John 10:16
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
The other sheep were non-Jews. Jesus came to save Gentiles as well as Jews. This is an insight into the world wide mission of Christ-to die for the sins of the world. People tend to restrict Jesus to their own groups, but Jesus is not limited by the fences we build.
So often as Christians we enjoy the fact that our churches are all people just like us. This is perhaps the most dominant sin prevading American churches.
I want to give you a test to see if your church is representative of the body of Christ, the following questions should give you incite:
Does your church have people of different races in it?
Does your church have poor people in it?
Does your church have fat people in it?
Does your church have terribly dressed people in it?
Does your church have former criminals in it?
Does your church have alcoholics in it?
Does your church have old people in it?
Does your church have homeless people in it?
Does your church have immigrants in it?
Does your church have people not like you in it?
These are but a few questions you should ask your self about your church.
If you answered no to any of these questions, then you need to go out and search for those sheep missing from your fold...Godspeed!
3 comments:
I have never attended a church in my life where all the people were all like myself.
Even if this is the case in some churches, how is this the MOST dominant sin in American churches. What is your basis for that statement? If there is a church w/ a majority of similar people, it is a possibility that it is due to the demographics of a given area. Sin!? Sin!? Buba, that is a stretch. These blanket statements that you make like this are very curious.
Were you stuggling for a topic this day?
Lastly, "prevading" is not even a word. But, I understood what you meant. Spellcheck is your friend!
Most of us need to look no further than our local church. This is a sin that has been going on since the early church of the apostles. Remember how Peter refused to eat with the Gentiles? Pride is the root of this sin and churches segregated is the result. There is a reason that the most segregated place in America is Sunday morning at the local church. The Bible commands us to go to the nations. The local church should reflect this. If the demographics are the issue, have you ever considered that it might be a sin to segregate ourselves from anyone who does not fit in our socioeconomic bracket?
Remeber Christ's statements concerning the least of these?
We have orders from the master to go to all nations.
Jesus' ministry was filled with reaching out to the undesirables of society.
I stand by my statement that a failure to reach out is the most dominant sin of the collective local church.
Prevailing was the word I was looking for. Thanks Joe!
I dont know where you've been attending worship, but the place where I worship sees all people as people w/ no consideration of any type of status, poor, rich, ugly, pretty, red, yellow, black, green, or white.
Gripes, curious, just curious.
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