Title: “Come and See” (Belonging I)
Text: John 1:35-46
Thesis: Throughout the gospels Jesus treated outsiders like insiders, extending a sense of belonging to people even before they believed. As his followers we befriend people by helping them belong as a first step toward believing.
Intro to the New Series: I invite you to journey with us as people who value:
• Belonging to a caring faith community.
• Believing the truth of God’s Word.
• Becoming more like Jesus Christ.
Today the focus will be on our being a people and a faith community that welcomes others... who lovingly open our arms to all-comers and give them a place to belong. Next week the focus will be on what it means for us to belong to a caring faith community.
As I begin this morning I want you to be aware that I am using some extreme examples because sometimes Jesus care about people on the extreme edges of society.
Introduction
I want to belong to the Red Hat Ladies Society.
Sue Ellen Cooper gave a red bowler hat she had purchased at an antique store to a friend for her birthday along with the first two lines of Jenny Joseph’s poem, Warning. They go like this:
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.
She continued to give red hats to her friends and eventually several ladies bought purple outfits and wore their red hats to a tea party on April 25, 1998. From that initial tea party thousands of Red Hat Society Chapters have sprung up here and around the world and Sue Ellen Cooper continues her reign as the “Exalted Queen Mother.”
The Red Hat Society is about fun, friendship, freedom, fulfillment and fitness. There are two ways to join: You may join as a Queen for annual dues of $39 or as a Member for annual dues of $20. One of the benefits of joining as a Queen entitles you to use the “Queen’s Wave.”
You may be a member of the Red Hat Society at any age but if you are under 50 years old you have to wear a pink hat to Red Hat gatherings until you reach the age of 50.
Red Hatters host and attend tea parties, attend the theater, go on trips and cruises, do crafts and even make music… usually on Kazoos.
There are all kinds of places where we may belong: The Elks. The Gideons. Rotary club. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union. American Legion. VFW, Labor and Craft Unions. Daughters of the American Revolution. Book clubs. Sports clubs. Country Clubs. Optimist club. Political parties. Church… and so on.
I was amused when I read how Groucho Marx responded to a civic organization that was courting his membership. “I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.” Groucho Marx
Despite Groucho’s sensitivities about belonging, most people want to feel like they belong somewhere. Belonging is being part of something where you are accepted.
Belonging can refer to ownership as in, “That dog belongs to me.” But for our purposes today it is relational.
- Belonging is to be and feel included and accepted within a social, religious, political, cultural and economic group.
- Belonging is the term used when the individual becomes involved in something; it is the feeling of security where members may feel included, accepted, related, fit in, conformed and subscribed, which enhance their wellbeing with the feeling of home.
Being a people who create space in our lives and a church that is a place to belong is essential to our desire to become a Healthy Missional church.
• By “Healthy” we mean pursuing Christ.
• By “Missional” we mean pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world.
So my initial approach to “belonging to a caring faith community” is missional. As we noted last week in our discussion of Luke 15, i.e., the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, God cares about people and so should we.
This morning we will see how Jesus did mission or how Jesus reached people. If we think of Jesus a model to emulate we would see that while he was quite the attraction, his interaction with individual people was very relational. He began relationships by interacting personally with people… he acknowledged them. He talked to them. He ate with them. People felt comfortable with Jesus… he made them feel at home with him. Though socially they may well have been outsiders, Jesus made them feel like insiders.
So in the missional sense, we want to be a people who value belonging to a caring faith community. Those of us who have been around a while understand that but how do we get the people out there to feel like they belong in here?
Jesus masterfully welcomes outsiders inside.
I. Jesus Welcomes All Comers
Jesus said, “Come and see.” John 1:35-46
In our text there is a huge transition going on. John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the one who prepared the way for Jesus, now openly points to Jesus and says, “There he is. Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the promised Messiah. I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.
So two of John’s disciples began following Jesus… kind of tagging along behind him. They were dogging him. They were tailing him. So Jesus turned around and asked, “What do you want?” And they replied, “Where are you staying?”
That seems a little weird doesn’t it… I would be very nervous if there were a couple of guys skulking about behind me. I would really be weirded out if they asked, “Where are you staying?” That’s when you get out the pepper spray.
But Jesus said, “Come and see.” He invited them to go home with him. Jesus’ example is one worth emulating.
There are different models for reaching people…
• Become, Believe and Belong
• Believe, Belong and Become
• Belong, Believe and Become
1. The first model for reaching people Become, Believe and Belong
Few would admit to believing this model but it is non-the-less a model that is practiced. People need to behave like Christians then they are ready to put their faith in Christ and when they live right and believe right they can belong to our faith community.
