Sinners in the Hands

Sinners in the hands of a Gracious God

Jonathan Edwards: Sinners in the Hands of an angry God - totally appropriate, those who do not receive Christ will come under the judgment of an angry God

Christians are sinners in the hands of a gracious God, who removed our guilt and condemnation

John 8:1–11 ESV

but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Explain brackets

However, it has historical significance, fits the character of Jesus, and was apparently part of oral tradition in the church, and at some point was added here.

In this story, who do we suppose ourselves to be?

(the Good Christian) I’m like Jesus, of course, the bad Christians are the pharisees, and the woman is everyone outside the church.

Preachers have preached this passage in various ways:

To make the case that Christians should never point out sin (But Jesus here did not need to point it out, it was already out in the open) To make the case why Christians need to point out sin(Go, and sin no more) To make the case that Christians who point out sin are like the Pharisees. To make the case that we, the good Christians, are just like Jesus

We are called by God to have good, healthy, loving relationships. Among fellow believers this is to be expected. The Christian life is not about jockeying for position, being a politician who says what is necessary to please whoever is in front of them just at the moment, only to say something different to another person.

We are to live in unity, not an artificial, contrived unity, where we smile and shake hands, and then judge everyone who doesn't live up to our expectations, but a true, loving, trusting unity. Trust is important for people to work together. Christians should be able to trust each other in such a way that no matter what happens, they will still be loved and accepted.

That is not to say we tolerate unbiblical behavior in the same sense that the world says we must be tolerant; often being in unity requires that we hold each other accountable to live as we should. However, it is difficult to hold someone responsible who does not place themselves under the accountability of others.

A your pastor, I hold credentials through the C&MA Southeast district. I offer my accountability to the District officials. Every person is accountable to God, but wisdom says we allow ourselves to be held accountable to those with authority over us. Because I offer my accountability to the District officials, they are able to be helpful to me, guiding me, encouraging me, and when needed, challenging me by asking the tough questions.

As a church, we should submit ourselves to one another for accountability. When someone does not live up to the standard of holiness that God calls us each to, as Paul wrote many times in Ephesians, that we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, we don’t look down on the one who failed, but lovingly discipline them so that they can have a right relationship with God, and a restored relationship to the congregation.

When that happens, it reflects the will of God, that just as He calls us to be submitted to Christ, we also submit ourselves to the body of Christ in order that all of us can do as we were commanded by God “Be Holy, for I am Holy”. When one falls, we don’t alienate them or push them out of the fellowship, but we are responsible to take action so that a brother or sister in Christ does not fall away from the grace of God. As God offers His grace freely to each of us, we are to offer grace to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

However, grace sometimes means we must challenge someone and hold them accountable to turn from sin and towards holiness. Jesus realized that some people only desire to punish sinners, usually ignoring their own sinfulness. He tells the men that the one without sin should throw the first stone.

None do. Their arrogance exposed, they went away one by one. Notice the older ones went away first. This indicates that the more experience we have in life, the more we ought to be able to recognize the faults we have ourselves, the more we should recognize the falleness of man, and thereby be less likely to pass harsh judgment, and the older we get, the more we ought understand God’s graciousness towards us and extend that grace towards others. In other words, the older ones present in this story were the first to understand the lesson Jesus was teaching.

“The Pharisees used this occasion of proved adultery to “test” Jesus and to have ground for a “charge” against him. If the time was near the end of Jesus’ ministry they would have known of his proclamation of the kingdom of God to the poor and the sinners, his compassion on the disreputable of society, and even his eating with them, thereby showing complete indifference to the ritual laws as currently understood. Well, here was a real sinner, and the Law demands that she should die for her wickedness. What does he think about it? There is no question of their seeking his advice; they simply wish to discredit him publicly. If he upholds the Law, he contradicts his way of life and his preaching; if he maintains his outlook and preaching regarding sinners and denies Moses, he shows himself a lawless person and perverter of the people who must be brought to justice.”

