1 Peter 5:6-11 + Luke 15:1-10
Jesus receives sinners. He doesn’t receive them as they cling to their sins or boast about their sins, but as they recognize the terrible sins they’ve committed against God and turn to Him for mercy as the One who has gone looking for them, to bring them back. Such was the state of the tax collectors and sinners who drew near to Jesus to hear Him. He received them gladly and gladly spent time with them. They were, after all, the whole reason why He came into the world, to tell them that God zealously desired for them to be with Him in His kingdom, and then to offer up His life as the price for their acceptance into His Father’s kingdom.
The Pharisees criticized Him for receiving sinners; they thought the kingdom of God was reserved for “good” people like them who had earned a place in it for themselves. The modern world criticizes Jesus for it, too; they want a Jesus who celebrates sin, not a Jesus who condemns it and pays for it and calls sinners away from it. But both sides—the self-righteous Pharisee and the sin-loving world—are allied with the devil. Both sides would keep the lost sinner from being found.
If you think you weren’t among the lost, you’re fooling yourself. We all come into the world as lost and condemned sinners. If you realize that you were lost and have been found by Jesus, then don’t begrudge others His help. And if you think you can be received by Jesus while you intentionally disregard His Word and go on sinning, then you should know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Stay close to the One who loved you and went out looking for you, and help others to know Him, too. It’s all the more important to stay close to this Shepherd, because the devil is constantly prowling around. He would devour you with pride, devour you with suffering, devour you with despair. But believers in Christ are being carried on the shoulders of the Shepherd, who will enable you to resist the devil by humbling yourself before God. He will enable you to resist the devil with patient endurance under the cross and with steadfast faith that clings to the Word of God above sight and human reason. He will enable you to resist the devil with vigilance and with a Spirit-aided determination to suffer all things, even death, rather than turn aside even a little from the paths of God.
