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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
Our Attitude Toward Sin and Sinners
How do you react to news that an abortion clinic has been “bombed”? How about hearing of a group of men who beat a “gay” man within an inch of his life? Is that good news to you?
Can we know how God responds to the same information? Is God pleased with those who have perpetrated such crimes? You already know that answer.
I doubt you could prove that one sin is “bigger” than another, but we can probably agree that some sins have more severe consequences to more people than other sins do.
But sin—any sin—separates man from God, Isaiah 59:1-2. Great or small, as man might say it, sin is what separates us from God. Yes, God still loves us, but sin builds a wall between God and man.
Love the sinner; hate the sin
There is an old saying that “God loves the sinner but hates his sin.” If that is true, and I believe it is, can we continue to love those who commit terrible sin, yet hate their sinful acts?
In Matthew 5:48 we read: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” No, this passage does not demand a perfection characterized by a sinless life, but it does demand that we grow in maturity, and toward the day we can see others as God sees them. The word for “perfect” is from teleios, meaning, “mature, full-grown,” not sinless.
Does God rejoice at the sight of sinners being abused? Does God feel avenged when men take His law into their own hands, meting out vengeance for which they have no authority? See Romans 12:19, Luke 6:27, Hebrews 10:30. Yes, God authorized a legal means of punishment to be executed for criminal acts, but that is for the governing body, not an individual.
How Jesus treated sinners
In Luke 9:51-56, James and John recommended that fire be brought upon a village of Samaria that did not react favorably to Jesus. On hearing their request, He replied: “You do not know what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.”
When Jesus said we should “love” our enemies, He did not say we must like them or what they do, but that we “love” them. This term for love is from a root word that describes a love that expects “nothing in return; to seek the best interests of another.” Enemies are to be expected, but our attitude toward them must be better than their attitude toward us. That is rarely easy, and it may not seem “natural” for us, but it is what biblical “love” demands.
Jesus loved in that way, and He is our role model, 1 Peter 2:21-22. We are to follow “in His steps,” so we must be willing to treat our enemies as Jesus treated His. On the cross, Jesus showed us how to treat our enemies: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they do,” Luke 23:34. Jesus left their fate in the hands of the Father, who, fifty days later, through the apostles, revealed His means of forgiveness, Acts 2:36-47.
“while we were yet sinners…”
You recognize these words from Romans 5:6-10, where the love of God and of Christ is revealed to all. Long before Jesus came to the earth, and long before sin even entered the scene, the love of God was known and seen. Redemption was in His mind “from the beginning of the world,” Ephesians 1:4, 3:9. It was that love that sent His only Son to men who were “yet sinners” so they could be redeemed.
Did any deserve God’s love? Was man worthy of the gift of God’s Son? Could man ever merit his own redemption? To all three questions the answer is “No.”
Can we learn something about God’s attitude toward sin and sinners? Yes, we can, and in fact we must, for Christians must mature to the point that we can be more concerned about the soul of our enemy than about any injury to ourselves. God hates the sin because the price of forgiveness was so high, 1 Peter 1:18-19. He loves the sinner and wants him/her to be saved, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4. Can we do any less and be His children? How then can we rejoice at the criminal treatment of even the most vile of sinners?
Yes, we must hate the sin with such passion that it causes us to reach out to the sinner with God’s love. Let us make the sinner aware of his sin, yet have it understood that we want only the best for all, for all will stand before God in judgment.
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“No man ever designed an injury to another, but at the same time he did a greater harm to himself.”
“The best manner of avenging ourselves is by not resembling him who has injured us.”
“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
“A man that studies revenge keeps his own wounds open, which otherwise would heal.”
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Alcoholism? Homosexuality? Diseases?
"Dear brother Ramsey: Is alcoholism a disease, which a person cannot help having? What of homosexuality, is that inborn? Why would a loving God punish people for a sickness which they could not help?” --C.M., AZ"
If alcoholism is a sickness, it is a strange disease that one "catches" by his own choice and one that kills others and puts people in jail. We need a strong prescription of medicine that will put a stop to it! The Bible clearly teaches that we will give an account to the Lord for the lives we live on this earth: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad, " 2 Corinthians 5:10 (All quotations are taken from the NKJV). We must "keep yourselves in the love of God" (Jude 21). We must "abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
Since we have the freedom of choice to decide our own actions, and thus our own destiny, "of his own free will" (Leviticus 1:3), we cannot blame "inheritance" for our sins. "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12). We may inherit the consequences of our parents' sins, but we cannot inherit the guilt thereof (Ezekiel 18:20; Lamentations 5:7). Drunkenness is rebuked throughout the Bible: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler: and whoever is led astray by it is not wise" (Proverbs 20:1). Drunkenness is classed as a "work of the flesh," along with such things as adultery, fornication, idolatry, witchcraft and murder (Galatians 5:19-21). Sin is transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4). An alcoholic may be ill, but if that is a sickness, it is one the drinker has chosen -- it is surely not God's fault.
God clearly condemns homosexual activity, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them." (Leviticus 20:13). The apostle Paul wrote, Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due," (Romans 1:24-27).
Homosexuals are classed with " fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners" as those who cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). God said very plainly, "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Hebrews 13:4).
When God ordained marriage in Genesis 2, it is significant that it was to be ONE MAN with ONE WOMAN for life. Two women living together cannot "be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28), nor can two men. Such "coupling" cannot fulfill God's purpose and plan for the family and for mankind. Bible believers, therefore, cannot support the sin of homosexual activity. It is a sad choice that people make of their own volition. The argument that some people just have "homosexual tendencies" is completely irrelevant. Some have "murderous tendencies," others have "adulterous tendencies," some have tendencies to steal, lie, etc. But these things are still wrong. God intends for us to practice self-control and make the choices that will glorify Him by following His will for our lives.
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