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Eating with Sinners

Part 3

2nd August 2007

Last week, we looked at the story of the dinner party held by a leading Pharisee, but we didn't quite finish it. The next part of the story is:

Luke 14v12-14
Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

I've heard very little teaching like this in all the years I've been a Christian. I heard plenty of talks about how we should be hospitable to each other, how we should spend time together, and eat together, to help our local church become a genuine community, a "family" of believers. And that's all good, of course. But how seldom do we hear that we should give dinner parties for the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. But notice, this isn't saying we should run a soup kitchen, it says we should invite the poor and infirm into our homes, the same way we would invite each other. We should love them the way Jesus loves us.

Jesus made this very clear. He went further:

Luke 6v32-36
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners', expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will e poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

So it's not just the poor and the needy that we should help - it's those who hate us, too.

If I invite my church friends round for dinner, that's nice. We'll have a good time. And they'll probably invite me back. But real love is sacrificial. We get no credit, no reward, for God for doing what is not sacrificial. We should give dinner - not just food but welcome - to the poor and the needy and the not very nice. Tax collectors and sinners, for example.

How will we reach the lost if we don't love them?

Jesus gave everything for us when we were dead in our sins. Shouldn't we give something for our neighbours who are dead in theirs?