Jun
18
Engage, but Stay Separate
Filed Under Devotional
I am a believer in leading by example. I know that the men and women I lead are more likely to follow me and work hard if they know that I understand their position. It’s either through knowing that I’ve been there and done that or that I’m doing it right alongside them. There’s respect for the leader who gets down in the muck with his troops. I try to lead that way.
How do we apply this to sharing the gospel? Well, first, where do you go to share the gospel? Presumably, where the unsaved are. So, just how far down into the world do we go to share the Good News before the world swallows us up, too? Jesus ate dinner in the home of the tax collector (generally accepted as a sinner since most were thieves who overcharged). I think He showed us exactly how to be in the world, but not of it.
We have to be careful that when we declare that “All are welcome” in the Kingdom, we aren’t, in practice, saying “All behaviors are welcome”. Engaging with the culture does not mean approving of what it considers to be normal. Jesus certainly loved everyone He met and wanted them to be saved. But, He did not treat everyone exactly the same and didn’t want us to do that, either. He clearly describes that there is a line to be drawn about behavior inside the church:
“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or tax collector.” Matthew 18:15-17
There’s two things to see here. First, Jesus describes church discipline and how you go about bringing your brother back into right behavior. That implies that there is a right and wrong behavior.
Secondly, He describes how we are to treat those who refuse all correction. We are to treat them like the pagan or the tax collector. Well, logically, that means that those folks were treated differently than those who were believers. We cannot condone sin in an effort to get close to the sinner. At what point is there no difference between the life he is leading and the one we are offering?
Love the sinner, hate the sin. Invite them all, but stand firm on righteousness. Not to judge, but to pursue holiness and purity as Jesus calls us to do.