Feasting with the Sinner

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 Just a few weeks ago, Super Bowl 58 divided Christians across America, and it wasn’t rooting for Brock Purdy vs. Patrick Mahomes or anti Taylor Swift or whatever those things are. Uh, although that was real, and Brock Purdy did go to this school, whatever, but he didn’t win. Um, the anger arose from two specific Super Bowl commercials from the He Gets Us campaign.

Anybody see that? Any? Okay, so it looks like AI generated photos of people from different walks of life, and one person is washing the feet of another. Some of the photos include, like, an older Hispanic officer, he’s washing the feet of a young African American man. You have an older white male washing the feet of a Native American man.

You have an older woman washing the feet of a young lady in front of a abortion clinic. And it ends by saying the following, Jesus didn’t teach hate. He washed feet. And then it says he gets us, and the 30 seconds is over. Now the problem, of course, everybody’s having problems, because everybody has problems with everything anyways, but that ad leaves a lot of assumptions for the viewers to make.

So on the left side of center, uh, of the debate, They were outraged over the cost of the project. Turns out those two ads alone cost 17. 5 million to make. And so a lot of people were claiming, Hey, you probably could have used all that money to feed the poor and to rescue refugees and those sorts of things.

Or to, you know, buy a church, a building. Yeah, whatever. Uh, we need it. The right side of Center was outraged because it looks like they’re equating hate As non affirmation. In other words, if you don’t affirm someone’s lifestyle, identity, and orientation, you’re hateful, and you’re not like Jesus. Now, we can debate the usefulness or the deceitfulness of this ad.

Was it created just to start a conversation, or was it made to make a theological statement? My point in bringing this up is not to split the audience right when I begin. It’s actually to get to the heart of a question a lot of us cannot seem to answer in the 21st century. And the answer is kind of simple.

Can I love my neighbor without approving their lifestyle? And what is love? And what is a lifestyle? It’s all of these questions. Or to be more crass, for our hospitality practice, Can I have dinner with those sinners? Is that possible? Would Jesus love me all the same? In the month of February, best month of the year, by the way.

It’s not my birthday in a couple days or, you know, no big deal. But, we’ve been on a journey of practicing hospitality. And I hope, although the series is ending today, the practice continues on in the life of our church. And our working definition is on the screen. The practice of hospitality is creating space over a meal.

with saints, strangers and sinners to experience the loving grace of God. And so we’ve been slowly making this practice harder and harder. Week one was communion, and then it was saints, and then it was strangers, which was fun. Last week, We generated a lot of conversations, and I love, Bethany, how you were talking about it.

You’re finding ways to meet strangers and, and to love them as Jesus would love them. I read a quote this week from Alan Hirsch. He’s a famous missiologist. It’s not on the screen, but he said the following. He says, if every Christian family in the world simply offered good conversational hospitality around a table once a week to their neighbors, we would eat our way into the kingdom of God.

Amen! That’s when you say amen. Amen. Amazing, right? But! What if your neighbor is engaged in taboo behavior that is clearly against the Bible? Do I still host them over for dinner? When they ask if I affirm them, what is my answer? And one of the questions is there a group you actually shouldn’t welcome into your home and the Bible actually says yes But it’s probably not the group of people you think hope you’re there If not, go to Luke chapter 7 the title of my message today is feasting with the sinner Today’s gonna be good.

Let’s pray father. God. We love you and so grateful for the truths of Scripture Thank you, Jesus, um, that you didn’t just give us some principles to live by, but you are a person to emulate. Help us learn from Luke 7 the same way your church has learned about it for the last 2, 000 years. And that’s making a big deal about the gospel and loving you, God, and loving our neighbor as ourself.

God, we love you. Give us clarity in this room. Give us patience with each other. Give us the benefit of the doubt as we wrestle with this passage. In Jesus name I pray. The church says, Amen. Amen. Luke 7, 34. You’ve heard this a lot this last month. The son of man, Jesus is talking, he’s referring to himself, has come eating and drinking and you say, look, a glutton and a drunkard.

A friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet, wisdom is vindicated by all her children. I teach at a junior high and, uh, for Bible. And none of them knew what verse 35 meant, which I get. It’s kind of strange. And so I just pulled that line, like, let’s see if you know this. I’m like, in other words, what Jesus is saying is the proof is in the Thank you.

Junior hires don’t know that. I said, proof’s in the pudding. They’re like, I don’t even like pudding. I’m like, that doesn’t matter. You’ve never heard this phrase before. So guys. Us, us older folks, let’s make it famous again. So our children are raised in the way of Jesus. Um, verse 36, verse 36. Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him.

Okay, so see, notice what Luke is doing. He’s known as eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners, and now he’s into a Pharisee’s home. So the Pharisee’s invited to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And a woman in the town, who was a sinner, found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house.

She brought an alabaster jar of perfume and stood behind him at his feet, weeping. And began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with Let’s stop right there. Let’s talk about the two characters, two people we now learned about. Pharisees.

Pharisees are the Sunday school all stars, if you grew up going to church. They knew the answer to everything. Their entire goal, honestly, was to usher in the kingdom of God. Now, they went about it the whole wrong way, and they wound up putting millstones around other people’s necks and not preaching, not doing what they were preaching, all sorts of problems with them.

But we have to remember, from the outsider looking in, the Pharisees were great people. They were the best of the best. But then you have a, quote, sinful woman of the town. Many believe that this is a nice way of saying she was clearly a sinner, meaning she was a prostitute. Now, what I found interesting as I studied commentaries this week, And I made this mistake as well.

Do not confuse this story in Luke 7 with the story we have in John 12. If you remember, if you, it’s fine if you don’t, Mary of Bethany, she has this encounter with Jesus where she also has an alabaster jar. And if you remember, Judas Iscariot gets really mad because he’s like. Oh, that’s so funny because it’s like the commercial.

We could have used that money to feed the poor. We could have used that money to do this. Why are you wasting it at the feet of Jesus? Now these two stories are similar, but do not make the mistake that these stories are the same. In fact, the timeline in Luke 7 is much earlier than the timeline in John 12.

And in fact, many commentators, this is what blew me away this week, chronologically. This lines up right after Jesus says Matthew 11 28, which if you’re around our church, this is one of our favorite scriptures. Matthew 11, Jesus says to a crowd of people, come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

That was the first passage we preached on here in this room a year ago. And after this moment, I want you to imagine this sinful woman was probably there hearing that sermon. And then finds that this man of God, God man, is now going to the Pharisee’s house. She has to express her gratitude and she has to express her need for forgiveness.

She wants to have this life that no longer is weary and heavy laden or filled with burdens. So all that for context, let’s keep reading verse 39. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, now there’s two ways to interpret this. He says it in his brain, which means like. Don’t get mad at me.

It’s like Jedi tricks, you know, like Jesus like just can read minds, which I believe he can. He’s God. Or he just like whispered it under his breath. Alright, my grandfather, he would always do this. He thought he was quieter than he really was, so he would talk about the people around him, and he thought he was whispering, and the person that he was talking about always heard it.

Anybody been, oh man, praise the Lord. I miss you, Grandpa. Alright, so, uh, he said to himself, this man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him. She’s a sinner. Jesus replied to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. He said, say it teacher. A creditor had two elders.

One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. A denarii is simply a day’s wage. So essentially one person owed two years worth of, of, of pay and the other owed two months worth of pay. Since they could not pay it back, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more? Simon answered, I suppose the one he forgave more.

You have judged correctly, he told him. Okay, so he’s setting up the scenario. Who’s probably the person with the really big debt? It’s the prostitute. Who’s the person who thinks has a smaller debt? Maybe it’s the Pharisee. The reality is though, they’re both sinners. One is blind to their sin, and it’s hidden from the community.

The Pharisee doesn’t know he’s a sinner. And the community doesn’t really know he’s a sinner, but he’s certainly a sinner. Now the woman, she has defined her, she knows she has sinned. And, you know, her sin is very visible to the world. So that’s really the only key difference here, is awareness. Look at verse 44.

