4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Notes
Church ain't a museum for the perfect ones. That is the whole song in its first line, and it is built around a sentence I have heard real people say: I can't go to church with people like that. The song puts that line in a self-righteous man's mouth and shows him what it costs - he is hunting a flawless church, and there is no such place. It is a mirage. The moment he walked in, the room would have a sinner in it.
The proof is unanswerable. Jesus himself dined with a betrayer - shared the bread with the man who would sell Him. Paul did not tell the messy Corinthians or the legalistic Galatians to go find somewhere cleaner. The New Testament church was always a hospital, never a gallery.
I want to be careful here, because I have left a congregation myself, and this song is not a rebuke of every leaving. It is a rebuke of one posture - the man who will not sit with the broken because he imagines himself unbroken. The bridge says it: every saint's got trembling hands. The church is a house for the wounded and the undone, which means it is a house for me. The day I go looking for a church with no sinners in it, the problem is not the church. It is that I have forgotten I am one.
Lyrics
[CHORUS]
Church ain’t a museum for the perfect ones,
It’s a house for the wounded and the tired and the undone.
If you’re lookin’ for a place where nobody’s cracked-
You missed the whole point, and the Gospel at that.
We’re broken, redeemed, held fast by His hand;
A family of grace-not a flawless clan.
So drop that pride, quit holdin’ folks back,
’Cause nobody’s too far gone for the church like that.
[VERSE 1]
I can’t go to church with people like that,
Said the self-righteous man with a sneer,
Judging others for their beliefs and their hats,
Never realizing his own pride and fear.
He seeks a perfect church, without a flaw,
Where everyone thinks just like him,
But little does he know, it’s all a mirage,
For the perfect church is but a dream.
[VERSE 2]
Jesus himself dined with a betrayer,
Offered him bread and wine at the feast,
And yet, we still judge others in our favor,
Ignoring Christ’s example, to say the least.
In Corinth, there were those with drinking problems,
But Paul didn’t say to abandon the church,
And in Galatia, legalism was a symptom,
But no one was told to leave in a lurch.
[VERSE 3]
We are a family of sinners saved by grace,
Broken and flawed, yet loved by the Lord,
In this place, we pray to seek His face,
To worship and praise, with one accord.
So let us drop our pride and arrogance,
And come together, as one family in Christ,
For in His love, there is no pretense,
Only grace, mercy, and eternal life.
[BRIDGE]
He’s lookin’ for perfection where no human stands,
Forgettin’ every saint’s got trembling hands.
Christ builds the church with the weak and small-
And His grace hits harder than the sins we haul.
If we open up the doors, let the broken in,
We’d see redemption do its work again.
’Cause the church ain’t built by who looks just right-
It’s a refuge for the weary in the middle of the fight.
[CHORUS]
Church ain’t a museum for the perfect ones,
It’s a house for the wounded and the tired and the undone.
If you’re lookin’ for a place where nobody’s cracked-
You missed the whole point, and the Gospel at that.
We’re broken, redeemed, held fast by His hand;
A family of grace-not a flawless clan.
So drop that pride, quit holdin’ folks back,
’Cause nobody’s too far gone for the church like that.
Commentary