Pastor Roger and Melodee Tickle

The Church, a Sanctuary

by Pastor Roger
  
Have you ever felt alone; like nobody cares and even if they do I’m not sure I can trust them with my ‘stuff’. We have all been there a one time or another. When we were children, people (especially family members) said stuff that hurt us. “You’re stupid.” “You’ll never amount to anything.” Maybe it was a little more subtle but they were words that stung.     It happened on the play ground at school, maybe in the classroom from a teacher. With each wound we built a wall of protection, part of our personality was damaged and we created defense mechanisms to guard us from getting hurt again. Some people just shut down and never let anybody get too close. Some people use their anger as a defense; some will use humor, making a joke out of everything. Some will bury themselves in their work. Some turn to an addiction (alcohol, porn, drugs, etc.) We find ways to hide or protect what’s buried deep inside our heart.      We are all wounded, whether we want to admit it or not. That’s why marriages have so much conflict. Most of us live alone in the areas we are wounded in. “I have been burned before when I shared a ‘secret’ about my life. I’ll never do that again.”     Now, in my mind the church is the last place where you should have to worry about your dirty little secrets. I mean, isn’t ‘the church’ the body of Jesus Christ? Aren’t we supposed to be the place where Jesus is manifest?      The truth is no matter where our wounds come from or how deep they are Jesus came for the very purpose of healing our heart. Isa. 61 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,
³ To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; John 14:27 My peace I leave with you…; Hebrews 13:5 I will never leave you nor forsake you. These are all wonderful truths but sometimes I look at them and think. ‘yeah right.’      Why is it that sometimes the truth of Jesus healing power eludes us? Could it be because we have been forsaken by Christ’s body?  Could it be because we have put a heavy burden on people that we can’t even bare? (Matt.23) You have to look a certain way, act a certain way, dress a certain way, cut your hair a certain way, smell a certain way, be a certain way or Christ’s body won’t accept you. Could it be we don’t have Christ’s peace because we aren’t allowed to simply be who we are for fear of ridicule and/or rejection?     Read the red in the gospels and it won’t take long for you to see that it was the rigid religious people who bore the wrath of Jesus. In Matt. 23 Jesus called them snakes and hypocrites. He told them they were play actors. They pretended to be something they weren’t and they expected things out of people they couldn’t live up to themselves.      It was the woman caught in the act of adultery he had compassion on. It was the little lying, cheating, thieving tax collector he had compassion for. The lame, the blind, the leper, the crazy, the wild, were drawn to Jesus and Jesus was drawn to them.  I used to struggle with depression and out of the depression emerged a couple nasty addictions. I kept all this to myself for fear of what people would think especially ‘the church.’    The church is ‘the body of Christ’’’; are you getting the picture? The place we gather the body together is called ‘the sanctuary.’ Isn’t that interesting because a sanctuary is a safe place. The definition of sanctuary is a sacred place; a place of refuge and protection. How many of you reading this feel safe in sanctuary with Christ’s body? How many of you reading this has hurt somebody because they didn’t match up to your religious expectations?     Here’s a new’s flash: Rom. 3:23 “…for all have sinned…” That ‘all’ includes you. That’s why we need Jesus. I am not all I should be in Christ. I still have flaws. If I have to bare those flaws alone I may never know true freedom.Jesus really did come to set the captives free…. His burden really is light; he really does offer ‘peace that passes all understanding’. He offers it in community with his body. We are called to wash one another’s feet, love one another, bear one another’s burdens, forgive one another, and receive one another. Instead, too often we judge one another, pick at one another, gossip about one another, reject one another.      I am getting a picture in my mind of a movie I saw years ago called, “Fight Club.” The main character turned out to be schizophrenic. When he fought, turns out he was beating the snot out of himself. Talk about counterproductive, but too often that’s what the church does.      I guess what I am saying is let’s work hard at making Grace Community Church a real sanctuary. A place where it is safe to be real and know we can get encouragement and help. I wonder how many people would be drawn to the church if they knew from what they saw that it would be safe. (He who is without sin cast the first stone…)  

WHAT IF…

 What if your life were to end today? Are you 100% sure you would go to heaven?

If you are not certain about the answer to that question, then please listen to what God says in His word.

The Bible teaches that you need to understand and believe four things in order to have a home in heaven:

1. You have sinned against God.