HE SURE QUALIFIES THE CALLED

How to dress to church, who is accepted in church and how to behave in church has always been a matter of controversy in the christian community.

Many have spoken about it, may chose to ignore it, others just say its complicated and if you are reading this right now, you probably belong to one of these categories.

For me, I am just going to let your know what I feel is right!  First of all Jesus was speaking here in Mark 2:17; I am just going to put it out in different versions so you get a better understanding:

"On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." NIV

"And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." ESV

"When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" KJV

OK, so now, according to our first version (new international) Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" This makes you just wonder, if Christ was not here for those who are righteous because really if you don't get sick there is really no need for you visiting a hospital or a doctor, if Jesus came for those that are not healthy and now He is in heaven while also being the head of the church, the question is "who should the doors of the church be really opened to without reservation?"

This is so important because over time, we seen many controversy about this not just in the church but even unbelievers feels that there are people that shouldn't be allowed in the church, the unfortunate reality is that they have held on to this idea for a long time because the people that should make them understand the why the church is opened to everybody are either ignorant or in a way feel they are right....

This was one of the reasons Jesus was always angry with the Pharisees, because they had an idea of whom should be associated with as a believer, whom should be accepted in the sanctuary, this was why He had to make them understand why He truly came in the 17th verse after they accused Him in verse 16 of our Bible Ref.

Read this;
16.When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
17. On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:16-17 NIV

The bottom line is, if they don't hear, how will they repent? and if they are not accepted, how will they hear?
Some of us have for years criticized some congregations who we believe have members who are not qualified and criticized others who may be some what resented to accepting some persons in their congregation, but if you truly believe in Jesus and His principles then you will do what he does.

Notice I said "you will do what He does(present & future)", because the truth is that what he did more than 2000 years ago, He is still doing it today, He continually accepts the unqualified. 
God is not in the business of calling the qualified, He does the qualifying! 

God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called! -Archbishop B. Idahosa  

This is not to encourage immoral acts or irresponsible behavior in the church but to simply bring to our understanding the need of the church to learn to welcome unbelievers even those that we may think are not qualified with open arms in the hope of the light of the Word illuminating every darkness out of their lives and pointing them on the right direction! God bless you for stopping by! -Pst Ben