Ephesians 2:11-17
The verdict is in and the odds don’t look great. According to researcher and speaker Carey Nieuwhof, only 21% of non-Christians hold a favorable view of the church. The trend is heading in the wrong direction. With 79% of them uncomfortable with the church, that means they are most likely not going to come here for spiritual guidance. The church just isn’t a welcoming place anymore for those who don’t know Jesus. Rosaria Butterfield, the author of The Gospel Comes with a House Key, echoes this in her personal story. She avoided the church because of her lifestyle. It wasn’t until she developed a friendship with Smiths over their dinner table that she began to open up to God Through their dinner table hospitality, the Smiths used their home to create an open door for Rosaria to come to Christ. They brough the far near with food, kindness and genuine love. This is the refreshing gift that Paul emphasizes in today’s passage.
Listen to what the Smiths’ hospitality did for her.
Nothing prepared me for the unstoppable gospel and for the love of Jesus, made manifest by the daily practices of hospitality undertaken in this one simple Christian home. This Christian home became my two-year refuge and way station. Long before I ever walked through the doors of the church, the Smith home was the place where I wrestled with the Bible, with the reality that Jesus is who he says he is, and eventually came face-to-face with him on the glittering knife’s edge of my choice sexual sin.
The Gospel Comes with a House Key, pg 50
I would like to look at what it means for us to open our hearts and our homes as refreshing people to the very ones “against” us. To the people that know they don’t belong in buildings like this. What does it mean to actually love the sinner?
People Have Intrinsic Value
To bring the far near: this is a profound thought. So common is the idea that the right should make sure the wrong knows their wrong-ness. Many people really struggle with the church for this reason – they know they’ve made bad choices, and believe that those bad choices (or the lifestyles that come from them) are what make them less valuable, especially to the church. This should bring tears to their eyes – the very group that was designed to take in the unloveable is now untouchable. Bringing others close is the “why” God did all He did! By making us His image-bearers (Gen 1:27), He assigned each person an intrinsic value and goodness, which is our reason to give love and respect to everyone, regardless their choices. Jesus came to bring those far, near. We are to love people, not because of what they offer or how good they are, but because God loves them. He assigns value, not themselves, not their choices, and most certainly not us.
People Will Not Come to the Church
Crossing the border to the unloveable isn’t easy. It’s messy and dirty. Rosaria’s story itself is certainly controversial. There is no question that she was one of the far. Whether it’s sexual sin, drinking, drugs, greed, selfishness, or anything else, we’ve all come from a place of addiction. We were all, at one time, addicted to our own pride if nothing else. If you’ve experienced victory in Christ/salvation from sin, than you know God saves. Because of that we can handle the muck of other people with maturity and love, seeking to share the gospel (not the “hard truth”). But as Nieuwhof explains, they aren’t coming to us. This takes the church building out of the equation and puts our homes at the center of God’s strategy for the Great Commission.
We Must Earn the Right to Be Heard
IW’s in France are using house parties and life together with non-Christians to create a church where there is no building. They do this by earning the RIGHT to be heard. Talk about Jackie, high school friend who taught swim lessons with me and got so annoyed with how patient I was working with the young kids that she finally broke down and asked why I was so different. Over time, through true and genuine relationships, when people know we care and they are able to see our lives over time (making sure we are practicing what we are preaching), then we will earn the right to be heard. Bringing peace means not forcing it into the conversation but living it out and earning the right to share God’s truth.
Next Steps
The days of Billy Graham crusades are over and door-to-door evangelism makes us salespeople. Treating people with respect and love, on their turf, over time, is the strongest strategy for making disciples who make disciples.
- Discuss our humanity with believing friends and challenge each other to lessen the stigma of sin in the Christian culture.
- Seek non-Christian friendships on their turf; associations, groups, neighborhoods. Go to them and see their value as people.
- Invite a non-Christian to your home, but don’t try to share the gospel. Instead, just be refreshing with Christ’s love through you.
God doesn’t call us to convict people of sin, only to be a refreshing taste of God’s pure love. Be that refreshment in someone’s life this week.
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