Locked Out

Have you ever been locked out?
I remember as a kid being locked out of the house a few times.  I would climb a tree close to the house.  Jump onto the roof and then twist the screen out of a little window in the upstairs bathroom.  I had to go through the window head first because it was small and so would end up with my feet out the window and my head on the toilet. Fun.  I've also locked my keys in my car.  That is such a sinking feeling.  I took a group of the Elders from my last church to meet with a pastor of another church.  It was a great day and everything was going well.  Until we went out to my Suburban.  I stuck my hand in my pocket to get my keys and couldn't find them.  There they were, in the ignition, with the doors all locked.  I was so embarrassed and felt so stupid.  Such a helpless feeling trying to get your keys.  I actually locked them in that same vehicle three years ago while my wife and I were out Christmas shopping in a near blizzard.  There I was, just a light jacket (I don't like coats), snow dumping from the sky trying to stick a coat-hanger through the window to open the doors.

This last Easter, moments before our Sunday service began I got a call from my wife who had run home for something, locked her car in the driveway (habit) and then unlocked the house to get whatever I had left there.  It wasn't until after she locked and closed the house door that she realized she had locked her car and locked the house with her keys still on the kitchen counter.

Being locked out is no fun.  No matter what it's from.  I was at a business just this morning and two employees near me were whispering in each others ears.  Or maybe you've been unable to join others in a game because of your ability or disability.  Being locked out stinks, whether it's a conversation, a game or your home.

For years the world was locked out of salvation.  The Jews had the corner market on God and they weren't gonna let anyone else have any.  They thought God was their prize.  That His love was ONLY for them (though Abraham was a man from the lineage or every other man when God called him and singled him out).  So they locked everyone else out. Which was cool with Satan, that's what he wanted the whole time.  Division. Seclusion.

But in Acts 11 Peter breaks the barrier between Jew and non-Jew when he preaches Jesus to the houshold of Cornelius.  While he is speaking to them the Holy Spirit comes on these non-Jews just like it did on the day of Pentecost to the 12 Apostles (all Jews) and Peter ends up baptizing this family into Jesus Christ as the first non-Jew converts to Christianity ever!

And when Peter is asked to explain his actions to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem (who were VERY concerned about this leap from the norm) their reaction is not what you'd expect.  They say this (from The Message version) "God has broken through to the other nations, opened them up to life!"  How wonderful!  After thousands of years of religious snobbery the love of Christ has broken through and now even non-Jews can come to Christ and experience the hope and joy of a relationship with Him.  And that is what God had desired all along.

But sometimes what God wants from us and what He gets are not quite the same.  Perhaps you've tried to attend a church, to find some hope or healing or help and instead of finding a place of welcome you felt like you were on the outside looking in.  Locked out of what they were all experiencing.  Like standing in the cold trying to figure out the right way to walk, talk or stand so that the door would be opened to you and you could join in on the conversation.  Like you had to force yourself in as unwanted only to feel like, once you made it in, that you were standing on your head - uncomfortable and unwelcome.

In some cases the church today often acts like the Jewish Nation we put up roadblocks and barriers and detours to faith instead of marking the path clearly and putting up signs to point the way.  The reality is that sometimes believers themselves lock the door to faith for others by the way we act, treat the guests the Holy Spirit brings to our churches and even the way we talk - all super-spiritual so that even Paul would have a hard time interpreting what we were saying.

God thank you for breaking through.  For breaking through in my life and the life of so many here at Real Life and in churches around the world.  Help us to make sure that the door is always unlocked and the keys always handy because you want us to always be ready to open up to Life!