Read John 8-10
Have you ever referred to a group of people that struggles with a particular sin and thought, “I wish they would all just go away!” Or thought for a moment that there might be someone who we as Christians should at the very least “write off” as beyond God’s grace and forgiveness? Or, what about being on the other side of the coin where you yourself have had struggles with sin in your life and thought you were now beyond forgiveness?
These are the two heart conditions that Jesus addresses in John 8-10, where the Pharisees bring to him a woman caught in adultery. They were trying to trap him by asking, “Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
After writing in the sand, Jesus hit them broadside with, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” Christ knew that the Pharisees had a serious heart problem! They did not care about the woman’s need for repentance, but for only using her for their own self-posturing. However, Jesus did see her heart, offered her forgiveness and commanded that she turn away from that sin.
When we see an individual or a group that are spiritually lost or maybe even out-right hostile to Christians, we need to follow Christ’s example. We don’t write them off. We don’t use them for our own self-righteous posturing. In humility, as fellow receivers of God’s grace, we need to reach-out to them and give them that same opportunity to experience God’s life-changing forgiveness. In addition, we need to not water down God’s righteousness either, as some American churches have. Just as Jesus said, “Go and sin no more”, we too must exhort one another to continually pursue how the Bible tells us to live. And when we ourselves fall, let us never forget that no sin is too great that our God through Christ can’t forgive!
- Brad Dacus serves as an MPW (Ministry of Prayer & Word) at Adventure Church
