.
Who are the righteous people who need no repentance? Does it mean that when you are first converted that you need not to repent again? No. The last message that Jesus gave to the church was repent and overcome. Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. We see Paul writing to believers telling them to repent in 2Cor 7:8-12. Therefore there nothing like once you repent you no longer need to repent. So, righteous people who need no repentance refers to believers who are repenting everyday. They are the poor in spirit. They are judging themselves daily to see areas in their lives where they never acted in a Christlike way, during the day. They judge themselves in the light of scriptures and seeing their failures and asking God for mercy and seeking grace to overcome. They are seeing areas in their lives where they need to change the way the act and seeing areas in their lives where they need to improve and seeing better ways of doing things they do. They are not concentrating on the sins of others but theirs.
You can be among these righteous people who need no repentance if you start judging yourself everyday in the light of scriptures to see where you are unchristlike asking God for mercy and grace as He gives you light in the unchristlike areas in your life. Your will not be horrified with the sins of others but your own. If you live this way, you will enjoy fellowship with God and your joy will always be full. But if you become wise in your own eyes and concentrate on the sins of others, you will never know fulness of yoy in your life and perfect peace.
You can start today to judge yourself. Check after 30 days whether you have seen more faults in you or in others. If you can see more faults in your life than in the life of others, you are blessed indeed.
He gave also the parable of the lost coin. It was lost in the house. These are lost people who come to church but the house was swept until the coin was found. Sweeping involves cleansing the church and purging it by God's word and showing Christ clearly. Jesus said that you are clean through the word I have spoken to you. Jn 25:3, and that if He be lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself. Jn 12:32.
We'll look at the parable of the two sons in the next study.
You are blessed to be a blessing
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@Blessed Mshindi Mambo
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