One Who Sins

Thursday, May 24, 2012, 6:30 a.m. – The Lord put the song “Oh, to be Like Thee” in my mind this morning. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 18:12-35 (NIV 1984):

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

My Understanding: In this discourse, Jesus presented us with three different scenarios, two of which have similarities to them, and all three are interrelated. They all have to do with our fellow believers in Christ either wandering off, and falling into sin again, or with them specifically sinning against us, and with what our response should be to their sin.

The Wandering Sinner

In the first scenario, we have a picture of one out of one hundred sheep wandering off, and the owner of the sheep going after the sheep to find him, and to bring him back. We are also given a picture of the joy the owner of the sheep felt at the return of this one sheep. This is a picture of how God the Father views us, and how he feels about us when we wander off into sin. He doesn’t ignore us or our sin. He doesn’t entertain us and joke with us, and act casual with us about our sin, knowing full well that we are living in sinful rebellion against him. He does not placate our sin. He comes after us, he seeks us out, he lovingly and tenderly confronts us in our sin, and he seeks to draw us back into a right relationship with him. God is not willing that any of us should wander back into sin.

We, as Christ’s followers, are his representatives on this earth. We have been given the commission to continue the work he began on the earth. He has given us the responsibility for the spiritual encouragement, edification and spiritual growth of our fellow believers in Christ, too. We are one body, though we are various parts, and we are to have equal concern for each other. It is not just the preacher’s responsibility to care for the sheep, but we are to care about each other (see Ephesians 4; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12). We are to love one another enough to speak the truth in love, and to confront willful and unrepentant sin within the body of Christ, too. And, we are to do this with all humility, making sure we are in a right relationship with the Lord first (Gal. 6:1-2; Matt. 7:4-5). We can’t talk to others about their sin if we are knowingly and willfully doing the same things, or if we are involved in some kind of sin ourselves and have not repented. That would be hypocritical.

“My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20). Amen!

Against Us

In the second scenario, a brother or sister in Christ has sinned specifically against us in some way. We are not to go first and tell it to other people, i.e. we should not go to others and say, “Can you believe what he (or she) did this time?” We are to go privately to the individual and show him or her how we believe he or she has sinned against us. We should not go in with our guns fully loaded, with the safety off the guns, and shooting bullets, but we should approach the individual as directed in Gal. 6:1, i.e. with humility, making sure our hearts are clear before God, making sure a sin actually occurred, and always with the goal of restoration. We must use discretion here, though, when it comes to people of the opposite sex, especially if the sin is sex-related in any way. Personally I have learned that I should never confront a man privately about a sin that is at all related to anything of a sexual nature. I will include my husband, since my husband and I are one. I also make it a practice to include my husband in any correspondence with men for the purpose of accountability, as well as for my own protection. I believe this is exercising wisdom.

So, we first of all go to the individual privately with the goal of getting things right between us and our fellow believer. If he listens to us, we have won our brother over. If that does not work, and clearly a sin has been committed, then we include others, and we confront the believer in front of others who serve as witnesses to the confrontation. This, of course, assumes that we have those within the church willing to follow this Biblical mandate on how to address such issues, yet I do not see this being followed much in today’s church.

The statement, “If he refuses to listen to them,” also presumes the witnesses, if we can get anyone to actually go with us, will actually act upon the sin and will care enough to try to help the sinner out of his sin. I am not sure this is happening much in today’s church, either. I have seen churches harshly rebuke people based upon man’s rules and regulations (legalism), not on God’s laws. I have seen judgmentalism and rejection of people just because they are different from us. Yet, I have also seen much liberalism and a strong reluctance to ever confront anyone about sin.

So, we follow this formula as much as is within our power to do, seeking the counsel and guidance of the Holy Spirit in how best to approach the person who sins, and how best to handle this type of situation, and we leave the results to God, trusting him to work. We have to go into this confrontation also prepared to be rejected, fought fiercely against, face cruel, hateful and unkind rebukes in return, and to be counter-accused (even falsely). Not everyone is going to receive our loving confrontation with willing hearts and open arms.

Forgiving Offenses

This third scenario gives us a clear picture of how Jesus views us when we refuse to forgive others after he has forgiven us so much. Jesus is the King. We are the servants. We owe the debt of our own sins. The price is death. We are not able to pay that debt, because it requires blood sacrifice from a perfect lamb. Jesus became that perfect sacrifice for our sins when he died on the cross, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world. When he rose from the dead, he left our sins behind, and he conquered them so that we who truly believe in Jesus don’t have to face eternity in hell, and so that sin no longer has to have mastery over us. When we come humbly before him, repentant (turning from our sin), and willing to obey him in all things, he forgives that debt and he sets us free.

So, when we who are sinners, who have been saved by God’s grace and mercy, refuse to forgive others, especially when they come to us humbly and repentant, asking for forgiveness, and especially when their few or even one sin against us pales by comparison to all our sins that Jesus pardoned in us, we are showing that we are hypocrites, for one, ungrateful for all Jesus did for us, that we think we are superior to Christ Jesus and/or that we belittle his sacrifice for our own sins. How can we not forgive others when they sin against us when Jesus, who was sinless, and who died for our sin, forgave us so much?

So, if we are to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us, then we need to understand what it means to forgive. First of all, Jesus forgave us that debt so we don’t have to pay. So when we forgive others, we don’t make them pay. We don’t punish them or try to get even. He also forgave us to set us free of the control of and bondage to sin on a daily basis. So, when we forgive, especially in cases where this has been a repeated offense, we don’t just look the other way and perhaps help facilitate the other person right back into sin. We forgive, not just to remove punishment, but to help the person be free (restored). So, as much as is within our power and ability to do so, our goal should always be to help restore the person back to a right relationship with God and to help him be free of the control of sin over his life. This may require “tough love,” but this is true forgiveness, because it cares about where the person goes from here and is willing to help him get back on the right path.

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer / Thomas O. Chisholm / W. J. Kirkpatrick

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.