Can I Trust Jesus After Church Hurt?
Church hurt is real. But the failure of Christians is not the same thing as the character of Christ. Explore what Jesus says about hypocrisy, healing, forgiveness, and hope.
What do you do when the people who were supposed to show you Jesus are the ones who hurt you?
Church hurt can come through hypocrisy, gossip, spiritual abuse, failed leadership, or a church culture that protects its reputation instead of protecting people. Sometimes the wound is public. Sometimes it is deeply personal. Jesus is aware of this. He has addressed it.
Go deeper with the message.
Watch the message, listen to the audio, or use the handout and outline to keep working through the Scripture and ideas from this week.
Three things Jesus shows us about church hurt
1. Jesus confronts it.
Jesus confronted religious people who knew the language of faith but neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
2. Jesus shows us a better way.
Matthew 18 calls us to go directly to one another instead of talking about one another.
3. Jesus can heal what Christians hurt.
Healing does not mean pretending it never happened. It means bringing the hurt to Jesus, who never failed you.
Jesus confronted religious hypocrisy
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!... you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness.”
The Greek word hypokritēs was connected to the idea of an actor - someone playing a part. Hypocrisy is not simply failing. We all fail. The deeper problem is learning to play Christian while refusing to let Jesus change how we actually live.
Can we be right and still misrepresent God?
John Calvin and Michael Servetus remind us how ugly this can get. People can care more about being right theologically than being like Jesus. They argued over theology, but the people who claimed to defend truth became willing to destroy a man made in the image of God. Their actions contradicted the God they claimed to defend. That is the warning: you can win the theological argument and still lose the character of Christ.
Jesus shows us a better way
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you.”
Jesus’ instruction is simple: go to them. Not everybody else. Not the comment section. Not the unofficial investigation committee. Give people a chance to hear, explain, repent, and restore.
When the people closest to Jesus become the obstacle
“When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.”
The woman had suffered for twelve years. She heard about Jesus and tried to reach Him. Yet the people closest to Jesus were physically between her and the One she desperately needed.
Our attitude, judgment, gossip, denominational pride, hypocrisy, or need to always be right can make it harder for hurting people to reach Jesus. Our calling is the opposite: do not become the obstacle. Help people get to Jesus.
Jesus can heal what Christians hurt
Healing does not mean pretending something did not happen. It does not mean calling wrong right, or trusting someone who is unsafe. But the person who hurt you is not Jesus.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Faithfulness to Jesus should show up in the way we treat people. It is possible to go from hurt to healed because of Jesus.
Glad you checked this out.
If church hurt is part of your story, I want you to know this: Jesus is still worth reaching for. If you want to ask a question or tell me your story, text me directly.