Burned by the Church?

Ephesians 5:25-27

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Have you been burned by the church? Have you been hurt by Christians? Unfortunately many have. And if you’re one of those that has been hurt by the church or by Christians. I’m sorry. It’s disappointing. We sometimes feel like the church should be the one place where we aren’t disappointed. Christians should be the one group of people that doesn’t hurt us. And yet it happens. Unfortunately, as long as we live in this world, the church is going to be imperfect and it’s going to be full of broken sinners.

But we don’t gather together as a church because of how good we are. We gather because of how good God is. See, someone else that was burned by the church was Jesus. Really not burned, he was crucified. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He lived a perfect life. He was not a broken person. But the religious leaders hated him. They condemned him to death. They crucified him on a cross. He’s the Son of God. Why would he allow such a thing? Why would he stand for such a thing? Because he loves you. He wanted you to be his own. He recognized our imperfections. He saw our brokenness. But he wanted us to be his bride. And so as he died on that cross, he was doing something about it. As we read in Ephesians five,

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, by cleansing her with the washing of water in connection with the Word. He did this so that he could present her to himself as a glorious church, having no stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that she would be holy and blameless. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

He won forgiveness for the sins of the world. He won forgiveness for you. And we are declared to be forgiven and declared to be saints and holy. Again we gather together not because we are perfect people, not because of how good we are. But because of how good he is. As we gather together around His Word, our eyes are refocused on his goodness to us, on his love to us, on his mercy, his grace, his forgiveness. And then we have a chance to show that mercy and grace and forgiveness to those around us, to our fellow believers as we gather at church.

If you’ve been hurt by the church, if you’ve been burned by other believers, I would encourage you to give it another chance. Not because of the perfect people you’ll be surrounded by in church, but because this is where we receive the grace, love, and forgiveness of our God. And this is where we have a chance to show it, to share grace, love, and forgiveness with our fellow believers. May God bless us as we do. Amen.