What a Mess

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” -John 3:17

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” -John 3:16

I switched the order of these verses to help us notice something. We all read John 3:16 and we know it, and we skip happily over 3:17. What God did. What God didn't do.

I sit here watching believers bickering and grumbling about non-believers acting like non-believers. (And while bickering, believers begin to act like nonbelievers!). So, I'm going to share my view of interacting with sinners—otherwise known as sharing the gospel.

God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world. The world was already condemned. God sent his Son to save the world, and in his time here, he spent most of it with sinners. In fact the people Jesus was the harshest with were not the worst of the sinners, but the worst of the religious people judging the sinners.

So why do we think avoiding sinners shows Christ's love?

Why do we think whitewashing behavior is the work of the gospel?

Why do we think we can vote and legislate our way to righteousness?

I'm going to tell you something you're going to react against, but hang in and keep reading.

Our sin is not the problem.

It's not.

Our problem is that we are separated from God. Disconnected.

We were built for relationship with God…for his life-giving power and connectedness to be working in our lives and through us. And we are separated from him.

That's our real problem.

Now true, what separated us from God is our sin. That's the CAUSE of our problem, but it's not our problem.

When Christians keep thinking that sin is the problem instead of the cause of the problem, they start doing the wrong things to fix it. And it's spectacularly unsuccessful. They try to legislate righteous rules. They try to force good behavior. And they focus on external, seen change. They have a low tolerance for the messy work of transformation, and they generally tend to avoid non-believers up close. Yes, it's great to send people overseas to connect with the lost, but don't ask me or my kids to be good friends with the lost here. It's good to go on trips to deal with the lost farther away, so we can leave them again in a week.

When Christians keep thinking that sin is the problem instead of the cause of the problem, they tend to speak to the lost and show them their sin. They condemn it, judge it, speak a lot of it.

That's not spectacularly motivating.

There's a different approach when we begin to see what our real problem is—that we're separated from a God who dearly loves us and desires to bring us into a close, satisfying relationship with him, to work in us in his power to change all the mess in us, and transform us back into what he designed when he created us. A God who had a plan to deal with the cause of our problem (sin) from the first time we allowed sin to enter the world. That separation is our problem, not our drinking, lying, immorality, bickering, etc.

When we approach people with this view, we don't focus on their sin. We don't condemn. We show up as extensions of the love God showed us. We show a God who wants to know them, by wanting to know them too. And we share that the problem (separation from God) can be solved because God Himself created a solution to the cause of the problem (sin).

Now that IS motivating.

When we keep that view, we happily and intentionally walk among non-believers who are acting like non-believers, not focused on trying to get them to act righteously, but busy introducing them to a God they were designed to know who desperately wants to bring them close to him.

When we keep that view, we allow the reality of the mess within us to interact with a God who can change us in our faith communities, less focused on “looking good” and open to real transparency where Light can shine through us.

When we do that, we will be attractive to the world. Even our broken pieces. Even our healing selves.

My favorite toy was a kaleidoscope—the beauty of light shining through bits of brokenness. Much prettier than whitewashed tombs.

When we see sinners acting like sinners, let's wade in among them with the gospel—there is a God worth knowing who wants to be close to you, and has created that path to himself. I took this path, and I'm here to tell you that it's wonderful!

The work of the gospel is done close up with those needing the gospel by people who are close up with a God who is transforming them. There's no other way.