July 17th: Luke 5:27-39
Luke 5:27-39
"I could never come to church! The roof would cave in if I set foot in the doorway!"
"I need to clean up my life before I get back to church."
"The church is full of hypocrites."
These are all excuses I've heard from people as to why they aren't coming to church. The first excuse, "I could never come to church! The roof would cave in if I set foot in the doorway!" is a way of saying, "I'm too sinful for church."
To this, Jesus says, "There's no such thing as too sinful for My church. I came to call sinners to repentance and give them forgiveness, healing, and hope."
The church is for sinners in need of forgiveness.
The second excuse, "I need to clean up my life before I get back to church," demonstrates an understanding that God does want us to live in holiness. However the person also misunderstands how things work. We don't clean ourselves up and therefore become acceptable to God. Rather we come to Jesus with our sins and He washes us, cleanses us, and clothes us with His robes of righteousness. Jesus is the one who will "clean up your life."
The church is for sinners who need God to change them.
The third excuse, "The church is full of hypocrites," is sometimes said as an excuse to avoid being a part of a congregation.
But it's also true.
The church is full of people who say they want to live in holiness, yet sin every day. This is not an excuse to do so, but simply the reality of how things are.
But again, this shouldn't be surprising. Since the church is made up of sinners, there will be sin that happens.
So we come to church each Sunday, not because we're better than others, but because we know of our sin and we know the Savior. We come because we're sick with sin and Jesus, the Great Physician, is the only cure.
The church is for sinners who continue to need the medicine of God's grace, mercy, and love.
"I could never come to church! The roof would cave in if I set foot in the doorway!"
"I need to clean up my life before I get back to church."
"The church is full of hypocrites."
These are all excuses I've heard from people as to why they aren't coming to church. The first excuse, "I could never come to church! The roof would cave in if I set foot in the doorway!" is a way of saying, "I'm too sinful for church."
To this, Jesus says, "There's no such thing as too sinful for My church. I came to call sinners to repentance and give them forgiveness, healing, and hope."
The church is for sinners in need of forgiveness.
The second excuse, "I need to clean up my life before I get back to church," demonstrates an understanding that God does want us to live in holiness. However the person also misunderstands how things work. We don't clean ourselves up and therefore become acceptable to God. Rather we come to Jesus with our sins and He washes us, cleanses us, and clothes us with His robes of righteousness. Jesus is the one who will "clean up your life."
The church is for sinners who need God to change them.
The third excuse, "The church is full of hypocrites," is sometimes said as an excuse to avoid being a part of a congregation.
But it's also true.
The church is full of people who say they want to live in holiness, yet sin every day. This is not an excuse to do so, but simply the reality of how things are.
But again, this shouldn't be surprising. Since the church is made up of sinners, there will be sin that happens.
So we come to church each Sunday, not because we're better than others, but because we know of our sin and we know the Savior. We come because we're sick with sin and Jesus, the Great Physician, is the only cure.
The church is for sinners who continue to need the medicine of God's grace, mercy, and love.
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