Insiders, Outsiders

Christian • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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As disciples of Jesus we are called to make disciples. We are also not to judge those outside the church but those inside we should keep accountable.

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Insiders, Outsiders

Christian

We are in week 3 of our series, “Christian”.

We’re talking about the difference between a “Christian” and a “Disciple.”

We talked about how up to this point followers of Jesus didn’t refer to themselves as “Christians”.

They called themselves “DISCIPLES”

We talked about how this is a scary word because this word is actually pretty well defined in the Bible.

A Christian can really believe whatever they want and when someone questions them on something they’re doing wrong they fall back on, “hey, I’m a Christian,” and then you would tell them some things that you believe.

You see, I think the difference between a Christian and a disciple is that a Christian is oftentimes all about what a person believes.

A disciple is someone who is all about what a person actually DOES!

I’ve met people who tried to go to church and follow God, but when they saw the way Christians acted, they were out.

They thought they would act more like they thought Jesus acted and it just wasn’t the case.

You see “Christians” get so caught up on what they believe and not on how they live that they end up turning people off to Jesus.

Our theme verse for this series is John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The DEFINING characteristic of a follower of Jesus is how they treat other people.

So we’ve talked about that for the first two weeks and for the next couple weeks I want to talk about what that looks like when it comes to how we treat people outside the faith.

We’re going to start with a verse that many of us are familiar with.

Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This is an important statement that I think a lot of Christians ignore.

Because it goes back to what we’ve talked about before.

“Christians” can have the mindset of, I’m saved, I’m good.

But Jesus is saying if you want to be my DISCIPLES, you have to make disciples as well.

That means you don’t just keep to yourself.

You’re called to DO something.

You are called to reach the lost.

That’s why I always say that every Christian is called to the ministry.

Most people think that the ministry is just something for people who are called to be Pastors.

I may have been called to preach for a living but you are called to reach the lost just as much as I am.

Every person here is around a people group that I may never meet.

They may feel right now like they would never step foot in a church.

That’s where you come in!

That’s where by treating your peers or co-workers with love, may open the door for you to discuss your faith and share the gospel with them.

When I worked other jobs I always tried to be an example of Jesus to my co-workers.

And while doing that I would also try to find every opportunity to share my faith without it seeming pushy.

For example I was involved in youth ministry so I would always try to mention that I was doing that.

And a lot of times that would strike up great conversations.

I had people say things like, “so you’re a Christian?”

And then they would start asking me all these questions and we would have a discussion about my faith.

And then I could ask them questions about why they don’t believe.

Those were the moments where I heard from people that they tried going to church but saw the hypocrisy of Christians and saw how they treated other people and it turned them off.

Your JOB as a disciple is to LOVE the lost and make more disciples.

Love is what is going to WIN people over.

And yes my goal is to WIN people to the Lord.

You can’t win people over to the Lord by trying to force them to give their heart to God.

Like the people on the sidewalks with their signs, “For the wages of sin is death!”

That’s not going to win people over.

Paul actually talks about this.

1 Corinthians 9:19 “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.”

Paul is saying, I’m a free man but I make myself a slave to everyone.

In other words, I’m putting other people ahead of myself.

So I can WIN them for Jesus.

Think of it this way.

If you are a business person and you have a product you are selling.

How do you get people to buy your product?

Do you show up and say you’re an idiot if you don’t buy this?

Do you say something like, “you have to buy this or your life will be ruined”?

NO!

You try to WIN them over by showing them WHY your product is something they need.

Whether it’s going to save them money or it’s going to make their life easier and better.

You present it in a way that DRAWS them to your product!

This is how you win people for Jesus

You do things and treat people in a way that DRAWS them to you.

That causes them to say, I want what you have.

The problem is Christians have acted in a way that has repelled people from Jesus.

We need to live our lives in a way that draws them in.

That they see something different about us and the way we live and it’s enticing to them.

One of the reasons we don’t make disciples and reach the lost is because there is some confusion on a certain topic.

I’ve talked about this issue before but it bears repeating.

Some of you are going to be really confused and maybe offended about this issue.

But I encourage you to go home and study this for yourself.

We’re going to look in 1 Corinthians.

Scholars believe that Paul wrote at least 4 letters to the church in Corinth.

