(I was asked by a friend to re-post this, so here you go)
How true. What is it about people who are different than us that we just aren’t comfortable with? People with different looks, different opinions and different backgrounds often make us uncomfortable. When will we begin to understand that God loves the people we consider weird just as much as He loves us? He loves the pierced, tattooed, the black, the white and the foreign.
- God loves the man in prison just as much as He loves me.
- God loves the homeless man just as much as He loves me.
- God love the unemployed on welfare as much as He loves me.
- God loves the 3-time divorcee as much as He loves me.
As the church we need to be as interested in reaching, loving and serving people different than us as we are in reaching the middle class white family that’s just moved to town. Didn’t Jesus spend all his time with the outcast, the different, the unloved and the lowly?
- The woman at the well. She was married five times and was shacking up with another man when she met Jesus. Yet Jesus found her incredibly important and salvation worthy.
- The thief on the cross. One of the greatest stories of grace, ever. But I missed it the first part of my life because I was too busy arguing about the thief’s salvation.
- The woman caught in adultery. Sadly, had I been there, I would have probably been holding a stone.
- He ate with sinners. He taught the prostitutes. There were also the tax collectors, lepers, the demon possessed, the crippled, those of lower status… He offered them hope, the truth, and a way out of their misery.
And understand, it’s not our job is not to try to make people look like us. Our job is to share the Good News with them and let Jesus fix them on the inside.
I look around the church where I worship and thankfully I’m beginning to see more people all the time who are different than me. I’m beginning to see people from different backgrounds, kids who have never been to church and people who make some uncomfortable. Unfortunately, most of the people I see still look just like me. It is my conviction this year to reach out to more people that are different than me. People who I’ve overlooked in the past.
The church is in the people business, and when the church becomes just a business and quits being about people, reaching out to people and helping people, that’s when the church ceases to be a church.
I am a Christian husband and father, who moonlights as the minister for the church of Christ in Childress, Texas. My wife Lea and I have been married for 21 years. We are doing our best to raise our 4 boys, who are all growing up way too fast.
AMEN!!!!
and
Many blessings…
Amen!
)
“Kalen”
I completely agree! The HS that I attended was an Arts magnet. hence we had a lot of “interesting” people, many who were my friends. Anytime we went some place together, the look and comments that were made were enough to send me over the edge. When will we, as Christians, start looking under the skin instead of at it?
Good job. I’ve been thinking about similar things lately, and it seems like it’s been on others’ minds as well — we NEED to bring more people in, and everyone, weird or not-so-weird, needs to know God loves them. Personally, I think we all have some “weird” in us, it’s just manifested in different ways.
)
Great minds must think alike. My post is similar, just not as well written.
Great post, Trey
Love and peace
Neva
Trey, good post, as usual. My only “addition,” if you could call it that is that believers are especially beloved by the Father as His adopted children. This is a relationship the unregenerate sinner cannot experience. John 3:16 can’t be any clearer…G-d indeed loves those in the world as His creation, but He cherishes His own children, as any Father would.
Sorry Trey, the above comment is mine, Marnie.
Marie … you are exactly right. I thing when we allow people to be themselves they’ll reachout to people like themselves as well.
Lisa – I bet people we think are weird look at us and think we’re the ones that are weird.
Neva – I’ll be right there to check things out.
Marnie … welcome. So glad you’ve dropped by and left a comment. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I understand exactly where you’re coming from.
Great thoughts, excellent post. I have always been suspect of the “weirdos”, though my son hangs around them and aspires to be one (over my dead body
. But thanks for reminding me that that’s who Jesus hung around.
I have noticed this theme recently. Maybe it is because it is at God’s heart. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly”. I still struggle with love the sinner and not the sin. Trey, I would like your thoughts on the post I made Saturday along these lines. I know you are still ‘resting in peace’ but when you have time.
James
Oh yeah,
I also meant to say something about just being wierd. I agree with prior posts, wierd is in the eye of the beholder. But we have to consider the impact we have. It may be looking like a bunch of mormons or jw in our dress clothes or turning people off by dressing inappropriate to the setting. I have biker friends who dress a certain way. There is a whole ministry to reach out to bikers. If you show up in suit they will not listen but in jeans and leather they might.
James
You’re totally speaking for me! I think God loves seeing diversity in church. There’s something wrong with church being such a segregated place.
I think that this just became my favorite of all of your posts. If you were preaching (even in the COC and being a woman) I would probably shout AMEN! Great thoughts.
Thanks Monica … you can say amen in Childress anytime you want.
James … you are exactly right about how we dress and how we relate.
I would love to look out on a Sunday morning when I’m preaching and see blacks, whites, hispanics and the such.
I think it is interesting that the majority are trying to fit in and look “normal.” Some Christians think they have the skinny on what normal is. But normal is really just a setting on a dryer.
