Outsiders

By Jim Holland (written September 2013)I read Deuteronomy about once a year—straight through, that is. I do the same thing with Leviticus and Numbers. These are old, ancient books in the Bible. They seem archaic; they don’t have the punch and pizzazz of Genesis. Genesis is all beginnings and promise. Genesis is the beginning of the great story of redemption. Genesis is where we get the promise that God will, through the work of one man, bring shalom and peace once again to the whole world, a world that is beautiful but broken.Then you get to the next few books and start to figure out that the redemption promised in Genesis is not an easy thing, nor can it be accomplished by the people to whom the promises are given—Israel. They are much too flawed, much too prone to wander and get off track. Deuteronomy is basically Moses’ last will and testament, his parting shot to God’s people about the amazing grace they have been given to be loved, protected, and provided for by God, and how he is going to use them to bless the nations around them.One of the themes Moses keeps harping back to, and continually reminding God’s people of, is how they are to treat the outsider, the alien and the sojourner that comes into their midst. For instance, he tells God’s people this: “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and widow, and loves the alien, giving food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)Another thing Moses keeps telling God’s people is that when they get into the land God has promised them, after he has essentially done the impossible in their midst with tangible proof that it is only his grace that makes all his good gifts possible, that they will forget all this, forsake him and live like they had achieved all this blessedness on their own: “…I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on an oath.” (Deuteronomy 31:21) And yet, knowing the fickle nature of these people, God still loves them!As I plowed through Exodus—Deuteronomy, I realized how concerned God is with the outsiders who come into the midst of God’s people, and how concerned God is that they receive welcome, care and affection from the Israelites. Throughout these books, the reason that it should always be so among God’s people is repeated: “you were once an outsider and an alien.” In other words, there is a command affixed with a tangible reminder. It is as if God is saying, “This command is so obvious, so tangible, so irrefutable because it is not an abstract thing. You have actually felt what it is like to know no one, have no levers of power to pull, no network of caring relationships. And because you know what that feels like, you should never view the newcomer with either indifference or contempt.”I ponder these things because I was recently talking with a friend that doesn’t live in Collierville and is looking for a church home. She loves the new church she is visiting. She loves the music, the preaching, and the philosophy of ministry, and has been several times. But, here is the problem: she doesn’t want to sit by herself. She doesn’t want to feel like an outsider among the people of God who are brothers and sisters in this grand gospel story. So, she hesitates to attend.We are headed into a season in which we are intentionally reaching out to our new neighborhood at White and Byhalia. We have a semi-permanent sign going up on our new church property, and are inviting a lot of people to come to that property so we can welcome them. In fact, we are already seeing many visitors come through our doors as we head into the fall. What for? So that we can see the same God who welcomed us when we were outsiders and made us family do the same thing with those who walk in our doors and feel like outsiders.According to the Bible, there is no more urgent task for the believer in Jesus than to intentionally seek out and welcome the new person in our midst. The Psalmist gives us one of the greatest promises in the Bible: “God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.” (Psalm 68:6) We all know what it feels like when we say of either our own family or a new group that has taken us in, “This is my family.” This is primeval, this is basic, this is what we were built for, and until we find this our hearts are broken at a very foundational level; we are, in fact, lesser people than we could be.Corporate worship is a big thing in the Bible. It is where the whole community of Jesus expresses it love and devotion for a redemption won at great cost. It is a corporate outpouring of love and praise to Jesus, who became an outsider so that we could be taken into a family. But it is more. It is a key time when that love for Jesus motivates us to remember what it was like to be on the outside, and therefore seeks to tangibly demonstrate that love and acceptance to any stranger or newcomer in our midst. I know we see friends on Sunday we haven’t seen all week, and we all love to catch up and regale them with stories of football, kids, grandkids, business and other things, but that is secondary to welcoming the outsider in our midst. Yes, the cross is an offense—the Bible says that very thing—but don’t let the offense be that “no one talked to, greeted, or sat with me.”