Remember last week I talk about the government needing a good sting?  Well this week it’s time for the church as whole to get a good sting.

Today is Easter Sunday.  The day that Jesus Christ had risen!

One of the commands that he made was to go out and make disciples among all nations.  This is where our religious leaders fail at.  They thinks only reaching people of their own kinds.  They don’t want to go to reach the unclean.  They are afraid that it might rub off on them.

During Jesus’ days, He called the Pharisees hypocrite.  I believe that He would call the religious leaders of today hypocrite also.

Jesus told the parables of the Good Samaritan.  The religious leader just walk on the other side to avoid the man injured and needing help.  It was the Samaritan who actually did help.

Apostle Peter had a vision about eating something unclean.  In Acts 10:15, “The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

We can take that same message to heart today.  When God calls us to go someplace that we may find unsuitable, we must go.  Yet some of these religious leaders doesn’t wants any part of it.  They are so afraid of catching something unclean.

We mustn’t judge others.  Yet these religious leaders judge others unjustly.  Some will not step foot inside a bar because they see drinking as sin.  What would Jesus do? He would go wherever the people are, no matter what.

Remember, Jesus came not just for the healthy; but for those who are sick and needs a Savior.  He sheds His blood for us all.  He said on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Remember Martin Luther who started the Lutheran Church?  He came about the reformation because he was upset with the leadership in the Catholic Church.

He did the works of Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees in Jesus’ days looked for ways to do away with Him because they didn’t like what he was saying about them.  The same group of people also went after John the Baptist and the other disciples as well.

Today’s so-called religious leaders are quick to judge others.  Instead reaching out to them and sharing the Gospel, they are condemning others.  Jesus never condemn us!

I have to admit there was a time I felt like the leaving the church.  I still believed in God, I was just upset with the religious leaders.  One was a pastor, who came across as being self-righteous.  I had this big problems with these self-righteous people who felt that they thinks that they are so perfect.  They felt that they have the authority to judge others because they don’t like what you say.

I have to admit, I’m not perfect.  I’m far from it.  I make plenty of mistakes.  One thing though, God isn’t through with me yet.  He is still working in my life, if I let Him.

I’m not saying we’re not to steer them right, just don’t judge them.

Like Jesus said, “Don’t try to pull a stick out of someone else eyes with a speck in your own eyes.”

Yet these so-called religious leaders in Jesus’ days and even today are doing that.

No what is keeping young people out of the church?  It’s these religious leaders judgmental attitude.

They are playing religion.  Jesus doesn’t wants us to play religion.  He wants us to be real with Him.

There is nothing worst than someone playing religion.  The Pharisees was playing religion.  They were playing God.

There are people today who are playing religion.  They are playing God.  That is one thing that turns me off from religion as a whole.  I know that I’m not alone with that either.  That is why young people are staying clear of church today.  That is why I almost left the church myself.

As Christians we are to love others into the kingdom.  We are not to play God and judge others.  “Judge not, lest ye be judge.”

I know a few people who is playing religion.  They are quick to judge others even for some of things they say or do.

Some of these people may not wants this blog out there.  Then again, the Pharisees truly didn’t want Jesus to speak the truth to what they were doing.  That was why they crucified Him.

The leaders in the Catholic Church didn’t much wanted the truth out either.  I’m sure there will be people that will not want this out either.

Like I said last week, the government got a much needed sting first by the tea party and now from Pres. Trump; and they truly don’t care about it.  They are fighting it.

Jesus gave the Pharisees a good sting that they didn’t wanted.  Martin Luther gave the leaders in the Catholic church a much needed sting that they didn’t want.

The church as a whole needs a good sting to shake them up a little.

If this sound likes a sermon, I apologized.  It’s time the church get a much needed sting.  It’s time we stop playing religion and be more Christlike.

Jesus was seen with the lowest of the low.  I believed if he was here in person today, He would still be with the lowest of the low and the religious leaders still wouldn’t like it.  I think why the Pharisees didn’t like it, was because Jesus shown them something that they weren’t proud of themselves. No one like seeing the truth about themselves.  It makes them cringe in disgust.

So don’t go calling someone unclean, that God already made clean.  It’s not our job to condemn.

If the Lord call you to go someplace where you may feel uncomfortable ask the Lord to help you.

I’m excited for churches who is going out where the people are to reach out to them, by sharing the gospel.  But those who are playing God, I have my problems with you.  Quit playing religion!  Quit being so self-righteous!  Jesus will probably say the same thing.

Remember, Jonah didn’t wanted to go to Nineveh.  He felt that they should be destroyed.

Thank God, that God didn’t feels the same way about us.  Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins.