The Truth About Sin……

I have been in South Africa for the past two weeks now. I was in Durban to be precise, on a tour with my church choir and pastor’s wife. We had such an amazing time of ministry. God really showed up where ever we went to minister. One of my highlights going there was connecting with friends of mine who are in University in Durban. It was great catching up with them. As we were having fun,the issue of grace in context of sin came up. There were many solid arguments that came up and I left that day with a greater understanding of grace and how we should be more understanding with people. As Christians our model is Jesus.
Is there sin that is more abhorrent that the rest? In my country homosexuality is up there among the seven deadly sins.  What I am addressing is how we as Christians deal with people who are involved in the “unspeakable”sins. So having an affair is not so bad compared to homosexuality, someone would think.”How dare he come to church. He is gay and he should be stopped from coming to church”. “What nerve she has, coming to church when she is a prostitute. ” There are so many people who think they can judge certain people because their sins are among the “unspeakable.”

Jesus had to deal with the same mind set in His day.
Early in the morning (at dawn), He came back into the temple [court], and the people came to Him in crowds. He sat down and was teaching them, 
When the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the middle of the court and put the case before Him. 
Teacher, they said, This woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. 
Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such [women-offenders] shall be stoned to death. But what do you say [to do with her-what is your sentence]? John 8:2-5

Let us think about this for a moment. The Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery and it was considered bad to the extent that the offender was to be stoned! Did the Pharisees sin, yes! But they didn’t see sin as sin and because of that they thought they had the right to judge the woman.
Let’s look at how Jesus dealt with the Pharisees.

However, when they persisted with their question, He raised Himself up and said, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. John 8:7

We know the rest of the story. One by one being convicted, each person left and Jesus himself did not condemn her. So what am I saying. We need to be more understanding and patient with all people. We can’t be patient with someone who has just had a divorce but then separate ourself from someone who has murdered. What we need to do is look into ourselves and ask ourselves, what do I find detestable? Once you answer that question put that sin in place of adultery in the story I shared. What if a homosexual was brought to Jesus that day? I believe He would of said the same thing to the Pharisees. What if a murderer was brought before Jesus, I still believe the answer would be the same. If we are going to make an impact in the world we need to extend grace to all people. We extend grace because Christ extended His grace to us. What if He just left us? We would be dead with no hope. It’s because of His love and grace that we have a hope and future.  As Christians we cannot spend our time judging people when we all sin.

This is the conclusion. Sin is sin. we have no right to judge someone else just because we think their sin is a lot more atrocious than our own sin. Yes, we confront sin. If someone is doing wrong tell them but don’t let  a person’s sin stop you from loving that person. Jesus told the adulterous woman to go and sin no more but before that, He gave her a chance. He did not condemn her. Are we condemning before even giving that person a chance? And that is my challenge to you.

Cry Out For Justice!

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What is justice? To be fair I think we have a pretty fair idea of what it is. I am not going to write a whole post defining what justice is….My goal in this post though is to bring more understanding about what justice is. The word says this about justice:

The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love.    Psalms  33:5

The last scripture says:

Evil men do not understand justice but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.    Proverbs 28:5

By the end of this post I hope you will have a clearer idea of what justice is. Very simply put justice is defined as, “the quality of being just, impartial, or fair but this morning after my quiet time I was reading a book written by Bob Sorge entitled “Unrelenting Prayer” which I found very interesting, especially when he spoke about Justice. This is what he had to say about justice:

“We may tend to think of justice in a very narrow way, such as punishment for a crime. But justice is a far reaching term, as wide in its scope as every conceivable form of evil. Even as injustice afflicts men and women in virtually every arena of life, justice is the righteous answer to every wrong”.

– When justice comes to sickness, there is healing.

– When justice comes to poverty, there is provision.

– When justice comes to infirmity, there is wholeness.

– When justice comes to loss, there is restoration.

– When justice comes to torn relationships, there is reconciliation.

– When justice comes to anarchy, there is order.

– When justice comes to imprisonment, there is release.

– When justice comes to reproach, there is vindication.

– When justice comes to rejection, there is acceptance.

– When justice comes to abuse, there is comfort.

– When justice comes to prejudice, there is equity.

– When justice comes to oppression, there is liberty.

– When justice comes to slavery, there is freedom.

– When justice comes to tyranny, there is compassionate leadership.

– When justice comes to crime, there is punishment.

– When justice comes to wrong, there is right.

– When justice comes to indebtedness, there is repayment.

– When justice comes to death, there is resurrection of life.

– When justice comes to destruction, there is reparation.

– When justice comes to calamity, there is relief.

– When justice comes to hunger, there is nourishment.

– When justice comes to weariness, there is rest.

– When justice comes to fear, there is peace.

– When justice comes to violation, there is dignity.

– When justice comes to barrenness, there is fruitfulness.

– When justice comes to abortion, there is protection for the unborn.

– When justice comes to darkness, there is light.

– When justice comes to pain, there is alleviation.

– When justice comes to blindness, there is sight.

– When justice comes to families, there is unity.

– When justice comes to dysfunction, there is health.

– When justice comes to loneliness, there is companionship.

– When justice comes to depression, there is joy.

– When justice comes to anxiety, there is confidence.

 

Please note, this is not a nice poem just to warm your heart. This is what justice is. When I read this I cried out to God for justice. I need justice. The enemy has come and plundered me and he cannot get away with it. You cannot let him get away with all the wrong things he has done in your life. He needs to pay for what he has stolen. He needs to account for all he has done and that is why you should cry out for justice. God is truly the God of justice!!!! I hope you see the power justice has in your life when you cry out for it.

Rolain