Number 10: The C.G.

You’re cruisin’ with your buds. You are looking at the directions and turn on what you think is the right street, only to realize that you are big-time lost. You look around the neighborhood, and there’s graffiti splashed across every wall and sign. Windows are broken out of buildings, and there’s trash in the streets. Homeless people are standing around a fire lit in a vacant lot. You are in the ghetto.

You keep watching. Everyone seems to look alike. They talk alike. They are staring at you, too, because they know that you don’t belong there.

It’s a city within a city. Stores, restaurants, houses, everything is there. No reason to ever leave the ghetto. They have their own ways, their own problems, their own rules. It is both a security and a prison.

THE WORD

Don’t miss what is happening. Christians have created their own ghetto. Think about that. Look at the story again and really think about it. A Christian Ghetto (C.G.). What would it look like? If there were actually a place, a Christian Ghetto, what would it look like? What would be the symbols, language? How would you know you were in the C.G.? What would the buildings, the people, and the streets look like?

We as Christian have created our own ghetto. We have our own Christian schools, Christian newspapers, Christian TV shows. We have our own language, look, our own way of doing things. We don’t even need to leave our Christian community. We have everything we need. We have separated ourselves from the world so that we don’t have to venture out. We are safe in our ghetto. When strangers come around, we stare at them because we know they don’t belong.

Check out the Word. Look up Matthew 9:9-13.

These religious people were flipping out all over Jesus because he went out of the C.G. and was hanging with people from another hood. The Word is so straight on. We are supposed to step out of our own little world and reach out to those around you.

LIFE LINK!

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

(Matthew 28:19)

THE THING

Get out of the C.G.

Mix it up. We say we are going to change the world. How? We go to Christian school, Christian concerts, have Christian friends. It’s all “Christian.” How are we going to change the world, if we don’t even know there’s a real world?

So what now? Some questions.

·       What is the last thing you did that put yourself in contact with non-Christians. I don’t mean like you went to the mall shopping and there were probably some there. But where you really got to trade vibes – connect.

·       When was the last real conversation you had with someone who was not a Christian? Ordering a value meal doesn’t count. I mean, where did you last get past the superficial Hollywood acting job everyone fronts and really get deep?

·       Brainstorm time. What are some ways that you could get out of the C.G.? What are some things you could do to get out there and mix it up?

What’s our deal? Are we supposed to witness to the saved or the lost?

Don’t be so Christian that you forget about the world! Take Christ to them.