Pillars (3)
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Accepting People
Accepting People
This Pillar is a difficult one for people to receive. And we will definitely dive in deeper when we discuss love next week, but there is a difference between accepting people for who they are and just ignoring their sin and I want to be clear on this- I can accept people and disagree with their lifestyle.
Example. As a youth Pastor in my second youth ministry position there was a teenage who lived an active homosexual life style. He was apart of our youth group for over a year. He came to retreats and such with us and He was accepted within the group. Now before you get all up in arms. understand He was accepted. Once I established a Pastoral relationship with him I had the tough conversation about the sin in his sexual lifestyle preference. Just like I had conversations with teens about the sin in their sexually active relationships.
My wife and I understood that God didn’t view sex before marriage any different than he viewed homosexuality. Sin is sin and all sin has consequences.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to sin and I am going touch on them both quickly.
All sin is equal
There are levels of sin
I used to believe that all sin is equal until recently when studying the ideas of sin and I can tell you it will require more research on my part. There are passages which I will need to break open in 1 John 5:16 which tells us that people can commit sins that don’t lead to death and that there are sins that lead to death.
There is the unpardonable sin.
John 19:11 talks about a greater sin.
Matthew 11:23-24 talks about how it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgement than those who Jesus was talking to at that time.
The issue in the church is that We, the church, are attempting to make these judgement calls when it’s Jesus’ Job and not ours. Christians have decided, not God, but Christians have decided what sins are allowed to walk through their church doors and what sins aren’t and that my friends is where we talk about acceptance of people.
When we accept people we need to realize
All People Are Equal
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
I have heard people use, and have used V10 to assume that all sin is equal, but we need to pull back and check the totality of what is being said. We must look at the context of this verse.
From James 2:1-James 2:13 James is talking about discrimination in the church. The church at this time was discriminating against Jews and gentiles, Rich and poor, and probably other unlisted things.
James gives the command that we should love our neighbors as ourself. He even calls it the Royal Law. James is making several connections
one is Lev 19:16-18
16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
And Also Jesus’ saying in
35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
This law of equality and loving your neighbor is the second of two rules that the entire bible is based on. The first obviously is love God before anything else. If you do these two things. Love God and Love your Neighbor, than it is assumed you will never sin. Thus these two commands are referred to as the royal laws.
What James is saying here in His verse is that by showing favoritism in anyway is sin.
2. We all fall short of the Glory of God
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Now Paul is talking to the Roman Church explaining how Christ took our punishment. If we surrender ourselves to Christ and recieving him as Lord and Savior. If we seek forgiveness for our sins and attempt to live a life free from sin. Than we are saved. We are Christ’s. We become part of the chosen who are to be with Christ in everlasting Glory.
But the bible is clear we all sinned. I find that those who judge anothers sin usually do so because they forget what god has saved them from. They forget who they were BC-Before Christ. They forget that they too were in the dirt and needed a helping hand.
Well Pastor we must tell the world they are sinners. How else will they know.
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
He meaning the Holy Spirit convicts the world. Why do you think the world hates us. It isn’t because we are prettier than them. It’s because they know what they are doing is wrong. And we, being filled with the Holy Spirit remind them they are wrong. That’s why the world tries to remove the bible, God, Jesus, Christians from everything. Because they are being convicted. They know they are wrong. They just don’t want to care.
Our job is not to go out into all the world and tell them they are sinners and how they sin.
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
What is the Gospel: The good news of salvation. The good news that if they turn they won’t feel convicted any more.
Listen I learned this truth this week curtousy of Robert Morris:
People are running away from God because they are afraid to be judged. This in part is the churches fault. When you run from God you aren’t running away from his judgement—you’re running away from his grace and mercy and running full steam into his judgement.
This kid I talked about earlier. IDK where is today. I do know when he met a man on the internet and was rapped he didn’t go to his mom who accepted his live style. He came to my wife and I who openly condemned his live style. But lovingly accepted him. We sat with him at the police station. We were with him as he cried. We, for a moment, got to show him the love of God. And when he gets tired of running my hope is that this one moment of seeing God’s love and grace will bring him to surrendering his sin and receiving Christ.
We accept people—not so that they continue to sin, but we accept people so they can see the love of Christ.
3. God is the Judge not us
Matthew 13 clearly tells us that God will seperate the wheat from the tares. God will separate those who pretend to Church and those who have a relationship with Christ. Not us. It isn’t our job to point it out. God knows.
10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Let God be the judge and let us show the Love of Christ. Let us Show the grace and mercy. Let us show compassion and empathy. And let us preach the good news that Jesus came to forgive us of that which the Holy Spirit is pointing to as sin.