When I was growing up, most of the people I knew had a church background, even if they didn't go every Sunday. That's not the way it is today. It's not unusual for me to meet people who have very few actual encounters with church. These people generally think of church as a place where religious people go to do religious things. Since they aren't interested in religious things, it just isn't relevant to their lives. On the other hand, many Christians think of church as a place where good people go on Sunday. Church is relevant to them because that's where the good people go. This way of thinking reminded me of today's passage, so let's listen to it:

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)

My friend Jim Newsom passed away last year but he made a lasting impact on my life. He was a convicted murderer, who shortly after killing his best friend in a drug deal that went bad, came to Christ and then turned himself in. While he was in prison, he planted a church there, which led to successful ministry in many different prisons for decades. He led hundreds of institutionalized people to Christ. For many of those people a life of repentance and faith had suddenly become relevant. Jim once made this comment: "The religious try to catch fish by creating a nice clean pond and hope the fish will jump in; the relevant go to the dirty watering holes, for that is where the fish are." In today's passage, some religious leaders complained that Jesus was associating with sinners. He responded, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Another translation says, "I have not come to call respectable people to repent, but outcasts." Jesus wasn't looking for good candidates who might fit in well with the people already in church; He was looking for sinners. What do you look for in your relationships outside of church? Do you have any friends who aren't following Jesus? Today, and most days, you and I will have opportunities to join Jesus in His mission, opportunities to reach out to someone who doesn’t know Him—yet. We aren't vetting candidates for church, we're bringing Jesus to people who need Him. And that's real relevance...and very Good News!