“Watch out! Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Jesus of Nazareth, The Christ. (As recorded by John Mark, Peter’s companion)
Who do you spend your time with?
Why is it, when we talk about ways of “meeting ‘the lost’” do we always conceive of awkward, unnatural, forced interactions that require “faith” (more like, a complete lack of social tact, or extreme guts…) in order to engage in?
Who do you sit next to in class?
What is your next door neighbor’s name and what do they do for a living?
What is the name of the person next to you in your place of work and what do they do for fun? When was the last time you went with them when they did that?
Why don’t you know the answers to these questions?
Have we created such a culture of “community” and “fellowship” that we have no more time for relationships with people who aren’t in our immediate circle of fellow believers?
What would it take for you to have time to spend with your classmates, neighbors, and coworkers, on their turf? What activities do you need to cease involvement with?
Do it.
April 1, 2007 at 6:52 am
Matt, your post made me give glory to God.
April 2, 2007 at 9:00 am
Matt,
There is truth indeed to your word. So often there is a focus of dieing to the “old self” that we can die off completely and loose the original unique parts of how God has created each one of us individually. Yes, there are some things that we all must die to… but please fellow Christians let us not fall into a Christian bubble and only speak Christianese.
Who have you met today that was outside your bubble?
April 5, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I got blasted the other day by a sister in the Lord on this point. She said Jesus and Paul didn’t “pal around” with unbelievers. I pointed out to her that Jesus was “a friend of sinners” and Paul was “all things to all men.” I don’t know ho they could do that without spending a lot of time with “sinners”. She didn’t buy it.She heard me saying “tolerate sin” and “compromise,” although those thoughts never entered my head (nor Jesus’) or left my mouth.
Pharisee means separated one. Jesus followers — that is those who go where Jesus goes — are just the opposite, commanded to go in just like a fireman rescuing people from a burning building. The Pharisees and their modern-day adherents are on the defense. Jesus is on the offense, invading the Land of the Lost. To quote Mark Galli, author of “Jesus Wild and Mean,” “The Pharisees refuse to touch an unclean thing. Jesus aims to make the unclean holy.”
April 6, 2007 at 1:58 am
I’ve been hanging out lately (as in the past year) with fewer and fewer people from church. I got sick of them asking, “So how are you really doing?” I’m probably on the prayer chain.
That said, I don’t really ‘hang out,’ per se, with anyone other than family, so I guess that’s pretty much the same thing. I like my family, and I like being at home with them. Maybe it’s just a season.
But I did know the answers to all the questions you posed above.
April 6, 2007 at 7:15 am
Dan – Amen.
Jon – Could be just a season. Fellowship with believers IS essential to the Christian life. But like Dan says, when we cordon ourselves off from the rest of reality, we run the risk of becoming Pharisees.
April 9, 2007 at 9:09 pm
It seems that we like to make Christian meetings out to be the arch-enemy, but they rarely are. I suspect that these days Christians are not “friends of sinners” as much as Christ was, because they are busy playing in front of the computer… writting or reading blogs. Ouch! Did I just say that?
April 9, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Tim, true. Even with my insane schedule, I still have times that I could be getting to know my friends better, or making new friends.
April 11, 2007 at 9:55 am
Thank you for that reminder. I struggle often with stepping out of my little Christian bubble and embracing people and relationships with those that don’t think the same as I do.
You wouldn’t think it would be hard for me since my friendship with an agnostic was responsible for restoring and strengthing my faith…
May 15, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Jesus didn’t always hang out with believers. He hung out with the broken, the outcasts, the prostitutes, the unclean. As Christians we strive to become more like Christ, and more in tune with the way He thinks. I go to a Baptist Church and it seems like the only way many of our congregation wants to reach these people is by somehow getting them on our “turf.” (I had to steal that word, i like the way it was used) Christ shined on their turf, so we should do the same.