Church of the Broken

Have you ever noticed that there is something wrong with church?  Church is full of happy, well-dressed people.  The atmosphere created is perfect so that people have a perfect time, have the perfect amount of God, and can leave church having been through a perfect service to live their lives perfectly.  Inside church, there are no people with problems, and if a problem does come up they pray and it magically goes away, out of sight out of mind.

Welcome to the Sin Free Zone!  Inside church, you’ll not ever find a sinner (beyond the obligatory acknowledgement that everyone sins)!  Church is truly the most perfect, happiest place in all the world!

Is it any wonder most people don’t want to go there?  Would it surprise you that Jesus doesn’t either?

When Jesus was here, He pointed out that everyone one of us, no matter how broken, is beautiful to God.  Jesus came to show us that everyone can enter God’s Kingdom, not matter what they’ve done or how bad off they are.

In Jesus’ church, everyone is blessed: the drop-outs and burned-out.  Both the broke and the broken, the druggies and the divorced.  The HIV-positive and the STD-ridden.  The brain-damaged, the handicapped, and the terminally ill.  The barren woman and the pregnant teenager.  The person with three jobs, the part-timer barely making ends meet, the unemployed, and the unemployable.  The homosexual and the homophobic.  The cheated, the displaced, the replaced.  The parents with children living on the street, the children with parents not dying in the “rest” home.  The lonely, the incompetent, and the stupid.  Those craving any kind of emotional connection and those who are completely dead inside.  THIS IS THE CHURCH OF GOD.

The Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal!  THAT is what the Kingdom is all about!  And the best part?  You don’t have to wait until you die to get there!  Jesus offers to ALL people such as these the blessings of the Kingdom in their life NOW—regardless of their circumstances.

Jesus had a friend named Matthew.  Now Matthew was a pretty universally despised person because he was a tax man.  Not like the IRS, but someone who collected taxes AND intentionally raised them beyond what Rome wanted so he could skim the extra off the top.  A Jew cheating Jews on behalf of the Gentiles…and willfully profiting from it.  Yeah, not a popular guy in town.  So what does Jesus do?  Does he condemn Matthew like everyone else, including all the “church people” did?  Nope!  Jesus asks Matthew to be one of His disciples…and then He goes and eats at Matthew’s house with all his tax collector friends!

Needless to say, the religious establishment was not pleased.  They pulled a couple of Jesus’ other disciples aside to inquire how Jesus could stomach eating with those people…you know….SINNERS.  Ick!  Ew!  Gross!  And you know what Jesus said to them?  He said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.”  Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Matt. 9:12-13)

You know what else?  Later on when Jesus was going through Jericho, He had dinner with another tax collector, and not just a tax collector, but the director for the WHOLE REGION!  This guy skimmed off of all the guys skimming off of their fellow Jews!  But Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house and called him blessed!  (Luke 19:9-10)

Which brings us back to church.  If Jesus spent His time talking to “bad people” like tax collectors, adulterers, lepers, and the like, why aren’t we?  Why is it that SIN is something that is not allowed in church any more?  Why aren’t we encouraging people and helping them through their struggles?  Where did the notion of “you must be perfect in church” even come from?  One of the most prolific New Testament authors, Paul, freely admits that he sinned all the time even though he tried not to (Rom. 7:14-25) and found salvation in Jesus!  Why aren’t we sharing that with people?

James gives a piece of advice that should be at the root of all churches who claim to follow Jesus: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16)  So let’s stop hiding our sins from each other in order to appear “good” and admit that we’re not and pray with each other!  Let’s tell the world that they can be blessed no matter who they are, what they look like, or what they’ve done. 

The Kingdom of Heaven is ALL of ours!  Why not start living it?

Encounter: Are you willing to share the good news about Jesus with those around you, even if it means being vulnerable and admitting your faults and mistakes?