They Heard About Jesus

I read a Facebook meme today. I don’t know where it originated. And I am going to just summarize what the meme said, for it is long. But basically what the author described in his post were a bunch of different people with various sin issues, one of which may not be a sin, depending on the circumstances. And some of these people were actively engaged in their situations. So one by one he described their present or past sinful conditions and how they then “came to church.” And he followed each of these statements with, “You can sit with me, you’re right where you need to be.” 

This list of sins included drunkenness, drug addiction, divorce, abortion, and adultery (marital unfaithfulness). And then he went on to say, basically, that these people don’t come to church on Sunday to be judged by church people who feel they are better than them. He said that they come to church because, “in their deepest, darkest, most painful moments,” they heard about Jesus, that he could “save their souls and transform their lives. And they’d like to know him.” And then basically he stated that these people were not any bigger sinners than you or me.

And then he said, “Stop judging others because their sin is different than yours.” For, he said, “There isn’t a person in this world too bad, too broken, too mean, or too damaged for Jesus to save.” And then he quoted Romans 3:23-24: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” and Romans 10:13: “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

My Reaction

So, is there some truth to what he said? Yes, there is! But is all of it true? No, it isn’t. And even some of what is true in the correct context, taken out of context it ends up being not true when misapplied. 

For one, he described them as coming to church on Sunday and that they were right where they needed to be. Well, church is not a place you go to. Church is the collective body of those of genuine God-given faith in Jesus Christ who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And the purpose of our gatherings is supposed to be for the spiritual nourishment and encouragement of the body of Christ, as each part does its work.

So, although it is true that sinners need to become part of the body of Christ by faith in him, the body of Christ is not to be filled with people who are living in sin, engaged in sinful practices. And although it is true that we are not to judge hypocritically, falsely, by our own selves, unjustly, or by our own culture and traditions, we are to judge sin within the body of Christ, the church. And we are to call sinners to repentance and to obedient walks of faith in Jesus Christ, and we are to warn them of divine judgment if they do not repent and if they do not obey, but if they persist in sinful practices.

Now there are many people today teaching that all sin is the same in the eyes of God, and in one respect it is true that sin is sin no matter what the sin is. But in another respect God draws a line in the sand, so to speak, when he describes the righteous as those who are walking (in practice) in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to the Lord, and not in sin, and when he describes the ungodly as those who are walking (in practice) in sin, who are deliberately and habitually sinning against God, and who are not walking in holiness and righteousness and in obedience to the Lord.

So, what should our love response be to the ungodly who might attend any of our fellowships? We should reach out in love to them and we should share with them the truth of the gospel of Christ that Jesus died on that cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we might live for him and no longer for ourselves. And we should share with them that Jesus died on that cross to deliver us out of our lives of slavery (addiction) to sin and to empower us now to live godly and holy lives in walks of surrender and in obedience to our Lord. And that is speaking the truth to them in love.

And if any of these “sinners” already are those who are professing faith in Jesus Christ, but who are continuing in their sinful practices, and if they will not repent of their sins, which is evidenced by their continued sinful practices, then according to the Scriptures the church is to exercise church discipline, and the church body is not to be in fellowship with those people, but they are to ask them to leave the fellowship of the believers lest their sinful lifestyles spread like yeast in bread and infect the entire church.

And the other thing about this is that we cannot assume that everyone who attends a “church service” in an “institutional church” is there for the right reasons, i.e. because they are seeking after Jesus Christ and they want to be delivered from their sinful addiction, and they want to now live for the Lord in obedience to his commands and no longer in sin. There are many people attending Sunday services in institutional churches on a regular basis who are still living in deliberate and habitual sin without genuine repentance and without a genuine heart change of the Spirit of God.

Then lastly, we can’t just pull out Romans 3:23-24 and Romans 10:13 and make that our gospel of salvation. We have to read these Scriptures in their full context. For Paul made it clear in the book of Romans that if we make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ but we continue living in sin, as our practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God. For if sin is our practice, it ends in death and the fires of hell, not in heaven and in eternal life with God. But if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are what we practice, and we continue in that, it results in eternal life with God.

So, yes, don’t be hateful to people who are trapped in sin or who had committed some sin in their past that you did not commit. For all of us have sinned, and we are only saved by God’s grace and through God-given faith in Jesus Christ. But that God-given faith in Christ, which is empowered by God, requires us to forsake our former lives of living in sin and for self and for us to turn to the Lord to now follow him in walks of obedience and in holy and righteous living, by the grace of God, in the power of God. And this is what we should be living, and this is what we should be sharing as the gospel.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296