God Desires the Undesirables

I. The devotion magazine, The Daily Bread, had a story of Noah Purifoy that I want to share.

A. Noah Purifoy began his work as an “assemblage” artist with three tons of rubble salvaged from the 1965 riots in the Watts area of Los Angeles. From broken bicycle wheels and bowling balls to discarded tires and damaged TV sets—things no longer usable—he and a colleague created sculptures that conveyed a powerful message about people being treated as “throw-aways” in modern society. One journalist referred to Mr. Purifoy as “the junkyard genius.”

B. There are a couple of artists like this in our area who take scrap and turn it into art.

C. Consider the transformation that takes place when scrap is given to one of these artists.

1. What was once discarded on a junk heap or scrap pile becomes a work of art.
2. What was ignored is given attention; what was rejected is praised.

D. Creating art out of junk requires that one see beauty in the junk and how it can be cleaned, painted, given a new purpose, and given a new life.

II. Jesus loved those who were outcasts and ministered to them

A. Woman at the well, (summarize then read John 4:16-26)

B. John 8:1-11 - Jesus defended the woman caught in adultery and told her to lead a different life.

C. Leper: Mark 1:40-42

1. True untouchables who had to live away from human contact and warn people of their presence.
2. A Jew who touched a leper would be ceremonially unclean. Jesus healed Him but also touched him, made contact with him.

D. Tax collectors and sinners, Mark 2:13-17

1. Tax collectors were despised by Jewish society for their work supporting the Roman Empire and often considered them traitors or unfaithful.
2. Zacchaeus is another story of a tax collector who received Jesus and gave a feast for his fellow tax collectors so they could hear about Jesus.
3. Jesus dined with them but preached about repentance.

E. Matthew 21:31-32 – tax collectors and prostitutes welcomed the transforming message of Jesus and a desire for a new life in Christ.

III. The gospel among the outcasts and sinful

A. When people are living in darkness and recognize the light, they realize what they truly want, find what is missing in their life that they didn’t know existed, and know they need forgiveness for what they have done.

B. John 9:1-11 – The blind man knew he was blind and could now see but the religious leaders didn’t realize how blind they were.

1. Sometimes our respectable friends in middle class society don’t realize that they too are spiritually bankrupt, filthy and sick with sin, and need a savior.
2. But those who have lived broken lives, bound by addictions, crushed by the consequences of poor decisions, rejected, ridiculed, or ignored by others, and have given up hope can suddenly see when they see the light of the world.
3. They didn’t see that following a life of pleasure and laziness was a poor choice, they were just doing what they knew, maybe having seen it in others.

C. These are the ones who need the gospel and may be very responsive.

D. In our evangelistic efforts we need to reach out to those whom the world has rejected.

IV. Christians are to welcome all with impartiality

A. Galatians 3:26-28 – radical concept even then; equality across lines of division

B. James 2:1-13 – Impartial with the gospel, rich and poor man

1. We should be sharing the gospel with all races, social and economic classes, and crossing every other barrier set up in society.
2. We should welcome all races, backgrounds, and other barriers in those who come to Christ and want to be part of us.

C. Craig Bean on the work with the undesirables in India

1. Considered by society to be suffering for being bad in their previous life (reincarnation)
2. Live on the outskirts of the outskirts of respectable civilization. Live beyond and around the trash dumps.
3. People will not sell them food (or reasonably priced) and think nothing of treating these humans poorly. As Craig said, a Bhrama bull is treated better than these people. They think this is where these people deserve to be and are not shown kindness.
4. In the caste system, these do not have a caste (outcasts). They are called the untouchables.
5. Brother goes out to them and shows kindness, brings them food, and teaches them the message that in God’s eyes they are worth something and that God gave His son to purchase them.
6. He demonstrates by his love, compassion, and acceptance the love, compassion, and acceptance of Jesus Christ.

D. New Christians converted out of the world are going to have a lot of bad habits to quit, language and lives to clean up, and may make poor choices along the way.

1. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – these lives take time to clean up
2. Colossians 3:12-14 – compassionate hearts and patience
3. Galatians 6:1-3 – humility in correction; need for teaching and mentoring

V. Long before Noah Purifoy was turning trash into art, God was cleaning the defiled, feeding the spiritually starved, freeing those imprisoned by sin, and turning trash into His treasure.

A. We must never forget that, through sin, we became trash but God cleaned us and gave us new life and purpose.

B. By God’s grace and help, we can show the love, compassion, and patience of Jesus towards the outcasts of this world, sinners who need the gospel, and those struggling through the fires of purification to become new in Christ.