Caring for Sinners

As church leaders, disciple makers, shepherds and teachers we are called to care for “the flock“. And one of the things that is a guarantee when it comes to tending the flock is the presence of sin. Every person who is a human… is guaranteed to sin. Of course, it is our desire and our goal to lead people to a life that is free of sin both in its ultimate consequence as well as its frequency in their lives now. . But oftentimes I believe the church’s approach to dealing with sin is upside down; addressing the actions, insisting on behavior change with a little gospel sprinkled in at the end to make up the difference between our efforts and perfection. Rather than this approach I believe Scripture teaches us the exact opposite.

I have an uncle who is currently married to his husband. They’ve been married for about six or seven years now. My uncle is extremely nervous about being around “church people” because he had some very negative experiences many years ago. So negative in fact, that he did not set foot in a church for nearly 50 years. It came to pass that I had invited him to come to a monster truck show, of all things, and he accepted the invitation. Realizing that most of the crowd were church people, he was understandably nervous. It was in the context of this conversation that I was able to begin to restructure what I believe is the proper approach that Christians should have when it comes to sin in each other as well as sin in the world.

In that conversation I summarised the following. When Christ hung on the cross, hHis final words contained the simple phrase “it is finished”. The atonement of Christ accounted for all of the sin that would be committed by all of the people who would ever consider Christ to be God. In light of this, even the sin that is discovered in our midst today is included on the cross. For this reason, whether it is a believer or a nonbeliever, our approach should begin and end with the truth of the gospel. For something that was unearned or undeserved before it was ever given, surely will not now require some level of piety to retain. There is no human too far from the cross to be reached by it, and there is no minimum standard of holiness that somebody must reach in order to approach it. For us as leaders to pick and choose what sin is better or worse than another, hold others to some kind of standard that Christ does not, or insist on some sort of behavior modification without the power of the cross initiating heart change, we are no better than any other self help system.

I’ve been doing children’s ministry for quite some time now, and I can tell you that I can teach a kid to behave and speak in any way that I would prefer. I can get kids to obey my directions in nearly any circumstance. But the goal is not to simply make “good kids”, the goal is to make godly kids. Our approach to adults should be the same! We’re not just trying to make people that look like good Christians, we’re trying to make people that love Christ and through the refining of their character by His love, His grace, His mercy and sacrifice they will be so filled with who Christ is that there will be less and less room for sin to perpetuate within them. (Romans 12:2) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This is a process, a transformation and it’s one that begins in the mind.

Along with this we can of course coach, we can counsel, we can give good advice, give them books, invite them to groups, extend them understanding and friendship, all representing Christ within our relationships with people. But all of this, however, begins and ends with the gospel message.

My uncle, after meeting many of my church friends, and acquaintances, later asked me when it would be good for him to come to my church. It was there that he darkened the doorway for the first time in 50 years and heard the gospel message. He heard a message of love, sacrifice and the unconditional surrender of Christ to the mission of atonement. And though he’s not a Christian today, if my uncle were to become one, the route by which we will play the greatest role is through the preaching of Christ and Him crucified, for this alone can save a man from himself.