I think today I’ll be air fluff, maybe tomorrow, permanent press.
I enjoyed the opening quote. This is actually a sensitive area to James because he has spent a lot of time trying to convince our churches that the ones we need to reach out to are not the pretty, middle class but the ones that they only want to deal with for minial labor. If you question whether you want to hug someone, then they are probably the least of these that God sent you.
Thank you for your kind comment on my Marriage on Mondays post. I must say my post today is not as gracious. As for ideas for your blog, I love reading yours because the way you present anything resembles you. I really like your family posts and your trivial questions.
Kathy
Trey,
A wise man once told me, the only question or concern we, as “members” of the church should have when interacting with people whether it’s on the street or someone has come into our assembly is “Lost” or “Saved” Anything else is none of our business. It’s Shepherd business. Our job is to love them. The only time we stop doing that is if for some scriptural reason the Shepherds call us off. Until they do that, we better be loving them.
Trey,
Excellent thoughts. When I contemplate your thoughts, I believe you hit the nail on the head. Sometimes we look at people as if they have leprosy, spiritual leprosy to be exact.
If we remember the accounts of Jesus, he was the one approaching the lepers and healing their disease. When is the last time we (churches in general) reached out to heal those of spiritual leprosy. We need to contact the lepers not avoid them.
Great thoughts!
This year our theme is “Keep Your Eye on Heaven for 2007.” During the first quarter I’m preaching about the one who possesses heaven. January was about the Father and February has been about The Son. Last Sunday my text was Matt.9:9-13 (Title – Heaven Mixing with Sinners). I did the usual in helping them to understand the text and the situation. My application was that Jesus was eating this meal not only with the sinners and tax collectors but his disciples as well. So I challenged the congregation to make sure that their evangelism was not with the comfortable but with those who make us uncomfortable. I also suggested that when we have our pot lucks our meals should reflect Jesus’ meal. I suggested that we invite all those who come to our building to use our food pantry to our pot lucks. I also challenged them to sit with these folks and get to know them when they come. So far only one person has offered a useful suggestion in this regard. I hope our evangelism this year will reflect Jesus’ vision of reaching out.
Trey, I had some further thoughts. I used to encourage activism in some of our members especially in regard to abortion. However, after my lesson last week I wonder if certain people in our society (those who have had abortions, those in favor of abortions, and homosexuals) think that we Christians don’t want them in our churches because of efforts to stop their behavior and political gains. I’m not at all suggesting that the church accept the behavior of these two situations but perhaps the political activism of those who claim Jesus has built a wall that keeps certain sinners out of the church or at least makes them think they are not welcome in our churches.
Good good good, Trey. We do not do a very good job of inviting people into our lives … it’s one thing to sit on the pew … another thing to open up the heart. Until our churches open up their hearts, there will always be this great divide. I’m kind of tired…hope that makes sense.
Some people judge themselves as not fitting the ideal Christian mold. These people don’t need to be judged or have their differences pointed out if they are courageous enough to take the chance to step inside the church building and believe they might have a place there. Embrace them always.
trey-
Sometimes you can be ‘older’ with really short hair and wear boots with your suit and not put a great deal of time in worrying about your “career” and wear a jeans when you teach Bible class– that can make you weird in some circles too.
‘Wierdo’ is in the eye of the beholder. Let’s face it Jesus was also weird because He looked like just another Jewish zealot to the Romans and like just another Pharisee to the woman taken in adultery & the woman at the well.
I guess what I’m saying is becoming all things to all people is being your self AND being like Jesus. That’s what Jesus did. Jesus always looked like Jesus but He also always acted like God.
AW
Just A General Comment-
I’m really not trying to be weird or not fit in, but maybe if we just reached out and didn’t worry about what people looked like that might be what our “Commission” is?
White folks who go after people of ‘color’. Old who purposely try to fit in with the young. Rich that slum for the sake of evangelism.
I think real weirdos just see sheep and don’t TRY to be different just to be different.
AW
Gallagher – You are right, sometimes we look not at their appearance, but at their sin and see them as an outcast. Good thought.
Bob – I’m so glad you’ve kicked in your 2 cents worth. Great thoughts on the potluck, but especially on the preaching and teaching. I wish all churches would figure out was to look “open” to sinners. I’ve heard it said many times, once you leave the church … it’s so hard to come back.”
John Dobbs – put that hammer down and rest for a little while. I know you’ve been doing a lot of that heavy labor lately
AW – Glad you kicked in. You always challenge us with your thinking. I guess to some I consider weird … they probably look at me and think I’m weird looking.
Loved the title! I thought it was going to be about preachers though
-Paula
I like this one Trey. It both challenges me and encourages me. As a teacher, I like the weird kids. One day Stephen ate and ant in class. Now Stephen is just plain weird and I love it. He so grossed out the girl next to him when he ate the ant that she had to leave the room. LOL
Now I teach science and not much grosses me out. Since the ant eating episode, and with Stephen really celebrating his “weirdness” I take opportunities whenever they arrive to exclaim, “I like weird!”.
