Hurt by Christians: 8 Days to Bring Healing and HopeSample

Hospital for Sinners

St. Augustine is attributed as saying, “The church is not a hotel for saints, it is a hospital for sinners.” 

This quote is not referring to the unsaved, but the saved as well. We are all sinners and as we discussed yesterday, Christians are in various stages of the race. It is unreasonable to expect every member of a church to exercise Christ’s perfect, selfless love all the time. It just doesn’t happen since it is impossible. We all fall short and that is ok.

Jesus drew sinners in by interacting with them. In Matthew 9:13, Jesus says, “For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus also rebuked the Pharisees on multiple occasions. (These were the high religious leaders of their day, learned men who knew the Torah inside and out.) Jesus rebuked them for their piety and pride and thinking themselves better than others. Jesus never rebuked sinners other than telling them to, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). 

Let’s estimate, for example, that the average church has 95% saved Christians in it. What would happen in a church, in your church, if there were instead 95% unsaved people in it? What if you opened your church to the homeless and anyone came through on a particular Sunday? How would the 5% of Christians act toward the unsaved? Would they be offended if any of the unsaved cursed, smelled bad, blasphemed God, smoked, or caused a scene? Christians might even welcome it and ignore the offenses after they consider the source, counting it as suffering for Jesus! And yet the same Christians may refuse to forgive their fellow Christians for similar offenses because they should “know better.”

The truth of the matter is that many Christians, especially American Christians, live in a comfortable church experience. The worship is just the right volume, the message is the perfect blend of truth (maybe) and not too much conviction, and the thermostat is set at just the right temperature. They are surrounded by likeminded Christians and if there is someone they don’t like, they can easily avoid that person or shun them with the hope that they don’t return.

This is THE problem with why it hurts so much when Christians offend us. We don’t see it coming. We don’t anticipate our bubble to be popped in such a way from someone we consider to be safe. We build our life in such a way to avoid disappointment and pain. It is just a natural human response. 

I’m not saying anyone should necessarily enjoy being hurt or betrayed, but we have to understand that all humans have the propensity to fail us, to fail God, and yet God still loves you and those that offend you equally.  Believe that God understands more than anyone the failure of humans, and God offers mercy in spite of these shortcomings. These people are the very reason Christ went to the cross!

Tomorrow we will look at how we too are called to show mercy and turn the other cheek.

What is the culture like in your church towards sinners and those who may not “act” Christian? 

How do YOU act towards these people?

Who is someone you can pray for right now that is not a Christian?