(Make sure you read part 1 first)
Now in confronting I am not talking about yelling and condemning. The nature of Jesus was not to condemn yet it was not to ignore sin but to while loving the sinner, confront the sin. Let’s look at a story of how Jesus handled a sinner.
John 8:7-11
"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11 "No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
NIV
Jesus sets up two strong examples of how to be Jesus to someone caught in sin. First Jesus did not condemn. He did not attack. The word condemn here is a root of the word punish. Jesus was not out to punish this women, and we are not to try to be the judge that punishes those that sin against us. But he still said to her “leave your life of sin”. Another version says “Go and sin no more”. Jesus does not ignore the sin. He still confronts, lovingly, but calls the life she had been living sin and said leave that life. I believe this is consistent with Mathew 18. The purpose is to win our fellow believer over from sin to righteousness. If we do not challenge each other and confront each other of sin then we are in danger of playing a part of people falling deeper into their life of sin. A sin that at one point might have only hurt a few but when escalating will hurt many more.
This is what I am seeing in our relationships today. We allow sin to occur against us and to others and refuse to address it hiding behind some false spiritual idea that Jesus did things like that. That is a lie and must end now, in all of us. It is a lie based on fear of confronting. A lie based on fear of rejection. A lie based on a fear of others response to us confronting. Fear can never be what defines and determines our actions. One of my most favorite verses in the Bible that has constantly challenged me is in 2 Timothy 1:7:
2 Tim 1:7
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Follow that with this next verse on love.
1 John 4:16-18
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
NIV
When we tell our selves that to love someone is to let their sin go and ignore their sin we ignore what real love is. Love was manifested perfectly in Jesus and in Jesus’ love He confronted sin. If you want to truly love someone, die to your fears and love by being Jesus to them in all aspects of Jesus ministry. The loving father, who does not condemn but yet, does not ignore sin. I believe we end up sinning against our brother and sisters, our friends, when we “ignore sin” or just “let it go”
I want to challenge each of you, including me to break away from this lie that I have seen driving our Christian relationships. This lie is hurting us and we don’t even see it. Please seek God on this. Challenge your thoughts and actions against is word. Not just against your personal thoughts on conflict and sin. If you truly want to be Jesus then take action to change the patterns of sin and complacency that is coming so quickly upon us.
I will end with one more verse. One many of us don’t like to hear but if you still think that you can’t confront sin because you are not to judge others. Read the verse below.
1 Cor 5:12-13
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you.
NIV
We are not called to judge those outside of the family of God but we are called to judge each other, for two main reasons. The first being all that I have written before but the second being that eventually we have to take strong action against sin and remove it from our body if those sinning refuse to acknowledge their sin and work to change. This is even tougher but my point is to do whatever you can to not let it get to this point. Fight for each other and our relationships in the little things so we can stand strong to not get to the place when we have to deal with the big things. It is all worth it to honor Christ’s with our actions and help keep each other strong in our actions and faith.
God bless all of you!
Your Fellow Servant In Christ,
David Baxley
4 comments:
Brandon had some good questions following the first half.
I think you make a good point over all, but the challenge of living it out... ? That's tough.
My own challenge in following through on some of this is a challenge in defining sin. What do you do when it's not a matter of disagreement over what was done, but whether the action "missed the mark" or "sinned".
Playing cards, poker-no money, poker-little bit of money, on-line poker, casino poker, responsible career poker player (at a casino)? This is just one example of a continuum. Here is another one I can't understand. Women's bathing suits. Though I know it is a long standing standard, one piece no matter how it's cut is really not very different than a two piece. Not going in swimming pools with men. Wearing shorts or shorts and t-shirt, that's a clear break with the status quo I admire. But, throwing stones at two piecer's when your wearing a one piece, come on now. Your both looking awfully similar to a stripper. Sorry but that's just the truth. Good thing I don't have a daughter, I really don't know what you should actually do. Or what is actually wrong. So I won't be confronting you.
I'm all for calling out clear sin, but don't get me started on duplicity... Which is not an excuse for sin. "Look at you" is not a reason to do the wrong thing. But if your going to confront someone else, you had better be right with God.
(and this just dawned on me) Our own guilt may be why we don't like to confront others. I know that's true in my life.
Left wing perspectives. Right wing perspectives.
There are no shortage of things people disagree about, and which are awfully close to being "sin". Where do you stop confronting what you perceive as sin.
Hey, at the end of the day, I agree with your post. I just struggle to live it.
I agree. What do we call each other on? This seems so gray and hard. But why does it seem this way. Why is it so difficult? I think the difficulty of this becomes easier the more we are open to calling each other on things and the more we expect or even desire for that type of real honestly in our relationships. I believe someone who truly wants to become more like Christ won’t mind having someone else raise a flag about an issue in their lives. Something like that, if taken humbly and maturely, will only have positive results as we look to become strong disciples. Saying that, it seems close relationship is very important for the freedom to do this. Since more areas are gray then black and white, in my own life I would only stay within my close Christian community for addressing those grayish issues. This, I think, can protect each other and also help grow trust and love for each other.
Also Romans 14 really hits hard about this but I will save my thoughts on that for Part 3 (Coming soon). I think it comes down to honesty, humility, and trust. There are people that I trust to share with and have them confront me. I have to be humble to receive things from people that I don’t trust in that way. Also I have to be honest with myself about what I am feeling and be willing to be honest to others, even if I am not sure if it is a “sin” or just something gone or going wrong. I think it is important that we can have the freedom with each other to confront each other when we are hurt or offended, even if it is not sin. This comes out to more Romans 14 coming soon.
I really want to start living my Christian life and in Christian community this way. It is vital to the disciple making process that Christ has called all of us to.
i stumbled upon these comments by accident but they are refreshing. i've known this for a long time but in a certain relationship, when i try to be honest, i get verbal abuse. when i am silent on the things that need to be spoken, all seems well. i can tell you though, the relationship is pretty much dead because of it. real love tells the truth. lovingly tells it, but tells it.
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