A God Who Gathers Outcasts Isaiah 56:1, 6–8

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have a God who does remarkable things. Last Sunday we talked about how God never lets us down.

Today, we’re going to talk about how He gathers those on the fringes, and helps them. We have a God who gathers outcasts. 

Our Old Testament says, The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to Him besides those already gathered.”

A part of our fallen nature is that we humans seem to find the need to cast people out.

It starts at childhood and carries into the teen and young adult years; there’s the in-group or in-crowd. To be a part of that is to have higher status among our peers, and not to be in it is to be looked down on to some extent.

Cliques develop, and they’re layered from most to least popular.

And this judging people by their social status and popularity can continue throughout life.

Thanks be to God, He doesn’t see the people that way. Social status means nothing to Him. He’s not so easily impressed. 

When God sent His Son into the world, it wasn’t into high social status, as many expected. Most thought the Messiah would be of the priestly caste, or one of the religious leaders like the scribes.

But God sent His Son into the world to work with wood, the son of a carpenter, born into the working class. 

When Jesus’ ministry began, it wasn’t among the wealthy and influential in Jerusalem, but among the poor and common people in Galilee. 

But as His ministry progressed, He preached and healed in Jerusalem, and He even had secret followers from among the ruling caste, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. He also had wealthy followers like his good friends, Lazarus and Mary and Martha.

When Jesus got into trouble in Jerusalem for clearing the temple and confronting the powerful Pharisees, He had no one of power or influence to come to His defense. 

He was falsely accused, and falsely sentenced, and falsely punished. He suffered the most humiliating fate, being flogged, and then dying on a cross.

We have a Savior who knows what it’s like to be rejected and cast out; He knows it even better than we do.

It hurts to be rejected, to be shunned, to be humiliated. No one has ever experienced these terrible things to the degree that Jesus has.

And yet, these terrible things didn’t ruin him; He kept His integrity while He lived, and kept His faith as He died. And He rose to overcome all terrible things.

Although His Father rejected Him on the cross as He bore the sins of the world, suffering and dying for them all, His Father later rewarded Him for His love and obedience, raising Him from His grave, and seating Him at His right hand in heavenly glory and power.

From there Jesus gathers the outcasts on earth into His Church, and makes them His family, a family of misfits; that’s what we are. 

And I’m not ashamed to say so, because I have a God who was treated as an outcast. I, through my sin and worldliness, treated Him as an outcast, and yet He cared enough to die for me, and for you. 

A God of outcasts, is a God of love, and a God of healing, and a God of restoring. 

Psalm 147:2–3, today’s Alleluia Verse says, The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 

This is referring to those who had been taken away into exile, but it’s true for all times, and all people.  As God promises in our Old Testament reading, “I will gather yet others.”

God loves those on the fringes of society just as much as He loves those in the center. He loves those who have little power and influence, just as much as those who have great political or economic power and social influence. He values the common folk as much as the elite.

Those the world mocks and despises and ridicules and rejects, God invites and gathers and loves and treasures. He makes them His brothers and sisters in faith.

We’ve all been treated like outcasts at times, and we’ve treated others as outcasts.

Because of our sin, we’ve cast ourselves away from our Creator, made ourselves into spiritual outcasts, and we’ve treated our God as an outcast, spurning Him.

The world treated Jesus like an outcast, and the world treats His Father like an outcast. The secular-minded world mocks the message of the Gospel, and sneers at those who repent and believe. 

Tragic as that is, it only makes sense. In John 15, Jesus told His disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” 

“If you belonged to the world, the world would love and accept you; but you don’t, you belong to me. So you can expect the world to despise and look down on you, as it looks down on me.”

It’s hard to see our culture going that way, shifting away from grace and toward worldliness; and it’s not easy to be treated with contempt by the secular culture, and cast out to the fringes of popular society, but keep in mind who loves and accepts you as His friend, and more than that, as His brother or sister. 

Remember the One who treasures you as His dear, baptized child, and then smile in the face of ridicule and rejection. 

Don’t let the world rattle or intimidate you. You have a God who gathers you into His fellowship. The One who really matters doesn’t despise you; He loves, accepts and restores you for the sake of His Son.

When you’re tempted to treat your fellow human being as an outcast, remember how God treats you, as a vital part of His dear family, and then treat your neighbor with love and respect, that he or she may repent and believe, and be gathered and restored into the family of our God, who loves us all equally and completely. 

When you’re tempted to cast yourself away from God’s fellowship, and turn your back on His family, remember who truly loves and values you, and who doesn’t, who just uses you for selfish purposes. That’s the way of the world. You mean nothing to the devil. He just uses you to get back at God.

The way of the cross is to love without condition. At the foot of the cross is where we outcasts find a Father who loves us, a Brother who saves us, and a spiritual family that will always be there for us.

If you breathe and have a soul, if you’re human, then you’ve been an outcast in some way. Spiritually, we’ve all made ourselves outcasts from God by our sin. But God sent His Son, to bring us back from that terrible, lonely place away from Him, to loved and restored together into his family.

Now spread His love to the lonely and outcast, to all, especially all who are outside of His fellowship. An act of kindness goes a long way toward bringing people back to our God who will never cast away those who turn to Him. 

Those who love Him, He will never forsake, never overlook, never ignore, never reject.

In the world you may be an outcast, but in God’s Kingdom, you’re royalty, sons and daughters of the King, brothers and sisters of the Savior, dearly loved and highly valued.

May your heart always belong to Him, and may His peace, which passes understanding, always guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, who has gathered us into His dear and eternal family. Amen.