Reaching Out to All People

 

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

 

God does not want anyone to live and die and without a relationship with Him through having accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord.

 

Jesus spent His life reaching out to all kinds of people.

 

In Luke 19 Jesus invites Himself to a tax collector’s house, Zacchaeus, to have lunch.

 

In Matthew 9 Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, to come and follow Him and later calls Matthew to be one of the Twelve. Jesus has dinner at Matthew’s house with a house full of tax collectors and sinners. When Jesus’ disciples are questioned about why Jesus is doing that, Jesus responds by saying that He “didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners” to come to Him.

 

In John 8 Jesus defends a woman who was caught in the act of committing adultery. He tells her to “go and from now on sin no more.”

 

In Matthew 15 Jesus heals the daughter of a Canaanite women.

 

In Luke 4 Jesus is in Nazareth and, in His sharing on the Sabbath in the synagogue, He points out that God provided for the widow in Zarephath and that He healed Naaman, a Syrian. Neither of these people were Israelite yet God still provided what they needed. The people of Nazareth got very angry at Jesus and tried to kill Him.

 

The point is that Jesus reached out to sinners, outcast, powerless, marginalized people. He reached out to people that the Jewish culture saw as unclean and sinful.

 

The question: Is the church reaching out to the sinner, to the outcast, to the powerless, and to the marginalized?

 

Another question is how do we reaching out.

 

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

 

All Have Sinned – we have to always remember that.

 

God’s eyes. There are no black sins and white sins; there is just sin.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is never forgetting of what God has forgiven us and always extending forgiveness to others.

 

Ephesians 4:15

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way unto Him who is the head, into Christ.

 

We Speak the Truth in Love

 

Speaking truth is essential but truth without love can be very harsh.

Speaking love is essential but love without truth can be weak.

So, both are essential to effectively reach out.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking the truth of the Gospel to people but always with the attitude of love.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 

Our Salvation is Because of Jesus and Not About Us

 

It is not because of who we are but because of who God is.

It is not because of what we have done because of what God has done.

 

I can not boast about me; I can only boast about Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is realizing and acknowledging that it is by God’s grace and not our goodness.

 

All people need Jesus. The church is the Body of Christ. We as the church are to reach out to all the culture and proclaim Jesus and show Jesus to them.

 

We live in a culture where the majority don’t trust the church or church leaders. So, we have to remember that we were all at one time separated from God and only through Jesus are we brought into relationship with God. We have to speak the truth in love to all people.

 

Desiring that All People Come to Jesus,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe