We like having no non-Christian friends.
Jesus was accused rightly of being “a friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34). He intentionally touched sinners, served sinners, and got to know sinners. Amazingly, He also allowed himself to be touched by them, made Himself available to be served by them, and made Himself accessible to be known by them.
James, the brother of Jesus, would later write to admonish the church, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4).
Is James saying that Jesus was an enemy of God?
Jesus could be a friend of sinners because He was united to, aligned with, and oriented around His Father and His will. The Christians addressed by James were enemies of God because they were uniting to, aligning with, and orienting around the world and its desires.
Jesus was able to seek, invite, and enjoy the companionship of those who didn’t believe in Him without abandoning His mission, diluting His message, or compromising His love. He prayed (prays) for us that we would not be taken out of the world, but that we would go into the world precisely because we are no longer of the world. (John 17:15-16; 20:21).
We, as Christians, Paul says, are not called to separate ourselves from nor to judge those outside the church (1 Corinthians 5:9-13). Our God-given and entrusted responsibility, privilege, and honor is to love those in the world and to befriend and associate with them, even as God "so loved the world" (John 3:16) and befriended and associated with us in Jesus (Luke 7:34).
Yet, the sad reality is that many Christians will never know a fuller measure of God’s love for the world, simply because they don’t have any non-Christian friends, and they don’t want to. But the happy reality is that all kinds of people came to Jesus and Jesus came to people of all kinds.
Adapted from the sermon, "Grace for the sinner, Grace for the saint"
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