A Biblical Attitude Towards Sin
Now that we have seen the outline of how to confront a fellow believer who is actively going against the Word of God. I want to take a moment to discuss the attitude that you should have when confronting a person. Often times when we are in a disagreement with someone, tempers tend to get out of hand and the tongue takes control. In James we see that the tongue can be a vicious thing. I am sure there is not one person reading this who hasn’t said something that they later regretted once they saw how it hurt someone else. “5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our body’s parts as that which defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. ”James 3:5-6.
Too often we let our emotions control us and do not keep our tongue under control, this is not the attitude that a born-again believer should have. We need to keep our emotions in check and remember that, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1. While we are called to restore one another in gentleness, Galatians has a warning in it as well. “Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well.” Galatians 6:1. When we confront another regarding their sin, we need to keep ourselves in check so that we do not sin as well. This means that we are to keep our emotions and tongue in check to ensure we do not sin against the one we are confronting.
Now that we understand the attitude we should have and how our words can have a lasting impact; we need to discuss what our responsibility is to the person who is actively going against the Word of God. When it comes to confronting a fellow believer about their sin, we need to be quick to help them and forgive them; for we ourselves have been forgiven by God. The ground at the cross is level for all of us. This does not mean to keep fellowship with them if they keep sinning (go back and read last weeks post regarding this). However we need to keep Jesus Christ’s commandment regarding this issue, we follow His guidance above all.
“21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:21-35
We see here that Peter was wondering how often we are called to forgive, instead of getting a response that we only need to forgive those who wrong us a certain number of times, Jesus tells him that we are to forgive seventy-seven times. This is interesting because the meaning behind the number seven is “God”. We are called to forgive as many times as God forgives us.
When we are faced with a disagreement we need to forgive the individual. If we don’t we can’t show God’s love and forgiveness to others. If we cannot forgive others, then we can’t understand how a perfect God could forgive us, “15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:15 or again in Mark 11:25, “25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.””
Christians will sin, this is a true statement until we are given our new bodies by Jesus Christ in the Rapture, thus we need to know and understand what it means to confront sin in fellow believers both Biblically and lovingly. Always remembering that Jesus Christ forgave us of our sin. As born-again believers, we need to remember that we are ambassadors here, our attitude reflects the One that we serve; we are representing Christ to this world but also encouraging our brothers and sisters in the faith to continue pursuing God and being Holy because He is Holy.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex