Museums & Hospitals & Saints & Sinners

Recently, I was teaching on Luke 18:9-14. In this passage, a Pharisee in the temple prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week & give a tenth of all I get."

The tax collector stood at a distance from the Pharisee. The tax collector, beating his breast & w/ his head bowed, prayed, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Jesus commented that the tax collector, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified before God. Jesus added that "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, & he who humbles himself will be exalted."

It is w/ this passage in mind that I pass along to you a wonderful phrase that I have heard on various occasions in ministry. I do not know who originally said it, but here it is:

"A church is not a museum for saints. It is a hospital for sinners."

Is your church full of self-proclaimed saints, like the Pharisee, or is your church full of head-bowed, breast-beating sinners, like the tax collector?

Is your church a museum, or is it a hospital?

The fruitfulness of your church will be determined by your answer.