A recent study reveals shocking news about the majority of people who fill church pews. It seems that non-believers and non-church members have been right all along.
By far the majority of church goers in this country are sinners. That’s right! In delving into the lives of the people who worship in this nations’ great and small churches, it was found that they are less than perfect! Hang on to your hats! The study also reveals that the ministers are no better. Many will talk openly about their past, and based on what they have divulged; it seems that their sinful ways have run just about parallel with sins committed by non-believers.
It can be safely said that the only sinless attendees are the children of these member sinners. While still below the age of accountability, they are deemed to be sin-free. Once they know the difference between right and wrong and succumb to the temptations that afflict humans, they will lose their sinless status in the eyes of God.
Are all these people play acting? Why do they invite outsiders to visit their church services? Do they think that they are fooling God? Do they think that their friends and co-workers are completely oblivious to the occasionally noticeable flaws in their lives?
It has long been proclaimed by non-believers and non-church goers that, “I’m just as good a person as so-in-so who goes to church regularly.” Apparently all these claims, condemnations and accusations are justified. I know that personally, I have declined to join certain organizations, or groups because I have been influenced by the actions, conduct or foul language of one or more members. And now we find that the same standard of measurement can, and often does, deter potential new believers.
Why do these self confessed sinners come together and why, of all places, would they choose to meet in a building called The House of God? Do the majority really think that they are better than everyone else? Why would they want others to visit, and witness what they are doing, and calling it “worship?”
Only after getting to know some of these people and hearing their stories, and their sincere answers to queries, can we come to understand what, and why they do what they do. Are they better than the rest of the world?
“Heavens no! We recognize that the whole membership, save the small children, is confessed sinners. We meet together because we are sinners. God, through his holy word, the Bible, tells us that we are all sinners. That applies to ALL mankind. At one time or another, one by one, we have individually come to grips with our imperfections and acknowledged that God is right in his judgment, and on that basis have appealed to him for mercy and forgiveness. With unbelievable compassion, God’s only son, Jesus Christ, volunteered to assume all our sins and die a sacrificial death in our place. We are sinners, we know it, and we confess it, but the difference in the true believer, and the non-believer, is that we are forgiven. We worship God as a form of thanksgiving for his love and mercy, and to seek strength to help us withstand future temptations. We fall, we fail, but as believers, we can find additional forgiveness from the only source.
A good believer doesn’t think that he is better than anyone else. He is flawed and knows it. The only way to avoid God’s condemnation when we stand before the Judgment Bar, is to have accepted the costly, free gift of Christ’s spilled blood to blot out our sins. There is absolutely no other way.
Why do we invite people to visit our services and learn? People are not invited out of condemnation for the way they live, but out of love for them. There’s plenty of forgiveness to go around and God tells us that it is not His will for any to perish.”
“I’m as good a person as anyone in that church!” You may be. You probably are. But the dividing line is God’s forgiveness, for all eternity. Either you have it, or you don’t.
Harley
