I used to think God was just waiting for me to mess up so he could smash me like a bug. I used to lie awake at night so afraid that I would go to hell because I wasn't good enough. And I'll bet some of you have been told that you're not the right kind of person for church. You've been told that good Christians don't smoke or drink or cuss or get mad or get sad. Well, I've been a believer for 10 years and I have yet to meet a GOOD Christian. All of the believers I know have issues. Some use colorful language. Some smoke cigarettes. Some gossip. Some pirate music and software. Some just get on my nerves. So I don't know any good Christians (I know I'm not a good Christian), but I do know a lot of people who are loved and forgiven.

Do you know what I'm tired of? Religion. I'm tired of religion. Religion is like a club. Did you ever have a club when you were in elementary school? Remember how it works? Two or three people decide to start a club and they think of a name and a place to meet and then they think of who they're going to let in. Only certain people can be members of the club. You have to be smart enough or tough enough or you have to wear clothes from the right overpriced store. Nobody ever questions whether the leaders of the club even deserve to be in it, they just are. So a club is exclusive. And then come the rules. When kids make clubs they come up with the most arbitrary and stupid rules; rules that are designed to exclude some people and include themselves. And that's what religion is like, too. Some people get into the church and then they get the idea that no one else is good enough. They take it upon themselves to make sure that people don't get into the club unless they wear a suit or a dress, know all about the Bible, never cuss, chew or go with girls who do. Those are the people who are telling you that you can't smoke a cigarette out on the church lawn. They're saying that if you drink on Saturday night, you better not show up for church on Sunday morning. Religion is about saying the right things and acting the right way. Religion is about always showing up for the club meetings on Sunday and Wednesday. Religion is about doing things and excluding people and being proud of yourself and looking down on other people and enforcing rules on other people. In a word, religion (as I've defined it) is about FEAR. And I'm tired of religion. Do you who else was tired of religion? Jesus. The religious people of his time were always ticked off at him because he didn't follow their rules. They said if you want to be in the club, you always have to wash your hands a certain way before you eat. They said if you want to be in the club you have to take Saturday off (and they had detailed rules about how much work you could do). If you want to be in the club, stay away from certain people, like hookers, crooks. But what did Jesus do? He ate with dirty hands. He healed people and did other work on the Sabbath. And those people club members avoided, he hung out with them. This is important, so let me give you an example.

Tax collectors. In the first century the nation of Israel had been taken over by the Roman Empire, so all Jewish people had to pay taxes to Rome. But the job of collecting taxes from individual people wasn't done by the Roman soldiers who were in charge. They got locals to do it. They hired Jewish people to go around and collect the money that would be sent to Rome. So when a tax collector showed up at your house, it could be someone you went to school with or a kid down the street, or it could be family. They were doing the dirty work of the Roman government. That would be enough to make you hate tax collectors, but there was one more thing. They got to charge whatever they wanted and keep the extra for themselves. So these guys would take huge amounts of money and get rich off of their own people. What a bunch of creeps. Today it would be like a crooked IRS agent or a televangelist that steals from his donors. These people were messed up and no one liked them, especially not the leaders of the religion. They had no place in the club. Enter Jesus.

Luke 5:27-32

27After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

The fact that Jesus would even talk to this guy is amazing. Asking him to follow him must have shocked everyone, including Levi. But he did it. And then what did he do? He did the same thing that he did every time he took in a bunch of money in a good week: He had his friends over and threw a party. He was excited about the hope that Jesus offered him and he wanted to celebrate.

29Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

Then the club members hear about it, the religious people. They can't believe Jesus is hanging out at a party with these sinners! Doesn't he know that those people can't be in the club?

31Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

This is why the religious people hated Jesus. This is why they killed him. And this is why I'm tired of religion and religious people. Jesus said, "It's not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick." He didn't come to be our club president, he came to be our doctor. And the church is not a club, it's a hospital. The church is not a place for perfect people to come and all act the same. It's not a place to enforce rules on each other and judge each other. It's a place for people to come when they're sick, scared, ashamed, worried, sinful, hateful, drunk, crooked, slutty, stoned, prideful or dishonest. And all of us who are sick come so we can meet the doctor, the only one who can help us. The saddest thing is when we finally get the courage to come to the hospital and get some help and all we find is a snobby club. But don't give up on Jesus because of that. He's you're only hope. Can you imagine what Jesus would have sounded like if he said some of the things that religious people say today? [video]

I'm tired of religion and Jesus was, too. He didn't care about starting a religion, he cared about healing people. He cares about the problems that you're having in your family. He cares about the trouble you're having at school. He cares about you when people hurt you, and he cares about you when you hurt yourself. Most of all he cares about you when you're separated from your creator. And we all are. Every person is separated from God because we all mess up. We all need a doctor. And God loves us when we're separated from him. Even if you don't believe in him right now, he still loves you so much. And that's why he sent Jesus to pay for our sins. Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." When Jesus was killed his perfect life paid the price for all of our screw ups. This did something amazing. It opened the door that our sin had closed between us and God. Jesus did all of the work, and yet we still have to walk through that door. We have to put our faith in God. We have to take steps toward a better life (repentance). One of the steps we should take toward God is to be baptized. There's a lot of debate about whether this step comes before or after we're actually through the door, but I don't really care, the important thing is that you do it. If not right when you're saved, then shortly after it. Jesus opened the door, we walk through it, and then we're back with God. There's no other way to get right with God. You can't be a good enough person, you can't be religious enough, you can't just believe that God will overlook your sin.

What I want you to know is that God loves you no matter what you've done, no matter what kind of person you are. The worst thing you can do is decide to stay away from God until YOU change your life. That's like saying, "I don't want to go to the hospital until I'm feeling more healthy." If you're sick, you go to the doctor. You can't heal yourself, but he can make you better. God wants to change the things that are wrong with your life, but he has to have you first.

And if you are a believer already and you have friends that are hurting themselves, don't judge them. Don't shut them out. Love them and introduce them to the good physician. And remember that you're not a member of a club, you're a patient in a hospital, and from time to time you get to show someone else the way to the doctor's office.