The Church Has No Business Judging Unbelievers

1 Corinthians 5:12

"For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

Yesterday I ran into a situation that broke my heart. As I am going back to school, I have picked up a job working part time at Radio Shack here in Hillsboro. I see lot's of people throughout the day and rarely (to be honest) do I give much serious thought to the condition of their souls. But I met someone yesterday that I believe God used to shake me up in that regard.

A young woman came into the store to take care of some business and as she was paying for the item she purchased she handed me a large sum of $1 bills. She commented that she "gets a lot of those where she works." Thinking little of the comment I casually said "Oh, are you a waitress?" Her response caught me off guard. She said that "you could call it something like that."

Long story short, she was a stripper at a bar in a nearby town. She immediately asked me if I was going to judge her for what she did. About that time I seemed to have a lot of things running through my mind. How do you respond to that?

I told her that I myself am a Christian, and I do disagree with such things, however I didn't judge her as a person. She seemed shocked. I think that above all she expected a "Christian" to pronounce judgement on her. I told her that I too am a sinner, as we all are. I intended to go into sharing the gospel with her, however, about that time a flood of customers came through the door and it didn't seem like I could do that right then, perhaps I should have regardless.

She thanked me for not judging her. She told me that she knew what she was doing was wrong, but it paid for school and her kids. By this time though I could tell she was convicted. She said "I do believe in God and all that, I know He'll forgive me."

I thanked her for coming in, but I was screaming on the inside "don't leave, I need to tell you about Jesus Christ", but I had customers asking me questions. She left the store and I helped the other customers.

After the store cleared out, I was very upset. I prayed to God that He would bring her the gospel and grant her faith and repentance in Christ. I was just so struck by the fact that all she expected from me as a Christian was to pour out judgement on her, condemn her as a sinner and write her off. But the truth is, I was heartbroken for her. She was so lost in her sin. Worse still, she held out hope that God would simply forgive her because she believed He was real.

The church is often times guilty of two extremes. One extreme was that which she expected from me, to react in a condemning fashion and call her a wretched sinner. So many churches are caught up in being self righteous that they have no love or compassion for people such as this girl. They would rather condemn her, judge her as if they were God, and send her away.

The second extreme that the church tends to be guilty of is looking past her sins and simply accepting her because she "believes in God" yet shows no sign of repentance. These kinds of churches equally condemn people to Hell by their lack of concern for genuine righteousness through genuine faith in Christ.

The truth is, the church needs to be busy not judging "outsiders" or unbelievers, and yet not busy overlooking their need for genuine repentance either. The church must be able to look a lost person in the eye and tell them, "I don't judge you. I'm no better than you. I myself am a wretched sinner. However I want to warn you, because I care about you, that you are in danger of judgement. Not from me or any human being, but from a perfect and holy God."

We must find the ability to love sinners, no matter how despicable their sin. We must be willing to share the truth about the need for repentance and faith in Christ regardless of whether it might offend them. The church has no business judging unbelievers, but it is the business of the church to warn unbelievers of God's wrath towards sin and the forgiveness that rests in Christ alone.

I am still anguished that I didn't get to share the truth with this woman about the danger she was in, but I can only entrust her to God now. I do thank God however for this incident. It was reminder for me that I need to be more conscious of the state of people's souls. I am around people who need Christ every day, and everyday I let those people leave my presence without sharing Christ. I realize that there are time where it is not conducive to share the gospel, I'd be a liar if I said to you that I would never let this happen again and that I would share the gospel with every person I meet from now on that I think might need the Lord. I know I will continue to fail time and again. But I thank God for a wake up call. I need to be more broken for the lost, compassionate toward sinful people.

We as the church must always remember that saying "but for the grace of God, there go I." I'm no less sinful than that woman, I've just been granted God's grace. I pray that she will one day know Jesus too. I pray that God will continue to make me more concerned for the lost that are around me. Though I may not always share the gospel when I ought, I pray that I will fail to do so less and less.

-Jacob

Judged With Greater Strictness

James 3:1 tells us "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness."

I preached a message last Sunday that dealt largely with the issue of how teachers in the church should be viewed. My text was 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, you can view my notes on my other blog if you'd like: www.4hisword.blogspot.com. The text gave two example of how teachers should be regarded. One was that they should be viewed as servants of Christ and two was that they should be regarded as stewards of the mysteries of God.

Christians teachers are given the responsibility of making the truths of the Scripture known to all. It is their stewardship given to them by their master who is Christ. A steward is a person given responsibility to care for the valuable property of another. In the case of teachers, God bestows a stewardship of His word to them. It is their responsibility to tend to and care for this property and manage it to the gain of their master.

When I think about the fact that I am a teacher of God's word, quite frankly it frightens me a bit. Because I genuinely care about getting it right. I often find myself aprehensive when sitting down to work on my next sermon, sometimes putting it off for longer than I should. I think it is because it really scares me to think about messing it up. I know no one is perfect and we are going to make mistakes, but I really want to honor God, my master, when I preach and teach His word. It's not a responsibility to be taken lightly.

One reason that teachers, stewards of the mysteries (truths) of God, are judged more strictly is because of the emphasis that Scripture gives other Christians about obeying those teachers. Hebrews 13:17 says "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you."

That is part of this stewardship that we teachers receive, keeping watch over the souls of those to whom we teach! I am responsible for what I tell them is truth and what I tell them is false. Christians are to "obey" and "submit" to their leaders. If I say "this is what God's word says, and this is what you should do." Then they are supposed to do it. So I had better not tell them something that is out of line with Scripture because I am responsible for their souls, their spiritual well-being! How scary is that.

This is why in 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul warns the young pastor "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." Because we who teach will be judged with greater strictness than the average Christian. That is why it is so important to study hard, and dig deep and be confident that the truth is in your hand and coming out of your mouth, when you teach the word of God. I will stand before God with greater judgement than many of you who read this post, because you have not aspired to be an overseer (1 Timothy 3:1) a pastor/teacher. But those of you who teach as do I, be careful, study hard, find the truth and make it known.

As much as I would hate to be the false teacher, and heretic on the day of judgement who will be cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, so too I would hate to be the born again teacher who neglected his responsibility to watch over the souls of those to whom he taught and did not work to show himself approved before God.

Teaching is a serious business. If you have a pastor who labours to bring you God's truth and is faithful to the Scripture, listen to Him, submit and obey. God has given him a stewardship over the word and over your soul.

-Jacob