Churning to the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet. So this was a customary thing if you were to be a good host in that time. Uh, when you walked, I mean you were walking along the same path as Donkeys and mules and all those things and so you were walking on manure all the time and They didn’t have Nikes back then I know crazy and so you would never use your J’s by the way and that kind of just don’t do that You ruin the J.

Okay, those are Air Jordan. Anyway, okay, so Too much context. Okay. So do you see this woman? I entered your house your house You gave me no water for my feet, but she with her tears Has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. She knows how much she owes. Right? She knows the depths of her depravity.

Verse 45, You gave me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. You didn’t anoint my head with oil, olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with her perfume. You see what’s happening here? Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven. That’s why she loves so much. But the one who is forgiven little, Loves little.

Then he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Those who are at the table with him began to say among themselves, who is this man who even forgives sins? He’s claiming deity. Only God can forgive sins. He is showing them that he is God. Verse 50. And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

So there’s a lot of irony here ’cause Jesus is pointing out there’s one person in the story that’s hostile to Jesus and the other person in the story that’s hospitable to Jesus Now. Who would you think would be the hospitable one? The Pharisee. Especially if you live during this time. I know today is so hard for us because we know the Pharisees are just terrible people.

But in this day, that’s who we would assume. And we would assume the prostitute would be the one hostile to Jesus. And yet Jesus is pointing out the irony. It’s completely flipped. Now, there’s a lot in this story. I want to answer four questions to help us get clarity on being hospitable to not only strangers.

But now to sinners. Are you with me? Here’s the four questions. Number one, was Jesus protective of his reputation? Two, uh, don’t go on the slide yet, but two is, was it Jesus’s tolerance that led to the woman’s repentance? Three, doesn’t bad company corrupt good character? And four, is there ever a time to shun someone from the dinner table?

So those are my four questions that I hope to answer according to this text and other biblical things. Okay? I love it. During the our huddle today. Somebody said, your, your sermons sound like research paper sometimes. And I was like, I love that compliment. So here we are. We are now researching. Okay, so from an outsider, I don’t know.

Yeah, it was a compliment. From the outsider looking in, is it the Pharisee or the prostitute who can ruin Jesus’s reputation? It’s the prostitute, right? All of a sudden, okay, this isn’t good. Jesus already has a reputation. What does Luke 734 say? It’s the first verse we read. He is known as a drunkard, a glutton, a friend of tax collectors, and sinners, aka the worst of the worst.

So do you think Jesus cared about his reputation? No. So why do we? Jesus had no problem with his reputation being marred. In fact, it led him to the cross to get killed. And rose again. Here’s to immediately bring some application to you and me. If we’re worried about our reputation, it’s pointing to something.

See, worrying about your reputation exposes you have an identity that is not grounded in the love of God. You’ll even see before Jesus began his ministry, What does the Father say to the Son? This is my Son with whom I am well pleased. Jesus operated from a grounded identity of the love of the Father.

And that’s what you and I should do as well. Henry Nouwen, he explains. This has been so helpful for me in my life. He talks about the three false identities we have if we don’t know the love God has for us. One is I am what I have. And so some of us are chasing our careers. We’re doing all these things.

We’re saving money because we think I am defined by what I own. Then you’ll, we’ve talked in our simplicity, but those things begin to own you. Also, I am what I can do. So some of us, we really put our, our pride in our performance. What’s hard about this is what happens when you begin to, your body begins to be frail.

We’re all going to die. It starts to go towards the grave. That’s a very shaky identity. You cannot base your life off what you can do because eventually you can’t do those things. And then other, the last one is I am what others think of me. And this one is huge, I think, in our social media age today, right?

We’re constantly worried about what other people think about us. Each of those identity lies leads to pain and dysfunction and destruction. And so if I’m overly concerned what everybody thinks, that means I have forgotten about what God thinks of me. I was meeting with a couple younger pastors the other day.

