Preaching Against Sin

Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

According to the Life in the Spirit Study Bible notes, there are two majors issues described here.  The first is prophets who prophesy a message of their own making, and priests who rule not by the word of God but by their own ideas.  This scripture can be applied to the modern church, but maybe not in the way that we think.  I'm concerned that our preaching against sin hasn't necessarily been the sin that is weakening the church, and we have allowed our ideas of sin to be molded by a force outside of God.

It's easy to decry the evils of homosexuality and fornication in a congregation that agrees with us.  It's easy for us to huddle in our little group of like-minded people and point to the gays and the feminists, blaming them for the condition of our world.  But you know what?  It's not sinners that weaken the church's power and influence, but rather lukewarm Christians.

Revelation 5:15, 16
I know they works, that thou are neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Those words were spoken by Jesus Christ -- and they were not spoken to atheists, pedophiles, abortionists, or the other such objects of Christian indignation -- they were spoken to the church. 

I fear that there are far more damning sins rampant in the church.  What about gluttony or over indulgence?  The most innocent of things can become sinful when we use them to excess.  What about racism and bias?  How about judging people by the color of their skin, the sound of their accent, or their choice of presidential candidate -- without knowing anything about them? 

What about a desire for power and control?  How does the Lord feel about jealousy?  Do we forget the evils of backbiting, gossip, and character assassination?  Have we forgotten that as Christians we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ?  How can we love the lost when we can't love each other?

How many of us dabble in the occult and witchcraft, visiting palm readers or reading horoscopes?  How many of us participate in it vicariously with what we watch on the television in read in books?  How many of us enjoy entertainment that glorifies wickedness?

Do we ever look at our motives?  A selfish motive can make an act of kindness and self-sacrifice into a sin.

It's time for the church world to quit pointing fingers at sinners, blaming them for the condition of the world. Sinners are going to commit sin, and evildoers are going to do evil.  We, on the other hand, are the church, the salt and light of our generation.  We need to "man up" and straighten out our own lives first.  We need to dig deep in our souls and bring out everything before the Lord, testing it to make sure it is pleasing in His sight.  Our lives must please Jesus Christ -- not the church, not our pastor, not our parents, not our denomination -- and then, and only then, can we effectively reach the lost.

We have to grow up and move past saying, "Lord, if I have done anything wrong, please forgive me."  It's time we called the sins in our lives by their names.  We are to confess our sins, not just weakly admit that we might have sinned but aren't really sure.  How can we ever grow in the Lord unless we allow Him to teach us right from wrong?  Again, let us bring our lives before the searchlight of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to deal with our hearts.  I've started doing this.  Will you?