LOST AND FOUND
(Here are some rough notes from which I'll preach at a Uniting Church
next Sunday. Appreciate discussion/feedback. Rowland Croucher September
10, 2007).
Luke 15:1-10, 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Losing something can be trivial - mildly frustrating - or deadly
serious, even life-threatening. It all depends on the value of what
you've lost....
***
When they brought the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8) what
did Jesus say to her? After 'Where are your accusers?' he said something
no Pharisee can say: 'I do not condemn you' - Pharisees have a
'ministry' of condemning others. This was followed by the Pharisee's
common mantra: 'Go and sin no more!' With Jesus, as John Claypool often
said, 'acceptance preceded repentance; with the Pharisees it was the
other way around.' The acid test of the Pharisee, ancient or modern, is
this: when someone comes to mind who has committed, say, a ***ual sin,
do we always associate the person with their sinning, or view them as a
loved child of God?
I don't know about you, but the Pharisee in me rank-orders people
according to their sinfulness or heterodoxy or some other 'not-like-me'
criterion. I'm passionately committed to social justice, but not to
violence: so I tend to despise the scruffy protesters police toss into
paddy-wagons. I have several homo***ual friends, but I'm uncomfortable
when they greet one another in church with a passionate kiss. When I
hear about Taliban fighters in Afghanistan getting killed, I tend to
categorize them as human vermin who should be destroyed, instead of
people loved by God.
Jesus welcomed sinners, he hosted a party for them, they were his
friends. How many lost 'publicans and sinners' are numbered amongst our
friends?
More... http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/20146.htm
--
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
(20,000 articles 4000 humor)
Blogs - http://rowlandsblogs.blogspot.com/
Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/
Funny Jokes and Pics - http://funnyjokesnpics.blogspot.com/
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