Saturday, November 15, 2008

Back to The Root, Again

What the heck is the church supposed to be all about? Depending on who you ask, you get various answers:

- Be a holy huddle of perfect morality for people look upon with awe and wonder.
- Be a political action group to effect change through the political realm.
- Be a social club for people to hang out and chill out in an environment 'safe' from all worldly influences.

While all those things might, on occasion, serve us well, they are not the root of our calling! Jesus asked us to do one thing: Make disciples! by going into the world, baptizing people, and teachings them to follow me. (My paraphrase of Matt 28:19-20)

But we forget that sometimes. I could not have been more sad about the actions of some people who wear the name Christian just yesterday. I was chillin' at a place called "Your Place" in Hershey, PA, with a few minutes of quiet time to enjoy some stromboli (which was stinkin' awesome!) and peace and quiet. My booth happened to be next to the bar, where the regular crew of Friday night guys were sitting around chatting over their beer.

Now, being a place right next to the convention center, and with 2 'churchy' events happening there, lots of people who gladly bear the name of Christ were walking through that door. But I was sad to hear what they said as they came in the door. They looked at the door, stuck their noses in the air (some literally!! no joke!) and said, "We need a table for four, in any room except this one!" "We really don't want to be in here with them."

As I watched this go on multiple times, I couldn't help but think about the Savior whose name they wore. I thought about what he would do in that situation. Would he have gone back to the holy huddle, or hung out with the lost dudes? He told a story where he said that 1 lost sheep is worth more effort than 99 self-righteous sheep already in the pen! I wonder if Jesus would have sat down next to one of those guys and invested energy in his life?

Were those 'Christians' wrong for thinking it was poor judgment to drink stuff that impairs your thinking and judgment? NO! Were they wrong for not wanting to be drinking? NO!

Here's where they were wrong: They were wrong in acting as if they were better than those people! They were wrong in thinking they were bringing Christ glory by snubbing those people who need that Savior. They were wrong for forgetting their mission: TO MAKE DISCIPLES. How can we make disciples if we never take opportunities to invest our life in those who don't know Christ?

Well, I paid my bill, and told that hostess/bartender that not all Christians are like that, and Jesus certainly isn't. Let's be people who love and care and serve and invest life into people who need Life.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I wholeheartedly agree. Many Christians have become confused as they reject sin. They have started rejecting sinners instead. Real people have real needs and need REAL people to meet them where they are, not where we wish they would be. Thanks for the thoughts.

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