1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian When will you show you care? | Page 11

of a sermon, the preacher of a good evangelical congregation invites people who want
to commit their lives to Christ to come down the aisle to indicate that desire.
Will said, “I hope that someday there will be an evangelical service in which, when the
preacher gives the invitation and people start coming down the aisle, he yells back at
them, ‘Don’t come down the aisle! Go to Jesus! Don’t come to me! Go to Jesus!’
“Upon that declaration, the people who were coming down the aisle turn around and
exit the auditorium and get in their cars and drive away. He then yells at the rest of
the congregation, ‘Why are you hanging around here? Why don’t you go to Jesus too?
Why don’t you all go to Jesus?’ The people rise en masse and quickly leave the church,
and soon the parking lot is empty.
“What I imagine is that about a half hour later the telephone at the police station
starts ringing off the hook, and the voice at the other end says, ‘We’re down here at the
old folks’ home and there’s some crazy people at the door yelling that they want to
come in and visit Jesus, and I keep telling them Jesus isn’t here! All we have in here is a
bunch of old ladies who are half dead. But they keep saying, “But we want to visit
Jesus! We want to visit Jesus!”’
“The next call is from the warden down at the prison. He’s saying, ‘Send some cops
down here! There’s a bunch of nuts at the gate and they’re yelling and screaming, “Let
us in there! We want to visit Jesus! We want to visit Jesus!” I keep telling them that all
we have in this place are murderers, rapists, and thieves. But they keep yelling, “Let us
in! We want to visit Jesus!”’
“No sooner does the cop at the desk hang up the phone than it rings again. This time
it’s the superintendent of the state hospital calling for help. He’s complaining that
there are a bunch of weird people outside begging to be let in. They, too, want to see
Jesus! The superintendent says, ‘I keep telling them Jesus isn’t here. All we have here
are a bunch of nuts, but they keep yelling at us, “We want to see Jesus.”’”
I love to tell Will’s story because it illustrates, in a brilliant way, that to go to Jesus is to
go to those who are the rejects of society. We encounter Him there.”

See you in church!!