Church is for Sinners (pt. 2)

Luke's gospel is an amazing account of the life of Jesus Christ. Our dear doctor accounted many accounts of when and how Jesus healed others. One such account is in Luke 13:10-17...

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability." And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

And later with the account of Zacchaeus and the 10 lepers, we clearly see God's acceptance of sinners who repent of their sins and believe in the work of Christ. That work being that He can heal them from their ailments. It is this group of people that Jesus came to save, to heal those who need a doctor. People stood back in judgment as Christ called upon Zacchaeus, that he may stay that night at his house. Definitely not a big deal. But it was (to the pharisees) for Zach was a chief tax collector, the boss of the Roman IRS. He stole a lot of money. (he was a thief.) Read more about Zacchaeus here. [Josh Harris' site]

The religion (read Pharisees) at that time did not want thieves to come to church (or prostitutes, lepers, or any one who was rejected). It was outside their comfort zone, and by their saved by works mentality, it was simply unacceptable. But Christ accepted the prostitute, the lepers, a tax collector, and many others. Christ accepted those who saw their need for a savior, saw that they sinned; He did not accept those who were self righteous, stuck up (proud), jerks (unloving), and arrogant.

I love Christ's last words in this passage. After healing and dealing with the Pharisee's Christ replies, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

Here we see the purpose of Church. A place were Christ may be preached, be seen, be worshiped, and in the midst of everything going on.... that sinners may be like Christ. That is why Christ should be and must be worshiped. Church is clearly for sinners.

Centrality of the Gospel

Because I am on break this week I have the joy and honor of devoting more time than I usually do to listening to sermons and studying more Hebrew :-) The latter is for a test next week and the former for my own spiritual life.

Yesterday I was listening to the sermons/lectures given at the Desiring God Conference from last fall, I had two friends spend their honeymoon there and heard a great deal about it from them, but I finally decided to take a listen to what was said in her entirety. As I listened to Keller's talk and excerpts from Driscoll, who I am still listening to, I was reminded of the fact that the gospel is the main thing. This is why I exist and this is what needs preached. I heard this amazing message from CJ Mahaney's Living the Cross Centered Life, but I have not yet sat down and thought out the logical consequences of that. As Driscoll preached, it is a must for churches to stand on the gospel and make it known that is why that body of believers exists.

Josh Harris takes this further and applies this to our educational and political ideology. Do we want to be known as Homeschoolers or do we want to be known as Republicans over our Christian identity? Political parties are not bad in and of themselves but if they take precedent over our identity in Christ. Here is only one aspect of that logical consequence I mentioned earlier.

Here is Harris:


I know it is easy for reformed churches to stand on a particular issue. Someplaces that is necessary to be counter cultural. At Meadville this Summer I learned the impact of having Session Controlled Communion can have in an area where Communion is a light and pithy thing in liberal churches. (Welcome to Meadville- liberal churches at every corner.) Do we want to be known as psalm-singers? Do we want to be known as political activists? Private Schooling? Creationism? While these are all good things - should not the Gospel be the center of our lives privately and ecclesiastically?
[HT Josh Harris]