Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

When Sin Happens

Sin happens. It happens in big churches and it happens in little churches. It should sadden everyone, but it shouldn't shock anyone. So the question is not how to respond if sin happens. The question is how to respond when it happens.

The tendency these days is to overlook sin.  Look the other way.  Pretend it doesn’t exist.  Just ignore it.  After all, we don’t want to be accused of judging anyone.  But when Jesus says, “Judge not that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1), he is not saying you should just ignore sin.  Nor is he saying you should toss the standards of morality out the window to keep from offending someone.  He is saying that you shouldn’t be willing to confront sin in someone else’s life and not be willing to deal with sin in your own life.

Unhealthy churches ignore sin, but healthy churches deal with sin and they deal with it biblically.  One of the vital signs of a healthy church is a biblical understanding of church discipline.

Church discipline does not enjoy a great reputation today.  When most people think of church discipline, they think of excommunication, which sounds judgmental. People today want their freedom to live a life that's not known by others. They don't want to be open and honest with others.  They don't want people inquiring about their lives. And it's not just our modern, affluent, individualistic American culture that makes us think this way.  It's the sinful human heart. We do not want other people to have the authority to speak into our lives.

When it comes down to it, church discipline is about how Christians should live together.  It’s about developing relationships with each other that penetrate beneath the surface.  Having a biblical understanding of church discipline means we realize we need help from God and from His people.  We can’t live the Christian life alone. That’s why we need to build strong relationships with each other.  When that happens, it becomes natural to engage in serious conversations about real life with each other.  We need each other, not just for help in bearing the respectable burdens of life such as serious illness, but also for the heavy burdens of sin. 

So, we need to love each other and we need to hold each other accountable.  We need to live lives that back up our professions of faith.  And when we choose to live in a way that does not reflect what we profess, we must act biblically. 

Sin happens.  And when it does, we should do everything the Bible says we must do to bring restoration.