I am so DONE with excuses. Excuses for sin. Excuses for the reason why we sinned. Have you made excuses for yourself? Excuses for your spouse, kids, etc. I have. Madison didn't get enough sleep or Kenadi just misses her daddy and my favorite, Sydney is too young to know any better.
Why isn't this ok? Let me spell it out for you. Personal Responsibility. When you decide to call Sin something other than what it is, you are taking away personal responsibility. I've heard liars called 'dramatic'. I've heard people who stir up distention for personal gain are 'well meaning'. I've heard gossip called 'prayer requests', information, just girl talk. I've heard marital affairs blamed on the spouse who was cheated on. Oh yes this was at Churches. We are no different from 'The World' when we don't take responsibility for our actions.
How hard is it to say to someone, 'I don't need to know that'. Or 'I don't think that is true'. SUPER HARD! But man oh man is it effective! Call Sin, Sin! Gossip = Sin. Lying = Sin. Cheating of any kind = Sin. Be bold about this! This isn't a gray area. We just like to pretend it is by calling it something less ugly.
So here is my most favorite question about this subject: Why is Church Discipline reserved for 'Serious Sin'? If you were lying about someone at church and the Pastor called to talk to you about it would you keep on lying? If you were gossiping to a friend and she said to stop, would you? Even if it was just between friends, would you be brave enough to say 'Enough' to someone? Matthew 18:15-17 (below) outlines Church Discipline and it starts with a one on one conversation. It also says nothing about degrees of sin.
I think we don't address stuff this because we don't want to hurt peoples feelings. Or those people are major contributors to the church, they are better than they use to be, or whatever reasons we can come up with for dodging confrontation. Have you ever seen a church 'Run' by a family or families? Have you seen people pushed out the doors of a church because they offended the wrong person? If the church wasn't so dysfunctional, sin wouldn't be sitting in the front row on Sunday. No body of believers will be perfect because it is made up of imperfect humans.
But let us not be tolerant of these things.
Sin is sin. No excuses.
Matthew 18:15-17
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
WOW! I am so glad you wrote this. So often we get TOO comfortable being around sin and forget it needs to be dealt with. When sin is too prevalent in our lives whether our own or others sins we will not be able to recognize it anymore. ENOUGH! Read the word, get familiar with God's commands and then APPLY....too often we stop at the 1st one and miss out on the application. If God's word is all true then we must not 'modernize' the scriptures and apply them how they were intended. No one has been given the power on this earth to change God's law. It was the same yesterday, today and forever. I am just as guilty of this as the next person. Thank you Ruth for opening my eyes so I can stop the cycle!
ReplyDeleteA most excellent post! I have been there myself... asking a friend for 'counsel' in a matter when I was (more than likely) irritated about a situation involving someone and wanted to vent about it/them.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Great subject! Keep it up!