Thoughts from here and There…The Church Isn’t a Country Club!

“I will not go to that church, it is full of hypocrites!” a person declares.

And to that I say, “Thank God the church is full of hypocrites.”

Do you find this strange? Let me explain.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up, left everything, and followed him.

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them.

The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance,” (Luke 5:27-32, NRSVA).

The church is not a country club for saints but a hospital for sinners.

But then you have to admit that you are a sinner.

Sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. It refers to any offense against God or against a religious or moral law. Sin can be an action, thought, or word considered immoral, selfish, harmful, or alienating1. It is a failure to conform to the moral law of God.

That may not be an easy thing to do, but it is the necessary thing.

Without this admission one is excluded from God and the benefits of relationship with God.

Why would a person want to do that?