Jesus was known as the friend of sinners.

More than that, He was the friend of sinners. He welcomed them, ate with them, hung out with them, realizing that in order for the Light to shine in darkness, the Light had to first engage the darkness.

I’ve been wrestling with the implications of that for quite some time as it relates to the way I approach mission personally (and corporately as a church).

Keller rocked me yesterday:

“Jesus’ teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of His day.

However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect.

The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted do not bother coming to our churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church.

That can only mean one thing.

If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.”
- Tim Keller

Wow. What say you? I’m still chewing. . .