{"id":25048,"date":"2015-07-29T10:44:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T16:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=25048"},"modified":"2015-07-29T10:44:03","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T16:44:03","slug":"new-testament-219-220","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/07\/new-testament-219-220.html","title":{"rendered":"New Testament 219-220"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rocky<\/a>
A flock of sheep \u2013perhaps even, judging from the background, in Utah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luke 15:1-10<\/a><\/p>\n

Compare Matthew 18:12-14<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are at least\u00a0three\u00a0points to be drawn from these brief passages:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1) \u00a0The Lord really, really values the souls of individual people; there is nobody, not even the most unrighteous, for whom he has no concern. \u00a0(This works powerfully, I think, against certain Calvinistic suggestions that he essentially created some people for the purpose of damning them.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2) \u00a0Christians aren\u2019t supposed to interact solely with \u201cthe righteous.\u201d \u00a0If we\u2019re to reach out, we\u2019re to do it even to people whom we might regard as unlikely to accept the Gospel. \u00a0They might well surprise us. \u00a0(I know that I\u2019ve<\/em> been surprised. \u00a0More than once<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

3) \u00a0On one level, these parables seem to apply to people whom the Lord<\/em> has lost. \u00a0They\u2019re his strayed children. \u00a0(See the parable of the Prodigal Son, coming up next at Luke 15:11-32<\/a>.) \u00a0Taken that way, these parables charter missionary work and evangelization, taking the Gospel to people who haven\u2019t heard it. \u00a0(See Matthew 9:36-38<\/a>.) \u00a0However, they might just as well be taken as applying to those who\u2019ve once known the Gospel but have gone missing. \u00a0In that sense, these little vignettes support reaching out to those who\u2019ve rejected their covenants and abandoned their former beliefs. \u00a0Again,\u00a0we\u2019re to reach out\u00a0even to people whom we might regard as unlikely to accept our message. \u00a0They might well surprise us. \u00a0I\u2019ve been surprised on several occasions to see once embittered people return to full belief and fellowship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Victoria, British Columbia<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Luke 15:1-10 Compare Matthew 18:12-14 \u00a0 There are at least\u00a0three\u00a0points to be drawn from these brief passages: \u00a0 1) \u00a0The Lord really, really values the souls of individual people; there is nobody, not even the most unrighteous, for whom he has no concern. \u00a0(This works powerfully, I think, against certain Calvinistic suggestions that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Testament 219-220<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Luke 15:1-10 Compare Matthew 18:12-14   There are at least\u00a0three\u00a0points to be drawn from these brief passages:   1) \u00a0The Lord\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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