We know from the parables and the sermon on the mount that Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of God to earth and to make it available to everyone. He paid the ultimate price. Think of it like going through the line up to the ticket window of your favorite NFL team and finding out someone already bought you the best seats in the house. And the great thing is, this person also did the same for the mayor of the city...and all the homeless people outside the stadium...and the ticket scalpers. Everyone has tickets to the best seats in the house. So my question is this: When will the church stop imposing their heavy, rule-laden, Scripturally "justified", legalistic burdens on their neighbors and trying to make Christianity an "exclusive" club? When we will learn to trust the Spirit to lead people instead of blaming him for our own opinions? The only truly "harsh" words Jesus had to say were aimed directly at the church leaders of his day who claimed that anyone who didn't follow their rules had no place in the Kingdom of God - and that God told them that it was supposed to be like that. Jesus told them that it was THEY who had no place there because they had completely missed the point. The very being of God was standing right in front of them and they could not see it. If you claim to know God, shouldn't you recognize him - even when it's unexpected?
The point the Pharisees were missing is love. Not conditional "I love you because you're just like me", because that is NOT love. Love LOVES because we have first been loved. It spills over onto everyone around us. It is not proud, it does not boast, or envy, or keep a record of wrongs. It it not easily offended but hopes and believes the best about everyone. It grieves with real tears and broken-heartedness with and over those who are broken and lost and hurting. We all know the shortest verse in Bible, "Jesus wept." Do you know who and what he wept for? Do you know what made Jesus cry? Don't take my word for it, go read it.
I'm asking you, church of God. I'm asking me. When are we going to stop hating each other and everyone who isn't just like us and start loving people like we have something to be joyful about? Did Jesus discriminate against people because of race or sexual orientation? How about because of status or money? What about those struggling with addiction? The spiritual abuse we as the church have inflicted on hurting people, regardless of the reason, is inexcusable. Luckily, it is forgivable and we can repent. Yes, I said WE, not they, need to repent because without there first being genuine, burden-sharing love, there would be no repentance from anyone. It is not guilt, or fear, or exclusivity that draws people to Christ, it is his love, embodied in the Spirit and in his people.
The wise words of John the Baptist told the crowds, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!" But he wasn't just talking to the "unsaved" - he was talking to the church as well. Repent, church, because the best seats in the house are for everyone, whether you have deemed them "worthy" or not.
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