No More Boundary Markers!
My morning readings have lead me into the book of Acts. I stumbled upon verses in 13:45-46 that really hit the nail on the head in pointing out how we, as Christ followers, are not to be inclusive of His message. It's a great big world out there and we have to get outside of our comfortable church walls and talk to people that maybe make us feel a bit uncomfortable... or that other Christ followers don't have the means/capacity/audacity/effective method to reach.
In this story, the Jews had passed on the message of Christ - yet they were outraged that Paul and Barnabas were then sharing the message with Gentiles. I have seen this example in some of my own church experience... where more time and energy is spent defining the rules and deciding who/what is acceptable - all the while not even realizing that this approach renders the church ineffective to reach the rest of the world.
Acts 13:46 ... But seeing that you want no part of it—you’ve made it quite clear that you have no taste or inclination for eternal life—the door is open to all the outsiders. And we’re on our way through it."
I'm on my way through that door too, following the lead of Paul and Barnabas. There was no one too jaded or dirty or sinful - even for Christ to be around. He attracted the least of these. In fact, that's who He came for. All of us, the unclean; yet we are all welcome.
In his book "Velvet Elvis," Rob Bell illustrates these points well:
"... the church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or non-believer. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those are the "un" and "non", they work againt Jesus' teachings about how we are to treat each other. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor can be anybody. We are all created in the image of God, and we are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters."
"Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn't as bright as it could be."
Everybody matters... the bully, the annoying co-worker, the drunk, the prostitute, the lacking father or mother, the porn-addict, the junkie, the businessman, the weird guy across the street that lays on his steps in the morning... they all matter to God and therefore should matter to us. The last chapter entitled "So That..." of Tim Steven's book "Pop Goes The Church" explains why all of this is so important. If you don't own these books, you should get both!
I believe it's time to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty! Christ did....
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