Lake Eufaula Christian Church
Being a part of a church is important because God’s idea was for humans to belong in a spiritual family. Jesus told his disciples, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). “Church” is the translation of the Greek term “ecclesia” which literally means “assembly” or “congregation.” Church—getting people together to worship—was Jesus’s idea.
Church is not a building— it’s the people gathered inside that are the church. The building is a place where people come to feel a deep connection with other believers. It’s the place where believers share the joy and privilege of belonging to a faith family. The beauty of this faith family is that anyone can belong because Jesus issued an invitation to all.
Often the old misconception of religion can hinder the good news of Christ. If you’re one of the many people who think, “I can’t come to church— I don’t have anything to wear,” it’s time to throw out that old misconception, put on any old thing, and come. Jesus had no dress code, and neither does LECC and—I would hope— most modern congregations.
Jesus invites the people others reject—those that stuffy religion despises, those others tend to overlook, and those who feel they’re not good enough to be church goers. That truth comes through loud and clear in the story about the Pharisee’s dinner in Luke 7.
The Pharisees were an outwardly pious, visibly religious, class of people. They wore elaborate tasseled robes, prayed long prayers, and performed complex cleansing ceremonies. They distanced themselves from known sinners and anyone impure or unclean. Imagine the Pharisee’s distress when Jesus was His dining guest, and a “certain immoral woman from that city heard He was eating there. She brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind Him at His feet, weeping. Her tears fell on His feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing His feet and putting perfume on them.” (Luke 7:37-38) Her actions were significant. The perfume, which was very rare, probably was about a year’s worth of her salary— her accumulated nest egg. In one, glorious, single act she simultaneously worshiped Jesus and symbolically repented of her old lifestyle.
However, the Pharisee who was Jesus’s host misunderstood her actions, thinking because Jesus allowed her to touch His feet, He could not possibly be the Son of God. ““If this man were a prophet, He would know what kind of woman is touching Him. She’s a sinner!”
Jesus defended the woman’s actions, saying “‘I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, for she has shown me much love. But he who is forgiven little shows only little love.’ Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’” That certain immoral woman had most likely just heard Jesus’s invitation, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The same invitation, with the same promise, is offered to all of us. If you’ve been “church hurt” because someone acted more like a pharisee, than like Jesus, we must remember that people are imperfect, but you are invited to belong in a gospel-centered family who worships a perfect God.
Join us at LECC , 415987 Highway 9, Eufaula, where we joyfully embrace both the invitation and promise each Sunday at 10 a.m. small group Bible study, 11 a.m. worship, and Wednesday night classes at 6:30 p.m. Accepting the invitation to come to Jesus might be your life’s wisest decision.
God Bless You!
Jeremy Little, Minister
