I don't like a lot of Christians

Here is the jist of what sunday moring was about. Let me know if youthin this is worthwhile or not.
This is the 4 sermon in 4 part series called "Confessions of a Pastor"

"I DON'T LIKE A LOT OF CHRISTIANS"
We have been talking about a lot of different confessions in the past 4 weeks. We have confessed to difficulty in prayer times, struggling with feeling inadequate, and sometimes even doubting God.

But today I am going to admit to something that really I don’t like to say. I wish it wasn’t the case actually, but there are a lot of Christians that I don’t really like.

Maybe you can relate to this guy who says I love Christ but it is his people who make me want to pull my hair out. Can any of you relate to that? Ever been there?

Sometimes Christians can be the most difficult and critical people out there.

Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho is the pastor of the largest church in the world. Some 850,000 members… Pastor Cho, was asked, “How much do you pray?” In broken English he said, “I pray about 6 hours a day.” The reporter was astonished. He then said, “Why do you pray so many hours a day?”
Pastor Cho says, “Well my church is very large and has some many people and I hate so many of them.”

He is saying that sometimes Christians can be the meanest ones out there.

I have three main reasons I get upset with Christians…
Why I Don't Like A Lot of Christians:
1. Christians can be judgmental.
2. Christians can be weird.
3. Christians can be hypocritical.

As I look over this crowd I am thinking of someone here who just really makes me crazy. Yes the one I don’t like the most is right here today…

The one is me. I hate it when I am less than what Christ wants me to be. I hate it when I do things inconsistent with what I know is true. I hate it when I simply don’t do the easy things I know to do. I hate it when as a leader I make decisions that hurt people, or when I know things and try to make the best decisions and people just don’t understand. I hate it when I offend people. I really struggle with not being who God calls me to be. It is difficult.

It is much easier though to point the finger at others than let God speak to me.

Why is it that I am less than what Christ wants me to be, I am convinced that
WE FORGET THE MAIN POINT

We easily get distracted, from what is God’s best truth…

We forget the main point…
1) ABOUT OURSELVES.…
do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. 1 Peter 1:14-15

hagios - sacred, pure, morally blameless, consecrated, set apart.

At some point instead of really examining others we need to just take a look at our selves. Am I really different?

Look at what Gods word says to us in Ephesians…

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking… Ephesians 5:3-4

Ask yourself, in the course of the last 7 days was there even a hint of an impure thought, a look in the wrong direction, a greedy moment, an off color joke. Any impurity at all?

But I will admit today, that I really want to be different and I try but some days I am just not. And it is easy for me to be the first to cast the stone at the other guy, like driving for example.

I am not going to pretend that I have never gotten a speeding ticket…

Ever been here before. I am cruising down the highway at 80 or so. Changing lanes like it is the autobahn in Europe, when I look behind me and see a guy right on my tail swerving to the left to look around me to pass… I think, “Who does he think he is driving like an idiot?”

We tend to accuse others.


We tend to excuse ourselves.

I am great at picking others apart. I often joke that I should be a consultant for business and images…

But I need to do less accusing and making excuses for me, and let God address some things in my heart.

What happens is I major on the minors, and tend to forget the main point.

We tend to forget the main point
2) ABOUT OTHERS.
It is not about us….

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4

Bible says to consider others, but I am good at looking out for Josh.

We judge rather than love.
“I can’t believe they would really act like that, bless god… if they really loved Jesus they’d be more like me.”
The truth is we don’t know anything about them and we judge them

We shoot our wounded.
A nuclear bomb of pain, divorce, some of you here have been divorced and you know that it is more pain than sometimes can be bare…
it isn’t Gods divine plan, and we don’t encourage divorce, we fight for families, but I know that sometimes it happens, and it is awful for everyone. It very well could be one of the most emotionally painful moments of your life.

But what is the role of the church? According to Gods word we are here to bring healing, not condemnation. But all too often the church comes out with a loaded gun and bang- one if not both end up leaving the church.

What do you think happens to people who are hurting and needing healing so often. Do they turn to the church who has condemned them, no the head straight for the bars. Why because all too often the people there are more loving and compassionate than the people in the church. Let that sink in…

We shoot our own wounded rather than applying the healing oil to their life.

We stop caring.
My wife Dara and I started this church not to be cool, but because we believe that if you reach out to hurting people and care for them God loves that. I believe that there are a lot of hurt people, some hurt from the church, others other things, but they need to experience God in a real way. To see him as a God that likes them and want sot be their friend.. Not some angry tyrant ready to throw lightining bolts and making random threats all the time.

And when I get too busy, I don’t get to care for people like I need to.
Sometimes we get so agenda and task driven that a need isn’t seen as a divine appointment, and we miss God

Jesus said don’t ever forget the main point about others…

Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31

3) ABOUT CHURCH.
What do these words all have in common?
Vote, majority rule, ballot, Roberts rules of order
You cant find them in the bible

They are not in there, yet those very word are the words that drive a lot of churches.

If in my role as pastor you can vote me in and out. Then my job is to please you. So I have to ask all the time, what are the money people going to think, or the power people going to think. Then I would having to play the game. My job would be to please you not God.

Why is the church ineffective today?
Because too many pastors have been backed into a corner pleasing people not god. The church doesn’t belong to us it is Christ church, and when we start living and believing that why it changes everything.

The church exists to please God, not us.

Jesus says this…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18

How does missing the main thing with the church affect us?

The church loses touch with the world.
Don’t play that secular music, or where that type of clothing, to do this or that… and the church takes on its own subculture and language that no one else understands…

You got to be blood bought, sanctified, walking right and living tight, and filled with a mighty burning fire… just think about that for a minute. I am not trying to offend you, but here is a person who is not ever hardly been to church and we want them to be blood bought, that’s gross, sanctified, what?

We are so accustomed to our terms that we think everyone gets it.
And then we aren’t really willing to explain even what the bible says.
And if you don’t get it, sorry. And if you don’t worship like us, look like us we don’t have time for you.

Why is the church ineffective? Because we have spent so much time with only other Christians that we have lost touch with the world.

Some Christians think they can make it without church.
Thousands and thousands… “I don’t want to go to church with hypocrites”

Gods word say no to forget the gathering of his people together for worship.
There is something awesome when Christ followers gather to worship God all together. Something amazing when one believer lays hands on another believer and asks God to do something inhumanly possible and God does it.

There is something almost magical when the body of Christ functions as the body of Christ. You can’t recreate that by yourself. We are trying to use the internet as a tool to minister to people and I want you to use it, but it can never replace what can happen in a corporate setting when we worship together.

Is the church imperfect yes, but it is Gods tool, the thing he has chosen to tell the world about Him… Lets make sure we are functioning as the church of Christ

We don’t go to church, we are the church 7 days a week.

The people start thinking the church is here for us.


What would happen is we really lived like the new testament church..

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Acts 2:44-45

What if our thoughts were let’s help. Let me not just say Jesus loves you, but let me show you he loves you by meeting your need.

Or instead of hearing about someone’s struggle and “helping them” by praying for them in a group. Gossip, we really do try to help them or maybe really pray for them.

Maybe God is calling me to be different. Maybe God is calling you to be different.