In the back of our minds, we who are all cleaned up and spiffy for Jesus feel people who aren’t refined enough will not feel comfortable among us and, because these people are too out of control we do not feel comfortable with them.” Celtic Way of Evangelism, P. 97
I’ve been following an ongoing drama being acted out in a tiny, unincorporated community of 500 people where there is a hole-in-the-wall private club called The Fox Hole that features exotic dancers. 9 miles away in Warsaw, Ohio is the home of New Beginnings Church.
For 8 years now the pastor and people of New Beginings Church have been protesting outside The Fox Hole on Friday nights, recording the license plate numbers of the patrons and asking the patrons if their wives knew where they were.
In retaliation the dancers and patrons of The Fox Hole have been protesting outside New Beginnings Church on Sunday mornings holding placards that read, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.”
After 8 years the county officials issued a letter to the pastor of New Beginnings and the owner of The Fox Hole asking them to cease and desist their weekly protests citing the escalating conflict, the negative image on the county and how law enforcement personnel are being stretched beyond their ability to serve the county because they have to patrol the protests.
Since then the pastor of New Beginnings says the New Beginnings Ministries will not end its protests and wants an apology from the county officials, “to all the gentle Christians that you and the Sheriff’s department trampled on by inhibiting our Constitutional rights and in the process attempting to smear our names and reputations in the community we love and value so much.” One of the pastor’s demands necessary for them to stop protesting was a guarantee that the “lost souls” from the club would come to Christianity. (arumer@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com)
In essence they were like fishermen who go out expecting to catch fish that have already been cleaned… they want to catch people who are gutted, filleted, cooked and served up on a bed of brown rice. Consequently there is no chance of them ever feeling like they want to belong much less believe and become like Jesus.
2. A second model for reaching people is Believe, Belong and Become
In this model the expectation is that people need to make a decision to accept Christ as their savior and once they have made that decision they may belong. In this model believing is primary and belonging is secondary. The most important thing is to believe so your sins are forgiven and you have the hope of eternal life.
This is the model I grew up with… this is the model practiced in most evangelical churches. For lack of a better word it is confrontational. You engage a person you perceive to be an unbeliever and converse toward a point where you can make a gospel presentation.
There was a time when this approach was somewhat effective. People actually would stand in an airport or answer their door and take a poll that ended with a presentation of Steps to Peace with God or The Four Spiritual Laws.
Then a slightly new approach called Evangelism Explosion became the hot ticket tool for sharing the gospel. It was more relational. The idea was to visit those who had visited our church in their homes with the express intent of presenting the gospel. Two or three of us would go to a home and chat a bit and then get to it. The big questions were: “If you died tonight do you think you would go to heaven?” And they the follow-up question was something like, “If you were to die tonight and stood before God and God asked, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?”
Our concern was well meant. We were concerned about the eternal destiny of those folks and what those families heard was our desire for them to acknowledge their sin, accept Christ and receive forgiveness for those sins and have eternal life. They did not hear us saying, “Hey, thanks for visiting church. We’d like to get to know you and your family so we would love it if you could join us for lunch after church this Sunday… our treat. Meanwhile, if you have any questions we would be glad to try to answer them and if there is ever anything we can do to serve you, please let us know.”
When Bonnie and I were in our first church there was another Covenant Church about 20 miles away. The pastor and his wife were about our age. We did not know them but they graciously reached out to us and invited us over for dinner.
We arrived and had a lovely dinner. The conversation was typical over dinner conversation. After desert the husband said, “We would like to talk to you about an opportunity we think you will like.” It was a pitch for us to become an Amway distributor.
My immediate and enduring reaction was and is that this couple was more interested in getting us set up with Amway than in getting to know us. They were more interested in us believing and buying into their proposal than in our belonging.
3. A third model for reaching people is Belong, Believe and Become
In this model the hope is that people will experience the love of Christ through personal relationships and come to feel at home among Christians, i.e., by belonging they come to make a decision to be a follower of Jesus. Becoming then is the process of growing into the fullness of Christ-likeness.
A person’s movement to belonging to believing to becoming plays into the adage, Christ is more caught than taught. The idea is that we help people to belong so that they can believe and become like Jesus.
I have a friend and colleague who is pastor of Life House Covenant Church in Longmont. There was a massage parlor nearby. The folks at Life House enjoy eating together so they began taking food over to the women who worked there and eventually invited them to join them for lunch. The women were initially very timid but they came and they brought food to share… and then there was a police raid and the women were arrested. It was reportedly one of those human trafficking operations.
