As Christ followers become more and more of a target within our current culture, several inner-church discussions are being wrestled with that were at one time, not even considered.
One recent discussion that I was a part of involved how we, as a church, handle people who come to our services, maybe attend a few times, and are openly living lifestyles that are in obvious contradiction to what we as Christ followers believe. At what point do we initiate discussions of lifestyle behavior with non-Christ followers? For example, do we just let open, obvious, sin be flaunted in front of the children of the church? Yet, we want to reach people, not offend. These are real issues that churches are facing across the nation.
I can’t even begin to fully digest this challenge in a few minutes. But, let me give you some baseline standards that need to be in place before even considering what to do about other people’s open sin. See, in Matthew 23, Jesus was very quick to rebuke the Pharisees for how they dealt with other people, and we can learn a lot from what he said:
- Make sure YOU are walking in purity. Matt 23:25-27 says to clean the inside of our hearts… do not just look good on the outside. Don’t be hypocrites.
- Make sure you are majoring on the majors of what God has called us to do. He has called us to personal righteousness, to the gospel, to love our neighbor and our enemy. Make sure your motives aren’t combative, but out of love.
- How you confront something matters 10x more than the content of what is being said… confrontation out of love with the right intent is blessed by God and He will use it to benefit His kingdom. Motives are everything.
Finally, be in constant prayer that God would use you, your family, and your church to reach people in a lost and dying world. That is our calling; that is our commission. If it means you, and even your family, are uncomfortable…well, then good, it will grow you and God will expand your ministry! Stay close to Jesus and He will guide you through the upcoming cultural battles that every Christ follower and Church will sooner or later face!
