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NASB | Luke 5:31 And Jesus answered and said to them, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 5:31 And Jesus replied to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but [only] those who are sick. |
Bible Question:
Where in the Bible does it ever command/imply that "lost" people should be part of the church (church specifically referring to a group of people coming together to worship OR collectively referring to the body of believers in any given area)? In old testament times were the heathen allowed to sacrifice (or worship their own gods) in the temple? Have you ever seen a verse in the new testament where Paul or Peter or any of the apostles talked about recruiting unbelievers to come and worship with the believers? In fact, is not the very DEFINITION of the church a body of believers? How then can a professed "unbeliever" be in any way part of something that, by it's very definition, excludes him. It seems to me that bringing someone who does not believe in God to a service which is [supposedly] set aside to WORSHIP God is, to say the least, counterproductive for both us and them. So why do we do it then? Well, I suppose that the easiest and most common answer to that question is so that they can hear the message of Christ and then [hopefully] accept Him. While that seems at first glance to be a worthwhile goal, we should take a minute to think about what we are sacrificing for it. Have not so many of our "worship" services become solely dedicated to "getting people saved" instead of focusing on coorperately worshiping OUR amazing God? Please understand that I do not question the explicit instructions given for us to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, but if I remember correctly Jesus commanded his disciples [followers] to GO OUT and preach the gospel to all nations and to GO OUT and baptize, etc. He sent people out with instructions to teach and heal and baptize, not to invite unbelievers to worship with them in the temple (or anywhere else for that matter). What sense does it make for us then to invite the unsaved to come to our worship services? It seems to me that evangelism should be a very active and EXTERNAL endeavor rather than the passive internalization that we have made it. Shouldn't the unbeliever first believe in Christ before they are asked to worship Him? When and why did this whole practice of "inviting lost people to church" become so popular among Christians? Was this ever mentioned as a legitimate strategy for converting people to become followers of Christ? |
Bible Answer: God's day to you, fallen4shell, Good question - excellent answers. I'll add a few points. - Every knee will bow before Him (Isa 45:23, Rom 14:11, Phi 2:100 ... that is a sign of worship. - Romans 10:15-13 seems to indicate preachers are sent, so the end result is people being saved. - Yet, we cannot rely on people coming to church. We need to have our light, that is Him, shine, so men can see (Mat 5:16, 1Pe 2:12). - We can use non-church activities, like car washes, food drives, during walks ... inviting our non Christians friends to join us. It may take serveral steps until they are ready to go inside the four walls. Searcher |