But then sometimes weird scares me too. I don’t exactly run up to someone with green hair and introduce myself. I think next time I will ask them what it means. I wear my hair the easiest way and the cheapest way I can. That is who I am, practical. If someone takes the time to dye their hair green then what does it mean about them? It must mean something. I doubt they are so into nature that they hope to begin photosynthesis any time soon. So, now I am curious.
I’ll let you know when I try this out.
Di
Fantastic post, Trey. This is very true.
I'm actually one of the 'weirdoes' you speak of, and contrary to what some may conclude by my immediate impression, God is the central focus of my life.
He's helped me through some terribly hard times and He's blessed me with many amazing things. I'm not the only 'weirdo' who is like this, either!
The time-tested wisdom that "appearances can be deceiving" is still sadly overlooked. I will admit that stereotypes often do have a solid basis for forming, but no one fits the bill to a T. We have no right to judge others based on looks alone.
(On that note– Di, I like your idea!)
Not much else I can say without repeating myself or others, so I will simply thank you again for posting this.
-J
Jayce … I'm honored you stopped by my blog. Please come back again.
Blessings,
Trey
We went to see the movie "To Save a Life" this weekend. Very, very good movie. This post ties in well with some of my thoughts after the movie.
Have you read the book "Eats with Sinners" by Arron Chambers. It came out last fall. I'm not very far into it, but like it so far.
i got a bit inspired by your thoughts coupled with an experience of my own recently.
here's the link if you want to look.
http://shallowfrozenwater.blogspot.com/2010/01/year-of-lords-favour.html
Our sermon yesterday gave the thought that if we really wanted to be following Jesus we would be around a lot of "weirdos" as that is the type of people attracted to Jesus. If we don't have them around I wonder what is says about us?
Hey Trey,
So having tattoos makes me a weirdo???
Great post.
On Sundays, I have taken measures to make sure my tattoos do not show through my dress shirts by making sure my undershirt sleeves are long enough.
I do not like doing it, but I figure I am not being considerate of others' sensititvities by having them covered.
Now that it is 2010, is it wise to go out of my way to make sure they are not seen through the sleeves of my dress shirts? Would it be better for people to get accustomed to them so newcomers may not be as shocking if they attend?
You seem to imply that weird appearance conveys other problems by transitioning straight from the paragraph about "He loves the pierced, tattooed, the black, the white and the foreign." — to problems not related at all to appearance — "the man in prison, homeless, unemployed, and divorcee". That bothers me.
There are plenty of 'white middle class folk' that far worse problems than those that are uninhibited in the way they choose to appear externally. On the other hand, I'm _deeply_ saddened if people in this day and age who still have hang ups about green hair, tattoos, and piercings. 30 years ago, I could understand, but seriously, maybe we need to get out once in a while.
Another thing that bugs me is constantly referring to how 'the church' accepts these 'weirdos'. Isn't it about how _I_ love or choose not to love people? Sure, I represent the church. I do, but I'd really just rather think about it in terms of how I represent Jesus. And, you know what, there's a lot of people out there that show the love of Jesus that never associate themselves with a church, many times much better than those that are part of the church.
Maybe this bugs me because I've been apart of a group of believers in the past, who like myself, were primarily upper, middle-class suburbanites, who looked a lot alike. But, they supported and sponsored a Celebrate Recovery group. The people that came to the CR gatherings didn't look too much like us. And, we really didn't mix all that well with them, except for some light conversation before and after worship. We generally didn't do much with them outside of those official church gatherings. I kinda got the feeling we didn't want to deal with the baggage many of them brought with them. It seemed to give everyone a sense of pride though to know that we were reaching these people that didn't look like us. And, this apparent pride and yet, lack of regular engagement bothered me.
This post bugs me because it reeks of a viewing people as projects.
How about we learn to overlook outward appearances in everyone we encounter? …simply because we love them the same way that my Savior loves us? …no strings attached. How about we love them and witness to them whether or not they ever step in a building where a church meets? …just for the sake of loving them like Jesus loved us?
coffeedrinkingpreacher … although I'm not bothered by them, a small rural church may still have issues with tattoos. I think I'd simply do some checking and asking.
Glenn … thanks for sharing your thoughts.
You're welcome
I just re-read my post and realized it was more cynical than I intended when I first wrote it.
I really do appreciate your posts.
Glenn – not cynical, but thought provoking … thanks.
Trey,
That sounds like a Patrick Mead quote. Were you journaling at Tulsa?
I LOVE that last quote: "And understand, our job is not to try and make people look like us. Our job is to share the Good News with them and let Jesus fix them on the inside." Let Him make them (and US) look more like Him? I like it! but it hurts sometimes.