The Outsiders | A Glimpse of God's Kingdom

After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands. They cried out with a loud voice:

"Victory belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb." 

Revelation 7:9-10 (Common English Bible)

When God invited the magi, who were Persian astrologers, to be among the first to worship Jesus, it wasn't random. When God included Ruth the Moabite and Rahab the Canaanite in Jesus' family tree, it wasn't an accident. When Jesus ate with tax collectors and talked with Samaritans, it wasn't just being nice. All of it was pointing toward this vision of a great crowd that no one could number, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, all standing before God's throne together.

This is what God has always been working toward. Not a kingdom where everyone looks the same, believes the same, or comes from the same background. A kingdom where diversity isn't just tolerated but celebrated. A kingdom where the barriers we've spent centuries building are completely torn down. A kingdom with no outsiders.

But this isn't supposed to be some distant future hope. This is the reality we're called to live into right now.

When we welcome outsiders, we're giving people a glimpse of God's coming kingdom. When we tear down barriers instead of building them, we're showing the world what God's kingdom actually looks like. When we refuse to treat anyone as less than human, we're proclaiming that there are no outsiders in God's kingdom.

But when we exclude people, when we draw circles and tell some people they're out, when we rebuild barriers that Jesus tore down, we're working against what God is doing. We're saying that the future kingdom where everyone is welcome isn't something we actually want to see here and now.

This week, we've explored how God has always chosen outsiders, how insider thinking is dangerous, and how we're called to practice radical welcome. But it all comes down to this: Do we really believe that there are no outsiders in God's kingdom? And if we believe it, are we willing to live like it's true?

Because knowing this isn't enough. Agreeing with it isn't enough. We have to examine our own hearts, confront our own biases, and change our own behavior. We have to stop creating categories of who belongs and who doesn't. We have to stop requiring people to prove themselves before we'll welcome them. We have to stop acting like gatekeepers of God's kingdom.

This is hard work. It will cost us something. Some people won't understand. Some people will question our faith. Some people will accuse us of compromising.

But this is what following Jesus requires. Because Jesus made it clear: God's kingdom has no outsiders. The only question is whether we're going to keep creating them in ours.

Prayer:

God, thank you for creating a kingdom where everyone belongs. Thank you for tearing down the barriers we keep trying to build. Thank you for inviting us in when we were outsiders. Help us live into the reality of your kingdom right now—not someday in the distant future, but today, in our relationships, in our communities, in our churches. Give us courage to welcome the people you're already inviting in. And help us stop creating outsiders when you say there are none. Amen.