(Mat 9:11-12 NKJV) And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” {12} When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick“.
I want to share something with you today that is a very serious matter. This relates directly to the current state of the body of Christ and the way we see and treat others.
In order to get the point across as clearly and strongly as I can, I want to tell you a little story. Stories help us to see things more clearly sometimes. This might be a bit longer than normal, but I think you’ll see why by the end. So here we go…
Many years ago my family and I were attending a local church. We were there for the Sunday morning service and it was almost starting time. As people filed in and took their seats, a woman who had never been there before made her way through the doors and sat down.
Almost immediately a man got up from his seat and approached her, asking her to please leave because she wasn’t dressed appropriately. The lady was wearing a halter top and this seemed to offend some people because they deemed it to be inappropriate attire for church.
This woman had obviously never been there and had no idea that she was expected to dress a certain way. She came seeking God.
As she got up from her seat to leave, another man in the church intercepted her. He had seen and heard what had happened and offered her a seat next to him and his wife.
This second man showed her love whereas the first man, and those others who had also complained, showed her disdain and self-righteousness… not the love of Christ. They had looked down their noses at her because she didn’t fit the mold that they had established.
Sadly, things like this happen every single day across the globe, inside and outside of church buildings. It happens on the streets and in stores, in work places, in schools and anywhere else where we go.
Man has overstepped their bounds and decided who should and shouldn’t come to Christ, based on the way they are dressed or the way they look. People who have certain haircuts are judged. People wearing certain kinds of clothing are judged. People with certain kinds of tattoos or a certain number of them are judged.
People who drink, smoke or use drugs are judged. Adulterers, fornicators and homosexuals are judged and deemed unworthy to enter the doors of the church. Prostitutes, strippers, gang members… they’re all judged and looked down upon.
This is a travesty… a pity. These are the very people who need to find the love and forgiving power of Christ, yet the church turns them away because they don’t fit the mold.
It’s time for the body of Christ to get over itself and realize that without God’s grace every single one of us could be in those very same shoes.
(1 Cor 15:10 NKJV) But by the grace of God I am what I am…
Is the behavior of the sinners pleasing to God? Absolutely not. Sin is sin. But it’s the sinner that needs forgiveness and we are supposed to be the vessels through which God’s love and forgiveness flow!!
Church, we need to get on our knees and beg God to forgive us and then ask Him to give us a new heart… a heart for the lost. It’s time for us all to stop putting on airs and start putting on the righteousness of Christ, not our own righteousness, and start seeing the sinner for who they are… lost souls needing love and forgiveness.
This is what we were put here for.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808
401-377-5400
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