Community Reveals Human Weakness (Problems in the Church of Rome) #5

And if you feel—and please hear me very carefully—if you feel sometimes that this church, this gathering of God’s people, is the worst place on earth to be because there’s so much trouble and so many problems, it’s only because you’re seeing humanity in the plural rather than the singular. You are not unusually messed up. You do not have more homosexuals here than we have in Portland, Maine, Beverly Hills, or Dallas, Texas. You do not have more drunks and thieves here. All you’ve got is a look at a slice of humanity, which most people never get. Now, you know where you work? You know how much intrigue and politics are going on there, and how many people get hurt, and how many vicious folks there are? That’s as close as most people ever get to looking at, getting a microscopic—no, a microcosm view. A microcosm slice of civilization.

In the church, in the gathering of God’s people, you’re thrown up against it. It’s hard. It is also salvation, because here, more than any place else on earth, you can discover how dependent you need to be on Jesus Christ. And how tough life really is, because you’re seeing humanity as it really is, everywhere. This is a record of mankind, and we Christians are only slightly better than the world, for only a few minutes longer. I’m going to run that sentence by again, because you might not have gotten it: we’re only slightly better, and at that, only for a few minutes longer. I don’t mean that we maintain being slightly better. I mean that we are slightly better for a few moments longer than they are, and that’s nothing to boast about.

Alright, after this terribly depressing message, which we will entitle The Problems in the church in Rome. Problems in the church in Rome. Problems in the church in Chicago. Problems in the church anywhere on earth, in any century, in any city, and in any village. This is it. Now then, we have two choices. We’ll see what brother Paul had to say about it. He didn’t have a lot to say. He had little to say. We can either choose this, or we’d better go hire about a half dozen of the best psychiatrists in America, or bail out completely of the church. Brothers and sisters, you’re in the safest place on earth. You know where you are? You’re in the place that God loves most on all the earth, and that is where His bride gathers. Praise the Lord