Sunday 27 September 2015

Shooting our wounded or turning a blind eye

Sometimes church is the very last place where we want to admit our deep sinful failings. Maybe we have seen others do something like this and then seen the church’s reaction - to look down upon, to verbally or physically exclude, to make clear in one way or another that 'we don’t want your sort in here!’.

Meanwhile, those inside the church who so exclude others, those with a critical and judgemental spirit, also deny their own sinfulness and maintain the self-deception that they are different, better, holier! And so others are much more careful and dare not let their guard down; they appear fine on the outside, yet hurt on the inside while the pretence is increasingly difficult to maintain.

So churches that shoot their wounded remain filled only with ‘decent’ people, while those who know they are broken sinners - those who have been abused, those addicted to pornography, those whose marriages have ended badly, those confused about their sexual identity - do not feel they could ever belong.

So the hypocrisy of the church that ‘shoots its wounded’ is plain to see and the damage done all round is profound.

Consequently, some Christians take a clearly different stance, which looks much more gentle and loving. They say to the fallen brother or sister, “We are all sinners, you are very welcome here and we will not judge you! The church is exactly the right place for sinners feel at home. Come on in, for Jesus is the friend of sinners.” They make no comment about the behaviour that is clearly unscriptural, not wanting to pass judgement for fear of discouraging or appearing to reject, or maybe regarding the behaviours as so commonplace that it does not even occur to us to pass comment.

But both stances preach a half-truth. The first recognises that God cannot stand in the presence of sin, and that God is the Awesome Judge of all. But there is no demonstration of God’s mercy and grace, nor a humble recognition that we are all, indeed, sinners - even if forgiven sinners! We take upon ourselves the role of judge, when Jesus is alone the Judge; and also forget our own sinfulness, for we are no better than those we exclude and don’t want to associate with.

The second preaches a fake love, inclusivity but not cleansing!  It forgets that our sin must be crucified before we can come into the presence of a Holy God. So, we deny the seriousness of sin - for example, saying ‘well, everyone sleeps around these days, it’s only to be expected in this day and age - in effect implying that Jesus need not have gone to the bother of being crucified over such a small matter, such a common behaviour!

But sin has very serious consequences: a separation from God and from others while a sense of shame pervades; trust is broken and people get deeply hurt; relationships, families, even communities are shattered; the domain of the Enemy is advanced!

We need to address the seriousness of our own and others' sinful behaviour, and yet together plead for God’s mercy, confident only in Jesus to cleanse our filth. A Love that does not challenge and deal with sin is no love at all.


(I wrote about the true nature of love in one of my earliest blogs: 'Whatever you do, do not love me’)

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