Churches of Christ -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 20th century
3. “_I am better now than some of those who are in the church._” In a
sense that might be so. Morally you might be better than the worst
hypocrite in the church, but why do you want to select the lowest
standard that you can find? I have often wondered why a decent man will
select a hypocrite in the church, or an immoral, disloyal, unfaithful
church member as a standard by which to measure himself. To do so is
certainly no compliment to yourself. We do not use such standards in
other matters. We want the best standards in the affairs of this world
and even though your comparison be true, it still remains that the best
man in the church is far better than the best man on the outside. And
the average man in the church is better than the average man on the
outside. Furthermore, when you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ you
will not be judged according to any human standard, but according to the
word of God Almighty.
4. “_There are so many hypocrites in the church that I cannot afford to
become a member of it._” When one makes this excuse I don’t say, but I
feel like saying, “Well, come on in, brother; there is always room for
one more.” The man who offers that excuse is a hypocrite himself. That’s
not what keeps him out. It is just an excuse for not coming in.
Furthermore, there are hypocrites in every organization in the world.
There are hypocrites outside the church. You can’t get away from the
hypocrites by staying outside the church, because they are not all
inside the church. The church doesn’t have a monopoly on them. Most of
them are still on the outside, and you will be with them as long as you
remain there. Furthermore you’ll have to spend eternity with all the
hypocrites, those that are now in the church and those that are now
outside the church. So, if you want to get away from hypocrites, there
is only one way to do it: become a Christian and tolerate the few
hypocrites in the church while on this earth you dwell, then go home to
heaven to be free of all of them forever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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