In one of those moments when just the right words came, I answered, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning.”

Harry waited a moment and then almost sneered as he answered, “No you don’t. There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. I’d join a church like that!”

You know what? I have a new rule: I won’t join a church that doesn’t do that. Because that’s the Jesus I recognize, the One who mends the brokenhearted and is never, ever scandalized by sinners.

The Founder of my faith gave us new rules of engagement. He was told, like everyone else in His society, to stay away from lepers. He wouldn’t do it. Sure, it made people mad that Jesus was flouting their rules. But He didn’t stay away from lepers. Instead, He touched them and made them whole.

Crowds grumbled at Him when they saw His choice of company, like a man who worked with the occupying Roman government to steal their money from them. They watched Jesus even invite Himself over to Zacchaeus’s house—a nice house that, no doubt, was purchased using their own stolen money.

Of course they grumbled. He had dinner, too—on their dime, they realized—and it sent all the wrong messages. Surely there were children in the crowd, too, who might “have gotten the wrong idea”—you know, that we should hang around people like that. (People upset about grace always trot that one out: “Sure, I understand, but kids could get the impression it’s okay to eat dinner with tax thieves, and so you really shouldn’t do that.” Sure. They’re always concerned about “the kids.”)

This is an excerpt from a book titled Unoffendable by Brant Hansen.  A good friend of mine recommended the book and this one is a winner.  It might change the way you think and react.