Your Kingdom Come: God’s Heart for DiversityShembull

Day 5 - We must choose Inclusivity

 Jesus gave us a clear mandate; “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:16-20). 

This commission is not just for those who travel to distant lands, but also a call to us willing to venture past the borders of our bias to share the grace and love of Christ.

At times in history, the church has labelled, marginalised and discounted people and worse yet, using Scripture as a basis to do so. However, when we follow the steps of Jesus we quickly see that He rebelled against the segregations of His time. He had dinner at the house of Simon the leper, welcomed the little children, He sat with the Samaritan woman at the well and invited Himself to the house of Zacchaeus the taxman. He saved the life of the prostitute, made time for the Syrophoenician woman and He allowed the sinful woman to anoint Him at Bethany.   

Story after story, we see the same. There is a lost and hurting soul; a gracious and loving Saviour and a society that desired to keep them apart. When someone lives a lifestyle that we disagree with or do not understand, we can easily walk on by or stay silent for fear of offence but we must consider “where can they go?” for the world has nothing to offer them, the only hope for eternal life is in the same hope that we have. The hope that is only in Jesus.

We need to extend the grace that we have received from Him as “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The church is the vessel that God uses to reach the lost and broken. Jesus touched those that His society labelled as unclean, He also allowed them to touch Him and we are called to do the same. Not just to the people that look like us or think like us; to those with the same politics or education, gender, socioeconomic status, class or caste – but to all. William Temple says this "The Church is the only organisation that does not exist for itself, but for those who live outside of it." We can choose to journey outside society’s dividing lines to share our faith and give the love we have so graciously received.

“Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:11-12)

This is the Church, we were all once sinners in need of grace, once far but now brought near and commissioned to share this hope with the world.

Reflection Points 

• Consider your own journey to knowing Christ and thank God for your salvation  
• Think about how you can share the love of Christ with those who are marginalised by society 
• Pray for a person or people group to come to salvation - consider those on your Faith for Five 
• Ask God to stir up compassion in your heart to cause you to relentlessly reach out to those who are not like you