Would Jesus Be Welcome in the Church?

The title question of this post is based off of an interview with Rick Warren done recently in his News and Views Blog where the Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church and author of A Purpose Driven Life defends against attacks from those who are saying he has compromised his faith recently because of eating with a group of Muslims after Ramadan ended. The attacks claim that Rick Warren is sacrificing his Christian faith by eating with the Muslims which is a sign of collaborating with them to form a new church. Rick Warren simply calls it "being a good neighbor." He goes on to question whether Jesus would even be allowed in some of these churches which protest so strongly against actions that even Jesus himself might be caught doing. So the questions arises: "would Jesus be welcome in the Church today?"

If a Christian today who is seen eating with Muslims is said to be compromising his faith, then it certainly seems like Jesus would be considered by those same believers also to be compromising his faith when he eats with tax collectors and prostitutes. If association with a particular group that one considers to be antithetical to Christianity makes one less of a Christian, than certainly Jesus fits that bill.

We can look even further and see how the behavior of Christians that go to bars is viewed. My Senior Pastor's son was killed three and a half years ago outside of a local bar. Many people were stunned by the brutality and raged against this heinous crime. Unfortunately some could not get passed the fact that a pastor's son was at a bar. The issue of the evil of the attack didn't even come to bare in this situation for those who questioned the integrity of this "supposed Christian." But wouldn't Jesus go to the bar today? He sat and visited with people that were seen as the vilest scum of the earth, like the Samaritan woman, or the Gerasene demoniac who could only find solace among the tombstones. Why not say that Jesus would also visit bars and prisons on a regular basis. I can imagine Jesus going down to skid row and death row. I can see him hanging out with the crips and the bloods. These are today's versions of the people we see Jesus hanging out with in the Bible. And yet if any of us were found with these types of people, we would immediately be seen as backsliders and expelled from the church.

The moment a Christian becomes accepting of homosexuality and speaking up for gay rights, that person is immediately singled out in the church as a heretic and made to leave. Do Christians not see and understand that their behavior matches exactly the behavior for which Jesus so adamantly criticized the religious leaders of his day. Among those religious leaders Jesus was seen to be a drunkard, a reveler, a rioter, and someone who laughed too much. He was the life of the party. And he certainly would not have been welcomed in the Church today. He would have been viewed as a heretic and a backslider. This is certainly something to think about the next time we begin to criticize someone for their "anti-Christian behavior."
Blessings,
-Brandon