There is a difference between those who desire God and want to grow in His character and those who live for themselves bound to their own agendas.  You are probably already thinking, well duh, we already know that about the people in the world around us and do our best to avoid them.  Okay, but think beyond the tight knit community of believers that we cling to for moment and bear with me…

Join me in my thoughts today about the “insiders” of any given church who think they have it altogether but might be missing the “main thing” about being the Body of Christ.  We are proud to call ourselves a friendly church because for years we have demonstrated our love for each other as we grow our families throughout the generations who attend church. We smile at our friends on Sunday, sing our God songs to each other, then listen to sermons about the love of God as we sit back comfortably pleased as punch because we think we have arrived at checking all the boxes of a friendly church whom God has sanctioned as holy. Afterall, we might even share a meal together afterwards!  We might even be thinking; “Oh, how we have pleased God our Father today by what we did and do at church.  Mm, hold that thought.

Randy and I visited a church in another town a few months ago. We knew a few people in the church but were not greeted by them, even when we caught their eye, for they were too busy with their new building project promotion that day.  No worries, they’re busy, we get it.  A few hundred people were roaming about, finding the way they knew to the sanctuary, slapping each other on the back with hardy greetings for each other, so we followed them. Randy and I just kept smiling but no one, not one person, greeted us or showed us the way to worship, we just followed the crowd.  Truth is we were treated as outsiders who made us feel we didn’t deserve a place in their circle. Ouch. 

Needing to use the restroom after the long drive to get to this church, we had to search for ourselves to find where the facilities were located as greeters were too busy at tables of promotion.  We tried.  Randy and I are “lifers” in the Body of Christ, we’ve seen how habits of church can actually turn visitors away who have finally made the decision, built up enough courage to get up, get dressed, and come to church to seek something (and Somone) different for their lives.  We cannot as the Body of Christ make seekers feel unwelcomed much less unacceptable and unloved. I pray for God’s church often, for this is not the first experience we have had being a visitor, though a believer, in the Body. We don’t seek recognition; we seek holy, unconditional acceptance.

I don’t know why this psalm of David triggers this response to pray today; but it does. We must prayer, as the Body, to seek God first before entering His House, for it is the Holy Spirit who prepares our hearts to seek God with all that is in us! Our prayers must extend and include asking God to open our eyes to notice those who are desperately in need, seeking a solution from God. God is the answer! We have and hold the answer! We must pray for God’s love to so completely engulf our being that His love spills out to be felt by all who enter His House! Our main goal is God and His love for us by sending His One and Only Son, Jesus to save us!  We come as a grateful and humbled people who revel in His love and embrace all who come seeking His love. God saved us through His Son who sacrificed His life for ours to pay the debt we all owed for our sins!

How can we sit still and not tell someone else about Jesus’ sacrificial love that goes beyond all human ideas and practices of love?

While Jesus walked on earth, he gathered a group from all walks of life and taught this unlikely group to be less judgmental and prejudicial of other people. He taught the words of Micah the prophet of God who wrote what God required of all believers; “Seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Jesus daily demonstrated the love of God to them—as well as to other people the disciples deemed unworthy.  (Read the gospels for proof of this truth!) As the love and serve lessons were coming to an end that night at their last meal together; Jesus leaned in to command this love of God to become a part of them, a daily habit, as worship to God. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”—Jesus, John 13:34-35

How we love others like he loves us is to genuinely love more; judge less. Paul writes in Romans 12— “don’t fake it”.  It is seeing beyond the exterior first impression of a person seeking love and belonging to extend welcoming, open arms of love and acceptance into His Kingdom through The Body of Christ.  This is loving like He loved us—without conditions. 

Psalm 5, The Message

For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David.

^1-3 Listen, God! Please, pay attention!
    Can you make sense of these ramblings,
    my groans and cries?
    King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
    you’ll hear me at it again.
Every morning
    I lay out the pieces of my life
    on your altar
    and watch for fire to descend.

^4-6 You don’t socialize with Wicked,
    or invite Evil over as your houseguest.
Hot-Air-Boaster collapses in front of you;
    you shake your head over Mischief-Maker.
God destroys Lie-Speaker;
    Blood-Thirsty and Truth-Bender disgust you.

^7-8 And here I am, your invited guest—
    it’s incredible!
I enter your house; here I am,
    prostrate in your inner sanctum,
Waiting for directions
    to get me safely through enemy lines.

^9-10 Every word they speak is a land mine;
    their lungs breathe out poison gas.
Their throats are gaping graves,
    their tongues slick as mudslides.
Pile on the guilt, God!
    Let their so-called wisdom wreck them.
Kick them out! They’ve had their chance.

^11-12 But you’ll welcome us with open arms
    when we run for cover to you.
Let the party last all night!
    Stand guard over our celebration.
You are famous, God, for welcoming God-seekers,
    for decking us out in delight.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

David said it best; “You are famous, God, for welcoming God-seekers”!

We must respond like God, demonstrating the love of God in us so others will know His love, too!

Warren Wiersbe writes of the background of this psalm of David to help us understand the welcoming embrace of God celebrated by David; “David didn’t rejoice because some of God’s covenant people were judged evil by the Lord, but he rejoiced because Israel’s God had been glorified and God’s king was vindicated. The future of God’s great plan of salvation rested with Israel, and if the Davidic dynasty had been destroyed, what about God’s gracious messianic covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:8)? The outcome of our fellowship with the Lord should be joy in His character, His promises, and His gracious answers to prayer.”—Wiersbe Study Bible    

Truth: David was not a Levite, therefore not welcomed to worship in the Temple, but welcomed by God as His special guest to worship wherever David was!

One last thought, there was no lingering bitterness for how we were treated that day; only immediate forgiveness for their busyness with excitement for their building project.  It was God we sought and still seek first when we enter His House. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God—I do; you do. Seek forgiveness and God lovingly and faithfully forgives us in the Name of Jesus, His Son.  Only Jesus saves us—not people.

People do not keep us from going to God’s House to seek Him in prayer. People do not hold us back to praise and worship God or to love, serve, and show kindness to others seeking Him, too.  Worship of God is in our DNA as His created and forgiveness is in Him.  As His children we gather in His Name to adore and declare the glory of our Father, and we enthusiastically embrace what He is doing in and among us as the Body of Christ! This is being the church.

Oh Lord,

Thank you for stirring our hearts to be more like you in every way—but as you know we need your powerful help to transform.  Lead us with first cleansing our hearts of habits that do not become you.  Renew our minds to think more like you. Refresh and reset our souls, our very being, to behave more like you.  Continually, like a forever flowing fountain, restore the joy and peace of your salvation at work within us.  May others see you in us today and always.

In Jesus Name, Amen