Yesterday (11-14-18) I posted this FB post:
Steve Spivey and Jan Kain responded to this post and inspired me to write the below.
2 Corinthians 13:11 – Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
Everyone makes mistakes in life (1 John 1:8 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”). But that doesn’t mean they have to pay for them for the rest of their life. Sure, if you kill someone or do some horrendous crime, there are earthly consequences. Sometimes good people make bad choices. It doesn’t mean they are bad. If one regrets their sin, and turns from it, we are not to ostracize the one who has sinned, but to embrace them and help them, to love them. We don’t excuse their sin, or our sin, by saying they, or we, are only human. However we must acknowledge that scripture does state that we will continue to sin as long as we are in these earthly bodies (Romans 14:14-25). Yet we should not have the habit of sinning (Hebrews 10:26-27), but a desire to resist sin and become increasingly Christ like. In John 2:1 we are clearly told not to sin but then, in the same verse, in the same breath, that if we do sin we have forgiveness through Jesus (and we all will continue to sin while on this earth). No-one in this life will walk a sinless life, the Lord will help us along that road. It should be our goal, with the knowledge that we make mistakes and forgiveness is available to us through Jesus, as we repent and have faith in the works of person to cleanse us from the debt of that sin, to not sin. That is our goal as we yield to the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
Steve, what you have said regarding the excuse sits very well with me. You know that when you speak I listen and consider. To me, what the above spoke to was not that sin should be taken lightly by the offender, or by us, but the consideration is what will be our response to someone who has sinned, then repented, and would like to not be held under the thumb of the world. Too often a person does wrong and then when they repent of the sin, no-one is willing to forgive and help them get beyond a past that they regret. Helping someone to move beyond a regretted past action to a changed life is what Jesus specialized in. Since we are His disciples and we are to be like Him, then we are to carry on His mission. Jesus said that He came to “seek and save” the lost. We are, as you know, to encourage and help each other. James 5:20 “remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
For sure, what Jesus did was not to excuse the lost. Or to say to us “You are forgiven, after all you are only human.” The Word clearly states that we are not to live in continuously sinning (Romans 6:1-2, 11-14). We are expected to turn from a life of rebellion against Jesus (continue in sinning). There is no excuse for that, not even “being human.” Jesus healed and forgave, but then He has said to the forgiven and healed to sin no more (John 8:11). On November 8th, this year, I posted something speaking exactly to this (http://www.bob4god.com/) on the third paragraph down. In this post I wrote “Being human is a reason for our weakness, but not an excuse to continue in the weakness.” The Bible certainly acknowledges that we live in corrupted bodies (Galatians 5:17, 19-21), but also states we are to not live ruled by the flesh but by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). We must never excuse our sin but hate it and run away from it. So honestly, it is anathema to me for people who know the Lord to use the meaningless excuse “I’m only human.” We are called rise above it. The Word is clear. So no-one should continue in sin but should instead fight against our sin nature and be led by the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we should call sin what it is, sin. But for what purpose? The purpose is to help people get their walk with Christ back on track, or on track. It is not for the reason of holding someone down, but to do so out of love, to, if they allow us, lovingly help them (Romans 15:5, 1 Corinthians 16:14, 2 Corinthians 13:11). Just as Jesus did, and does, for all of us.
Jan, I understand your heart, and that we are to forgive and help each other. I cannot agree more! Along with that we need to understand what kind of judging we are not to do, and what kind we are to do. Because we are definitely called, as believers and followers of God, to judge whether something is right or wrong and to respond to it accordingly. If we just look at something as basic as who is a believer and who is not, that is judgement. We are called to recognize who is and who is not and we are told that by their fruits we will know them. An example of Jesus telling us to judge what people do is in Matthew 7:15 in which Jesus tells us to “watch out for false prophets.” How are we to know if someone is a false prophet unless we judge whether what they do is right or wrong. If we continue to read on to V20we read that Jesus said “by their fruit you will recognize them.” He is expressing that we should look at what people do and judge whether it is of God or not. In V20Jesus states that by their fruit (what they do) we will recognize who is doing what is right and who is not.
Yet, we must look at the whole Word of God that has no contradictions, and understand how what is stated above is reconciled with a verse such as Romans 14:4“Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall…” So, some may think we have a dilemma rectifying the Matthew verses with the verse here in Romans. Yet we need not worry. The Matthew verses states that we are definitely to judge whether what a person is doing is right or wrong. That and so many verses require us to do that. The Romans verse is telling us not judge whether someone will go to hell or to heaven. We are not to judge whether, at the end of one’s lifetime, someone will go to heaven or hell. Only God knows that. What the position of our eternal soul will be is a matter between the individual and God only. Yet, be assured, that we can definitely tell one and all that unless we know Jesus as Savior and Lord, one will definitely go to Hell. The Word of God is clear about that (John 14:6, Acts 4:12).
So I agree with both of you, Steve and Jan. We are to judge the works of man, we are instructed to do that. We are not to judge whether someone will go to Heaven of Hell. Though we certainly can tell someone that unless they come to Jesus, they will go to Hell. See, we are not making that declaration, but rather just believing what the Bible has to say about it. Yes, we can, and must judge the works of man but we cannot make a determination of a person’s final destiny. Only God knows that.
This really is only a superficial response to the remarks of you both. To know why I posted this post please look at my response to Rick Holmes on this same post. I believe that this post is not excusing sinners, but is a call to lead them to the love of God in Jesus and not to cast them aside as so much trash. We need to help those who are in bondage to wrongdoing. We need to love them and help them as they will allow us to. If we don’t love, we don’t belong to God (1 John 4:8). He calls us to not only recognize sin and to call it sin (as the Word states), but then to help the sinner. To use a true saying, we are called to “hate the sin (that destroys), but love the sinner.” This should be our attitude to all.
God has forgiven me of much. He did not cast me aside, but led me further and stronger into walking with Him. As the “body of Christ” we are called to continue His work in helping others and each other. And that is to call sin what it is, sin. But not in a hateful way, but in a loving way with the true intention of helping them to draw closer to God. In this way we show that we are God’s children whom love Him and also love each other.
Of course books have been written on this subject. Truly, this is only barely touching the subject. However, I think that one can glean from what is here written what the Word states concerning calling sin, sin, and also that just as we are to name sin, we are to love and walk beside the sinner as we lead them to God, or back to God. Let us always be a shining example of God’s righteousness and love. Both righteousness and love are inherent to the very person of God. Let us love both.
Thank you both for your comments! God bless you both!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.