I’ll answer now. There’s also going to be a question for you at the end of my answer. When you get to that question, please think about it seriously—it is important.
Here is your original comment (but I took out some info that could narrow down the teen you talked about–the changes are marked with “[ ]“):
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“[...] i see 1 of the [teens] in ur youthgroup and [that person] is such a fake [...] doesnt act “christian” at all doesnt that bother u i mean [that person] talks about partying and sex and drinking like its nothing just though u should kno”
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If our youth group only had people in it who “acted Christian,” I would think: 1) that we were failing to teach our teens what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus, 2) that we didn’t care much for the people Jesus loved, and 3) that we had a lot of teens who were very good at acting.
I teach and encourage our teens to grow in their relationship with God. I urge them to seek out ways to grow closer to God and give his Spirit more and more room in their lives. As we begin to give God more control of our lives, we will find that many of the things that used to draw us away from God begin to disappear from our lives.
We have teens in our youth group who come from many different backgrounds and who have experienced many different things in their lives. I care deeply about every one of them. And I know that God loves every one of them. Some of them have not yet given God any control over their lives. That doesn’t make me care any less about them. Others still struggle in a lot of areas. That doesn’t make me care any less about them.
Are some of the teens in our youth group imperfect? Every one of them is imperfect! I am imperfect too. Our goal is to keep drawing closer to God and let him help us in our struggles to live lives that are more like he wants for each of us.
I read this passage a lot. It’s about when Jesus called Matthew to be his disciple (the same Matthew who wrote this). Matthew was not a good person. He was a tax collector—a Jew who worked for the Romans who were occupying Israel. Tax collectors often charged their fellow Jews more than they actually owed in taxes and kept the rest of the money for themselves—in effect stealing from their own people. Matthew’s friends weren’t much better than him. Read this:
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Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”
When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
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I used to be the kind of person who stood outside and pointed at those “scum,” saying “they weren’t good enough.” But then I realized how imperfect I am and how much God loves me anyway. Now I’m one of the imperfect ones sitting at the table with Jesus and a bunch of other hurting, imperfect people.
Here is my question for you: If you had to choose one of the people in this passage who best represents you, would it be one of the people sitting at the table with Jesus or would it be one of the people pointing fingers at the “disreputable sinners” and calling them “scum”?
If you’re one of the ones outside, I want to ask you to come on in and sit at the table with Jesus and the people he loves.
I’m praying you just keep getting closer and closer to him so you feel this every day. And don’t worry–you won’t explode…his love will just overflow to everyone around you.