New Wineskins
Have you ever been there? I have. It’s the moment after you listen to an inspiring message from a pastor, and you’re all fired up to go and win your non-Christian friends to Christ. And then you realize you don’t have any non-Christian friends. You’ve lived in the church bubble for too long.
I like church people. They’re my kind of people. In fact, if it was up to me, I’d probably hang around them all the time. They share my values, my interests. But when Jesus told us to the be the light of the world, I don’t think he meant for all the lights to gather together in one place, leaving the rest of the world to fend for themselves in darkness.
As a Christian, and especially as a pastor, I have to be intentional about building meaningful relationships with those outside the faith. As uncomfortable as it might be at times, I need to be investing in the lives of those around me, so that I’ll have a platform to share the hope of Christ.
Did Jesus ever do this?
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:9-13
QUESTION: What “sinners” are you hanging around with?
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