Away games

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”  
Luke 5:29, 30. 

If you’ve played organized sports at any point in your life – or taken a road trip to follow your favorite team – you know the unsettling feeling of an “away game.”  The fans are still avid, but instead of yelling for you, they’re yelling at you.  Instead of cheers, you get jeers.  And every time something goes wrong for you, the crowd roars its approval.  But if you want to be a champion, you have to play – and win – on someone else's home court, home field or home ice.  

Did you ever notice that Jesus was unafraid to compete in away games?  Think of all the arenas in which Jesus took on the adversary!  In the home of tax collectors and sinners ... in Samaria ... among lepers ... before Gentiles ... in the Decapolis.  For Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.  And where are they found?  Wherever they call home. 

And that’s the point.  A road game for Jesus was, at the same time, a home game for those he came to save!  In great love, he met people wherever they were.  He left his home court in order to walk onto theirs.  And now his banner hangs in heart-shaped venues all over the world!  “King of Kings!”  And “Lord of Lords!” 

As well-intentioned as it may be to invite non believers to worship with us, we need to realize that church to someone who has yet to accept Christ is still to them an uncomfortable away game.  So while we do well indeed to invite them, we should be even more willing to meet them on their turf. Next door ... at the gym ... on campus ... at work ... on the streets ... at the bar ... wherever they call home.  That’s where the game is played.  And won.  

Lord, grace us to bring your life and love to others right where they live.  May they come to know you – your freedom, grace and life.  Be glorified in newborn hearts today, wherever they are found. 

[Click here to see the daily reading in Luke 5:27-32.]