House of the Sick (or Stop Being so Stupid! You Stuck-up, Self-Righteous, Arrogant.....)

“Churches are filled with hypocrites! That is why I don’t go to church!”

I’m sure you have heard that before. The person blazing with self-righteousness, defiantly daring you to prove him wrong. Sometimes they even throw in that churches are just in it for money and that pastor’s are greedy. What amazes me is that each time someone spews out this torrent of stupidity; he acts as if no one else has ever come up with this argument before. Are we supposed to just gasp in amazement, clasping our hands together thanking the good Lord that someone as wonderful as you has deigned to share your wisdom with us?

So you say that people in churches say one thing and do another? That pastors preach that we should all be holy, and yet they are not holy? That every day someone in the church sins?

Perish the thought that someone as great as you would have to walk amongst us mere mortals! How do you do it? How do you stay so perfect? Teach me!!

Christ told us that He has come not for the righteous, but for sinners, not for the healthy, but the sick. His people are sinners, His chosen are the sick. Churches are filled with sinners. This means that not everyone will be perfect all the time. This doesn’t mean that we are all hypocrites, although, in some cases, we are being hypocritical, and instead of just bailing on us, maybe try some of this brotherly love thing that some guy named Jesus talked about. Imagine if He had just bailed on us rather than suffering for thrity-three years BEFORE dying on a cross like a common criminal. If HE could stoop so low and lovingly to do this for us, how can you be so selfish and self-righteous?

I have yet to meet someone who refuses to go to church and is a true follower of Christ. They are so messed up on the concepts of God’s Grace, God’s Holiness, and God’s Wrath. If he truly understood mercy he would realize that while the church might be filled with hypocrites, he is the worst of them all.

We are commanded to worship with a body of believers. Jesus Himself spent Sabbaths at the synagogues which were run by Pharisees and Sadducees.

Quick history lesson:

The Pharisees were called out by Christ to be hypocrites and “white washed tombs.” The Sadducees allowed money changers to flood the Temple. And Christ went to these places of worship, are you better than He? When He came upon the Temple with moneychangers and merchants in it, did He go off in a huff saying, “These people just care about money, come on Peter, we will go have church on our own!”

Not really. We are not called to be solo, whining that churches are not what we want them to be. We are called to make a difference, to declare the truth to sinners, both in the church and outside of the church. Running away like a whipped, scared puppy is not fulfilling the Great Commission….unless I’m missing something somehow.

So I guess the question is, do you actually believe that you have a plank in your own eye? Do you actually see that you are not perfect? Do you believe that you are better than Christ Himself? Do you not understand that you are a hypocrite sometimes as well? You are no better than anyone else and to believe otherwise will only lead to your eternal destruction.

*And make you look foolish here on earth in the meantime.*