If you thought Christianity is for everyone, you are right. Everyone needs God. Everyone needs salvation from himself or herself. We are all a house divided against ourselves. God alone can save us from the self-destruction that comes to a house divided against itself. God alone can save everyone.

But there is a problem with everyone. One size fits all. One size fits none. Take, for example, orchestra of everyone. Violins from Main Street. Cellos from Front Street. Violas from Winding Way. Flutes from Broadway. French horns from Breezy Lane. Sally with thousands of hours of practice. Jim with none. Johnny just trying to make some noise. No matter what kind of sounds. We are an orchestra of everyone! How much do you think a concert ticket would sell for?

We trust quality to come from minorities. A minority of excellent musicians makes a concert worth paying for. The more elite the minority, the better the quality. The more selective, the more impressive. We appreciate, we admire, we pay for the work of a few great rather than for the effort of many mediocre ones.

Something for everyone is a losing proposition. To win means selectivity.

What about the gospel? For everyone? Yes! A losing proposition? No! The gospel is for winners. It makes winners. It is selective. It makes men and women strong.

Let us, in our imagination, stand for a moment by the temple court wall, in Jerusalem.

Hundreds of our fellow Jews are here in late April of a.d. 28. They have come for the national reunion and holiday. They have traveled for days from all over the Roman Empire. This Roman Empire is approximately a little less than the modern U.S. with which we are familiar. With travel less rapid, local flavors stand out more. Our friends speak Greek, Hebrew, old Farsi, Arabic. (Acts 2:8-11.) Tired and anxious, they know they need a sacrifice. And now they are looking for just that. Not knowing Jerusalem, not knowing local prices and vendors, they just want a good animal.

And that is just what all the noise is about. Vendors are selling animals in the temple porches. Heifers, sheep, doves are all nervous and making noise. They are crowded into an unnatural place, and it sounds like it. We hear a cattle auction. People are arguing over prices. They are tired and desperate. And the vendors know it. Currency exchange is taking place. The very temple is the biggest business in the nation.

We aren’t very surprised. Diana’s temple in Ephesus is one of the biggest sources of money there. Vendors are all around selling anything people will buy. It is not very different at other temples in our peaceful Roman Empire.

It is true that a few old Jews complain about all the noise. They talk about irreverence. But the politicians are not going to pay attention. These clergy/politicians are in fact getting a big kickback from all of the sales in the temple porches. And everyone puts up with the chaos because the Torah requires a sacrifice while we are here for our national holiday.

But we all put up with it for more reasons. Many of us came for the reunion of family and friends. It is so good to see Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle John. Cousin Lazarus is full of stories. No doubt Mom and Aunt Joanna will swap recipes and gossip. And Father and Simon will discuss religion and politics and work and all the other things men talk about. And boys will talk about girls, and girls will talk about themselves as well as about boys. And children will run and play. And we will all go home after the religious services.

We are reminded of our subjugation to Rome by all the Roman soldiers. And there have been so many fights in Jerusalem over the past that an extra garrison is stationed there. We see their impressive marches. We recognize their uniforms. And we are aware of how much they are both hated and respected locally. We also check on those pesky Galileans. They are always plotting to get rid of the Romans. But since they are such simple people, they will never succeed. Yet they serve as a check on subservience to Rome.

Jerusalem is just as we remember it. And then it happens. A poor Galilean we have never seen or heard about comes through the gate and looks down the steps and at our fun and arguing and noise. But He stops. He just stands there and looks around. At first He looks like just another peasant. But He stands so long. There is something different. He stands so erect and noble. In fact, He stands like a king but is dressed like a peasant. And He is looking, and looking. The look on His face changes. Now I see anger. I see authority. I see power and influence. I see determination. Something is so different about Him. No one has ever stood there and looked like He does. He looks like He is in charge. He looks like He has complete control of Himself and this place also. Is this one of the clergy/politicians disguised? Who is this? Why does He keep looking so stern, so angry, so incensed?

We are not the only ones to notice. Every vendor and customer is silently staring at the Man. Business is at a complete standstill. No one is even trying to keep track. We are all just staring at the Man on the steps. And He is looking at us. I never saw anyone who could say so much with His face. I never saw someone who felt like He was reading inside of me, knew who I was, what I had done, what I was thinking. But there He is. Even the animals are quiet. The silence is awkward, even painful. No one knows what to do. The Man on the steps has the complete attention of everyone.

Finally He speaks. Pointing to the animals, He says, “Take these things away.” He speaks so firmly, so definitely, so authoritatively, no one even stops to think. Suddenly the nation’s most important businessmen and top politicians and all the vendors start grabbing animals and leaving. It is simply amazing. These clergy, politicians, and businessmen never obeyed anyone else’s orders before. To leave their own capitol hill? Unthinkable! Impossible! One Man tells them to go. What? This was their place. They spent years of networking to get here. They control this place. They are in charge. Or are they? The Man on the steps says, “Go.” And not one of these powerful men thinks of staying. Why doesn’t He go? Why all of the nation’s most powerful men, and not the Man on the steps?

Suddenly an unknown Galilean takes on the most powerful men of Judea and all of the dispersed Jews throughout the Roman Empire. And in one sentence He demonstrates that He is their King. He is in control.

Jesus did not wait until He was popular. No. Jesus began with a big bang. He began by taking over Jerusalem and running it. He was like Elijah walking in before Ahab and telling the king there would be no more rain until Elijah personally told him differently.

