I preached last week on character; I typed that word so much that I even learned how to spell it. (That was not the case when I started, I continued to miss the second c) The interesting part is, if it wasn’t for spellcheck, I’m not sure that I would have noticed it, basically if my mistake wasn’t pointed out to me, I would have continued to make it.
Sin tends to be the same way. If we are unaware of our sin, we will continue in it. David seemed to be in that situation until he was confronted by Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:7. Nobody knows how long David might have continued in his sin if he hadn’t been confronted, but because he was confronted, his attitude changed, and he wrote Psalm 51, and Psalm 32. I would encourage you to read 2 Samuel 11 and 12, and then read the two Psalms that were written after he was confronted, and see beauty that resulted from the confrontation. Here is part of Psalm 51 to give you an idea:
Psalms 51:15-17
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
We live in a world that preaches the idea “Only God can judge me” and that statement is absolutely true, but what that statement really means, is “I’ll live the way I want, because I’m my own god.”
Scripture never tells us that we should not confront sin, as a matter of fact, it says quite the opposite.
Matthew 18:15
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Luke 17:3
3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
Galatians 6:1
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Proverbs 27:5-6
5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
(1 Thessalonians 5:14, Hebrews 3:13, 1 Timothy 5:20)
What we need to understand, and often fail to consider is there are some ground rules that we really should apply if we are to consider confronting anybody about their sin.
- Examine yourself for motive. Why do you feel the person needs to be confronted, is it personal, is it selfish, or is it out of love?
If it is not out of love and a hope for them to draw closer to God, then you probably have a wrong motive.
- Examine yourself for your own sin. We are all familiar with Mattew 7:3-5 (The log that is in your own eye), but it holds true, that if we are living in unconfessed sin ourselves, it is very hypocritical for us to confront somebody else.
- Is it really sin, or is it against your moral code, basically, can you show them in Scripture where they are violating God’s Word? Often we become like the pharisees and create rules that God never said, and accuse people of sinning when they don’t honor them, even though we can find no Scripture to clarify our point.
- I cannot reinforce the idea that “it must be done in love” enough. I know it is the first point, but it needs to be the last too.
We all sin, 1 John 1:8 makes that clear, but the problem is continued sin, unrepentant sin. When we see an individual claiming to be a Christian, in deliberate unrepentant sin, and we ignore it, we are not doing anybody any favors. If they don’t claim to be a Christian, why would we ever expect any different, they are not expected to follow God’s Word, but a Christian, by definition is a follower of Christ, they are expected to follow what God’s Word says.
When we just ignore sin, by those professing to be Christians, then we promote the hypocrisy that we are accused of.
Thank you for reading this, as always, I would encourage you to spend time in His Word, in prayer and in the fellowship of other believers. And if you haven’t visited already, I would encourage you to come visit our little church on the hill, it’s worth the drive.
Bro. Jason
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