Community of grace

Steve Timmis' interview over at 9 marks yesterday got me thinking about why it is that we don't introduce our friends outside of church to our friends in the church:

1. Fear - we are afraid that someone will say something offensive, that they will so offend our friends that they will never speak to us again.
2. Boundaries - we keep our world boxed off, there are friends at church, there are work colleagues, there are friends at the school gate, there are friends I relax with, there are the neighbours. And rarely (weddings and funerals) do they meet and when they do it can be uncomfortable.
3. Time - We are very protective of our time with different people maybe because we rarely get quality time with them so when we do we want them to ourselves.

There are loads of other possibilities but I think analysing my heart they are the three biggest. But when you boil it down actually they are all a failure to love people and they are all intensely selfish and embarrassing and yet we harbour them.

God's new community, the grace filled church that he has placed me in is the community God has put in place to reach my friends with the gospel, to cause them to long for grace filled relationships. I need to be drawing those who need the gospel together with thsoe who model the gospel.