I will return to the theme of obedience (how obedience and intimacy are related), but I had the Lord drop something on me this morning that I had to share.
I was headed to Luke 15, the story of the Lost Son, because Papa had been speaking to me about how to avoid becoming like the older brother. I was arrested by the Holy Spirit, however, as I read the first two verses of the chapter. I have always known that Jesus was called "the friend of sinners" and was truly a "sinner" magnet, but somehow the contrast between Him and how Christians are perceived by pre-Christians today became more real today than ever before.
Luke 15:1-2 says, "Now the tax collectors and 'sinners' were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (NIV) As I read these two lines this morning I was struck by how completely different Christians have generally become from Jesus! When was the last time we heard of "sinners" constantly gathering around a Christian to listen to him/her? I live in Colorado Springs, a city so badly divided between churched and unchurched people that it's best not to pray over a meal in a restaurant with your head bowed and where some of the more popular bumper sticker are "Focus on your own damn family!" or a fish symbol with "sushi" for the letters, etc. How ironic that the city with the highest percentage of churched people in Colorado is also the city known among unbelievers as a bad place to live!
So what happened? I find myself often asking Jesus, "How did those whom you love so much, over whom you and your angels rejoice when they return to you more than over us, become my enemy?" The answer, of course, lies somewhere in the terrible definition that the "church" has given to what it means to be a Christ follower. If being a follower of Jesus means that we merely join a club and take sides, then of course there are those who are "in" and those who are "out." But if to follow Jesus means that we are joined in intimacy with Him and His heart, then we will also become sinner magnets, exuding His love, presence and power so consistently and powerfully that people who don't know Him will want to hang around us. We will earn the right to share our faith by honoring, respecting, caring for people without strings attached, etc. We will trust the Holy Spirit to be the Holy Spirit, and we will overflow with kindness and goodness rather than draw lines in the sand.
Okay, I am on a roll here, so I will stop. You get the point, I trust. And for me, I am now asking Papa to help me be willing to check and see if those who don't know Him are drawn to me because they know that I genuinely care for them in a way similar to how Jesus cared for "sinner" in His day. A pretty good measuring stick, methinks.
Let me hear from you on this one, please. We will all benefit from the rest of the story that Papa will give to some of you.
Have a wonder-filled Christmas.
Tom, one of Papa's children.
9 comments:
Hi Tom,
I think sometimes we forget that even though we are Abba's children we still remain sinners with the same nature as those who haven't received Christ (Acts 14:15, 10:26) and don't always have the humility Christ calls us to have (Luke 18:10-14). Though sometimes negative reactions can be a response to uncomfortable truth - "The world cannot hate you (Jesus speaking to his earthly brothers), but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil." John 7:7
Jesus also said in another place if people said bad things about him how much more would bad things be said about his followers. Hopefully at least some of what is going on in Colorado Springs is an example of this instead of a reaction to the hypocrisy and prideful phariseeism so rampant among us.
Jeff
Hi, Jeff,
Thank you for your comments.
I think I understand what you are saying, but you might want to check your theology a bit in terms of our nature. The NT doesn't call believers sinners anywhere that I know of, choosing rather to call us saints, brothers, etc. And according to 2 Peter 1:4 we have been made partakers of the divine nature. I think what you mean to say is that we can still choose to live by the flesh (which NIV translates "sinful nature"), if we wish to. (But we don't have to, of course, as Romans 8 so clearly tells us).
Why is this distinction (we are saints, not sinners) so important? Because one of the most important ways to prevent Phariseeism and legalism in the Body of Christ is for believers to live in the experienced knowledge of God's perfect love for them. Those who "live loved" are loving. Thus the solution for hypocrisy, etc., is for people indeed to stop pretending that they know God's love and come humbly to Him asking Him to pour His love into their hearts as they surrender fully to Him.
Tom
Hi, Tom,
Your phrase "without strings attached" is an important one. Despite our best efforts our love often comes with strings, or an expectation of performance.
As we live in greater intimacy, and I am far behind you in this pursuit, I believe that we will greater security in His love and will be able to express our love unconditionally.
Dave
Hey, Dave,
I am so glad you caught that phrase--it is so important both for living loved ourselves and loving others purely.
And I disagree with the notion that you or anyone else is "far behind" me in this pursuit. If you are on the journey at all, then you are caught up with all the others who share the journey!
Tom
Hi Tom,
Your comment "how did those whom you love....become my enemy?" struck a thought I been wrestling with for some time. A couple of thoughts: 1) maybe "sin" was never clearly understood when we became new believers as we quickly went from tears to raising a hand. Maybe we missed repentance? Or just faked a worldly version of it. "...godly sorrow works reprentance that leads to salvation (2 Cor 7:10)." It seems to me that if I go through a process it causes me to care for those not yet in the process, especially when I know the great relationship that starts somewhere in the middle of that journey. Or....maybe we "christians" took the easy route. We learned how to fight sin physically or mentally, not spiritually. We took the shortcut of identifying sin by the sinners, forgetting where we had come from, and began to exercise pride instead of love. We began to push them away by our love-less attitudes. One of my best friends is non- christian yet. He causes me to agonize for him as I live life with him. I wish I could make the decision to follow Christ for him. But it is a spiritual birth and death. I can't do it for him. I can just love him...hopefully into it. Years ago I agonized for one of my sons as he was going through a hard time and hadn't made a commitment to the Lord. The Lord clearly told me to "back off." He told me he had no grandchildren, just children, and that he was in charge of the salvation department.
Glen
Thanks, Glen, for your thoughtful comments. I appreciate very much your willingness to read the blog and then post cogent comments. I am sure that both your suggestions, along with a host of others that we could make, are indeed reasons why so many pre-Christians think of believers as their enemy!
Tom
Dear Tom,
Just thought you would be interested in knowing that I have read most of your blog from the start to here, and it has given me alot to think about.
I am a different anonymous than the first one.
I love reading your blog Tom! I love your insights and your challenges. Thanks for sharing your life and your journey with us all through this internet medium. Remember to make sure you look me up if you ever travel to Perth Australia.
Just this week I found a thread from over 10 years ago that helped me fix the power seat in my car and saved me over $100. Now today I stumble across this post with your Spirit led prompting from over 8 years ago, and find some encouragement to continue pressing in to Papa in ways I have never known. Both are testaments to the usefulness of the internet. Clearly, one has much more value.
Thank you Tom for sharing your life with us here.
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