Luke 5:31-32:
And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. He did not hide behind bombastic words of the Torah. He spoke their language. Have we forgotten this? Have we placed scriptural passages on a pedestal to be worshipped instead of living out their implications in our messy many-coloured lives? Have we made church into an elite country club where all must speak the same upper middle-class language of pomposity and pride?
Are we embodying the Spirit of Jesus when we insist that languages of other philosophical or faith traditions are out of bounds? Are we not forgetting the example of Paul as he engaged the Gentile nations using Greek ideas they were familiar with?
This is my challenge to the church. Step out of your cocoon of comfort and walk a mile in the mocassins of diverse peoples of diverse faiths who are dying for want of Jesus. Do this before you preach another high sounding sermon on evangelism.
Let us not be like many church preachers these days—clanging cymbals and loud gongs with no genuine love or grounded understanding of the peoples of this world. Let us be like Jesus.