Beasley-Murray, George R. John. Vol. 36. Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002. Print. Word Biblical Commentary.

Jesus demonstrated grace. He told the woman he did not condemn her, and we cannot condemn our fellow believers. However, he did give her a command: “go, and from now on sin no more.” The woman's part in the story ends there. It is not recorded whether she went back to her life of sin or whether she listened to Christ.

We can learn from this in that as Christians, and particularly those of us in leadership in the church, we are responsible sometimes to address a sin that is brought to our attention. Jesus did not seek to find this woman, she was brought to Him. As your pastor, I do not seek to find sin or catch people misbehaving, but sometimes these matters are also brought to my attention. Your board of elders is the same way. No one is spying on anyone or trying to set some impossible standards for you to live up to, and the board of elders certainly does not attempt to find things to confront people about. However, occasionally, things are brought to the attention of the church leadership and when that happens, I and the board of elders have a responsibility to God and the people of God to help the person to deal with it.

When the woman caught in adultery was brought to Him, he did not condemn her, but he did tell her to go and sin no more. All those who God calls to speak truth have a responsibility to speak it, but the response remains up to the individual.

This is the case in the church as well. If something of a serious nature is brought up, the leadership of the church is responsible to correct it in love. In the Bible truth and love are linked. If we want truth, it cannot be separated from love, and if we want to live in love, we must speak words of truth. Our source of truth is God’s Word, the Holy Bible.

It is interesting that in John 17:20, Jesus, in a prayer for the church to be unified, links a unified church with proof of the gospel. How we live as Christians can either hinder the gospel message from being received by unbelievers, or it can prove the effect of the gospel to unbelievers.

Now, I want to go back and look at this passage a little closer. First, note where this happened. Jesus was at the temple. The place where people sometimes feel most comfortable accusing others is in church. This seems rather odd to me. If we have truly recognized our own sinfulness and need for salvation, then each time we come into the church it should be for the purpose of worshiping God. We worship Him because of what He has done for us, in forgiving us, but we also worship Him for who He is, and who He is by nature. So our purpose in being at church, and our purpose for being THE church should be one and the same to glorify God.

What is God’s nature? God’s nature is Holy. They never stop saying “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.” God is Holy, and that means that He by His very nature is opposed to evil and sin. When we come into this place, we should be thinking about His holiness, and how our sinfulness is so opposed to Him, that we would deserve any punishment He deemed fair…but for grace.

That grace, that each who has received Christ experiences, is one of the reasons we worship Him, and we also worship Him because He is Holy and worthy of that worship. That is why it doesn’t make sense that the church seems to be the place where people feel the most right to judge others. Our own individual sin and knowing it is washed away by the blood of Christ should cause us to realize that His grace truly saved us. And it should also remake us in His image.

Matthew 18:21–35 ESV

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

This parable isn't even speaking about offenses against God, but offenses against each other. So how much more should we be wary to go after someone for their sin against God? If he has forgiven our debt of sin against Him, which is far more serious than any sin against each other, how can we take the place of God in deciding someone’s guilt? How can we decide someone is a subpar Christian based upon our own standards, many of which are not anywhere found to be in God’s Word?

So where is the balance? How do we determine to say something about someone’s sin, while at the same time, helping one another walk in a manner worthy of our calling? We often say that it is about relationship. If we have a relationship, then we have the responsibility and the right to speak to someone about their sin, but it is more than just relationship. You can have a relationship and still miss one very important factor: Here is the factor so often missing: Love. If your rebuke does not cause the person to feel love, you have failed.

This is why I think we can overstate the need for relationship. By saying this we may mean a long time connection with someone. But love can become apparent very quickly. It does not always take a long time to establish to someone that you love them. I think people can tell. I think most people can tell very early in a relationship whether there is love. Not charisma, not common hobbies, not the ability to connect in conversation. Love.

