Crossroads Church

SOAP = Scripture Observation Application Prayer

Phil Print

S: Matthew 27:54 ¹³Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. ¹⁴As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him. ¹⁵Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) ¹⁶But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” ¹⁷When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

O: Jesus had this knack for ticking off the Pharisees and holy rollers of the first century world. They all practiced a “strategy of isolation” when it came to sinners. In other words, stay as far away from “the sinful scum of society” as possible. Jesus did the opposite. He engaged with sinners. He hung out with them. He broke bread with them. Not to become like them…but to help them…to point them to a better life. He came to turn sinners into saints, and he knew that assignment was impossible unless he—A. Loved them, and B. Interacted with them.

A: Hanging out with “disreputable” sinners. I don’t do it. In some people’s eyes, I get a pat on the back for that. Unfortunately, my calling is to follow Jesus. To mimic my Master. That means I have to intentionally go out of my way to hang out with the Levi’s of the world. To make time for them. After all, healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.

P: Father, give me an opportunity to hang out with those who really need you. Give me eyes to see the open doors you’ve put before me, and give me a heart like yours for all those who are lost and on the road that leads to destruction.

<-- Back to Route 66 Page