This is our pastor’s article for our December-January 1012/12 congregational newsletter.
Many in our culture accuse Christians of being hypocritical. They assert that Christians talk about loving their neighbors, but then turn a blind eye to the ills around them. Sadly, they are in many ways, correct.
As Christians, we believe these words of Jesus: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This makes us realize that we can’t reach Jesus’ standard of perfection in our lives. And so, of course, we realize that, in some ways, we will always be hypocritical.
So, we can’t meet Jesus’ expected standards for our lives. Now what? This is when we also realize that it isn’t the healthy, but the sick who need a doctor (Luke 5:31). One purpose of worship is to remind us of both realities. That’s why the Church is a hospital for sinners where the Great Physician, Jesus, brings us His healing week in and week out.
A while ago I was driving back to the Midwest after visiting family in Georgia. I noticed an overpass that had “Jesus Saves” spray painted on it. How ironic was that? Someone spray painted “Jesus Saves” as his own version of law-breaking evangelism. How hypocritical! After all, God tells us to obey the laws of the land (Romans 13:1).
What could possibly cross someone’s mind to think that such “vandalism for Jesus” would be the right way to get the Gospel out into the world? Yet, this was more than just a case of Christian hypocrisy. It was also a case of lazy outreach.
Lazy outreach is the idea that we can just “stamp” the name of Jesus on something and somehow that’s going to lead people to trust in Him. It conveniently allows us to avoid talking to people, loving them, and doing acts of mercy and love, without the risk of being rejected. Such lazy outreach is a way that refuses to “take up our cross” and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). It’s a way to feel as if we’ve done something without actively living the Christian life in our words and deeds.
I’m not against lazy outreach–it’s better than doing nothing. Lazy outreach is not evil, but is in inadequate. For such lazy outreach keeps us, as the Body of Christ, at the “margins,” safe and secure, without talking the talk of Christ, without walking the walk of Christ. It deceives us into thinking that we are doing “churchy” deeds, all the while allowing us to ignore the needs of those around us for whom Christ loved and died.
God has called us to be the “Body of Christ” in the world. For the Kingdom of God is wherever the King is. The Kingdom is where Jesus is. And the Church is the “Body of Christ.” So, where we are as the Body of Christ doing what He has given us to do, there Jesus is, in and through us. That’s how incarnational living out the faith is.
Jesus gives you your “Jesusness” when He comes to you in Word and Sacrament. That’s the primary purpose of coming to church–to get, and keep getting, “Jesused.” That’s why the church service in not about what you are doing for God. It’s about Jesus feeding you, strengthening you, and forgiving and healing you from your sins. It’s from there where the Body of Christ you have received in the Divine Service moves you to be the Body of Christ in your community. That’s where you do something for God. You do that as you speak and bring Jesus to others.
Jesus didn’t stay at the margins. He went to the heart of our lives, placing Himself into our struggles and sufferings. He took our sins and even entered our death. He did this, not for personal gain, but out of love. He loved us with His life. He didn’t merely love us from the margins. He loved us where we were, even though we didn’t think we needed him, even though we crucified Him.
As the realness of Jesus Christ becomes more real to you in your life, you live that reality out, not cloistered in the margins, safe and secure. You live that life within the tangled skein of this world. Now, this vibrant walk of faith will look different in each of our lives, for we have different callings and different neighbors. This is simply living out the Christian faith, which is not only what God has given you to do, but is also a response to the faith given you.
The most-important hour of your week should be the Divine Service. The second most-important hour of your week should be Sunday School. For it’s in these places and times where you get “Jesused.” For if you don’t get “Jesused” like you should, how can you be Jesus to others? As goes your faith, so goes the living out of your faith. Amen.
