Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Weekly Blurb

The Church is Full of Hypocrites

Sunday 24 February, 2008 · Posted by Raj Gupta

A recent US survey found 72% of people were of the view that the ‘church is full of hypocrites’. This is simply not true. The fact of the matter is that there is plenty of room for more. Most churches, including ours, have a number of spare seats.

The statement and sentiment behind it is based on a profound misunderstanding of what Christians and therefore churches are all about. Christians are not good people. The Bible says that No one is good – except God alone (Mark 10:18). Churches are not a club where good people gather.

The reality is quite the opposite. People can only become Christians when they recognize they are sinners because of their attitudes and behaviour toward God. Jesus said that It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Mark 2:17). An essential step to the solution of any problem is confessing that you have the problem.

Christianity is exactly the same. Jesus was sent into the world to die on the cross and rise from the dead. In doing so, he makes it possible to be forgiven. God has actually taken the first step in fixing our problem, but we cannot grasp the gift that God has given to us in the life of His One and Only Son unless we confess our problem of sin. The person who recognises and confesses their sin, and who trusts in Jesus for forgiveness – that person is now a Christian. It is people like this who ‘fill’ our church.

In fact the Bible says If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9). Christians are not good people. Christians cannot be good people. In one sense, Christians must be hypocrites, for while acknowledging that we are created in the image of God, we must also recognise that we continually fall short. We must recognise that we are sick before we can be forgiven by Jesus death and resurrection.

It is a message for the world, and once you have experienced the forgiveness that is available in Jesus a natural reaction is to desire that others have a similar experience. That is why the church is not full of hypocrites. There is plenty of room for more.

Raj

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