Bringing Christ’s Message Of Hope

April 2009

John 13: 5 (NASB) “Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”

As we approach Easter this year, we are aware that our culture is becoming more and more post-Christian. One of the great challenges that we face today is how to reach this culture for Christ. How can we be messengers of hope in a world that is more and more hopeless?

One of the problems with the church today in trying to witness to our culture is that we are known more for what we are against than what we are for. This has been especially true of Southern Baptist. We are often seen as angry and arrogant. Why is that the case? It may be that we have become better Pharisees than servants.

Pharisees, you may recall, had a tendency to “look down their noses” at those around them. They had a judgmental spirit. People definitely knew what they opposed and what they would condemn in your life. The Pharisees engendered a kind of respect in the New Testament culture, but there is no evidence that they engendered love.

Jesus brought a whole new emphasis into His culture. He loved in an open and accepting manner without accepting the failures in the lives of those whom He encountered. In other words, He loved the sinner while hating the sin.

He drew immediate fire from the Pharisees. They accused Him of getting too close to sinners. He reminded them that His purpose was to find those who had lost their way and bring them home to God. He focused on serving others rather than condemning them.

As we attempt to follow Christ and bring His message of hope to the world in which we live, we need to remember that the servant spirit of Christ is our model not the judgmental attitude of the Pharisees. If we are to bring hope to this post-Christian world, we must learn anew how to seek and to serve those who are lost.

Let’s move toward a day in which we are known as those who love and serve, those who care and give, and those who reach out not push away. Like Jesus who found us wandering away from God and brought us home, let us reach out to those who have lost their way and need to find their way back to God. Let us re-capture the message of Easter and the Christ who served with towel and cross.

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