Unfortunately that is how many people today see those who
consider themselves to be Jesus followers, Christians, or those who attend
church. Among the many things that people think about Christianity one of them
is the simple word “no”. Or maybe the words don’t or shall not. Many times we
preach what we can’t do such as “don’t smoke, cuss or chew or hang out with
those who do.” (It rhymes nicely but is
pretty bad theology).
That is in itself a problem but what happens next is even
worse. We not only condemn the actions but we then go on to give people a label
based on their sins. These labels may or may not be warranted. Most times they
are given from a distance and based on first impression and not actually
because the person is known. Some of the labels that we use are cruel and
others we use try to make a point while trying to be “politically correct.” Some
of the labels the church has placed on those not inside our circle are “them”, “unsaved”,
“non-Christian”, ”un-churched” and these are only a few
While we have made these distinctions and classifications I
am not so sure that is how Jesus would label them? First, I’m pretty sure Jesus
would have hung with those who smoked, cussed, chewed as well as “sinners”,
prostitutes, adulterers, homosexuals, atheists, and agnostics. I mean some of
the things such as collecting taxes, prostitution, and being an adulterer are things
people did and even the people who did them would not deny it. And many of the
actions were not pleasing to God. Even Jesus would agree with that. However is
that all they were to Jesus?
But second is that how Jesus labeled people? Did he walk
down the dusty streets looking at people and classifying them as unsaved, non
Christian, or those people? Or did he look past human labels and even their
sins to see something else? This does not mean he overlooked sin or turned a
blind eye to it but he did not let the sins define them or accept that that is
all they would be. He also did not see people as a project, someone that needed
to be worked on. He didn’t make friends just so he could influence people to
become his followers and if they didn’t follow him then they were no longer
friends. He was truly the friend of sinners.
Now back to the modern day we live in. While Jesus says that
the world will know we are his disciples because of our love why is it then that
the world knows us for our no’s, our labels, our hate, our judgment? We are
good at telling the world what not to do, how not to act, what not to say.
There are things that the Bible says are sins, things which go against God. But
they also go against us, as people, as God’s good creation. God says not to
murder which makes sense because it is destroying a life that God created,
leaving heart break to those left behind and a lifelong prison for the one who
commits the crime. God says not to commit adultery which again makes sense
because it can ruin lives, create hurt and pain, mistrust along with many other
emotions. While we are sinning against God we are also destroying and
distorting the image of God in which we were created. We become less then what
we were created for.
The problem with our no’s is that we never tell anyone what our
yes is. Maybe the reason for that is because we (Jesus followers) don’t know
what the yes is ourselves. We've gotten so good at telling everyone no that we
have not stopped to think about the things we can do. So what can we do? Not
everything has to be religious in nature. We can love sports, love music, love
the arts, love technology. We can love others. We can offer others forgiveness,
mercy and grace. We can stand with those who go through sorrow and the valley
of the shadow of death. We can stand against injustice, care for the widow and
the orphans. We can free slaves, feed the hungry and clothe the naked. There
are so many things that we can do, so many things that will touch and change
lives, our society, our world. Isn't that what Jesus meant when he prayed that
God’s kingdom would come to earth as it is found in the place where God dwells,
heaven?
What about the labels we then place on people? When people
walk through the doors of a church or into a home for a small group do they
want to be labeled? Do they want the things that cause them shame, hurt and embarrassment
placed upon them like a scarlet letter? No but is that what happens? People do
not come to church to be labeled or judged by a group of people. They are hoping
to find something different, something that they can find no where else but
have heard rumors can be found among those who say they are Jesus followers.
When they are looking for true love, mercy, and grace do they find contempt, judgment
and a 10 step program to get them out of their sinful lifestyle and onto a
proper course for God?
So maybe we can change to become people of God not known for
our no’s but for our yes. Maybe we can be known for the things we can do rather
than what we can’t do. Maybe we can be known by our love, compassion, grace and
mercy rather than for hate and judgment. Maybe we can begin to see people not
through our unfair labels but through the eyes of Jesus, eyes that see a
creation he formed and loves. Maybe we can become people who help establish God’s
rule and reign on the earth as in the place of God’s dwelling.
Maybe they shall know us by our… yes.
