Outsiders Welcome

April 10|Exclusion and Embrace Series

< Back

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:49-50

Read: Luke 7:36-50
Listen: Luke 7

TODAY’S MESSAGE

The Ethiopian eunuch’s faith in Jesus is a huge step forward for the gospel. The Ethiopian is a foreigner and a eunuch, two traits that make him an outsider. He went to the temple in Jerusalem to worship but would have only been allowed in the outer court. Luke, who wrote Luke and Acts, makes it clear that Jesus’s mission includes religious Jews and those considered outsiders. Jesus is even accused of being a friend of tax collectors and sinners, two outsider groups (Luke 7:34). Once, during a dinner, Jesus chastises his religious host and welcomes a woman who washes his feet with her tears, full of sorrow for her sin. He declares her sins forgiven and praises her faith.

It can be easy for us to look at people as outsiders or as too far gone for the gospel. But Jesus’s message of forgiveness through faith in him is for all. He’s come for the bitter family member, the alcoholic, the over-achiever, the skeptic, the rich, the poor, the adulterer, the legalist and the apathetic church-goer. We are all equally lost. We can all be equally forgiven through faith in Jesus.

TODAY: Prayerfully consider who you have labeled as an outsider or too far gone for the gospel to reach. Confess that to God and ask for his forgiveness. Ask him to help you see and love all people as he does—people Jesus died to save.