8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
When our family hosts ministry teams in Mexico with Evident Ministries it is good. We and our ministry teams are doing our Jesus thing. We are sweating for Jesus and it is good. Jesus DID say, "Go and make disciples." We ARE going....but. But, here is what Jesus did NOT say: "Go and make disciples...1 or 2 weeks per year." We have a responsibility, as "Ambassadors of Christ", to be on the clock 24/7, 52 weeks per year. It is just too easy to take our 1 or 2 weeks per year and mark "evangelism" off on our checklist. Our sinful nature within makes too easy to pridefully think of ourselves as "having arrived" and as better than others because we have that item checked on our checklist...
Can I just tell ya something? No one is a member of the body of Christ because they deserve to be! None of us got God’s attention by our perfection. In fact, none of us EVER even came close. Romans 3:23 says, we ALL fall short of the glory of God. As Christians, we are sinners saved by the grace of God and I am very grateful for that.
Someone said this,
"The church is the only organization in the world where the only qualification for membership is to be unqualified.”
Therefore, what the church is NOT is a place for people who have “arrived” or who are 100% obedient and just soooo spiritual. The church is actually a place for those who are needy, afraid, confused, and quite sinful. If you are a Christian and I am correct, I should have just described you: Needy, afraid, confused, and quite sinful.
I believe this is one of the best principals the church has going for her. Not much is more appealing or attractive to the unchurched than to find out there really is a place where they can go and NOT be intimidated by the FALSE notion that the church is full of PERFECT PEOPLE!
As a member of the Body of Christ, you may not realize it but some of your non-Christian friends really do think the church is full of perfect people. Do you wonder where they got that idea? If you have ever been around a bunch of spiritually snooty folks then you already know. There is hardly anyone less approachable than a group of Christ followers who have forgotten how they received God's Grace in the first place and how much they needed it when they did.
On the other hand – hardly anything is more attractive than a bunch of humble sinners, gathered as the family of God, saved by His Grace, sincerely praising Jesus for His love! “Yeah, sometimes I struggle.”, admitted by a humble Christ follower, is an attractive thing to hear for the unchurched. It is attractive and it is refreshing.
Can I just tell ya something? Our Savior is perfect but we are not! In fact, I can safely say, we as Christians, are all still in the molding process. We are a work in progress. In our surrender, He IS MAKING (not has made) us more like Him. Some of us may have matured in our faith to a place of consistency...by God's Grace. But, the truth is even the most spiritually mature among us still struggle everyday sin. We may have reached a point of general success with facing our anxieties and temptations…but we still have them.
If we every going to be welcoming, not only in our church families, but in our faith circles as well, we must be willing to do what it takes to create a "Come As You Are" culture.
We must be willing to: MAKE ALLOWANCES
We must follow the pattern set forth by God toward us and show grace. God allowed us to come to Him in salvation in our imperfect state...while we were yet sinners. We must be willing allow others into our world in THEIR imperfect state.
We must be willing to: BE AUTHENTIC
The Bible is crystal clear about this. We need to be #TellingTHEStory but we have no right to brag or boast about our salvation. It is absolutely NOT a reward for good behavior.
We must be willing to: BE GOD’S MASTERPIECE
We are God's masterpiece. His Word says so. Let's live like we know it. God is crafting a great work of art out of each of us. We are created anew in Christ Jesus. Can anyone tell this is true by how we live...or must we tell them?
PRAYER
Father, help us to allow other people to question our faith. Help us to allow people to wrestle with their faith. Help us to stay humble, childlike, and authentic. Help our lives to be "Grace with skin on". I pray others will see the good deeds and works your Grace is doing in our lives in a light which inspires them to want to experience your Grace as well. Father put our lives on display for your Glory! Amen.
Enjoy and keep telling THE Story!
