Outside The Walls! – Eliezer Gonzalez

Outside the Walls! – Eliezer Gonzalez

Mar 30, 2015 2123

Have you noticed how all the best stuff in the Bible happens outside the walls?

The best stuff happens when the Shepherd leaves the 99 sheep and goes off into the wilderness to find the one sheep that was lost – outside the walls.

The best stuff in the ministry of Jesus happened when he went outside the walls of the church of the day… whether physically or spiritually.

It happened when he travelled outside of the boundaries of Israel to heal a man in Gadara possessed by demons. It happened when he went beyond the borders of Israel to find a Syro-Phonecian woman who needed healing for her daughter.

Those were national boundaries… but Jesus also transcended the moral boundaries of his day.

The best stuff happened when he asked for a tomb to be opened, when he allowed a sick woman to touch him, when he ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners, and when he forgave those who deserved no forgiveness – like the woman caught in the very act of adultery. All of these actions were outside the moral walls of the religion of his day.

The ministry of Jesus Christ, except for the final week, all happened outside the walls of Jerusalem. It was within the walls of Jerusalem that he was betrayed and condemned.

But it was outside the walls that Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 13:12) so that all who believe in him may have eternal life. It was outside the walls that he rose again in power for all who accept him today.

Today too many Christians sit within the walls of their comfortable churches. They run programs within the walls, they fellowship within the walls… they even do “outreach” within the walls. These walls are often the physical walls of churches. But more importantly they are the spiritual and moral walls of our own devising.

What happened to the example of Jesus?

It’s time the Christian Church took seriously Christ’s command to “Go!”

It’s fine to pray and worship within churches. But if that’s all we do we have failed in the very reason for our existence.

All the best stuff happens outside the walls. The lost are not part of our comfortable Christian communities. They are outside the walls. If “church” doesn’t exist within our communities, then we have failed in our mission.

Let’s start praying over our cities and towns, right where the power of prayer is needed. Let’s allow people see that we are Christians because we worship where Christ most needs to be worshipped. And let’s actually do what Christ did – seek and save the lost – by bringing the gospel to the people and the places and the communities where its healing and transforming grace is most needed.

– Eliezer Gonzalez

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