Welcome to Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas. In season 2, Pastor Jim is leading us in a study of Mark. Today’s passage is Mark 2:13-17.
“Follow me” Two words of Jesus that can change your life forever! But oh my, my…take a look at the person Jesus called!
1. The inexplicable choice of Jesus
The apostle Paul wrote a whole bunch on this subject:
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
– Romans 5:8
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
– 1 Timothy 1:15
The apostle Paul makes it clear that God’s grace springs from God’s love and there is no sufficient reason within us for God to love us or forgive us of our sins. The only sufficient reason must be something about the God who loves sinners.
God’s guest list includes only sinners, even the vilest of sinners, and God’s invitation is to a complete renovation of the heart. God’s offer of salvation goes out to the outcast, the outsider, and to all those who know they don’t qualify to be on His guest list!
“In the kingdom of God, the one thing that qualifies you is knowing that you don’t qualify, and the one thing that disqualifies you is thinking that you do.”
– Dane Ortlund, Surprised by Jesus
“I used to think that God liked only certain people – those who lived up to his standards. But I’m increasingly surprised by his choice of friends. And even more surprised that his choice includes me.”
– Steve Brown, What Was I Thinking?
2. The irresistible call of Jesus
Why do you think so many hundreds of thousands, no millions upon millions of people have heard the call of Jesus on their lives, responded to that call to follow Him? What is so special about Jesus? Why was/is His call so irresistible?
“Our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation.”
– C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
What about you? Have you heard the Savior’s call? How did you respond? Are you still walking and resting in the good news of God’s initiating sovereign grace at work in your life? I pray that is true and that today we will all walk in the joy and freedom of that grace!
“Do you want to know a truth that in the momentous challenges of our modern world will be at once a quest to inspire you, an anchor to hold you fast, a rich fare to nourish you, and a relationship you will prize above all others? Listen to Jesus of Nazareth; answer his call.”
– Os Guinness, The Call
