Who's sin do you see?

I was once told by a mentor of mine that the key to reaching people from other religions with the gospel is not knowing their religion well, but knowing mine even better. As I think about the church and specifically the students I work with, I can’t help but think the same holds true for our witness as a body of believers. But the perspective is different; the focus is not on just what we believe, but whether we really live what we say we believe.

People, including students in our group, and myself at times, tend to notice the sins of others far quicker than they see their own. Jesus talked about this when he said in the book of Matthew:

Matthew 7:1-5 (ESV)1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Revival will not come when we are so busy seeing others sins that we do not deal with our own. Think about this quote from Kevin Wax on his blog Kingdom People written in the likeness of the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. Here the demon Wormwood gets advice from his Demon Uncle:

At the local church level, I am convinced that the more you blind the people to their hypocrisy, the better off we will be in the long run. Make sure their temperaments run towards judgmentalism and not repentance. You can do this by keeping them focused on the sins of the increasingly decadent culture (by the way, aren’t the new developments delightful?). As long as the Baptists focus on the actions of those in our territory, they are less apt to repent of the actions of those in their pews and pulpits.

Perspective? Focus? Maybe the best way for us to begin to see change in the culture is to know our own sins better than theirs, to deal with our sins and grow in passion for Christ. And then we will impact culture with the gospel truth in word and dead.

Be careful to point out others faults when you haven’t even dealt with your own. The Word of God should be preached to self before it is ever preached to others.

You must truly love God before you can rightly love people as He.

May I listen to my own words,
Pastor Dave