Following Judah's Lion

No Wonder Sinners Don't Like Saints

Jesus! What a friend for sinners!Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,He, my Savior, makes me whole.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!Hallelujah! What a friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,He is with me to the end.

He was called a friend of sinners, and He was accused of partying with known sinners. He allowed a promiscuous woman to worship Him in public, and He consented to her emotional and demonstrative act of adoration. She anoints Jesus on His head and feet with expensive ointment and then dries it with her hair; all this while openly weeping before Him. That is very uncomfortable to the modern ecclesiastical palate, since we must remain subdued and with a semblance of decorum in our churches. And what is even more disturbing, both to us and the Pharisees that witnessed this extraordinary event, is that this woman had a reputation around the city.
She was a “sinner” and the Pharisees, the ODMs of their day, knew it, of course, and were quick to archive her history. Jesus, though, knew their hearts and quickly pointed out that this woman was expressing her love for Christ based upon the greatness of His forgiveness toward her. It would be nice to assume that ever since this woman met Jesus that she never stumbled again and certainly never committed the same kind of sin that was her lifestyle before. That would be a nice scenario, however the Scriptures do not give us any insight to that, and in fact, if her life had already changed so dramatically at that time perhaps the community would have been aware of it.
Regardless, Jesus received her worship and made it completely clear that He was absolutely at ease in the company of sinners like her. The only people with whom Jesus was uncomfortable were religious leaders who were in the business of cataloguing people’s sins and separating themselves from the downtrodden and sin oppressed masses. The Lord could not abide such high browed religiosity and they received His rebukes from time to time. But to be sure, the Sinless One welcomed the company of sinners.
Fast forward to the church today. Is the church a friend to sinners in this generation and in this culture? Are we so secure in God’s grace that we allow ourselves the vulnerability to love and reach out to the lost, regardless of their sinful lifestyle? Read the internet and see the heart of the church revealed in some quarters. Much of the church’s insatiable need to judge cannot be satisfied with just fellow believers; many must roam the darkened landscape searching for sinners and their sins with which to feast upon and offer it to others. Rather than being their redemptive friends, they heap judgment and mockery upon their heads. Not content with the condemnation that already rests upon them, these vultures must amplify and add to their hopelessness.
Do you wonder why sinners do not like many Christians? Let us look through the eyes of a lost sinner and see what they must see.

*If I were a lost poor person and I heard professing believers aggressively be against healthcare for people like me, I would not like Christians.
**But if I was a lost poor person and I saw professing believers aggressively helping me, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost single mother of three who had an abortion and I heard professing believers call me a murderer, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost single mother of three who had an abortion and I heard professing believers tell me Jesus offers forgiveness, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost gay person and I heard professing believers say God hates me and is going to send me to hell, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost gay person and I heard professing believers say God loves me and gave Himself for people like me, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost Muslim and I heard professing believers castigate me and my religion, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost Muslim and I heard professing believers say that Jesus love Muslims, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost young teenage girl and I heard professing believers assail Miley Cyrus, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost young teenage girl and I heard professing believers tell me Jesus understands and offers hope, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost liberal Democrat and I heard professing believers attack me as un-American, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost liberal Democrat and I heard professing believers say that Jesus takes no political sides, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost illegal alien and I heard professing believers say I should be arrested, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost illegal alien and I heard professing believers say that they loved me anyway, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost pacifist and I heard professing believers unashamedly support war, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost pacifist and I heard professing believers separate themselves from violence, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost black person and I heard professing believers excoriate President Obama, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost black person and I heard professing believers speak words of acceptance and racial reconciliation, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost Mexican and I heard professing believers claim God loves America best, I would not like Christians.
**But if I were a lost Mexican and I heard professing believers claim God loves all people equally, I would like Christians.

*If I were a lost store clerk that was having a bad day and a believer reported me, I would not like Christians.

**But if I were a lost store clerk and having a bad day and a believer showed me grace, I would like Christians.

I can hear some now. “We are not supposed to get people to like us.” No? We are supposed to be light not heat. We are supposed to be salt not cyanide. We are supposed to represent the Redeemer, not the executioner. We must make it clear to the world that we stand upon the ground of grace and not law, and that through no personal effort have we been redeemed. We should model the Good Samaritan and not the moral police. But if you believe that God only chose a few sinners to be saved, and that God makes them believe, then how a Christian acts is irrelevant to evangelism.

With the way some speak and act, it is quite understandable that many unbelievers resist Christ based largely on what they know of some believers. In so many ways the church has taught a model of Jesus Christ that is inconsistent with the life and character of the Savior and the teachings of the New Testament. So often we have projected spiritual and moral hubris and repelled sinners rather than loving them. Harshness and condemnation among professing believers is one level of sin, but harshness and condemnation of lost sinners is significantly more egregious.

We should not be amazed that lost people do not like believers. Have we helped them? Have we eaten with them? Have we approached them in grace and humility and showed them God’s love? Have we looked beyond their sin and with their souls in mind have we given our lives for them? Or have we amplified their sin and condemned them, all the while lip synching the gospel? Oh the depths that depravity will plumb, even the residual effects of such depravity in a sinner saved by grace. Even while standing exclusively upon the rock of grace, we have so often offered the ladder of law and commanded the sinner to climb.

In the end, the Spirit of God desires to draw sinners to Christ.

And we must be Jesus to them, not Moses.