Daily Reflections on Mt. 9:1-17(My Nights Bar Hopping)

It has always bugged that churches think they exist to simply serve themselves. It has also bugged me that Christians often isolate themselves from people who really need to hear the Good News of Christ. Instead of building bridge relationships, they seal themselves off from the pagans. It's one thing not to hang out with savory characters who influence you to participate in ungodly activities. It's another thing to build bridge relationships with people in order to tell them and show them how much God loves them.

A lot of people I've met in my life who have not yet accepted Christ, don't think they'd ever be accepted by "church" people. Many people I've met can't see themselves hanging out with those same church people. Yet, those are the very people to whom Jesus went.

A few years ago, one of my associates and I went to a small group/cell church seminar led by Ralph Niebuhr. At the end of the first day he challenged us with the idea that we had no idea on how to reach unchurched people because we didn't know unchurched people really. So he divided us up in pairs with people we didn't come with and assigned each us a bar to attend that evening. We were to go visit the assigned local bar and sit and talk with some of the people there in an attempt to get to know them. We weren't allowed back to the seminar if we didn't bring proof that we were there and met someone. I'd never been to a bar, so it was a little awkward for me, as it was for ninety-nine percent of the attendees of the seminar.

But to be honest, once I was there I didn't feel out of place. I discovered that people were people. In fact, it was really easy for me to talk with people. We didn't "save" anyone those couple nights, but it helped me reacquaint myself with the mission of Christ. I fell in love with people once again, especially those who were without Christ. I found myself drawn to share, care, invest in pagan people. And I understood Jesus' disdain with the religious (or should I say pious) of His day.

Lord, help me to extend myself more and more to those who need your doctoring. Don't allow me to get so focused on "church" people that I forget the people Your Son came to redeem.