Devotional 26062013

Mark 2 verses 14 - 17

 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

 And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?”

And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

We sing with all the choirs in heaven:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest

How familiar are these words, how often have we said them before the communion table

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord

We here gathered are called to go in the name of the lord

The church is called to go forth in the name of the lord

But how often we fail to go anywhere

Christ calls us to go out for the sinners but sinners

Build a house where we like him can sit with sinners

But sometimes it seems we only go out for the saved

That we have built a house only for the saved

So lord we pray this simple prayer:

Lord help us go forth to the lost

Help us past the door and walls we have built

Lord help us see your mission for the lost

Help us see past social convention

Lord help us go in your name

Help us live out this going 

And let us make this simple pledged

I will go in the name of the Lord

I will leave behind the thing of man in the church

I will forsake mans wisdom

I will embrace only the wisdom of the lord

For out there are the people of God

For out there is my mission

For out there the lords has need of me

I pray Lord

Let this be said of me

That I did not live to go to the righteous, but to the sinner

That I went in the name of the lord

That I left what I knew and leapt towards what I did not

That I built a house for sinners, not just the saved