Galatians 1:1-5

Intro

Do something here about “us vs. them”? Talk about the background of Galatia with the Judaizers. You think this isn’t you? Use a list of “opposing” groups. Pro guns vs. anti guns Athletes vs. Arts people. Pro choice vs. Pro life. LGBT vs. traditional Christian marriage and community. Country music vs. people with taste in music. Crossfit people vs. normal human beings. Jaguars vs. Panthers. On and on it goes.

It is really easy for us to say we are loving people… as long as those people fit a certain criteria.  But, if you are in the "them" it is easy for me to judge you and condemn you. 

This broke my heart. I would judge you and condemn you for being the other. Jesus' heart reaches out to the enemy and loves them. Jesus' heart reaches out to the other.  We are not called to tolerate the other. Christians are called to more than that. That is what the world does. Do you know what tolerate means? This is what we are being told we need to be all the time. "To be comfortable with the existence of the other." Is that the kind of world you want to live in? "I am comfortable with the fact you exist." Wow what a wonderful place! How to I join that group? Christians are called to engage. Love sees the pain of the other as my call to action. Examples In the times of the early church, little girls were seen as invaluable. Many times in Roman society if you had a baby girl and you didn't want them you would take them out to the street and leave them. They would either die there or someone would come and pick them up to pimp them in the local brothel. This was the society. Did Christians get on Midlothian Talk and tell about how awful and terrible the Romans are? Snap a picture about how they should change and how much the world sucks? No. They would go and say, if you don't want these little girls, we will take them. If you visited a church gathering in the early church like this, it would be filled with little baby girls.  This is how the early church changed a culture. If a plague broke out in a town, people left. 1/2 to 2/3 of the town would die. I want to live so I leave my family, kids, friends. The Christian did not leave. The Christian would say, this person has value and has worth.  If they have worth to God then they have worth to me.  If it costs me my life, then I will give it because that is what Jesus did for me. What will change our culture?  Fighting back?  No. Not talking to her because she's mean and sucks and I just hate her? No. Compassion. You look at another person, you have a deep emotional response, a movement of your insides. If you don't see people this way, if all you see when you look at them is hate and anger, then you aren't looking with the eyes of Jesus.  You need to repent because you are living in a very dark and sinful place. Do you believe this message can change the world?  It did before. It can again. What Christ did for us, we do for others.