Intro

I have to start by admitting that I had a much easier topic in mind when I started to write this week; however, after much prayer I have decided to move ahead with what I feel God has put on my heart.  It’s been a difficult week.  A non-believing friend of mine shared a video on Facebook where a well-known minister condemned others, and a few days later I heard another minister indicating that we “Evangelicals” are going to get the world to straighten out by passing laws consistent with our beliefs, so everyone had better get ready to behave themselves as we see fit.  All of this has occurred against a backdrop of having other church folks tell me about all the things they are doing to make sure this lost world knows that we “don’t condone sin”.

Before we get into the scriptures, let’s first go to the dictionary and get clear on some definitions.  First the definition of the word “condone”:

1. To disregard or overlook
2. To imply tacit approval
3. To pardon, forgive, or act in such a way as to imply forgiveness

And now the word “condemn”:

1. To express adverse judgment or strong disapproval
2. To pronounce guilty or sentence to judgment
3. To judge unfit for use or service
4. To declare incurable or irredeemable

Scripture

In Luke 6:37 we are told:

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

In John 13:35 Christ said the following:

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

In Matthew 22:36-40 He elaborates:

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

But He also warns in the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 that in the last days it is going to get harder to love due to the worsening, decrepit state of the world:

 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Finally, we can get our definition of how love behaves by referring back to Corinthians 13:

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Commentary

From the fornicating woman at the well (John 4), to the adulteress (John 8), with the crooked politician (Luke 19), and the highly demonic (Luke 8) the example set by Christ was one of love and ministry first, with any change in behavior occurring after the fact.  This seeming “condoning of sin” earned Him no small amount of scorn from the religious elite; however, it changed the lives of those He encountered.  He reinforced that “He was not sent to condemn the world” (John 3:17) and that he was sent “for the sinner, not the righteous” (Luke 5:32).

I can’t help but feel grieved that the secular world has a better idea of what Christians are against, than what we are for.  That they know what we believe, but not what we have.  Without falling into sin ourselves, perhaps it is not such a bad idea to “overlook” or “to act in such a way as to imply forgiveness”?  Taking Corinthians 13 with us to Planned Parenthood, instead of a picket sign?  Resisting the temptation to create a religious bubble that encourages us to “judge unfit for use and declare irredeemable”?  To be more zealous about loving the sinner than about hating the sin?  The more I observe, the more I think this may require us to prayerfully consider which teachers we lend our ears to, and which shepherds we follow.  It is simply too easy to create a den in which to hibernate, burying our talent to keep it safe, but without increase.

This week I also watched the excellent documentary “Furious Love”, where some Christians decided to go and minister in some of the darkest, most demonic places in the world.  Along the way we find them sharing a soda with a transvestite prostitute in Thailand, casting demons out of the possessed in Africa, and feeding heroin addicts in the city dump in Madrid.  At one point in the film someone suggests that our job is to love and minister, and it’s God’s job to change people.  I am praying for a “love revival” where Christians are once again known by their genuine, biblical love.  That our media interviews, our Facebook posts, our daily encounters will be consistent with the example of Christ- blessing and drawing in the lost.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, please share.

Be blessed.

K