Unbalanced

"If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first […] They will treat you like this because of me..."

- Jesus, John 15:18, 21

"Nothing is more alienating than being in a room full of people and realizing, perhaps mid-conversation, that what they talk about belongs to a totally different world than the one in which you exist."

- Omar Cherif

Ever felt like you just did not fit in? I remember… after I put my life in God's hands by saying, "Jesus, I believe you died on that cross to forgive me, and I believe you rose from the dead to give me an eternal relationship with God the Father!"... that almost immediately I became something of an oddball to my friends. I know Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free"... But in my experience, I felt like the verse should've read, "You will know the truth and the truth will make you a weirdo.” At least it did to my friends.

When my friends wondered why I was suddenly more interested in going to church on Sunday than I was going with them to a college football game… when they asked me out loud why I wasn't willing to do some of the illegal activities and some of the immoral things that we used to do together… when they heckled me about my new participation in Bible studies and working with the homeless at the Union Gospel Mission… and then when they discovered that I was not only going to get baptized but that I was tithing a tenth of my income to God's work… well, they pretty much decided that I was unbalanced.

Balance is a highly valued trait in our society. When someone's described as balanced, it's a compliment. Balanced describes a person who’s well-adjusted, sensible, stable, moderate in all aspects of his/her life. But Jesus was anything but balanced. Think about it… Jesus could have healed the paralytic on any day, but He chose to heal him on the Sabbath… the one day the Religious experts said God forbids that work… not even healing work… be done. Jesus could have sat down with the temple leaders and had a sensible theological conversation about not allowing a place of worship to become a carnival of commerce. Instead, He crashed the party like a crazy person knocking over tables and yelling and shouting like some seriously unbalanced lunatic. Jesus could have whispered to the "sinful woman" not to make a scene by washing his feet with her tears in such a respectable home filled with so many respectable people. Instead, He declared that she had done a beautiful thing for Him. According to His critics, Jesus did "God" all-wrong. He went to all the wrong places… He said all the wrong things… and worst of all, He invited all the wrong kinds of people… anyone really… into God's kingdom. He was clearly unbalanced.

In Matthew 10:5-40, Jesus lays out His manual for discipleship… but it reads like a manual of unbalance. Following Jesus will, at times, create tension in families… at work… between friends… and can cause us to feel like we don't fit in… because often we don't.

When you refuse to join in the hurtful gossip about a co-worker… when you choose to forgive instead of resent… when you choose to unite rather than separate from someone who believes differently than you… you are revealing good evidence that you are not of this world. And it's painful when you feel like you're the odd man out.

I'll never forget an incident that occurred in the first church I pastored. It was a little country church of about 150 people in Indiana. Louis was a notorious drunk that everyone knew could not hold a job, and if he got a job it was only for the purpose of buying some more Bali Hai wine. I hired Louis to clean out the weeds in my garden. The truth is, I liked Louis. He served as a medic in the army and actually worked in one of the biggest factories in town until he started drinking all the time. Well, one day, I introduced Louis to Jesus. He accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior and entered a rehab program.

One Sunday, I invited Louis to share his testimony in church. So Louis walks up to the pulpit, picks up the microphone, and just as he starts to speak, he drops it… "Oh s--t!" he says. As the congregation gasps, Louis bends over, picks up the microphone, which now doesn't work, bangs it on his knee and says, "Pastor, the d--n thing is busted!" You could feel the awkwardness… and so could Louis.

As I put my arm around Louis, I thought about the time when Pastor John Ortberg stood up in one of the largest churches in the country and after a particularly rousing worship song quoted Psalm 150 by shouting:

"Praise the Lord!

Praise Him in His sanctuary...

Praise Him for His acts of Power...

Praise Him with the Trumpets...

Praise Him with Dancing...

Praise Him with Cymbals…”

And then, instead of saying, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord,” he said,  "Let everything that has BREASTS praise the Lord!" And then, after a stunned silence, he said, "Uhhh, the men can join in too!" And the congregation exploded in laughter.

So I looked at the folks in my congregation and said, “ Friends, listen… I am certainly not condoning the use of four letter words in church… but, it was a slip of the tongue… and it was funny… and you have to admit it was one of the best starts to a testimony of the transforming work Jesus is up to in Louis' life than anything else he could have said." And that's when 150 people stood up and gave Louis the first standing ovation he had ever received in his life. Unbalanced? Yup! Oddball? Yup! Unfinished? You bet! Weird? Big time! Messy? From top to bottom!

If today, you're feeling a little like you don't fit in... If people are thinking you're a bit unbalanced… out of touch with reality, because you choose to follow Jesus as your Savior and Lord…

Well, here's my prayer for you: That you will hear the crystal-clear voice of Jesus whispering, "I love you! I'm with you! I'm so proud of you!" as you sense Heaven's standing ovation just for you! And remember… For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, so that whosoever believes in Him will, from that point on, be considered unbalanced… odd… weird… by the rest of the world. But loved personally and forever by the God of Heaven and Earth! AMEN

Pastor Harry