There is a popular meme on Facebook that says, “I’d rather attend church with messed up people who love God, than religious people who dislike messed up people.”
So, let’s break that down in sections.
The church is the body of Christ comprised of those who are
to love (obey) God, who have died with him to sin, and who should be living to
him and to his righteousness. So the church is the people of God, not a place
you go, and not a building built by human hands, but a spiritual building made
up of living stones, the body of Christ. We, the people of God, are the church.
So, if this is a gathering of the church, the body of
Christ, it should be a gathering of people who love and obey the Lord, who are
no longer walking in sin, but who are walking in righteousness. But we do know
it is possible for true believers in Jesus to fall back into sin and to be in
need of revival, so some of them could be in the condition of having fallen
back into sin.
So what does it mean to be “messed up”? A mess is chaos,
confusion, disorder, disarray, disaster, and trouble. And “messed up” means failed,
ruined, abortive, futile, and to miss the mark (sin). And what does it mean to
love God? It means to obey him. For if we do not obey him, in practice, then we
do not love him and we don’t know him, and we do not have eternal life in him. And
we will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
[Matthew 7:21-23; John 14:15-24; Romans 2:6-8; 1 John 1:5-9;
1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; 1 John 5:2-3; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8).
And who are the true (pure) religious (not false religious)?
They are those who believe in Jesus with God-given faith – the spiritual,
sacred, devout, moral, virtuous, reverent, holy, godly, faithful, loyal,
reliable, worshipers of God, pure, undefiled, unspotted from the world,
merciful, and loving. It doesn’t mean they are perfect, though, but they are living
righteously.
So, let’s put it all together.
If you would rather be in gatherings with people who are
messed up, then you would rather be in gatherings with people who are living
failed, futile, and sinful lives, as their practice. And people who are living
failed and sinful and futile lives are not loving God because they are not
obeying God, so you can’t be “messed up” and loving God, too. And if you don’t
obey God, you do not have eternal life with God (1 John 2:3-6; Matthew 7:21-23).
And you would rather be with people living in sin than with
those who are godly, faithful to the Lord, morally pure, upright and obedient
to the Lord, in practice, who you regard as disliking messed up people when,
perhaps, what they dislike is the sin, and out of love they want to see the “messed
up” free from sin. And this absolutely is what is taking place in “the church”
today.
In fact, twice now I have attempted to engage in conversation
with Christians who have posted this meme, about 7 months apart from each
other, and both times the individuals unfriended me, even though I was not rude
or harsh or unloving. In fact, with this last one, all I did was ask her to
look at the Scriptures, in comparison with what the meme was saying, for I felt
they did not agree, and I asked her to pray about it. And she dumped me. She
refused to test what she was posting against the Scriptures.
Yet, do the falsely religious exist still today? Yes! They
are called hypocrites, who profess one thing with their lips while they do
another. So even your “messed up” people could fit into the category of the “falsely
religious” for they make a profession of Christ as their Lord but they do not
honor him as Lord of their lives, but they continue in deliberate and habitual
sin.
Yet, does legalism still exist today? Yes! But in the
minority. Legalists are like the Pharisees and the Judaizers who insist on externals
which have nothing to do with holy living, and sometimes while they are
secretly engaged in sin themselves. But please don’t confuse true righteousness
for legalism. If someone teaches walks of holiness and against living in sin,
he or she is not a legalist. He or she is teaching the truth of the gospel.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom
2:6-8; Matt
7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Oh,
to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics
by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music
by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s
treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of
compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the
fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy
love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy
fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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