No hoarding
This week is on Romans 12:16:
It's fairly well known that people create a lot more divisions between people than God does. Everyone has classes of people they don't want to associate with, or types of personality they would prefer to not have around them. Maybe a particular woman will talk your ear off, or maybe a particular guy is "creepy," so you make it a point to not be around them. You're creating walls and distinctions that hinder God's work and undo the grace he's trying to extend.
Jesus hung out with prostitutes and the insane. Everyone knows that. What they don't also think about is that he also hung out equally with hypocritical church people and two-faced back-stabbing politicians. He hung out with selfish rich people and selfish poor people alike. People shove each other out of the way to meet the pieced, tattooed red-eyed punk so that they can add him to their portfolio of people they've saved, but they totally ignore the lonely fifty-something businessman in the nice sports car, who wears a suit to church because a suit is all he's ever known. Why not welcome them both? Why give one the cold shoulder and walk quickly past them, while extending the hand to the other? Jesus didn't do that.
Most people naturally want to avoid the dirty, loud, not right in the head folks. But in our modern times, people like to feel like they're their own subculture, and will also shut out mainstream "sellouts." They close the doors of their church to people who seem like they've made it, or who look like they would fit better in another subculture other than their own. And so, the church becomes a clubhouse, and not a place where the gospel is free to all.
Jesus didn't divide his gospel into subcultures. He didn't ask for a separate church for Jews and a separate church for gentiles. A separate church for Romans and a separate church for Ethiopians. A separate church for people who drink and a separate church for people who don't. A separate church for Greeks and a separate church for Samaritans. He made himself available to anyone who made themselves available.
There's a certain pride in pushing people away. You're saying "They do not belong." or "They are not worth my time." You're saying "I can do better." There's someplace you'd rather be. There's someone you'd rather be hanging out with. There's something you'd rather be doing. It's conceitedness.
It's not living in harmony when you say "The people from that church aren't real Christians." You're not being harmonious when you're refusing to share with an ethnic group or organization that has typically discriminated against you in the past. The Pharisees freely said and did both of those things, about the Samaritans and about the Romans. Is that who you want to imitate? We're here to be ambassadors of God's love, and God's love is available to everyone.
Don't hoard the gospel and just share the wealth with people you've picked out yourself. Catch yourself when you're getting cliquey and exclusive. Be on the watch for the temptation to ignore and pass by people who are "difficult." Can you honestly think of anyone who you can say God doesn't want to invite into his kingdom?
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
It's fairly well known that people create a lot more divisions between people than God does. Everyone has classes of people they don't want to associate with, or types of personality they would prefer to not have around them. Maybe a particular woman will talk your ear off, or maybe a particular guy is "creepy," so you make it a point to not be around them. You're creating walls and distinctions that hinder God's work and undo the grace he's trying to extend.
Jesus hung out with prostitutes and the insane. Everyone knows that. What they don't also think about is that he also hung out equally with hypocritical church people and two-faced back-stabbing politicians. He hung out with selfish rich people and selfish poor people alike. People shove each other out of the way to meet the pieced, tattooed red-eyed punk so that they can add him to their portfolio of people they've saved, but they totally ignore the lonely fifty-something businessman in the nice sports car, who wears a suit to church because a suit is all he's ever known. Why not welcome them both? Why give one the cold shoulder and walk quickly past them, while extending the hand to the other? Jesus didn't do that.
Most people naturally want to avoid the dirty, loud, not right in the head folks. But in our modern times, people like to feel like they're their own subculture, and will also shut out mainstream "sellouts." They close the doors of their church to people who seem like they've made it, or who look like they would fit better in another subculture other than their own. And so, the church becomes a clubhouse, and not a place where the gospel is free to all.
Jesus didn't divide his gospel into subcultures. He didn't ask for a separate church for Jews and a separate church for gentiles. A separate church for Romans and a separate church for Ethiopians. A separate church for people who drink and a separate church for people who don't. A separate church for Greeks and a separate church for Samaritans. He made himself available to anyone who made themselves available.
There's a certain pride in pushing people away. You're saying "They do not belong." or "They are not worth my time." You're saying "I can do better." There's someplace you'd rather be. There's someone you'd rather be hanging out with. There's something you'd rather be doing. It's conceitedness.
It's not living in harmony when you say "The people from that church aren't real Christians." You're not being harmonious when you're refusing to share with an ethnic group or organization that has typically discriminated against you in the past. The Pharisees freely said and did both of those things, about the Samaritans and about the Romans. Is that who you want to imitate? We're here to be ambassadors of God's love, and God's love is available to everyone.
Don't hoard the gospel and just share the wealth with people you've picked out yourself. Catch yourself when you're getting cliquey and exclusive. Be on the watch for the temptation to ignore and pass by people who are "difficult." Can you honestly think of anyone who you can say God doesn't want to invite into his kingdom?
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