No exclusions

The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. (Ephesians 3:5-6 MSG)

On the same ground. Those words indicate what some refer to as a level playing field. In other words, there is no difference between human beings. No status, race, religion making any man better or worse than any other. In modern terms, the situation is similar for all people - we ALL are sinners, ALL are in need of a Savior, ALL are incapable of being made right with God on our own, ALL must confess our sins and be made right with God through Christ Jesus alone. No other path exists. Right-living begins and ends in Christ Jesus.

The same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. This should give us a sense of hope and encouragement as we navigate through life's toughest days. We aren't in it alone - we have the same God helping us navigate. We might take on the challenge a bit differently than the person next door facing a similar challenge, but we have the same God, his same power, his same faithfulness backing us as we do. We aren't 'different' from one another, even though we seem to focus on what we 'see' as dissimilarities. The message of grace reaches each person in a little different manner, but it is the same message!

Accessible and welcoming to everyone - not a select few, or an elite group. It is a message of hope, given freely, received just as freely by all who will believe. We can attempt to limit the reach of the gospel message, but we will find that all attempts to stifle it will be ineffective because the message must and will go forth in the power and authority of Christ Jesus. There are lots of 'religious messages' these days, with all manner of deception just begging for us to buy into them. We need the truth of the gospel to decipher those messages, don't we? The gospel is pure - anything mixed with the purity of what God says is not his message at all!

Some would condemn Jesus and his followers for their constant interaction with those the 'elite' religious of the day said were 'outsiders' or 'Gentiles'. To their claims of 'superiority' or 'status', Jesus' response was always one of correction. He would ultimately tell his disciples: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you." (Matthew 28) EVERYONE you meet - not just some, but all. The commission? Train them in this way of life. What way? The way of salvation - life in Christ Jesus and him alone. 

Some will 'add to' or 'take away' from the great commission, but it remains true and irreplaceable to this day. All have sinned. All are in need of a Savior. All find salvation and restoration in Christ Jesus and no other way. No exclusions. Just sayin!