Why Jesus and I Don't Hang Out With the Religious Leaders

I am going to tread lately on this post, because I want to make a point but I don't want it to be read for what I'm not saying. Jesus spent time with sinners and didn't really care for religious leaders, and I get it. You see, Jesus came to seek and save sinners and they are saved by grace through faith. Religious leaders wanted people to be saved by obedience through law. Today we seem to preach grace, but do we live out the grace we preach? Yes and no.

In churches today, if you have sinned and I mean really have blown it, you better not be a Christian. If you are a Christian then there is forgiveness and repentance. If you have already been saved and you blown it, then often you are lucky to escape with your life. We want those who are believers to suffer, bleed and pay greatly for their sins. It's true that obedience is important, as Christians we need to do all we can to crucify the flesh and the sin nature. What about the times we fail.

We blow it sometimes, sometimes in little ways, sometimes in bigger ways and sometimes in really big ways. If a Christian really messes up big time, how does the church respond?  I'm not talking about a habitual sin, because as Christians we need to do what we can to get one another out of destructive lifestyles. Often Christians need to be confronted in their sin, because the sin is a trap and a prison and will destroy their lives. I'm talking about the repentant Christian, the grieving Christian, the Christian who messed up and is sorry. Do we restore?

I see restoration happen less and less in the church today. More often than not, when someone really messes up, they leave the church. Have we asked why? Who do wounded Christians leave the church? Maybe it's shame, maybe it's embarrassment, but perhaps it's something more sinister. Maybe it's the condemnation, the expectation they are scum because they have messed up. They will never been looked at the same way again, and will always wear the scarlet letter.

Jesus didn't like the condemnation when the teachers of the law and the religious leaders brought in the woman caught in adultery. He didn't like their teachings, what He called the leaven of the Pharisees. They were hateful people and Jesus didn't care for their company and I understand why. I agree.