WEDNESDAY’S WORD – INCLUSIVE – SADELL BRADLEY – New Life Covenant Cincinnati – 07/29/15

Lately, I’ve heard some discussions about churches/Christians needing to be more “inclusive.”  Inclusive in this context means not excluding any section of society or any party involved in something.  This conversation puzzles me. I’ve always known the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be ultimately inclusive. “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17) The world and whoever are inclusive terms.  At first God revealed Himself through His chosen people Israel, but in Christ, everyone can access salvation. “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile– the Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:12-13). 
The Bible also makes another point of inclusion very clear.  “Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.” (Rom. 3:9b-11)  All, none, and no one are inclusive statements. Sin is missing the mark of God’s Holiness. It is failure or guilt, and everyone has sinned. We were born this way. Christians believe the propensity for sin (in thought, word, deed, motive, commission, omission) is innate and inbred for all since the fall of man. David said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)   None of us are better than others.  I love how the NLT version put this in Romans 3:22-23:

“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”  The way to be made right with God for EVERYONE is to place faith in Christ. At the foot of the cross is the great equalizer. All of us deserve death and would be disqualified for Heaven and righteousness on earth without faith in Jesus. (Rom. 6:23) God is not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) Repent means to turn from sin to Christ for salvation.

Christ followers believe that, “All Scripture is inspired by God (though written through mankind) and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.“ (2 Timothy 3:16 NLT) Christianity is not a social club, though there is fellowship. The Church is in a given City not just for historic traditions, or social justice; but because Christ followers believe there is a God, who is Lord and King over everything. We have voluntarily yielded ownership of our lives to Him and live to serve and worship Him as the Word of God instructs. We believe God has the right to dictate the rules/ boundaries by which He is loved and worshiped. But He also gives us EVERYONE freedom to choose whether or not they will.