Saturday, March 27, 2010

Jesus Welcomes Everyone

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." -- Matthew 23:13-14

I had the opportunity to speak with a nice young man the other day. He's a young father just trying to make ends meet. I guess he saw the cross I wear. Anyway, the subject, as it often does, got around to church.

He doesn't go to church, he informed me. "Too many hypocrites," he explained.

I agreed, which shocked him I think. He probably expected me to argue with him or try to explain the hypocrites away. Why would I? Every church has a hypocrite or two. Some have even more. I smiled and told him I went to church anyway because I figured God could handle the hypocrites and me too. I know I need alot of help with all my flaws.

He loosened up a little bit and finally admitted the real reason he no longer attends church. He'd been criticized for wearing jeans to church. This young man, who spends his off hours remodeling his "trailer house," doesn't own a suit. Nor is he likely to anytime soon. He wears jeans or his work uniform. It's what he has. The jeans were clean, without stains or tears, he explained to me. But they weren't good enough for that church. So he no longer attends church. He doesn't feel welcomed by the body of Christ. Ever been rejected by a person or group? Then you know how he feels.

Can you imagine Jesus turning someone away because of how he's dressed? Jesus welcomed everyone, no matter who they were or what they'd done. This obsession about appropriate dress for church comes from man, not God.

I felt this young man's pain. I remember listening to a preacher give a sermon on how girls should dress, especially at church. Now, this was a conservative church and the young girls truly didn't dress inappropriately. But he made his point. Funny how that worked out. The number of young women attending Sunday services dropped drastically. He never needed to worry or even think about how they dressed anymore because they were no longer in church.

I don't think Jesus is up there celebrating when His church leaders make people feel unwelcome because of how they dress. I suspect the people He wants to stay home are actually the people holding themselves up as righteous even as they drown in their own sinful nature.