Guilty by association can be brutal.
We can get in trouble by who we hang out with and what they do.
Often we are wrapped in with these people.
It's tough.
As a parent, it can be tough when you see your kids hang out with people you would classify as troubled kids.
This goes beyond the clothes they wear, where they came from and the people they know. Sometimes we don't know what to think about friends.
Sometimes we have these feelings, other times we have physical proof.
I was once playing in the park behind my house.
My brother Zach and I were playing some sport and a group of guys came up to play to.
We were maybe in middle school at the time and these guys were later on in high school.
We were playing for a while and everything was fine until we saw one of the kids with a gun.
Later we made some excuse that we had to go.
We didn't want to mess with someone with a gun.
There are situations we have to get out of like that.
Other situations we need to be at.
Often people wrap Christians into a little bubble.
All of their friends are Christians.
They only hang out in so called places that Christians should be at.
They shut themselves from the outside world.
They only listen to Christians radio stations.
How we live is a hard line to draw with being a Christian.
Do we change who we are around?
Do we change the music we listen too?
Who are we as people?
We have to watch out who we are trying to be.
Luke 15:1-2…
"Now the tax collectors and 'sinners' were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Jesus responds with a story about a man who had 100 sheep and loses one.
That man will not stop till he finds the one and be excited when he finds that one.
Jesus then says this is how it will be when a sinner repents and changes his ways.
Jesus hung out with sinners.
When you hear the word sinner, who pops in your head?
Think of some of the people that you would classify bring down our society.
Jesus would be there with those people.
Being a Christian, it's hard to draw that line sometimes.
It's easy to turn your back on your former life and be around just Christians.
So many people do this.
I hear some of these people talk about how societies changed and getting worse.
Often these people are the same ones that don't do anything to make this society a better place.
It's so easy to complain about people, it's hard to do something to change.
Jesus hung out with people nobody else who was a faithful follower at his time would be around.
They questioned his integrity and the person he was because he was associated with people of low stature.
Our simplest command as a Christian is love.
Yet love is a rare word when people describe Christians.
In the book Unchristian, they give some words that describe Christians (this came from a survey of people): hypocritical, judgmental, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political and only care about getting saved.
On pg 26 it states this harsh truth, "We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for."
Love, grace, compassion are not things people think about when they hear or think about Christians.
What do you think when you hear this?
Can this be changed?
It's time for Christians to step up and go where they normally wouldn't to show God's love.
We can complain about the problem or be the solution.
The choice is yours.
Have a great day.
