matthew party.

This past week was spring break. Most people go to the beach, right? Well at MERGE (the student ministry I intern at/for/whatever) we did the exact opposite. We went to the center of the country.. and i loved it. God used this past week in some huge ways and we all came back changed. The high school crew took 3 vans full of 31 people, 24 of which were students, to Kansas City, Missouri to serve at Hopefaith Ministries. It's a homeless shelter that feeds and clothes the less fortunate of Kansas City. It was incredible for sure. In one of the van rides around the city, I asked what it would take to be the party van out of the three. A student said something about parties and I said something to the extent of how believers should be throwing the best parties. Most people think hell is just going to be a massive party... but Scripture teaches something so opposite it's disgusting. It breaks my heart that the salt has lost its saltiness so much so that people view heaven as boring. are you kidding? The problem isn't that heaven will be an eternity of boring church services, but we have allowed ourselves to become boring people. Nonbelievers think we're boring.. and I'm afraid they're probably right. Sad, huh?

Braison then asked what our parties would look like.. I said ask me about matthew 10 later. Later came and I told him I was wrong, it was matthew 9. But when we fiiiiinally found it, we read verses 9- 13, which goes something like this:

"As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

..to which they all responded.. "WUT 0___________0."

I explained how Matthew started following Jesus. THEN, they go to Matthew's house and all his tax collecting friends and sinners join in. I just reiterated, "This is what our parties should look like." We should be hanging out with nonbelievers and believers alike with people coming to know Christ. The dynamic is fun.. why in the world would nonbelievers go hang out with Jesus if He was some kind of stick in the mud? I bet He was the life of the party. If you don't think you can be righteous, wise, and fun all at the same time, your view of Jesus might be a little skewed. Don't be so uptight about how Jesus acted around people. He loved them. He fed them. He healed them. He prayed for them. He wept for them. He was a person, too. He smiled, He laughed, He slept, He cried. Be a human! Go laugh with someone who doesn't know Jesus. They'll hang around you much longer that way.

Later in the week, one of the students came and talked to me about not being sure if he knew God or not. We went outside and talked for a bit, I shared the gospel with him, and left him to cry out to God like the tax collector from Jesus' parable. He came and found me 15 minutes or so later with a whole new demeanor. He was a new person. He told me he had finally met Jesus ...and we threw a freaking party. God showed up and showed off. God taught us all what it means to throw a party like Jesus did.. kinda. But it was just so cool. Both trips, high school and junior high, had one student a piece meet Jesus. Talk about incredible. Yesterday, after our MERGE recap service another student who was on the high school trip decided to follow Jesus as well. Lives were changed and I'm excited to see what happens as a result of it. Neat.