Christ refused to be limited to the confines of an inner ring. To emphasize this point, he surrounded himself with men and women who sinned in every aspect of life. When asked about his limitless ring, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17). Here, Jesus explains that his purpose for refusing an inner ring is that his loving salvation is limitless. To put Christ in an inner ring would be to limit his saving power. On the contrary, this passage as well as many other reiterates Christ's power to save "everyone who believes in him" so that they "may not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
The application of Christ's acceptance and love can be particularly useful when talking about the exclusivity of the church. As the body of Christ, we are called to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). Jesus did not say, "Go therefore and make disciples of those who you think are savable." Or, "Go and only accept people into the church with X amount of sins or under." He said, "All Nations," and he said it because he is willing and capable to receive every human being on earth that chooses him, because he loves every one of them. When Christ tells us to go out to all nations, we should not retract from or add to this commission. Instead, look at each person we meet with the knowledge that Christ loves them and wants them to love him, wholly and freely.
On the same note, Christ calls us to do this because we are all wicked to some degree, and in his eyes we are all equally filthy rags. Even now, after accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior, I fall short. Does this mean that I do not qualify for church membership, certainly not! So, if I continually sin, and other non-believers continually sin, then it is my duty to point them towards Christ in every way that I can so that the non-believer can turn from wickedness. Because, as we see in Romans 1:18-21, God has made himself known to every man since the beginning of time. So, when they reject him, they do it in full understanding of the natural consequences.
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I agree with you that Christ has an infinite inner ring that accepts all sinners who are willing to be saved by him. He doesn't force, yet he offers them sweet grace. As "imitators of Christ," I agree that we too have to reach out to those who are lost. We must preserve a holy inner ring, but that does not mean we have to block all entry to those who can be saved.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment on Christ's limitless inner ring. It spoke volumes to me on the multitude of layers we have in our lives. We all have layer upon layer of inner rings. If we stretch and expand them enough they reach the entire world. Christians just need to focus on limiting the number of rings necessary to do so.
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