I love my wife, and she loves me. We sometimes need to offer each other correction, and because we love each other, even though the correction may hurt a little at first, we consider what was said. Sometimes our initial reaction is defensive, but we come back and say “I thought about what you said. You are right. I will try to change”. But if someone made the same correction, someone who I don’t feel loves me very much, I will dismiss it. And so will you. Unless it is out of duty through our jobs or other responsibility, we generally do not take corrections from strangers, and we certainly don’t take corrections well from people we feel have no love for us.

I remember a class I took called marriage & family, and in that class, we talked about different parenting styles. there was a chart that had only two factors: One was a scale of leniency vs strictness. In other words, some parents seem very lenient with their kids, very easy going, willing to overlook things that other parents would be all over. On the other end of that side of the chart was those who are very strict, allowing the child very little freedom to decide things for themselves. We have parents right here this morning on both ends of this scale. But it turns out that this side of the scale has much less to do with the success of the child in later life as far as relationships and stability and jobs, and all of that. It was the other part of the chart that was more important: connectedness. If a child grew up in a home where the connection between parent and child was strong, and the child felt safe and loved, they would be more successful regardless of whether they had very strict discipline or more lenient. On the other hand, if the child felt disconnected from the family unit, and the parents in particular, they were more likely to have problems later in life. Whether they had strict discipline or very lenient, they were likely to have big problems.

I think this could be the same in the church. Whether a church was more on the lenient side, allowing more room for mistakes and growth through mistakes, or very strict in its discipleship, if the love is evident, and the connectedness is there, either way could lead to successful discipleship. But where love is not evident, either way will fail.

So why is it that it often seems ok to judge others in the church? In this place, of all places, where we should be reminded of our own wretchedness, in this place where we should ever be mindful of his grace in saving us, we certainly have no leg to stand on in judging others. Yet that is often what happens. You see, as time goes on for many Christians, we tend to forget how ugly our sin was, and how bad we really were before Christ saved us.

It’s really like that with many things in life. When you are in boot camp, it seems a miserable thing. Years later, you look back at it with a bit of romanticism, humor, recalling the good parts of it. We very quickly forget the difficulty, because once we made it through, we had attained something. When I graduated boot camp, I was no longer a recruit, I was a Marine. I had earned the right to put on that uniform, to stand with shoulders back and chest out.

The moment boot camp was over, many of the difficult parts of it were foggy memories, replaced by nostalgic memories. This is because there truly was a good result. I had learned discipline, I had learned perseverance, I learned respect, and many other things. What I became made it seem that the difficult times were all worth it, and the focus was no longer what I went through, it was on what I had become. A United States Marine.

Being saved by grace can be a little like that. In the moment of the euphoria of have your sin burden released, the time of lostness doesn’t seem quite as bad. In fact, many people testify that they believe that through all of their difficult times, God was preparing them for that very moment of salvation, and I believe this is true. He bring those he loves to a point of realizing our need for Him.

However, after some time, we can almost forget how sinful we were, and that is a dangerous place for any believer to be in. The moment we forget that we were born into sin, we can develop a sort of self-satisfaction that causes us to overlook the problems we still have. We can spend so much time evaluating others that we no longer ask God to help us to examine ourselves. The results of this are disastrous:

First, it results in spiritual stagnation. Maturity and growth cannot happen if we believe we have somehow arrived or attained perfection. Second, it causes us to shift the inward look at our salvation to an outward one that judges and condemns others who we don’t think are living up to the standard, while we all along ignore the many areas of our life that we have not yet submitted to Christ.

So in the temple, the very place where these men should have a healthy fear of God, they drag this woman before Jesus to be judged. She was indeed guilty. She was caught in the act. Under the law of that time, she deserved to be stoned, and these bloodthirsty men forced Jesus to deal with it. Jesus turned what was heading to be an execution into a lesson on grace. And we would do well to follow the model of Jesus, when a serious sin is brought before us, to turn it into a lesson on grace.

