Advent began
last week. This year's theme for advent
is remembering what Jesus came to do when He came into this world, and what He
will come to finish at His second coming.
The first week, we looked at how Jesus came to execute justice.
This week,
the scripture will show us what Jesus came to do. Luke 5:27-32.
First, we
notice that Jesus is not doing what the religious people of that day would
do. Jesus is sitting down as a guest
with the common people. He is going
where the Pharisees and scribes would not have gone. They would have been way too uncomfortable
and that would have been below their standards.
Because of their obvious discomfort, they are very upset with
Jesus.
Second,
notice that Jesus isn't going to be a tax collector. Jesus isn't going to learn the ropes of how
to collect money and steal from the poor.
He wasn't going to learn a "get rich quick scheme". He had all the riches He ever needed or
wanted in His Father. If that's what He
wanted, He was with the right group.
They could certainly show Him the ropes.
Instead, He
was going because He had made a difference in Levi and wanted to make a
different in the lives of those who were there.
He wasn't going to become one of them, but wanted them to follow Him as
Levi had agreed to do. Levi invited
Jesus to His house where there would be other tax collectors. Levi had
experienced what Jesus could do and wanted to celebrate that.
Third, Jesus
states a purpose of why He came to earth.
He came to call sinners to repentance.
Joseph was
told about this purpose before Jesus was born.
Matthew 1:20,21. Jesus and Jesus ONLY will save His people
from their sins.
This is most
important for today. Jesus was there to
help bring repentance to those who were in sin.
There were people Jesus constantly met who saw their sin and their need
for Him. The Pharisees and scribes were
also in sin. They just didn't see their
sin. They felt justified. Unfortunately, they were missing why Jesus
had come. When Jesus forgave sins, they
were in an uproar. Jesus came to seek
and to save the lost. The lost are those
in sin.
We are
lost without Him. Lost from
what? We are lost in our sin without
true hope, true joy, true peace, and true love.
Without Him, we are left to believe that humankind offers us hope and
joy and peace and love. If we look
around the world, we see that this isn't going to happen. People will let us down. People will hurt us.
Living in
this sinful world is tough…really tough.
There are things that just aren't fair about this world. There are things we will never understand. This world can certainly cause us to lose
hope. It can certainly attempt to steal
our joy. Only through the saving power
of Jesus can we look beyond the circumstances of this world and see Him. We don't have to understand why things happen...we
just have to understand the One who came to overcome this world…and the sins of
this world.
