Don't Hate

Because the verses I’m referencing are so long I will not write them in this post as I usually do.
You can click here to read the bible passage yourself.
Acts 15:1-31 is the text.

The background to our text is this: the apostles are traveling around going from place to place preaching the gospel of Jesus. They are not restricting their good news message to only the Jewish people but are also sharing Jesus with the Gentiles.
The Gentiles could be categorized as today's "Heathens". The Pharisees and especially religious folk, had a major issue with this. You see, they demanded perfection. They didn't like the thought of people calling themselves "Christians" unless they adhered to the strict rules of the Law.
The Gentiles had recently been led to Jesus through the works of the apostles having been taught the concepts of grace, love, and understanding. Then the strict Jews come onto the scene and preach at the new converts the concepts of servanthood, discipline, and perfection. The Jews bring up these issues they have with the new “Christians” to the leaders, but the apostles basically say ‘Listen, they’re babies in the faith. Let’s cut them some slack.’ We can read further into the letters from Paul and see where he addressed specific churches on this topic.


When I was the worship pastor at a local church I had a young man join the worship team. Let’s call him George. I knew something’s about George from mutual friends and I knew a little about his reputation. Because of what I had been told about George before I ever met him, I made assumptions on how I thought he would fit in with the team.
George came to the church a few times and eventually decided to give his life to Jesus. Over the next few months George decided to join the worship team. He was nothing but a baby Christian trying to filter through his years of sin and bad habits. He still hung out in bars drinking and smoking on the weekends and would then show up to church on Sunday mornings always tired and late. Some Sunday mornings after the band practice, he would walk outside to smoke a cigarette. Every time George was at church, I made it my mission to make him feel the pains of servant hood.
I felt challenged by him. I tried to demand perfection from him. I required more out of him than I did anyone else on the team. I even demanded more out of him than I did myself. He and I hit heads at every turn. I felt like he should submit and serve the church before he be allowed to step on the stage and join the worship team, and I made this known to the pastor every chance I got.
Looking back at how I handled the situation, I am surprised George is still in the church, let alone a Christian at all. I had a wrong attitude thinking everyone should be perfect, or close to it, from the beginning of his or her conversion. I never once sat down with George to lead him to freedom from his sinful past.

I am not advocating sin. I am not saying that we should accept a sinful nature because people are simply "working on their stuff". But there needs to be greater grace served up by church leadership and Christians in general. There should be love extended to those struggling with their past and bad habits while we guide them to freedom in Jesus.
I don't believe a drug addict who is recently saved and still using should get in the pulpit and preach to the congregation. I don't believe a former child molester should be allowed to work in the children's church two weeks after being saved. Again, I just feel that the common message from a lot of churches and church leaders, and I include myself in this, has been more demanding of perfection than it has been grace. Our sin and imperfections are hidden behind closed doors and we become afraid to admit our personal struggles to our brothers and sisters in the church for fear we will be labeled “unclean”.

People bring this judgment with them for a long time. People like George, who have been condemned for struggling with accepting total freedom in their lives, become sinful bulimics. They binge on sin away from the judging eyes of the church and then “vomit” by volunteering at church to appear “holy”. We, as the church, need to accept these people for who they are and where they are. We cannot judge them into “perfection”. We must love them into grace, and into pure relationship with Jesus.


I would like to apologize to everyone I have ever tried to demand perfection from. I apologize to anyone I have ever judged for not being "perfect". I would also like to apologize on behalf of Christianity and pastors around the world that have made you feel like you were trash because you were not perfect.

There are some questions I have begun to ask myself and I would encourage everyone to ask him or herself.

1) What am I struggling with in my own life that I am projecting on everyone else?
2) How could I pro-actively share the love of Jesus with more people struggling with sin inside the church?
3) What message about God, the church, and Christianity am I sharing with people? Is it a message of hate and demanded perfection or of love and acceptance?

I pray that everyone reading this will experience the loving relationship with Jesus that He wants to share with you. I pray that our churches would be known for love, freedom, acceptance, and truth rather than hate, fear, perfection, and hypocrisy.