And he said, Hey, Trey, I’ve been sharing the story about you, and I don’t know if it’s true or not, and I’ve been sharing it for years, so can we clear this up? I said, Sure. What an intro to a story. Long story short, he said that, he was, I’ve been preaching, there’s a pastor in the valley that was playing basketball at Michael Jordan camp, and he saw Michael Jordan come onto the court, so he grabbed the ball, shot a three, looked at MJ, and MJ, the greatest of all time, said, Nice shot, son.

He said, is that true? Because my sermon was that it doesn’t matter for the rest of that kid’s life. It doesn’t matter if anybody says that his jump shot is bad because the goat said his jump shot was good. So nobody else’s opinion matters. And I thought, well, that’s right. Amen. It is true. That happened.

And he said, but you’ll never be able to share that because that’s like the most egotistical story to share with people. And so I’ll never share that story again. Um, but it’s true, right? If the God who created the world. Knows me and loves me, does it really matter what others think of me? No! Now, you could be in sin, and people are calling you out on your sin, but God loves me.

Okay, let’s go to the word though, there needs to be repentance. So, we can take that and run too far with it, so let’s be clear there. And we’ll talk about that on the podcast, right Pastor Caleb? Formed by Jesus. Okay, so. Should we seek to sabotage our reputation? Absolutely not. But ultimately, our identity is not what other people think of us.

Now, to a more difficult question. Was it Jesus tolerance that led to the woman’s repentance? Now, tolerance can mean a lot of things, right? Tolerance may have biblical definitions behind it or may not, may not be. I would say it’s lost most of its original meaning in our culture today. Now, here’s what I believe tolerance used to mean.

It used to mean we can disagree with each other without dishonoring each other. Remember those days? Right? Even politically, I love hearing those stories of people on totally different aisles, but then they would eat dinner together every night. Like, how poetic. How beautiful. That’s doesn’t seem to be the thing we do today.

I will say quickly We are Baptists here And what I love is Baptists are famous in the beginning of our country to fight for the rights of everyone to believe in whatever they want to choose because everybody’s made in the image of God and because the way of Jesus is always by Invitation it’s not by coercion.

You can never force somebody you can’t use somebody you can’t use a sword to bring in people into the Kingdom of God that’s totally antithetical to the way of Jesus, but tolerance used to be that We can agree to disagree. I disagree with you, but I’m not going to dishonor you. You’re still made in the image of God, and I will care for you in the best ways I can.

Today, tolerance means disagreeing is not just dishonoring, it’s dehumanizing. To say what I believe is wrong or lesser is to be the ultimate bigot, right? To claim, you’re saying that my way is inferior to yours? You are a bigot. Now, this framing wasn’t always so, but I think that’s what tolerance means today, and our society is worse because of it.

Jeremy Treat, he’s an author and pastor in Los Angeles. I love all of his work. He frames the difference of tolerance back then to now by using two words, pluralism and relativism. Big words, stay with me. It’s a research paper. All right, so here’s what the quote said, we would be wise to recognize the difference between pluralism and relativism.

Pluralism acknowledges there are many different beliefs. Relativism says that they are all equally valid and right. So we can acknowledge pluralism without becoming relativists. In other words, and here’s the key line, we can accept that everyone has the right to believe whatever they want. And we can still have distinct and firmly held convictions.

We have lost this art, and the culture has tried to take this away from us. We don’t have to capitulate. We can still rise above and say this is how I operate. I am a, I am alright with a pluralistic society, but we cannot be a relativistic society. It makes no sense. So, going back to the story in Luke 7.

Jesus, by no means affirms the prostitute in her sinful way of life. Look again at verse 50. It says, and he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Peace here is that Hebrew word shalom. Shalom doesn’t just mean absence of suffering. It means you’re walking in all that God created and designed for you to live in.

And when you walk in his specific way, you flourish and you have freedom. Okay, so when Jesus was affirming, Jesus was affirming that now she’s forgiven. So she’s no longer a sinner. She’s a saint who happens to sin, but he’s saying, go in peace, go in the way that God has designed your life. You’re going to need a community.

