Jesus Club: Literally Anyone Can Join
By: Alexandria King
Christianity can often be perceived as an exclusive club. A club consisting of people who only dress one way, look one way, and live one way. While it’s true that all Christians must strive daily to be like Chris, the execution of this stride is varied in stages and perspectives. The result is an array of people from different backgrounds with different political beliefs and different struggles, unified in salvation under Christ. Jesus was radical when he was on the earth. He sympathized with and forgave those whom society and religious leaders of the time rejected. Jesus is the same today, he welcomes literally everyone into his arms! We’re going to biblically debunk some of the points that make people feel alienated from Christ.
1. “I have to get my life together first”
Salvation vs. Sanctification
You do not have to clean yourself up before you come to God. The Bible says that in Christ we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), not in ourselves we are a new creation. It takes God to transform our minds and lives so that real change happens. The transformation is not of our own strength and the transformation does not happen before we encounter God. God wants our honesty and his strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:10). So we should bring ourselves to God initially just as we are and then God will proceed to do a good work in us.
This is where the concepts of Salvation and Sanctification come in. Salvation occurs first because of what God already has done for us. Jesus died for our sins which reconciles us back to God. The next portion of our salvation is the decision we make to repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus. Salvation is all about God and his grace; it’s not something that we can earn.
Ephesians 2:8–9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.”
While Salvation is a decision, Sanctification is a process. This is where we become more like God and conform to holiness. There is a renewing of our minds and transforming of our actions. Sanctification happens after salvation and it happens through God’s help and guidance. It’s an on-going process that we never finish or arrive at until Christ’s return.
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
We do not have to clean ourselves up first. Instead, we must repent and put our faith in God. The relationship we can have with our creator is not earned or works based. No amount of cleaning up of our lives would afford us what God gifts us. God does clean us up though and it’s a process we undergo after we’ve gotten into a relationship with him. So wherever you are in life even if you think you’ve done the worst things, just bring yourself to God, who already knows about it all and loves you anyway.
2. “God hates me/my church doesn’t like me so God doesn’t either”
People’s love vs. God’s love
First, I would like to note two major things: People don’t always reflect the nature of God and God’s love is unconditional. In the story of The Samaritan Woman the aforementioned points are illuminated. The Samaritan woman had relationships with many men and because of this and her heritage; she was an outcast. But while others did not speak to her, God did. He told her about her sins and entrusted her with the knowledge that he was the Messiah. While society didn’t associate with Samaritans, God embraced the woman.While the woman may have thought she would be hated for her sins, Jesus spoke to her in love. This story exemplifies how God does not hate you for your sins no matter what they are. You could have told a lie about how someone looks in an outfit or you could have murdered people. It is all sin in God’s eyes (James 2:10) and God is still looking for a relationship with you.
Two Scriptures that point me to God (instead of people) and remind me of his love are:
2 Corinthians 5:19 “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”
Isaiah 2:22 “Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?”
God is not the same as the people around us. Humans are flawed because of sin. We can’t trust people as much as we can trust God. God loves us in spite of our sins and does not count them against us as the world may. God wants to save us and separate us from those sins not separate us from himself. When people in the church don’t like you, remember that God loves you. Remember how God treated the Samaritan Woman who was an outcast in her society when you feel counted out and unloved.
3. “I can’t be saved/It’s too late”
Who you think He came for vs. who He really came for
Anyone can be saved. In fact, this point is emphasized over and over again in the Bible. No matter your sexuality, background, if you lied on your taxes, if you’re short, or if your tall, salvation is for you . If Jesus walked the earth in human form today. people might be surprised by who he would choose to break bread with. People were very surprised during biblical times by his consistent decision to chase after those who society had deemed unworthy. After Jesus spends time teaching, he decides to have dinner at a tax collector’s house with sinners. There, Jesus tells us who he came to save.
Mark 2:17 — “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus isn’t calling for the righteous, he’s calling for you and me. People who have been written off by themselves or society are who Jesus came to save. It’s never too late. Christianity is not a club for the perfect-goodie-two-shoes-do-gooders. Christianity isn’t exclusive at all. And if anything Jesus wants to chase after the outsiders. The parable of the wandering sheep really reflects who Jesus is and how he feels about you.
Matthew 18:12–13 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.”
If you haven’t encountered Jesus yet or even if you have but you’re in a season where you feel lost in life or too far gone. God is coming for you. He is willing to leave the 99 to find you, out of the pure love he has for you. In our society’s economy of love, you must earn love, work to keep it and if you misstep once you’re cancelled forever. In God’s economy you are already loved right now at this moment. And there’s nothing you can do to change that truth. No amount of good or bad. Literally anyone can run into the love of Christ and I hope clarifying these ideas helps you turn to Him and rest in His love.
