PK’s Corner April
2013
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God”
If you ever felt the desire to be
superior to your fellow human, then this verse should bring you up short. How many arguments have been made about who
crucified Jesus? How many fingers of blame have been pointed to the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, the Romans and Pilate?
But, how many have noticed that when we point fingers, there are 3
pointing right back at us.
Ask me who crucified Christ, and I will
tell, “Kent Wilfong, he is the guilty one”; and so I am. My sins nailed Christ to the tree, as did
yours and the whole worlds. No one is
without guilt in the crucifixion of our savior.
So it amazes me, when I think about
this, that we as Christians sometimes take on an attitude of superiority. How can that be? A man died for you and me, how can we be proud
of that. People are turned away from the
church, not because of the love that poured out on Good Friday, but because of
the attitude that has sprung up in our churches.
We have managed to convince people that
to come to church, you must be of good stature, dress in the right clothes and
have a deep theological understanding of our doctrine. The truth of the matter is that the church is
for us who are steeped in sin and enslaved by the world and only Christ can set
us free. We come to church, not out of
pride, but out of humbleness, not to be lords over the world, but to be
redeemed by the Lord. Church is not
about power or prestige, it is about knowing that God is doing everything for
our salvation, and we can do nothing but accept the gift of grace.
The message we need to share is not one
of condemnation, for the world does not need more of that. We need to share a
message of hope. This hope was born in
an empty tomb. Yes, we are all sinners,
but the next verse reads “they are
justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus”. You see, God has made a way
of redemption through his son Jesus. So
we are all sinners, but we don’t have to stay that way.
As we leave the empty tomb, we need to
be better about telling people what church is about, and what Christ has done
for us. Let them know that church is the
place where brokenness can find healing and nurture.
Amen
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