Jesus was confrontational. Jesus stopped the politicians and told them to do something different. It was like he walked into the Capitol during the State of the Union address and told the President, Vice-President, Supreme Court Justices, and Congress to leave, and to leave right now.

And all of this Jesus did with one sentence: “Take these things hence” (John 2:16). There was no campaign, no advertising, no gimmicks, no lecture, no publicity. Just one look and one sentence.

And that one look, that one sentence took more courage than most people have. We do not like the noise in the chapel. We do not like the injustice of extortion. We do not like clergy and politicians taking advantage of people. We do not like businessmen stealing or lying. We do not like ministers marrying couples who do not have instruction and character to make a happy home. We do not like couples saying “I love you” one day and “I hate you” the next. We do not like children being torn from parents that argue over them. We do not like business that sells cheap and worthless products. We do not like rape and gangs and theft and murder. We do not like lies about Santa Claus, evolutionism, and pornography.

Our world is in worse chaos and confusion than the temple court of two thousand years ago was. And the ministers of all churches, even of our own church, quietly stand by. None has the courage to say, “Take all this away.” We are like the old Jews who did not like the noise in the temple. Like Eli, we remonstrate, we chide, we complain, but we do not demand. Jesus had the courage to order. It did not take a speech. He did not need to be fluent in any language. He did not need a degree. He did not need an introduction. All it took was one look and one sentence. And He had the character and the courage for both.

And just in case you are sitting here, saying, “I do not have what it takes to be like that, for Jesus had that look and that sentence because He was God,” think again. Jesus was God and Man. And Christians are like Christ.

Jesus’ followers also are courageous. Elijah stood before Ahab, and three years later he stood before all Israel. What Elijah said on Carmel would be repeated to all the nations where Ahab searched for him. What Elijah did on Mount Carmel could be seen by many Israelites at home, as well as all of the people present.

It took real courage. It took courage to stand in front of the same politicians that had been behind the murder of Jesus and tell them to their face, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

It took courage for Paul to appeal to Agrippa until he almost became a Christian. It took courage to continue after thrice being beaten, being imprisoned, being stoned.

It took courage for Samuel to tell Israel that they had sinned. It took courage for Nathan to tell David he had sinned.

And we have just begun. Christianity is for the strong.

Christianity gives you the courage to face and conquer yourself. Elijah, Nathan, Samuel, Peter, Esther, Mary, Martin Luther, were all men and women of passions like ourselves. They were just sinners. But in Jesus they found the courage to face sin and demand surrender. No one can ever demand a full surrender to God while he or she continue boasting of sin.

Pseudo-Christians make the word “Christianity” to stink by their attempt to control others while they do not have the courage to face themselves. O friend, if you are not surrendered to Christ, if you do not have the courage to face the beam in your own eye, please do not curse the mote in another’s eye.

It took Jesus one look, one sentence. If it takes you two sentences, watch out. Probably you are doing a work you should not do. Satan loves to use many sentences. God doesn’t waste His words. He saves His words for comforting, strengthening, teaching, confirming. Learn from Him.

But maybe you do not have this courage. You are not alone. We are together. We are all weak. We are all sinners.

And thank God, Christianity is just for us. It is for the weak. It is inclusive.

Uriah was one of David’s trusted and close friends in the caves. Uriah stood by David, risked his life for David. Uriah was part of the elite that helped David become king. (1 Chronicles 11:41.) Yet David ordered the murder of his own friend just to hide an adulterous affair with Uriah’s attractive wife.

When David would not kill Saul while he slept in the cave, you thought David was strong. When David killed Goliath, you thought he was strong. When David mourned the death of Abner, you thought David was strong. And you were right. But prosperity weakens any of us. The more we prosper, the weaker we are likely to be. Poverty and hardship make one strong. David became weak when he was king.

David had to ask around to find whose wife this attractive lady was anyway. And when he heard she was Uriah’s wife, David was too weak to spare the life of his friend. Sex and pleasure meant more to him than any of his own employees or even his close friend’s eye. Christianity was just what weak David needed most.

Listen to David as a weak sinner: “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.” (Psalm 51:1-16).

Jonah in the belly of the whale was a weak man. Mary of whom Jesus cast out seven devils was a weak woman. The woman caught in adultery was a weak woman. The man let down through the roof, knowing his own sin was the cause of his sickness, was a weak man. The thief on the cross was a weak man. Jesus loves to help weak men and weak women. Christianity is just for us who are weak.

In fact, “the gospel of Christ . . . is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16).

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12, 13).

But then, I never met a totally strong or a totally weak person. Elijah stood on Carmel one day and ran from Jezebel the next. David faced Goliath one year and fell the victim to sex another. “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:19).

“As through Christ every human being has life, so also through Him every soul receives some ray of divine light. Not only intellectual but spiritual power, a perception of right, a desire for goodness, exists in every heart. But against these principles there is struggling an antagonistic power. The result of the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is manifest in every man’s experience. There is in his nature a bent to evil, a force which, unaided, he cannot resist. To withstand this force, to attain that ideal which in his inmost soul he accepts as alone worthy, he can find help in but one power. That power is Christ. Cooperation with that power is man’s greatest need.”1

We are born as a house divided against itself. We are born weak, struggling people. Through the sorrows and challenges of life, if we turn to God, we can become strong in Him. His strength is made perfect in overcoming our weakness. And that is Christianity.

Christianity demands that we become strong. It finds us and saves us when we are weak. Christianity is for us who are sinners. May God help us to be Christians. Amen.