I'm going to be blunt with you: This week I heard of church members that were upset because they overheard a swear word a church picnic. They instructed the church's children's ministry to do better on discipline because swear words do not belong in the church. However, these children were unchurched. They came from broken homes with no knowledge of God whatsoever. They had never stepped inside of a church. Honestly, they came for the free food, because they might not get a meal otherwise.
This broke my heart.
I want you to take a listen to the song "My Jesus" by Todd Agnew.
My Jesus was a friend of sinners. He met the people where they were. He called them out of that lifestyle, but only after He welcomed them into His arms. He didn't judge based on where they were at the time. Take a look at His response to the woman caught in adultery in John 8:
"Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”How often do we judge? We see others who do not live like us and expect them to shape up. We expect them to clean up-- wash out their mouth and dirty hands and put on their Sunday best-- before they step foot in our churches. Our clean, American churches. One of the verses of this song has struck me the most:
"Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my churchI know these are harsh words. I know because they cut me to the heart, and I'm the one writing them. But Jesus met sinners where they were. He's probably the One that started the saying, "Hate the sin, love the sinner"...because that's just what He did. And that's not what we, as the Church, are doing. That's not what I'm doing.
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd"
I pray that we would be the hands and feet of Christ this week.
"Oh Jesus friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks Your's."
--"Jesus Friend of Sinners" by Casting Crowns.
So very true! Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDelete