Now I'm saying this in Love...

It seems to me that, as dangerous as generalizations are, the Evangelical branch of the Church here in America has lost sight of it's mission in the world, and could stand to spend some time reading the Gospels from a fresh perspective. Standing up for one's values and beliefs in the face of a secular culture is admirable, but lets make sure that we are standing up for the right things. What is really more important? Letting society know that we disapprove of what they stand for and the way they live (even when scripture is clearly on our side), or showing these people the love of Christ? Is it really our primary job to make sure these people know what they are doing is wrong? It seems to me like that is the job of the Holy Spirit. Take a look at how Jesus did it. The main group of people he spent a lot of time pointing out sin to were the ones everyone acknowledged as the religious ones. It seems like we do it backwards. The ones he spent time hanging around are the ones we point fingers at and boycott. Don't get me wrong - moral standards are important, and we should never compromise our beliefs, but Jesus managed to find a perfect balance. He really did love the sinner. These days when "love the sinner but hate the sin" is mouthed, it usually means someone is about to get pounded over the head by someone else's dogma. Jesus loved, touched, spent time with, drank wine with the folks the religious leaders of the day would have nothing to do with. He loved these people, but never compromised his standards. Are we showing the love of Christ by telling someone that because they are a part of a certain lifestyle then we won't do business with them? If Nazareth's local harlot came to Jesus' carpenter shop to commission some new furniture, would he have turned her away because of her lifestyle? I'm thinking not.
It seems that the church is divided into two camps when it comes to certain issues. There are the churches who condone ( or minimize) the sin in question, and there are the churches who condemn the sin and proclaim that they love the sinner in question, but have a funny way of showing it. Scripture is pretty clear that you will know the followers of Jesus by their love, and in my humble opinion, if you have to tell someone that what you are showing them is love, then it might not be. It reminds me of when I hear someone say, "I don't mean to judge." That usually should be followed by the phrase, "but I am going to anyway."
I don't mean to be banging the table over this stuff but it has bothered me for a while. It's kind of like when I was a kid in the Baptist church, and I would read something in the Bible and wondered why we didn't believe that in the church today. I would usually get an explanation when I asked but it frequently sounded like theological double talk.

All I'm saying is that it seems like Jesus reached a lot more people doing it his way than we are by doing it ours. I am currently seeing things being done Jesus' way at the Vineyard more than I ever have anywhere else and it is very refreshing.