Eating with Publicans and Sinneers

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Matthew 9:11-12 says, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?  But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

     It  seems that we like to see familiar faces when we go into a strange place.  Our son and aI were traveling in Indiana and decided to eat at some small restaurant rather than a typical fast food place, so we picked a small one in the town of Maryville, Indiana.  We went in the restaurant wich was full except for one table and we took our spot there. The place had been buzzing with talk but as we entered, they all stopped talking and looked at us wondering who we were.  After a brief pause, they realized that we were just travelers and continued on with their talking about the price of corn and beans in the market.  It was a good breakfast and worth the fact of eating in a strange place.

     In Roanoke, Virginia, a large group of us would go to Harbor’s Inn for fish and we would find many other people from various churches doing the same thing as groups of 20 or less would come in to eat.  We tend to often go where other believers go because it is comfortable and there is no “unbeliever” conversation to contend with.  The above passage is one that shows us with whom Christ associated with while He walked the earth some 2000 years ago.  He was often found in the homes of publicans and sinners.  Now, we would often think twice before doing that.  Why, what  would people say if we were caught doing that same thing?  We like to be more involved with the “activities” of the church and as a result, fail to take the message to those who are desperately in need to hear the plan of salvation.  We gather on Sunday to worship, and in some churches, we still meet a second time on the Lord’s Day.  Then, we meet on Wednesdays for prayer time, and then of course a Bible study at someone’s house or even at the church on a particular morning.  If we have a choir, well, thee is the time for choir practice and th en the meetings of the deacons and or elders where we plan how to reach the lost with the message.  If we are fortunate, we have a specific time for “visitation” possible on a Tuesday or Thursday evening for about 90 minutes.  Then we have the annual conferences such as a mission conference that takes a week and the prayer advances or special retreats to strengthen the believer and then maybe a small institute to study the Bible.  Then we retire at age 65 or so, wnd wonder whee the time went and wish we had done something more to reach the lost with the message only to find that we are too old now to drive, or to visit.  We look back and realize that we spent most of our lives around other believers while the lost who drove past the church, never heard the plan of salvation, or the Romans Road, or anything else spiritual.  All this is happening today in our very modern, well to do nation, of America.  Praise God He still calls the sinner to repentance.