The "Sought"

How do you think about people who have not come to faith in Jesus Christ? What words do you use to describe them? And would you talk about them that way if they were sitting across the table from you?

We had an interesting discussion centered around this topic last night. Perhaps our most common description would be to call these people ‘non-Christians’ or ‘unbelievers.’ I often make such statements in sermons. The problem with these is that they set up an ‘us versus them’ mentality; you are either a part of our group or you are an outsider. Would Jesus draw such a distinction to build a dividing wall separating people he died for from feeling welcomed to be included in God’s forever family?

Some of our group’s images were even more divisive. These ‘non-Christians’ are also thought of as pagans and heathens; one went so far as to say he would call them idiots and morons. Doesn’t such thinking reduce these people to nothing more than “barbarians to civilize?”*

Another individual pointed out that these people are ‘spiritually dead,’ their eyes are blinded to the truth. Someone else chimed in that these folks are ‘pre-Christians’ or ‘potential-believers.' While these descriptions may not seem to be as offensive (and even have biblical merit) how would people react to being labeled in this way? Don’t these descriptions still create a chasm dividing us from people Jesus died to save? Does this thinking reduce people to a non-person status of being nothing more than “souls with ears?”*

Jesus was called “a friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34). Rather than excluding people, Jesus was building bridges to people so they might be included. Jesus described His purpose like this:

"For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost."
Luke 19:10 (MsgB)

Jesus told the parable of the lost coin, lost sheep and lost son which show how diligently these were each looked for and the celebration that occurred when they were found. Jesus is seeking the lost. God is the “Seeker”* and the lost are the “sought.”*

Yes as believers we are the ‘found’, but as we think of people as the “sought” we quickly see that dividing walls must be torn down because God’s purpose is to seek them out that they too will be ‘found.’

God wants us to join Him in seeking out the “sought.” This will require more than just a change in how we think about people who have not yet accepted Christ. Like Jesus, we too will have to become a friend of sinners.

*These terms come chapter 5 of Earl Creps’ book Off-Road Disciplines.