Jesus Came to Save All Sinners

by Sarah Allerding

This devotion was written in connection with the

Devotional Writing course offered through  MLC Continuing Education.

Have you ever felt that either you or someone else did not belong in God's house because of a particular sin? I am going to tell you a story about a pastor, a visitor to the church, and a longtime member of the congregation.

A man comes to the church looking for the pastor after Sunday services. He says he needs help because he is struggling with sin. He tells a member he is struggling with losing his temper and saying mean things to people all the time. The member directs him to the pastor's office. After the man leaves, the member walks into the pastor's office to have a conversation with him.

***********

• Church member:  “I hope you told that man to get out of here.”
• Pastor:  “Why do you hope that?”
• Church member: “He told me he has a sin problem. We don't want that kind of person here. The church is for the established believers. I don't want him to ruin worship for the rest of us. Tell him to come back when his problem is behind him.”
• Pastor:  “We all have a sin problem. If he should not be in church, then none of us should. We all sin daily. Let’s take a look at Romans 3:10. ‘As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one.’”
• Church member:  “But I am not like that man. His sin is worse than mine. He doesn't deserve to come here until he takes care of his problem.”
• Pastor:  “God says ‘the wages of sin is death’(Romans 6:23). You do not deserve to be here any more than that man does. Neither do I. Because of your sins, you deserve death. I deserve death because of my sins. That is what we all deserve. It is only by the grace of God that any of us are here.”

***********

The Feast in the House of Levi, Paolo Veronese, 1573, Oil on canvas

Jesus had a problem similar to this one when he went to the house of Matthew for dinner. He was eating with tax collectors and “sinners.” 

      When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 
      On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”  (Matthew 9:11-13).

Just like the church member in my story, the Pharisees thought they were better than other sinners. They thought Jesus should not associate with the people they thought were worse sinners than they. Jesus didn't come to earth to make self-satisfied “righteous” people feel good about themselves; he “came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Jesus came to save sinners like you and me. He lived the perfect life we could not live, died the terrible death we deserve, and rose victorious over sin, death, and the devil. Because of what Jesus did for us, our sins are washed away. It is only by his grace that we get to worship him when we gather with fellow forgiven sinners. Let us not turn away those who are struggling with sin. They need to hear the Word of God that tells them about their sin and their Savior who took it away.