{"id":7201,"date":"2021-08-15T12:36:44","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T02:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=7201"},"modified":"2021-08-15T12:36:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T02:36:45","slug":"how-does-god-see-sinners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/how-does-god-see-sinners\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does God See Sinners"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

How Does God See Sinners?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Elijah Iskander<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Luke 5:27-39<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many times when I find myself drowning in sin. A common\nthought that may cross my mind is that God is looking down in disappointment. Sometimes\nI think that God is ashamed of me. I think that He is disappointed in me. I\nthink that He will turn His face away from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see a different reaction when we are introduced to\nMatthew the tax collector in the Gospel of Luke. When the Lord meets Matthew,\nwe see a glimpse of how He sees the sinner and in particular, the repentant\nsinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, this story is what led to Matthew\u2019s\ndiscipleship. The people of the time would have some thoughts about Matthew. As\na tax collector, this came with the stereotype of being greedy and selfish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of the tax collector was to take taxes on behalf of\nthe Roman Empire. The Roman Empire may require $10 for example, but the tax\ncollector would take $15 and give themselves a profit of $5. This is where the\ncharacteristics of greed and dishonesty came to resemble the tax collector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even worse, they were seen as traitors for they were\noriginally from the Jewish nation and the people they were taking taxes were\ntheir own people. The Jewish nation is already upset that they are under the\nbondage of the Roman Empire. Now, the Roman Empire imposes taxes by hiring one\nof the Jews\u2019 own people to defraud and betray their people for the sake of\nmoney. They were profiting from the oppression of their own people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were to think about the image of the tax collector,\nthe people would immediately label Matthew, and others, as greedy, as evil and as\nworthy of criticism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Lord has a different perspective when He looked at\nMatthew. He says to him, \u201cfollow Me.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> When the whole world saw\nevil, the Lord saw the potential for good. We see a magnificent reaction.\nMatthew immediately prepares a banquet for the Lord, an act of generosity and hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the world sees no possibility of good, the Lord sees\ngoodness. With one simple invitation to follow Him, Matthew immediately rose\nup. The Lord looks at me in the exact same way. I may be drowning in my sins.\nOthers may look at me and think that I am beyond help, but the Lord can see\nbeyond this. He sees my potential for good. He can see the good within me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saul was also another character that would\u2019ve been viewed\nsimilarly. The Lord saw good in Saul and he become St Paul. Jesus saw good in\nthe Samaritan woman and she became an evangelist. Jesus saw good in the right\nhand thief and he became the first to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we are sinful, and come to the Lord in repentance,\nnever should we think that He looks at us in disappointment, shame or anger.\nThe Lord looks at you and I in our repentance and sees goodness. It may be\ndisguised or deeply hidden, but it is there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people may have also looked at Matthew and seen a\nterrible person with a punishment awaiting him. He was benefiting from the\noppression of the people. He was dishonest, but his time will come when he pays\nthe price. The Lord does not respond in punishment to the repentant sinner. The\nLord is a Physician; He heals the soul. Notice, He doesn\u2019t excuse Matthew\u2019s\nbehaviour. It is what it is, but the Lord is there to heal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance<\/em>.<\/p>Matthew 5:31<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We all have spiritual illnesses. Everyone else may look at\nour anger, or our selfishness, and think that our time for punishment is\ncoming. The Lord looks at our ailments and says, \u201cI am here to heal.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people criticised Matthew but the Lord defended him.\nWhen I see someone close to me make a mistake, I may be inclined to criticise\nthem\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What were they thinking? I would never do that!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is exactly what the Pharisees did – \u201cWhy do You eat\nand drink with tax collectors and sinners?\u201d <\/em>(Luke 5:30). The Lord answers\nin defence of the repentant sinner, for He was there for healing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick<\/em>.<\/p>Luke 5:31<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Pharisees attacked Him again for not keeping the period\nof fasting and the Lord again defends those who were with Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days<\/em>.<\/p>Luke 5:34-35<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When the world looks at someone worthy of criticism, the Lord\nlooks at somebody in need of defence. Imagine if you have the Lord Himself\ndefending you! Too often, we place too much reliance on worldly connections. I\nrely on my boss, or even in church, I look to head servants or the priests.\nWhere will this lead you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is better to have the Lord as my defence. How do I\nachieve the defence of the Lord? A truly repentance heart, a heart that is\nready to respond to the Lord\u2019s call. A heart that knows it is sick and in need\nof the Physician. A heart that does not criticise others, for the Lord defends\nme when others criticise me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us pray that Lord looks at us the way He looked at\nMatthew. Let us pray that He sees our potential, beyond our sins. Looks past my\ngreediness and sees my ability to give and hold a banquet for His people. Looks\npast my sickness and extends His healing hand, for He is the good Physicians.\nLooks past my actions worthy of criticism and defends me. We hope to please God\nand not men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glory be to His Name forever, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Does God See Sinners? Adapted from a sermon by Fr Elijah Iskander Luke 5:27-39 Many times when I find myself drowning in sin. A common thought that may cross my mind is that God is looking down in disappointment. Sometimes I think that God is ashamed of me. I think that He is disappointed … Continue reading “How Does God See Sinners”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7203,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7201\/revisions\/7203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}