On the Outside...

     On the outside I wear blue jeans almost everywhere I go, and I probably bought them on clearance. Most of my shirts start with a T and I have tattoos all over my body. I have a scraggly looking goatee mixed with grey and black. But If there is no condemnation in Christ (Romans 8:1-5) and we are not to judge anyone does it really matter what I look like on the outside? Does it make me any less of the man that I am?

     Would you recognize God if he walked into your church and sat down next to you? If the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us what would he look like today? At the time Jesus walked the earth taking a bath and new clean clothing were not at his disposal. He probably smelled bad and was covered in dirt; he was a traveler, a gypsy of some sorts with no home. God in the flesh was homeless during his entire ministry, the creator of heaven and earth, a "bum" on the outside. Jesus didn't pull up to the church parking lot in his nice car wearing a suit to stand in front of a custom pulpit. He walked the earth sinless just so he could die a sinner’s death.

     But if Christ walked into our church and looked like your average “bum" would we take him seriously? Did Jesus look like the paintings we all see today? Did he have long flowing hair and a nicely trimmed beard? Did he wear clean white garments and have manicured fingernails? 

     If you have never traveled overseas and came across someone from a foreign land that doesn't shower daily and brush their teeth and wear the latest fashion trends then you don't have a good picture of what Jesus looked like, or smelled like, or lived like on a daily basis. I think most of us if we had to picture Christ in our head we would imagine a man who is weak, soft spoken and clean. But that is incorrect. Jesus was a first century carpenter from Nazareth who walked into a predominantly Jewish land run by Roman soldiers and told them they were WRONG and he did this with authority and courage! That is basically the equivalent of an American Christian walking into the capital of Islam and telling them they are all completely crazy over a loud speaker. Can you imagine that reaction? He was more than controversial and he challenged every bit of authority there was at that time. But the amazing part of this story is Jesus wasn't just a man on the outside, he was God in the flesh. The same God who created the entire universe and everything in it, the same God who breathed life into Adam and SPOKE the world into existence. This same God came to earth to become Flesh and live among the least of society and walk among us. He didn't have a Blackberry, or an Ipad so he could check his Facebook (how did he ever survive?) he wore crappy leather sandals and probably had gingivitis. Now does this make him anything less than God? NO!

     Jesus was a man of all men, a true warrior. Too many Christians and non-Christians like to picture Christ as a sissy Ned Flanders type of guy on the outside. But on the inside he was 100% God and he spoke with conviction, this was the same voice that spoke and there was light, speaking to us in the flesh. So if Jesus walked into your church and sat next to you and he looked and probably smelled like someone had just dragged him out from under a rock would you accept him?  Jesus didn't have to come to earth, he didn't have to suffer and die, he didn't have to walk among us but we owe our lives to the fact that he did! He did it because he first loved us before we could ever love him. So next time you look at that guy on the corner don't picture some “bum" begging for money, because on the outside he may just be that, but you never know what's on the inside.

"so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11