Where are YOU Comfortable?

How many of you like going to places where you might know - nobody? Not many of us.

How about going places your friends might say “that’s not a good idea”? Again, not many of us.

Here is the issue- God does that all the time; and, He wants us to be His messenger and representative. So what might that look like? Let’s look at Matthew 9:9-13:

Now, let’s start in verse 9. How many of you like paying taxes? Have you ever been audited by the IRS? Want to hang out in their offices and talk about your life and see if they can find some things that maybe you should have paid taxes on but didn’t? This was the same reaction 2000 years ago. Nobody liked the tax collectors. In fact in most places they were shunned because they were Jews working for the Roman Empire. That just was not acceptable behavior for a good Jew.

To make matters worse, many tax collectors had the reputation of overcharging, and bringing in the soldiers to punish you if you complained about it. What a way to make friends and encourage people to like you right? If you don’t like what I am charging you, I will throw you in jail, have you beaten, or if you keep fussing, the soldiers will just kill you.

So, Jesus is walking down the road, and comes to the tax collecting office, looks at the collector and says- “come follow me”. Wait, He What? You want one of the worst sinners in the whole region to join your ministry team? What will they say on Facebook or Twitter? “Oh, he’s gonna get fired over this.” “What an embarrassment.” But Jesus does not just call Matthew to ministry, He says let’s eat at your place tonight. So Matthew throws a party with all of his friends. He says come meet this Rabbi who thinks we are OK! (That part is not in Scripture, but since the house is full, we can figure he said something like that.)

Well the leaders of the religion lost their minds. They look at this, grab an Apostle or two, and say “what is He doing?” “Is He out of His mind?” Religious people don’t hang out with sinners and tax collectors. Everybody knows that. – Please note that the tax collectors in this statement have a special section in Hell reserved just for them.

Jesus responds to the leaders- healthy people don’t need doctors. He adds “I came to save sinners not the righteous.” The same is true today. Jesus is still saving the lost and broken. If we as Christians are only going where we are comfortable, we are not reaching the people God put us on earth to impact.

So... Where are you comfortable?