Of course, many beliefs and values will inevitably divide those who choose to follow Christ from those who don’t. Jesus himself said he came not “to bring peace, but a sword.” But what makes something a boundary marker is its being seized upon by the group as an opportunity to reinforce a false sense of superiority, fed by the intent to exclude others.
Religious boundary markers change from generation to generation…
If you give it much thought, whether your religious background is liberal or conservative, Protestant or Catholic, you can probably come up with your own set of identity markers.
A boundary-oriented approach to spirituality focuses on people’s position: Are you inside or outside the group? A great deal of energy is spent clarifying what counts as a boundary marker.
But Jesus consistently focused on people’s center: Are they oriented and moving toward the center of spiritual life (love of God and people), or are they moving away from it? This is why he shocked people by saying that many religious leaders—who observed all the recognized boundary markers—were in fact outside the kingdom of God. They were—like Hank—increasingly dead to love. And this is why Jesus could say that “the tax collectors and the prostitutes” who were a million miles away from the religious subculture, but who had turned, converted, and oriented themselves toward God and love, were already in the kingdom.
This was the great irony of his day: The “righteous” were more damaged by their righteousness than the sinners were by their sin (33-34).
-John Ortberg in The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People, p. 33-34