Mildred Tengbom wrote, "Life brimmed with promise for Charlotte Elliot. Her fame as a portrait artist and writer of humorous verse was spreading. Then tragedy struck Charlotte's 30th birthday found her lying in bed facing the prospect of being an invalid for life. "I'm no good for anything anymore," she sobbed.

In her hour of need God brought to her bedside a well-known pennywise evangelist, Dr. Caesar Malan. "Come to Jesus just as you are," he pleaded, "with all your sins, fears, and conflicts." Charlotte did, and her life was turned around.

I. We Are Welcome

We are welcome! This is the good news of the Gospel. Jesus welcomes and invites us to come to Him just as we are. Despite our sins, which are described as scarlet and as filthy rags, we are invited to come to Him and be made as white as snow. You and I are not required to wait until we can clean up our lives all by ourselves before we come to God. Isaiah wrote, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come and buy wine and milk without money and without price. … Incline you ear, and come to me; hear that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, … Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Isaiah 55:1,3,6,7

Yes, we are welcome, but just knowing this intellectually may not be enough. We who are welcome must come in response to our Lord's invitation. When we sincerely come to Jesus, just as we are, He can cleanse us, rid us of those things that would hold us back from becoming all that God wants us to become.

Have you come? Do you realize that you are welcome? Have you personally responded to God's invitation to come to the Lamb of God just as you are?

Charlotte Elliot came, and saw her life begin to change. Hope took the place of despair and courage took the place of fear. This woman who had talent for writing prior to coming to Christ soon began to pen some hymns. One of the most familiar is, "Just As I Am."

Yes we are welcome, but all are welcome and we are to welcome the welcome.

II. We Are to Welcome the Welcome

Who are the welcome we might ask? In the Old Testament and the New Testament we see that the welcome are all who will come, all who will respond to our Lord's invitation. God wants all to hear His welcome, that their souls may live, and that all receive His mercy. A problem exists, however. All who are welcome do not realize this great truth. Sometimes even those who have already come to the Lord may feel unworthy and distant from Him.

Charlotte Elliot did not necessarily have an easy life after she came to Christ. She was an invalid who lay in bed for 52 years. She wrote: 'God and He alone knows what it is, day after day, hour after hour, to fight against bodily feelings of almost overpowering weakness, languor, and exhaustion, to resolve not to yield to slothfulness, or depression, but to rise every morning, determined to take for my motto, "If a man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.'" (Kenneth Speck, 101 Hymn Stories, Kernel Publication, 1982.)

Where do we get the power to resolve each day to rise above the feelings of depressions? Charlotte knew a welcome always awaited her and expressed it with these words, "Just as I am thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse relieve.

Like Charlotte, we may need that reminder for ourselves from time to time. In addition, family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and business associates may need to hear that, "They too, are welcome." Some of these persons may have sincerely come to Christ in the past, but may have neglected God recently and drifted away from regular worship and fellowship with other believers. Others in our sphere of influence may have never yet personally come to the Lord. Some of them may believe that they are not welcome to come to God or welcome to come to our church. Are you intentionally letting persons with whom you associate know that they are welcome to come to your church and welcome to come to God?

Suppose you planned to have a weekly gathering at your house, but you did not invite anyone to come? Perhaps all you did was put up a "Welcome" sign by the front door. Who would you expect to be there? Maybe you would expect a few friends who saw your sign and asked you if they could come. Maybe a few people who came the previous week. Unless you and those who were already coming personally asked others to come, what more could you expect.

On our church lawn our congregation has a fine sign for our church. That might attract a few people. Some of us have been gathering here to worship nearly every week for months and years. While church signs are good and helpful, especially to identify a church building, many people come to worship because they were personally invited to come. I know that is why at least some of you are here.

Healthy, vital, congregations, regardless of size, are inviting congregations. They are gatherings of men, women, and children who love the Lord and share Christ's love welcoming person they know to come and worship with them. These persons may not know they are welcome until they are personally invited. Our congregation's leaders were asked to evaluate our ministries last fall on various areas, including radical hospitality.

What a fantastic and awesome responsibility belongs to each of us who know we are welcome to know and practice another Biblical truth. We are to welcome the welcome. This is the responsibility of all Christians, not a task reserved for a select few. With different opportunities, talents, and spiritual gifts, all of us will not use the same approach. Each of us are to be an inviting people; inviting others to come and worship with us, and providing them opportunity if they have not already done so, to respond to Christ's invitation to follow Him.

Conclusion

Some of you have mentioned the fact that we should have more people in church worshipping with us. I certainly agree and ask each of you to invite others to come. Is weekly worship and living for God a top priority for you? When you have family or friends in your home do you bring them to church with you or do you use that as an excuse to stay home? Do you know anyone in our area that has moved recently or does not have a church home? Who have you personally asked someone to come to church lately? Have you missed anyone that you have not seen here for a while? Do they know they are really welcome? Could it be that some folks are not here because some of us have said or done things that make them feel unwelcome?

Are we known in our area as a friendly, inviting, welcoming congregation? Would radical hospitality accurately describe our ministries? Do we speak well of God, of our church, and of each other, or do we speak discouragingly about God, our church, and one another? While we realize that we are not perfect, do we enthusiastically tell others about how God is at work among us as we seek to be the church He wants us to be? Is our focus on God or our own personal agenda?

It has been suggested that one of God’s favorite words is COME. Are we inviting others to come to Christ and to His church? As we come to the conclusion of this worship service we are going to sing a wonderful hymn that God gave to us through Charlotte Elliot. This is a hymn that has been sung many times as people have responded to Christ’s invitation to come. Mildred Tengbom wrote, “At a Billy Graham Campaign in Singapore, 20 in one particular area responded to the hymn. From those 20, 10 formed the nucleus of a congregation that five years later numbered 400.” What if Charlotte Elliot had not come? What if a caring person had not come to her bedside and extended the invitation to her, “Come to Jesus just as you are?” What if Charlotte had not written the hymn? What if the 10 had not come? Have you come? What if someone had not welcomed you to come? Who will you invite to come to Christ and our church?

As we sing I invite you to come. I invite you to come forward if you have not yet given your life to Christ. I invite you to come if you need to recommit your life to Christ. I invite you to come if the Holy Spirit is nudging you to be a more welcoming inviting person.

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