Rejecting Jesus

From my experience, it’s not Jesus Christ that most outsiders reject, but instead, what is seen as Christian culture that is rejected. Very often that Christian culture has a little to do with Christ and more to do with middle class American values.

I kind of still struggle with why people inside church don’t understand why people outside don’t just get bowled over or won over by their church culture and/or relationship network. I am guessing that most people inside assume that outsiders just "don’t want to believe”.

Like any group that exists, churches that have any critical mass will often assume their “open doors” are attractive to just about anyone, without any realization that they’ve bonded around some common cultural similarities that may or may not have anything to do with God, Jesus, etc.

There’s uncertainty as to whether leadership of such groups understands what actually bonds them.  I’m guessing the more savvy among the group knows this 100% and don’t mind riding any wave as long as it lasts, hoping another wave materializes sooner than later so the enterprise keeps floating along.

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I used to hear from friends in Africa how they could see a day when African believers would be sending missionaries to the US to share the good news of Jesus. At the time I thought that was kind of crazy, but not any more.  Now it kind of makes a lot of sense.

And it's not just non-believers they'd be sharing their faith with. I get the sense that a lot of Christians in our culture are Christians in the same sense that the Olive Garden is Italian - primarily by some kind of reputation and association, but not actually Italian.  But a lot of Americans believe it is!

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As often as not, I hear a lot of believers say they don't know many, if any, non-believers.  Their circles of influence and interaction are primarily made up of people who "go to church" somewhere.  And that's probably true in their minds as they often "don't see" the other people anyway.

I actually have seen and experienced that people from a lot of different backgrounds are very interested in God and Jesus, but they're very upfront about how they're not wanting to get roped into some kind of political discussion or morality police debate as they've seen often occurring between groups.

Apparently Jesus still has a good reputation with a lot of people who aren't "church people".  But they're not quite so sure about those who claim to be his people.  And yes, that's often unfair and is painting with a broad brush in a way that makes all believers sound or look bad.  Not saying it's good, just that it is real.

I wish it wasn't the case.  But I'm also very aware that God is aware of it too and he's not too worried about.  He knows what's going on and is still very comfortable working inside and outside any system we put together, no matter how varied its components and aims are.

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Matthew 23 was a breath of fresh air a few decades back.  It's a section where Jesus "goes off" on the Jewish leaders of the day for thinking they represented God while actually doing the opposite by making it harder for people to know or trust God by adding rules, cultural boundaries, etc.

So this kind of thing has been going on for a long time.  Isaiah even read the people the riot act back in the Old Testament for being massive, self-absorbed jerks who didn't see or help other people in need, but were still good "church going people".

So the "Christian culture represents God" idea could be seen in Jesus' time as "Pharisaical Judaism represents God" and before and after that, other variations of people whose actions and attitudes developed in such a way over time that they couldn't see or understand in their zeal how they drifted.

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I know many people who love the idea of God's love for them, but they'll likely not walk into a church building because of the reputation of the people there OR because of how they or people they identify with were treated by people who worship in buildings like that, etc.

I've watched as many of those good people "inside" try to reach out to the those outside and, very often, it's super condescending and childish. It's often assumed if you're not "going to church" somewhere, you're not someone who believes in or has a relationship with God.  A lot of "talking down to" that goes on.

I'd love for my insider friends to get to know people a little more organically and not just in artificially created settings. Interact with people as if they're not idiots, but real people with a backstory, interests of their own, etc.  It's scary to step out of the artificially created environments, but it works way better.

And keep your rules to yourself. Don't start with how their behavior makes you feel or offends you. Let Jesus guide how you interact with someone and not just your church-created social comfort levels. It might mean having to spend a little more time with Jesus yourself first to let him help you see better.

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I used to feel that people were rejecting Jesus when they rejected "church", but now I see that's something we used to describe the situations - it's not what was actually happening, it's just the way we explained it. That's a pretty big thing for a lot of people to grasp.

When and if they do, they find that their understanding of what God's Kingdom is expands really quickly, right before their eyes, in ways that they could not see before because of the blinders they were wearing - blinders that were usually put on them before they knew what was going on.

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As we walk into another political and cultural season of struggle over ideas and control, rest easy knowing that God is fully aware of all that stuff happening and yet he's at work reaching hearts and minds to see if people are interested in knowing him, receiving his gifts, and walking with him.  Calm in the storms.

If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, he's pretty constantly at work around us and in us - we just have to dial him in on the radio, as it were, and tune out a lot of the other noise - sometimes even our church noise or Christian culture noise - and then he comes through much clearer.

May you see him at work all around you and hear his invitation for you to walk with him.

Grace and peace.

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