Have you ever been there? I have. It\u2019s the moment after you listen to an inspiring message from a pastor, and you\u2019re all fired up to go and win your non-Christian friends to Christ. And then you realize you don\u2019t have any non-Christian friends. You\u2019ve lived in the church bubble for too long.<\/p>\n
I like church people. They\u2019re my kind of people. In fact, if it was up to me, I\u2019d 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019ll have a platform to share the hope of Christ.<\/p>\n
Did Jesus ever do this?<\/p>\n
9<\/sup>\u00a0<\/sup>As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector\u2019s booth.\u00a0\u201cFollow me,\u201d\u00a0he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.<\/strong><\/p>\n 10<\/sup>\u00a0<\/sup>While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew\u2019s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.\u00a0<\/strong>11\u00a0<\/sup>When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, \u201cWhy does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n 12<\/sup>\u00a0<\/sup>On hearing this, Jesus said,\u00a0\u201cIt is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.<\/strong>13\u00a0<\/sup>But go and learn what this means: \u2018I desire mercy, not sacrifice.\u2019\u00a0For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.\u201d<\/strong> Matthew 9:9-13<\/p>\n QUESTION: What \u201csinners\u201d are you hanging around with?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever been there? I have. It\u2019s the moment after you listen to an inspiring message from a pastor, and you\u2019re all fired up to go and win your non-Christian friends to Christ. And then you realize you don\u2019t have any non-Christian friends. You\u2019ve lived in the church bubble for too long. I like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2490,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[139,141,254,529,544,760,1557,1575],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bible","tag-biblical-truth","tag-christian","tag-food-for-thought","tag-friends","tag-jesus","tag-what-im-teaching","tag-witnessing"],"yoast_head":"\n