Radical Welcome

Introduction

Most superheroes have an arch-nemesis: Batman has the Joker, superman has Lex Luthor, Spider-man has the Green Goblin. etc. etc.

But in real life, it’s harder to figure out who our enemies really are. Sometimes it’s obvious: The other team is the enemy. The other cheer teams are the enemies. But, at the end of the game, we can be friends again. When you are sharing an appetizer, and there’s only one cheese stick left, everyone at the table is the enemy.

But, we don’t generally think of huge groups of people as our enemy—except when we’re at war. I remember, right after 9/11, how many people spoke about muslims as our enemy. We stereotyped and entire religious and ethnic group that spans countries and continents and made them our enemies.

Perhaps we might think the same way of North Korea now. And, it’s not exact, but I think this gets us close to the way Jews felt about Gentiles.

Read .

Jew/Gentile

Jews did not like Gentiles: racial (Remember the Titans) & religious (think Atheists), and history (They were a conquered nation).

But, then Jesus comes and starts radically including Gentiles. Peter sees a vision to include Gentiles, Paul starts preaching to Gentiles. And all the sudden, you have churches with these former enemies worshiping God together.

When I was a kid, my brother and I fought a lot. So, my parents decided it would be a good idea for us to share a room, so we could learn how to get along. It didn’t work right away. So it actually got worse for a while.

Unity in Jesus

Here’s how Jews and Gentiles can be unified: Jesus. It is in Christ that we can radically welcome and include even our enemies!

There are two things here in that help us learn how to do this:

First is worship. The passage is all about worship! (James: How can you praise God and curse his people?). You have Jesus in common.

Remember how Jesus welcomed you (v. 7). God radically welcomed you and I, when we were his enemies. God chose to love you before you ever chose to love him. You should do the same

This is the gospel message! But who is your enemy? It is harder to see most of the time. Maybe you come here on Wednesdays and there’s a person or a group of people that you don’t get along with. How can you be radically inclusive toward them? Maybe invite them to sit by you, or play a game with you, maybe get them a bag of chips, or maybe, just start by saying “hi.”