You’re going to need to constantly go back to the word, all of these things that we do every week. But that is what Jesus is saying here. So back to the question, was it tolerance? I don’t think it was today’s tolerance. Let’s use a better word. It was his kindness and his patience. I take that from Romans 2, 4.

Paul, the great theologian in Romans 2, 4 says this. He says, Do you despise the riches of God’s kindness, restraint, and patience? Not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. So he is kind, he goes on to say though, don’t take that for granted. Eventually judgment will come. So you need to receive this kindness, take the grace of Jesus, put it over your life before you have to pay for your own sins.

Because it does lead to repentance. Repentance just means a change of mind, or a new mental map of reality, of recognition of sin, and churning towards Christ and his way of life. Another way to put it is repentance means you still struggle with sin, but you no longer celebrate your sin. That’s repentance.

This woman, is she celebrating her sinful lifestyle in Luke 7? No, she’s weeping. She is showing, fool, like I know my old way of life is corrupt and I need forgiveness and I want to walk into something new. Now the next question gets asked a lot. Doesn’t bad company corrupt good character? Let’s get to the brass tacks.

How are we going to be hospitable to sinners? What if they affect us? Bad company, corrupt, good character is from the Bible. It’s 1 Corinthians 15, 33. And so here’s the logic. Jesus was perfect. So only He had the ability to get in contact with sinners and not become sinful. Quick answer is, yes, that’s true, right?

Like, he is fully God, fully man. Nothing could infect him. When he touched things, things would change, not himself. He has that kind of power. But the deepest call of a Christian is to become like Jesus. So if that’s what he did, we’re supposed to do the same thing. The term that Pastor Caleb loves is called theosis.

Say it with me, Pheosis. We’ll talk about it in the podcast. Just keep taking notes. Let’s just, it’s the podcast this week. All 10 people of you love it. Now, the Pheosis, I’m kidding, is the process of becoming more like Christ, right? To be formed by Jesus, dot com. Now, so, if you are intentional in surrendering to the life, love, and leadership of Jesus, here’s what’s amazing.

You are slowly given the grace. To be put in really difficult situations with really difficult people. Okay, this is why, uh, we talk about success looking different for everyone in this practice. Uh, here’s what I know. What we’re asking you to do is really hard. Feast with sinners. And sinners, the worst of the worst.

And, and I have to be honest, some of us in this room aren’t mature enough yet to do this. Okay? Without giving up or blowing up, okay? So, maybe just spend some time with saints and strangers for a little while. But here in Luke 7, Jesus is so calm and connected. He’s so mature. He’s reading the Pharisees thoughts.

He’s understanding the prostitutes intentions. He knows what’s going on. He’s not blowing up. He is embodying this non anxious presence. It’s this truth that our world desperately needs. And this is what gets me so excited about the heart about all that we do with our formed by Jesus stuff. Because here’s and write this down.

As we are being formed by Jesus, we slowly hear me slowly gain the maturity to be in proximity with sinners while staying calm, staying connected and staying the course. I read that line from Richard Blackburn. He’s a director of a Mennonite Peace Center. I thought that line was so good, though. To lead today is to stay calm, stay connected, and stay the course.

Most of leadership today, I have learned, is simply managing anxiety. People are anxious, and we freak out, and that’s why these dinners are terrifying, because are they gonna blow up? Am I gonna blow up? What’s gonna happen? And what we’re called to do Is to respond differently. Becoming outraged is the normal thing.

We don’t become outraged by the grace of Jesus. We stay calm. Storming off is what most of us do. If we all of a sudden disagree, no, in the way of Jesus, we stay connected or just giving in. Okay, you’re right. Your lifestyle is right. I’m not, no. We need to stay the course. You guys see that it’s a lot like parenting.

It’s like parenting 1 0 1. First of all, don’t give into the tantrums. But second of all, don’t throw a tantrum at your child’s tantrum. Anybody else? Right? That’s the key to leadership. Don’t give in to their tantrum. Stay calm. Stay connected. Don’t leave your kid on the side of the street. I know you’ve all threatened it before.

