Paul writing to his protégé Timothy in the bible, shared this with him in regards to a church he was leading in a city called Ephesus, “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone (the church) should accept it” “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”- and I am the worst of them all.” 1 Tim. 1:15 (NLT)
To often today I think that the Church (the people who make it up) has gotten itself into a sticky and sinful situation while all the time meaning well, but not delivering on a crucial part of the Bible message. “We are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God” The sinfulness of the situation is what I like to call the country club mentality aka PRIDE. Now the reason I can point this one out is because I have been there myself. What happens is the church, as place for people to gather and to worship becomes a sort of country club where the “Christians” (those more spiritual and better than everyone else) gather and everyone else is excluded. Now, when it comes to a real country club you know with the golf course and restaurants… I am fine with this. I want it to be exclusive and that is why I pay the fee to join so I can have it to myself and for my enjoyment. The sinfulness of this when it comes to the church is that we did not and will not pay a price for it. Only pride would say we did something special to earn it or buy it. It is just the opposite of this in fact, Jesus Christ paid the price and cost of membership on the cross where he died a terrible death for you and me. He paid this price so that ALL not SOME would be included in his plan for the church. The Church is HIS IDEA and his club, not ours! There is no such thing as a non-sinner. People who are Christians are not non-sinners. The truth in the matter is that before accepting Christ we were once slaves to our sinful nature, but now we are not held captive by a life of sin because of the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ.
The good news about the bad situation of the country club mentality is that there are a lot of pastors and leaders in churches all around the country that are realizing that the church has fallen victim to the country club mentality and have taken a stand and decided to do something about it. They (myself included) have decided (because God already decided) that the church will not be a place of exclusion but a place of inclusion because that is what the God intends the church to be, a place where all sinners can gather to celebrate the grace given to us by God through his son Jesus Christ. How do you know if you go to a church like this? A godly and biblical church is a safe place for you to be you. It is a safe place to be hurting, addicted, and broken. It is a place for healing, comfort, peace, joy, love, and mercy. Bottom line….Jesus is present in that place!
If you think the church is place that was created for you and only you…do not watch this video you WILL be offended, but I think it is really funny!