Corinth was a party city.

It was the Vegas before Vegas.

Lots of sin and sensuality.

So Paul went there and started a church.

After he left he would write them letters to encourage them on how to handle life as a follower of Jesus in that type of culture.

Now you might think there were only two letters written by Paul because the bible only has 1 and 2 Corinthians.

However, many scholars say he wrote four because he references these other letters.

Somewhere along the line we just lost the other two.

So we’re going to look at 1 Corinthians 5 where Paul references one of these other letters.

You’re going to see how he addresses an issue in the church.

He then gives them a teaching on how DISCIPLES of Jesus should respond to this issue.

1 Corinthians 5:1-3 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.

So Paul says, I’ve heard that there is stuff going on in this church that even pagans think is wrong.

A man is sleeping what would be his stepmother.

2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.”

Wait, that sounds pretty judgemental.

Paul actually says he has already passed judgement on this man.

But Christians aren’t supposed to judge people.

This is one of the biggest issues in the Bible that people misinterpret.

We grew up hearing the verse in Matthew 7 “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

So Christians have taken that verse to tell people off if we’re doing something wrong.

Everyone has heard someone say, “Don’t judge me.”

The problem is if you look at that whole passage he’s talking about hypocrites.

So Paul hears of these sinful acts taking place in the church and he clears up some confusion from another letter he wrote that we don’t have.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 “ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

That’s an important statement.

He’s saying I told you to stay away from sexually immoral people but I didn’t mean people outside the faith.

You would have to leave this world to get away from them.

Some people try so hard to stay away from any person who’s not a Christian and it’s just not possible.

11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

So Paul says something that I think a lot of Christians don’t want to hear.

He’s telling us that we aren’t supposed to judge non-believers, that’s God’s job.

But we ARE supposed to judge people who claim to be followers of Christ.

The problem is that word JUDGE seems so harsh.

We’ve made that word into something that means you think you’re better than me.

The truth is Paul tells us to judge other Jesus followers because it’s called ACCOUNTABILITY!

He’s saying if you want to live that life that’s your choice, but that’s not how disciples of Jesus act.

And because I love you I’m going to keep you accountable.

Because SIN, whether you think it does or not, has consequences.

And if you truly love someone you are going to bring to their attention something they may be doing that will hurt them or pull them away from God.

You see the issue is a lot of Christians have gotten this backwards.

We don’t judge Christians because they’re Christians

Oh, you’re doing something that is clearly wrong in the Bible?

That’s ok! They said they’re a Christian.

But people who do those things and don’t believe in Jesus!!

They’re awful!

I need to stay away from them.

We’re holding people accountable to live a life that they never signed up for!

Yet we give free passes to people who have publicly said, “I’m a Christian”, which should mean, “I’m an example of Christ”, yet they’re not living that way.

When you claim to be a disciple of Jesus you are committed to living to a higher standard.

And unfortunately this belief has stemmed from many Pastors preaching that because we have grace it doesn’t matter how we live our life.

Because of grace I can sin all day long and I’m good!

THAT’S NOT WHAT GRACE DOES FOR YOU!

Grace gives you the power to overcome sin and yes offers forgiveness when you do mess up.

But as disciples you are committed to living the life God has called you to live.

And if a fellow disciple isn’t doing that, we have to be willing to go to them IN LOVE and show them what they are doing and why it’s wrong.

We all need accountability in our life.

But when it comes to non-believers.

Paul said, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?”

Guess what? It’s none of your business to judge those outside of the faith.

My job is to love them and show them what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Stop trying to avoid non-Christians and start treating them the way Jesus would.

Jesus hung out with those people.

He loved those people.

We need to do whatever it takes, outside of sinning, to reach these people.

That’s why Paul said, “I made myself a slave to everyone.”

Meaning, I’m going to do whatever it takes to reach these people.

So church this morning I want to challenge you.

I want to challenge you to make an effort to make disciples.

To not judge unbelievers, but to love them and do whatever it takes to connect and reach them.

And lastly, we need to hold ourselves accountable as disciples.

We all have struggles.

We shouldn’t try to hide those.

But we need to be able to confront one another so we can be confident that when someone from this world approaches any of us, we can be confident they are going to see what a true disciple looks like!