Matthew 9: 10 - 13 NKJV
I recently shared a conversation I had about God in the most unlikely of places. A week or so ago I found myself at a local watering hole after work enjoying a beer. Yeah, I know, what's a self proclaimed christian doing in a bar? Of course, this may well open the door to many a christian joke. A pastor walks into a bar...a christian walks into a bar etc. I get it. Even though I'm no bar fly, I do enjoy a good brew every now and then. Perhaps this is something I need to ask the Lords forgiveness for. Anyway, it wasn't my beer swilling that made this visit noteworthy, but the conversation I had with another bar patron. This man seemed to be your normal working guy enjoying a beer after a days work, but as I found out, there was something different about him. I'm not really sure how our conversation turned to God and church, but all of a sudden I found myself talking to this man about his own failures, as he saw it, in the church. It seems that he and his family had been regular church attenders up until the past few years. Being raised in a catholic household had dampened his desire to know God a bit, but he continued to attend church regularly. All the while, he would question whether he was doing enough to satisfy the Lord he loved. Was he really Gods child? Was he really forgiven? Now, I understand his feelings because I myself have battled them in my past church going life. So, I asked him a simple question, how do you see God? Do you see the Lord as simply a spiritual being, on His throne in heaven looking down upon us? Or, do you see Him as a God who is intimately involved in your life each day? He gave this some thought before saying that he had never known God to have a personal relationship with anyone. I mean, how could He? Aren't we all sinners? God cannot be in the presence of sin...right? As I said, I've asked these very same questions myself at one time. So, I laid it out for him. Why did the Pharisees and Jewish authorities accuse Jesus of dining with tax collectors and sinners {Matthew 9:11}? I won't say that a light bulb came on in this mans head, but for the first time I saw in him that he was begining to see what I was telling him.
1Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5“And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6“And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’7“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."
Luke 15: 1 - 7 NKJV
As I've said, I have asked myself many a question concerning God and His relationship with me before. How could God love me? Was I doing enough to please Him? What if He became angry with me? I've heard it all before. So, hearing a desperate man in a bar who was himself searching for God was nothing new to me. Not so long ago, I was in the very same place he was in. Sure, I had been taught over the years that I was forgiven and that God indeed loved me, but at the same time I heard the double speak from the pulpits of the church that I needed to be "more like God." I cringed whenever I heard it. I mean, how could any sinner be more like God? The very idea of this seemed unattainable to me. On top of that, I was told in my most difficult times that maybe, just maybe God was angry with me and letting me go through my oreeals alone. What? So, you're telling me that the God who loved and cherished me enough to provide for my future with Him and the forgiveness of my own sins would suddenly turn his back on me? Was I really doing enough to please God? Well, it turns out that my own view of God was flawed. I saw Him as seperate from my own life, which couldn't be further from the truth. As it turns out, I was already closer to Him that I ever thought possible. I just didn't realize it at the time. So, how close are we to our heavenly Father? Well, the apostle Paul tells us in Galations 2 that it is Christ Jesus who now lives in us {Galations 2:20}. We don't need to be more like Christ...we ARE Christ. Now, I don't expect the run of the mill christian to be able to embrace this truth of Jesus right away. It took me awhile to realize it myself. That teaching that God is somehow seperate from His children is simply not true. We are created in His very image {Genesis 1:26}. Into His likeness He breathed the breath of life {Genesis 2:7}. He very being is now within us. All that He is...we are as well. If God has revealed His truth to you, then you too can have a bar stool ministry.
~Scott~
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