When Christians Get It Wrong: When We're UnChristian

So I'm leading a bible study at church based on Adam Hamilton's When Christians Get It Wrong, and I thought I would do a corresponding blog post for each week's topic.  The first week's topic is when Christians are unChristian.

The different scriptures Hamilton picks for the first chapter paint a startling picture for today's Christians.  As opposed to many of today's "dynamic" preachers, Jesus didn't constantly condemn sinners.  He condemned the religious leaders of the time, and instead invited the sinners to eat with him among other things.  These religious leaders were so concerned about religious orthodoxy that they forgot how to love one another like God taught us to do.  Jesus had a disdain for these Pharisees, and because of it, we get some of the most beloved stories in the bible.

One of those is the Prodigal Son parable.  The younger son asks for his inheritance early, but spends it all and has to come back to his father broke and hungry.  Instead of rejecting him, the father welcomes him with open arms, much to the chagrin of the older son.  The older son does not like that his younger brother is going to be rewarded with a feast after years of unwise living.  In the older son's mind, he has followed the rules, kept in line, and done everything the father had asked him. 

It is so easy for all of us to be the older brother, constantly pointing out the sins of others without identifying your own, constantly thinking that we are more deserving of God's love because we have done certain things, and constantly refusing to love our brothers and sisters.  The Prodigal Son parable is about us, and it always will be.  We have a choice to either be the jealous, condemning brother, or we can be the loving father open and welcoming to all.  

Christians are called many different things. Judgmental, hypocritical, and unloving are just a few.  And of course, it would be easy for me to say, well, there are some Christians and some churches that are like that, but for the most part we're pretty nice.  But instead, I want myself and the few others that will read this to look at themselves and truly think about and identify ways that they have not been Christian to others. Only then can we become a church that fully reflects the ministry of Jesus Christ because a church that does not love sinners and the least of us is no church at all.

  

-Jeremy