I was afraid of the airport for years. My sister would always say, they’re gonna drop you off at the airport if you don’t knock it off. And I’m like, where’s the airport? You know, do they have water? Like, these are all real things. Stay calm. Stay connected. Stay the course. This is parenting right here, guys.

What you said was right. Stick to it. Don’t give in. They cannot have Oreos in the morning. That’s when you become an adult. That’s one of the graces of becoming an adult. You get to have Oreos in the morning. Amen. Right? So, but hear me. This requires maturity. This requires a slow process of becoming more like Jesus.

And we want to make it very clear, here at Passion Creek, there is grace for you. We are patient with you, and I hope you’re patient with us. We are slowly but surely becoming the type of people who know the truth, but we stay calm, stay connected, and stay the course. Now, last question, there’s still so much to go through.

Is there ever a time to shun someone from the dinner table? Well, 1 Corinthians 5, you can churn there if you are fast, if not, we have it on the screen. 13, Paul says explicitly the group of people we’re not supposed to eat with. He said, I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters, otherwise you would have to leave the world. In other words, I’m not saying those people who are not Christians, because if you can’t eat with them, you just got to leave. Right? You got to like get out of here and go live alone or leave the world entirely because they’re everywhere.

I love his logic. Verse 11, But actually I wrote you not to be associated with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister. This is a follower of the way and is sexually immoral or greedy, an Idolater or verbally abusive or drunkard or a swindler. Here’s the line. Do not even eat with such a person. For what business is it of, what business is it of mine to judge outsiders?

Don’t you judge those who are inside. God judges outsiders. Remove the evil person from among you. Okay, so who do we not eat with? A professing Christian who has gone from struggling with their sin to celebrating their sin. This is the hardest part of ministry. This is not eating with the sexually immoral Christian, the greedy Christian, and idolater, verbally abusive.

And here’s what’s hard, you can take these too far. Right, like, oh no, they didn’t give this week, they’re greedy, I’m not eating with you, like, that can get crazy. It is a slow process, sadly we’ve had to go through this process at our church at times before. And please hear me clearly, it’s not about perfect people, we all stumble and fall.

But we’re stumbling, we’re struggling. It’s different when you are celebrating. I don’t have enough time to go through this, but every organization does this. Every organization, including the church, has boundary markers, or else they’re not a community. We’re defined. You have to sometimes be defined about the things you don’t do.

Like, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think PETA will allow a pet abuser to join their crew. Anybody? No, I am not going to allow a Lakers fan to join my son’s fan club. Instead, I’ll share the gospel to that person because they are so confused. Okay, I’m not letting a LeBron fandom join the Michael Jordan.

It’s different. Alright, okay, moving on. Um, that’s when I get amens. I’m just so encouraged. Uh, but guys, this serves as a wake up call for them. And we’ve seen this. We don’t call it church discipline. We call it church restoration. What you need to do is actually completely step away from this person for them to realize how sinful they are.

And then repent and come back into the community. And so we bring them right back in the fold. Does this happen a lot? No. Are we excited to do this? Not at all. But we do have to follow scripture. And we do need to be careful here. Right? So, again. That’s why I’m so leaning on the podcast this week, because I’ve had like five sermons in this one sermon.

So feel free to ask those questions after and we’ll address, Caleb will address them in the podcast. Now, does this give you a roadmap to every taboo situation when you try to host a center? Probably not, but I hope it’s a good start. Okay. And in your groups this week, you’re going to see five different practices like every week from easy, very easy to very hard, different ways to challenge yourself.

I’m not going to mention those today only because it’s the sake of time. I want to end instead on two closing thoughts on the principles of being hospitable to sinners. The first principle I want to make sure is loud and clear before you leave. We are more effective in our mission when we stay true to our distinction.

I read this line the other day, it says the church is called to be a window and not a mirror. I thought it was so good, he’s saying the church is a window. We’re not like, we’re not the kingdom of God, but we’re a glimpse of it. And so when, when people come to our fellowship, we’re supposed to be a window when they get close enough to our community, they can gaze into all that God has in his kingdom.

