Oy vey.
The church was never meant to be a place where lost people come to gather. Its a place of edification and learning and fellowship and praise of the Christians.
The christians are supposed to go OUTSIDE of the church building, to evangelize the lost. That is how Jesus has it organized.
I think the above points are pretty salient.
What a church is:
The church, by definition, is an assembly of BELIEVERS.
That's the actual definition of the Greek word within the context of the New Testament.
The church is a group of believers, who are "called out", from the unbelievers, in order to assemble together.
That's what the church is.
Unbelievers are generally welcome to attend these assemblies of believers, so that they may hear the gospel, and become... BELIEVERS.
Unbelievers don't seem to have any biblical or logical place among an assembly of believers unless they are there to hear the gospel and become believers... so that they may become actual members of the assembly... which is an assembly of BELIEVERS.
What a church is not:
A church isn't a social club.
It is very specifically an assembly of believers, which is to attend to the spiritual needs of BELIEVERS.
If an unbeliever is there to become a believer, that's fine.
If an unbeliever just wants to hang out, and socialize, and share his opinions, and defend his sin... biblically, the assembly of believers is not really the place for that.
Didn't Jesus hang out with sinners?
If we want to fall back on the premise about Jesus hanging out with sinners -
we need to recognize this is intentionally misinterpreted.
Jesus was not hanging out with "unrepentant" sinners.
He was hanging out with sinners who had received his message, and who were repentant... the converted.
He preached openly to all, out in the highways and byways.
But his "companions" weren't unrepentant sinners... they were the converted.
Conclusion:
1. A church, by definition, is an assembly of believers.
Con...
2. So, if any sinner, of any variety, wants to attend an assembly of believers in order to become a believer ( repent, accept christ, and have a new life in Christ) ... that's great.
3. If any sinner, of any variety, just wants a place to hang out, keep living in sin, and try to justify and defend his sin... then an assembly of believers is not the place.
4. If uncoverted and unrepentant sinners are hanging out at YOUR local assembly of believers... and they are just fine living with sin, and they aren't convicted to either repent or leave... then your pastor isn't preaching the gospel. The gospel convicts people.
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