I am sure you have heard people say: “If I walked in that church the walls would fall down”, “The church has a bunch of hypocrites”, “All they want is my money” and on and on. You see, we have a false view of what church is.
Mark 2:16,17 “When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
For some strange reason we think that the righteous go to church. That is Pharisee thinking. The Pharisees were the teachers and rulers of the law. They felt that they knew more than anyone else and were also above everyone else. The church should be viewed as a hospital and not a place for the righteous. Why?
Romans 3:10 “As it is written: there is no one righteous, not even one;”
If there is no one righteous except Jesus then why do we portray that we are righteous? The church is you and I who are believers in Jesus Christ and not a building. Our body is the building of the church. I think one hindrance to going to church is getting dressed up. When you get dressed up you feel better about yourself. The problem with this is that on the outside we portray that we are clean but on the inside we are still sinners. Then we start to believe that our outward appearance is actually portraying our heart. We start to think we are not that bad. That is where all the trouble starts.
Jesus says that no one is righteous and that “it is not the healthy who need a doctor”. Most of us go through life completely broken but will not go to a doctor. All our bones need set but we choose to put on an outward appearance that we have it all together. A good job and nice clothes can cover over a multitude of sins in man’s eyes. BUT NOT God’s eyes.
When the church can stop acting like a church we have a chance to help people get healed. The only healing the church can offer is to introduce them to the real doctor, Jesus. He can heal you temporarily of your ailments today but He came to this earth to heal you for eternity. The next time you walk into church instead of thinking how good you look, LOOK for someone who is hurting. Pray that the Lord would direct you to them. Don’t bring up what you do for a living or what you own. Be there to serve. A servant has nothing so don’t portray that you are any better than the lowest of society. Remember none of us are righteous. It is only what Jesus did for us on the cross not what we did as we were powerless in our sin.
Some people that minister to others in a soup kitchen or street corner may not be able to truly serve. A homeless person may ask them if they are homeless. They then get offended and want to let everyone know that they don’t have to be there. They tell them what they drive and where they work. It is as if they are doing everyone a favor including God by serving. God does not need our righteous acts as they are all like filthy rags. He desires our heart.
How about your heart? Have you given it all over to Jesus or do you still have to put on a show to others? Do you serve after everyone knows that you don’t have to serve? Or do you serve as one who has sin? Who needs a Savior? Who knows that they were on their way to hell but only by God’s grace was saved? That is the true church. The true church looks for sinners and loves instead of condemns. Who does not judge but loves.
Everyday we need to see who we are in Jesus, not who we are in our self. Self will always get us in trouble. Being bought with a price means that our life is no longer ours. When we can grasp that, then we have a chance to love others. Pride will keep you form the Lord and from serving with a servant's heart. You may fool some men but you can’t fool God. The next time you step foot in a church turn into a doctor and nurse. Look for the hurting in the waiting room and get to work. EVERYONE has something that is hurting inside of them, EVEYONE. But you have to be the vulnerable one first. When you show that you don’t have it all together then you can be a doctor for Jesus. Then your church will thrive because the Holy Sprit will be there. Then you can get to the hard work of making disciples of all nations. By the way, that starts in your home church one person at a time.
So don’t get down on the church because YOU are the church. The only one you can change is yourself. Don’t cover your sin but let people know who can heal, restore and who has set you free. That is the true church.
Have great day and try to serve this weekend in church instead of expecting to sit down and being served. You will start to see things you have never seen before.
Have a great weekend.
Brad