But a lot of times, and I get the heart, you’re trying to be hospitable. We’re mirrors where we say, don’t worry, we’re just like you. Don’t worry. Like we’re, we’re the same kind of people. Why would they join us then? If we’re the same exact thing, they’re getting no hope where they’re at. Why would they expect to get hope where we’re at?

We have to be different. So let me be clear. Hell is real. Sin is destructive. God is love. God is holy. There’s only one way to God. It’s through the personal work of Jesus Christ. Jesus wasn’t just a prophet. He is God. And he died for our sins and rose again on the third day and has ascended at the right hand of the Father and he still intercedes for us today.

God has very specific morals. God has a very specific design for sexuality. Right? Like, the Bible is the inspired word of God. These are our distinctions, and we believe it, and that’s what changes us. So we have to be clear with that. You can’t save the lost if you keep telling them they’re not lost.

If sin is never bitter, then Christ is never sweet. We have to be real about how bad this was. Okay, so, So many more things make us distinct, but that’s just a few off the top of my head. But here’s the second thing I want to make sure is loud and clear, just as much. We don’t make demonstrations out of sinners.

We, at Passion Creek, we make dinner for sinners. We don’t make demonstrations out of them, meaning we don’t, we don’t make a bit like, we don’t put up signs, look how terrible you are, right? We don’t make fun of them, we don’t laugh or scoff at them. We invite them over. The Pharisees and the tax collectors and the prostitutes and all the things because we are Jesus people.

And like Jesus, he looked to the crowds as sheep without a shepherd. And the Bible says that he had compassion on them. And I believe, what if we started a revival here in Queen Creek, one male at a time? This is what we’re called to do. So with those two things in mind, can we answer the question that we began with?

Can I love my neighbor without approving their lifestyle? Rosaria Butterfield, we have her book in the merch box for the win. She says this in her book, The Gospel Comes with a House Key. Often, Christians ask me how can I love my neighbor without misleading her into thinking I approve of everything she does.

First, remember that Christians cannot give, give, uh, I botched that. First, remember that Christians cannot give good answers to bad questions. No one approves of everything that others do. No one. It is a false question. The better question is this. How can my neighbors know that because I live under God’s authority, rather than the compulsions of my own selfish desires, their secrets are safe with me?

The answer is simple. Love the sinner and hate your own sin. I love how simple that is, and I love how gospel centered that is. I think we’ve been all freaking out because we’ve been asking the wrong question. We’ve been trying to give a good answer to a bad question, so we need to reframe it. I just, I don’t know, can you imagine if we became a people that loved the sinner and hated our own sin?

The Pharisees never hated their own sin, but we can. Imagine if we became a people who didn’t care about a reputation, but we were willing because we knew the love that God has for us. We’re willing to hang out with the least of these. Imagine if we became a people who are windows into God’s goodness and not mirrors of just what the society has already gone through.

I believe because of the gospel, we can become people who stay calm, stay connected and stay the course. And here’s why, and I want in on this passage. It just kind of welled up in my spirit this morning. Titus 3, 3, I love this line. Here’s how we’re able to have dinner with sinners. Look, verse 3, For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another, feasting with sinners.

I was a sinner. We too, but look at, look at the next line. But when the kindness, the kindness of God, our savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not by works of righteousness that we had done. You can’t earn this at all. You just, sinners sin. That’s what they do. But according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

We believe in regeneration, where you go from a sinner to a saint. A sinner who always sins to a saint. Who still struggles with sin, but that is no longer who we’re defined by because we have given new hearts in Christ. Verse 6, He poured out His Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

How can we feast with sinners? Because someone first feasted with us. Someone shared the gospel to us, and we get to still do that with others. And this requires immense maturity. And that’s why we invite you to keep coming back, get involved in groups, get what we’re doing here in the life of our church, because we believe slowly but certainly, God is forming us into becoming hospitable people who truly can create space for God’s grace with saints.

strangers, and sinners to encounter the loving grace of God. Let’s pray.