Jesus, friend to sinners

Jesus friend of sinners, how grateful we should be, that Jesus looks upon us with kindness and mercy. Jesus shows us God’s love, demonstrates His deep care and concern for our well being, by choosing to be our friend. He chooses to show us friendship and mercy even when we actually behave like His enemies. If somehow we might think that we are better or in some way more deserving then the Bible tells us “there is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3v10) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3v23). t might sound like a monumental religious put down, but the Bible tells us just how far from God we are so that it might also highlight just how far Jesus came to reach across the divide between man and God so we could know Him. Jesus makes Himself our friend, even choosing to give His life (to die on a cross) so that we might be able to connect with God. (John 15v13). This is the reason believes (Christians) ought to be grateful, once we accept what God has done for us, we should appreciate that we have escaped from God’s wrath because of our Friend Jesus. The writers in the New Testament (2nd half of the Bible) constantly wrote “thanks be to God”, it is a frequent expression because they understood, they acknowledged what God has done for them and for us.

If Jesus is the friend of sinners does that mean that we should be too? Well, yes, we should be friends to the lost, showing the same love care and compassion that Jesus has shown us. If we have any love towards our fellow human beings then shouldn’t we want them to find the same hope, love and friendship that we have received? However being a friend to sinners is not the same as joining in with sinners in acts of sin. After all we are ‘in the world’ but not ‘of the world’. Paul wrote in Romans 6v1,2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

So we see this marvellous truth that Jesus Christ came to be our friend, to show mankind that God is reaching out to us in our sin that He might rescue us from our sin. Sadly, because there is so much sensual please tied up in sinful acts, lost men and women struggle at the thought of giving up their sinful deeds. We live in an age where humanity are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. It is a matter for much concern and prayer, as countless lives live only for a temporary moment of earthly pleasure only to be blotted out by an eternity of torment and destruction. God’s solution was to demonstrate His love, showing mankind a way to escape. After all a good friend would tell us if we were heading for disaster and help us avoid it if they knew how. That is why Jesus is a friend of sinners and we must also be the same.