May Newsletter

Hey wonderful People of God!

I've been pondering John 3 in conjunction with our work in the streets and a conversation I had with Dan, the leader of Vanguard on the east side of Kalamazoo. (How's that for an opening sentence?) It all started when Dan and I began talking about how completely odd it looked for Christians not to have friends who were sinners. As our conversation progressed the Holy Spirit jumped into it and we started to ponder what being the light of the world looked like. Our conclusion led us to consider that much of Christian activity looks similar to turning a lamp on in the middle of a lighted room and getting excited about its light production. Wouldn't that be odd? Yet that's kind of what much of our Christianity looks like. We gather in our small groups and have a wonderful time fellowshipping in community with other believers. On Sundays we gather together and enjoy each other's light along with the presence of Our Maker. During the week we get to the business of life, brushing through our work or home responsibilities having very little contact with sinners only to come back to our small groups or churches again. This is good but not best. Before we move on let's look at John 3.

You remember the scene. Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night confused about what's happening. He questions Jesus about several things and they have a wonderful discussion about what it looks like to enter the kingdom of God. But as I was considering my conversation with Dan I began to see why Nicodemus was so confused. It had to do with Jesus' company. You know that in Jesus' day fellowshipping with people over dinner was a big deal. For a serious Jewish person to agree to have dinner with you was actually implying that they were entering into friendship with you. Extending dinner invitations and accepting them was huge especially because the rigorous class system that was enforced forbid mingling with those who were considered sinners according to the law. Therefore it was no wonder why the people muttered, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner” (Luke 19:7). Jesus was breaking strict religious rules by eating with prostitutes, tax collectors, beggars, etc. Nicodemus didn't understand how this lawbreaker could be used by God. Yet there was no question God was with this lawbreaker. The signs were indisputable. You can hear Nicodemus' confusion in verse 2, “We know you have to be from God because no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” And in his actions Jesus was showing us where our lights need to be if they are going to truly shine. He didn't forsake the assembly of the brethren, (Hebrews 10:25) but he did spend a large amount of time with those known to be sinners, giving us a pattern to follow after. Now to us.

What kind of time are you spending with those known sinners? When is the last time you went out to dinner with “that person.” Your light doesn't shine like it should when it's in a lighted room. It's at its most useful and brightest when it's in darkness. I take a man out for lunch that we met during one of our street ministry events. He knows I'm a pastor, but he knows I love him or I wouldn't be seen with him. After a few such lunches it was obvious that he had a serious lust problem and was in the habit of dating married women. He was confused about the problems going on in his life and just wanted to sit with someone whom he respected as someone who was trying to serve God as well. I never had to condemn him for his actions. All I had to do was talk about the blessing, in my own life, of obeying God's will and word. Within a few months he told me about how he told a woman who approached him how he was changing and didn't want to disrespect his Jesus by sleeping with her. Wow! And it wasn't just me. There were others who scorned the cultural taboo and invited him into friendship with themselves and life was imparted to him, with the result being he is now a home leader in an organization for recovering addicts.

Listen friends, pregnant teenagers don't have to hear from you that they messed up. They know it full well and need your company over a cheeseburger that, without saying a word, reminds them they are accepted by the Holy and only true God. Adulterers don't need a Bible lesson. They need your time. Fornicators and drunks don't need lectures. They need your presence and your life in their own to give them evidence that there is a life that is available if they'll “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” (Hebrews 12:1). They need to sit across the table from humanity so beautiful and transformed that they long to have the same. This doesn't happen if we keep pot-lucking with each other or going out to movies, dinner, or drinks with only other Christians. Jesus' rolodex included a large number of sinners and so should ours. This is my challenge to myself and to you on this day.

Think about it.


I love you guys!

N8