Who would stone her? Jesus said the one without sin could cast the first stone. No one did. Jesus stopped them and forced them to realize something they should have been well aware of, especially in the temple. He reminded them that all are guilty. No one is without sin.

Even non-Christians love this story, because it can be used as a weapon against people who call for holiness, and challenge others to live a pure life. They like to say that Jesus did not condemn the woman, he showed her grace. That is true, but that is not the end of the story. You see, love calls on us to challenge each other. Jesus did save the woman from the death sentence she deserved, and that was a display of grace.

He also told her to go and not sin any more, and this was also grace. grace and love demand that we tell the one we love the truth, and sometimes that means addressing the behavior of others if we are aware of it. I have always said I want to err on the side of grace, but does that mean always looking past sin, and allowing all types of behavior? I think the bible is clear. God calls us to be holy, and He disciplines His children with love.

Those who are in spiritual leadership in the church at times must also discipline with love. The bible is clear, and particularly in the Pauline epistles, we see that behavior in the church must sometimes be confronted. If we do not confront it, we are not showing grace. We are showing apathy, and apathy is one of the most dangerous attitudes found in the church today. When we feel no need to pursue holiness, either as individuals, or as the body of Christ, we are in apathy.

We offer ourselves as accountable to each other, not so that we will be saved. If we put our faith in Christ, and confess and turn from our sin, we are saved. We offer ourselves accountable because of who we are in Christ, and because we desire to ever become more like Him. “It is not what we do that determines who we are. It is who we are that determines what we do.”

If who we are determines what we do, then we need to discuss who we are. We are the sons and daughters of God. We are the redeemed, and the bible says let the redeemed say so. I am redeemed. If I am redeemed, if I am a child of God, if I am a Christian, then that is what determines what I do. It doesn't determine every action, because we all make mistakes. It does determine how we deal with those things.

When a brother or sister falls, we need to have the grace to pick them up, to walk beside them. We also have the responsibility to speak truth to them, and as Jesus did, we need to tell them to go and sin no more.

There are many more lies of Satan. He and his demons continually whisper them. They are constantly on the attack. But we need not be on the defensive. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the church. God already won the victory. You are loved. God loved you so much He sent Jesus to be crucified in your place. God is not against you. He will make every attempt to get your attention so that you follow him and receive His blessings.

This includes sometimes discipline. We all make insensitive comments from time to time, but for the most part, the people around you desire a relationship with you, a true Christian community. The church is not full of judgmental people. Its just that the judgmental ones often are the most outspoken. You can trust people, when you take time to get to know them, learn their stories, and celebrate the bond we share in Christ.

We are responsible for each other. I believe that there is a great desire in this church for people who want to go deeper in their faith, but also a great desire for stronger bonds among us, a deeper relationship with our fellow believers. The book of Ephesians tells us that the dividing wall of hostility has already been broken down by Christ, but Satan says we cant trust each other.

Not one of us is at a point in our faith where we can afford to stop growing. This includes your pastor. So I encourage you in your faith. I want to lead you as together we grow in our faith. I want to be there when you fall so that I can help you get up again. I want to rejoice with you when life is exciting and good things happen, and I want to mourn with you when times are tough. A pastor I know uses the phrase a lot “We live life together”, and that is exactly what we should be doing. I have a long way to go to become like Christ. I am not there yet, but I invite you on the journey with me as I seek God. We can make the journey together. Nothing you do surprises God, and it should not surpass us either. I have a plaque in my office with a saying about the pastor, and it says in part “He will not be surprised at your sins, nor will he judge you in them, but he always invites you to share with him, the wisdom and love of God, the knowledge of forgiveness of sins, and the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” I am going to close the message with a passage from Paul, who exhorted the Phillippians to move forward in their faith with him,

Philippians 3:12–14 ESV

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.