But guess who was able to reach out to those frightened and bewildered women with the love of Christ?
Because there was a developing relationship the people at Life House demonstrated the love of God and shared their faith with those ladies. A sense of belonging developed as the ladies experienced the accepting and welcoming hospitality of the faith community at Life House.
I am quite certain that ministry would never had happened had the folks at Life House picketed and protested their existence and condemned their character.
Not everyone likes it but Jesus did it anyway… He welcomed all-comers and took the heat for it.
II. Welcoming All Comers Is Not Always Politically Correct
Later Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. When the Pharisees saw him they asked, “Why does he eat with such scum?” Mark 2:16
The term “politically correct” has been bandied about a lot in recent years, so much so that we have to watch our step and hardly dare express an opinion lest we offend someone. A politically correct definition of political correctness is simply “being careful not to use language or behave in a way that offends or upsets any group of people.” So given the propensity of people to be easily offended, in order to maintain the peace, we walk on tip-toe and keep our mouths shut knowing that failure to do so will cause a ruckus. Because no one enjoys being criticized… it seems Jesus did not enjoy being scrutinized for his political incorrectness. His critics did not hide their sensitivities…
What they said:
Jesus knew what they were saying. On one occasion he said, “The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!” Luke 7:34 and Matthew 11:19
In Luke 15 it was what was being said that prompted Jesus to tell the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. The text says Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people – even eating with them! Luke 15:1-2
In Luke 19 there is the familiar story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus. Jesus had befriended Zacchaeus and later that day Zacchaeus had invited Jesus to have dinner with him and his friends. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. Luke 19:7
I ran across a real feel-good story this week… a young, recently divorced, single-mom found herself holding what was virtually a blank resume’. She was desperate. No family or friends. She needed money fast so she did what she thought she had to do to make money fast.
But her life took an unexpected turn when she bumped into a Southern Baptist pastor’s wife at the strip club where she worked. Erin Stevens took it upon herself to love on the young women working in strip clubs throughout Nashville, Tennessee. Erin would take home cooked meals, homemade comfort food and small personal gifts into the backrooms where she became known as a very sweet, happy and caring person long before they found out she was a pastor’s wife. She was non-judgmental and encouraging as she got to know the girls. She would ask about the kids and their lives. It was her gentle way that sold Katie on going to visit Friendship Community Church.
At Friendship Community Church she learned she did not have to perfect to be accepted by God. She eventually accepted Christ. She eventually quite her $70 per hour job and took a $12 per hour job. She has earned associate’s degree and is currently pursuing a career with the police department. And she has found a home at Friendship Community Church.
I don’t know if there was any blow-back. I don’t know if the Elders of Friendship Community Church were jumping for joy that their pastor’s wife was hanging out at strip clubs with strippers. I would guess that most pastors would hear about it if it got out that their wives were hanging out at Shot Gun Willies.
I think the lesson is that despite taking heat from some critics, being with and getting to know people who need Christ is not always done within the sterile walls of a church.
It may not always be pretty out there and befriending people who need Christ may be unsettling to some… it is the Christ-like thing to do.
III. Welcoming Sinners Is the Jesus Thing to Do
Jesus said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous but those who know they are sinners.” Mark 2:17, Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:31-32
When they hammered Jesus for befriending Levi/Matthew Jesus said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do.” Then he added, “I want to you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous but those who know they are sinners.” Mark 2:17 and Matthew 9:9-13 (Levi)
When confronted with his friendship with Zaccaeus Jesus responded, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost.” Luke 19:10
When people observed Jesus hanging with notorious sinners they assumed Jesus approved of their lifestyles. They assumed “birds of a feather flock together” and therefore Jesus must be one of them. The critics were not bad people. In fact they were very good people who believed they should not be tainted by the likes of such sinners. They were not going to allow their holiness to be violated by being friends with sinners.
The obvious truth is not that Jesus preferred their company or approved of their lifestyles. Jesus engaged bad company with a sincere desire to get to know them and hopefully have some influence on them. What Jesus was doing was a strategic act of love.
Conclusion
Christianity is not a religion for the respectable. It is a religion for the disreputable. Jesus had room for people like Levi the tax collector and his notoriously sinful friends. Jesus had room in his life for scum like that… He warns against using holiness as a barrier to befriending lost people and urges us to extend God’s mercy and love to people.
Christianity is not a religion that withdraws from people, it is a religion that welcomes and befriends people. Church is not a fortress to keep us in and sinners out… it is a hospital for those who need spiritual help.
“Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Because “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do.” Jesus wants people to feel like they belong so they can be drawn to believe and encouraged to become people of God.
