Hello, dear parishioners of Steemchurch!
May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus be abundant in your life.
Before writing this post, pray for the Holy Spirit to minister the Word of God to your heart, and give Him the freedom to act in your life. Leave your heart as a fertile ground for the Holy Spirit to convince you of sin, of justice and of judgment, for that is a constant work of Him in our lives.
Let's meditate on a biblical text that is in John 8: 3-11.
John 8: 3-11
"And the scribes and Pharisees brought him a woman caught in adultery, and, putting her in the middle, they said: Master, this woman was caught in the act, adulterating.
And in the law Moses commanded us that such be stoned. What, then, what do you say? This they said, trying, so they had to accuse him. But Jesus, bowing, wrote with his finger on the earth.
And as they insisted, asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Whoever among you is without sin should be the first to throw a stone at her." And, bowing again, he wrote on earth.
When they heard this, convicted by conscience, they went out one by one, beginning with the oldest to the last; Jesus and the woman who was in the middle were left alone.
And, straightening Jesus, and not seeing anyone but the woman, he said to him: Woman, where are your accusers? Nobody condemned you? And she said: Nobody, Lord. And Jesus said to him, "Neither do I condemn you; you go, and sin no more. "
The text tells a story very well known by Christians and non-Christians, the case of the adulterous woman, or the case of throwing the first stone, but there are important details in which we must pay attention.
The first important detail is that the woman was caught in flagrante in the act of adultery, that is, she was caught in bed with a man who was not her husband.
Another important detail is that, possibly, the scribes and Pharisees who picked her up already knew that she was an adulteress and maybe they were waiting for an opportunity to see her, since she cared so much about following the law of Moses and they knew the sentence for that woman: death by stoning.
More importantly, they called Jesus "Teacher." But think a little more ... the Pharisees and scribes did not see Jesus as Master because they did not agree with Jesus. Notice that they went to Jesus with the intention of accusing him, in case of counteracting the law of Moses, which would be blasphemy.
They surrounded the adulterous woman as if they were ready to stone her. Then they asked what was the verdict of Jesus for that woman. And the Lord answered with all wisdom: "He who is without sin among you is the first to throw a stone at her."
Those men were surprised by the Master's response and, one by one, they left that place.
Jesus then asks the woman where the accusers were and she responds that none condemned her. Then, the Lord acted with all his mercy and said: "Neither do I condemn you, go, and sin no more." What a wonderful moment of mercy, love and forgiveness!
Those men had prepared a tribunal for accusation by taking the woman to Jesus, but the Lord transformed that place into a place of forgiveness.
This is the Lord's will for the church.
Meditate on this phrase throughout the reading: "The church is a place of forgiveness and not a court for its prosecution."
I am going to make a statement that you may find yourself heavy: hypocrisy is in the middle of the church and that has alienated people.
Do you want an example? Have you witnessed something similar to the following situation?
Two brothers talking about a person ...
"Brother, so and so is sinning and it is an ugly sin itself, worse than he is a leader of ministry, but it was not anyone who spoke to me, he confessed to me, how absurd!" And the other brother still agrees that it is absurd.
Let's agree, it's an absurdity. It is absurd for a brother to find an absurd confession of sins made by another brother. As if confessing was wrong. But error is not confession, error is sin. Confession is the way to get it right, because confession is a result of repentance.
How would you behave if a brother confessed a "heavy" sin to you? Would he find an absurdity? ("heavy" between the quotes because sin has no weight or size).
But the Word of God says that we must confess one another (James 5: 15-16).
James 5: 15,16
"And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven Confess his faults one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. their efects. "
Notice in the text of James 5 that confession generates healing.
The church has to be an environment in which people feel comfortable confessing their guilt. If this does not happen, people are hiding their sins and that is creating a believer's appearance, and that is hypocrisy.
Phrases like "in the church can not do that", "in the church I should not behave like that", "the staff of the church will find a scandal that" ... are phrases resulting from hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is pretending the true feelings and thoughts, hypocrisy is falsifying the true feelings and thoughts.
It seems that the church has become a place strictly intolerant of sinners, while it should be intolerant of sins. It is as if being in the church made sure that we never sin again, making us infallible. The rule usually is: Who's missing is out!
But the Word of God says that we are going to sin (1 John 1: 8-9).
1 John 1: 8-9
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Sin is a big problem, but this problem gets worse when we cover up our sins. These verses of 1 John give some news for you and me: the church, you will sin, mistakes are made. But know that if you sin, there is a lawyer before the Father, the Lord Jesus, and this gives us the right to be forgiven if we confess our sins.
Remember, the church is a place of forgiveness and not a court for prosecution.
Answer this question: In the church in which you participate, is there someone for whom you would confess your sins?
If your answer is yes, glory to God. If your answer is "no," then there is hypocrisy in the midst of the church.
And how to change that in the church?
Stop being a hypocrite!
In the situation with the adulterous woman, Jesus eliminated the hypocrisy. Those Pharisee men who accused her also had sins, but perhaps they think: to negotiate in the temple is sin but it is not like adultery; to collect from other people what we can not accomplish, all good, it is not like adultery; Making prayers in the corners so that people see us, without problems, is not adultery. When we compare the sins they walked to hypocrisy.
But it was not only that situation in which Jesus fought hypocrisy.
On another occasion, Jesus spoke directly to the Pharisees (Matthew 15: 7-8).
Matthew 15: 7-8
"Hypocrites, well Isaiah prophesied about them, saying: This people approaches me with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
And Jesus gave a counsel that guides us to eliminate hypocrisy (Matthew 7: 3-5).
Matthew 7: 3-5
"And why do you look at the argueo that is in your brother's eye, and do not you see the beam that is in your eye? Or how will you say to your brother: Let me take the argueo out of your eye, being a beam in You hypocrite, first take the beam out of your eye, and then you'll take care to get the maple out of your brother's eye.
He still compared the hypocrites to fallen graves (Matthew 23: 27-28).
Matthew 23: 27-28
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like the fallen sepulchers, which on the outside really look beautiful, but inwardly they are full of dead men's bones and all the filth.
So you outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Jesus' message to the hypocrites was "What they are doing is also sin!"
Stop comparing sins. Stop saying to yourself: "No, but what I do is not like the sin of such a person". People compare with sin.
Stop justifying your sin, because it is also PE-CA-DO!
What are you doing hidden so nobody knows? SIN
His thoughts that can not be exposed in any way? SIN
Your malicious conversations? SIN
Would you lie? SIN
Jesus expects us to confess our sins, because only then can he forgive us. But we do not confess our sins with fear of causing scandal or pride, imagining "What are people going to say?"
Next, we maintain a believing appearance. People look at you and think that you are a holy example, only that God knows everything you do, everything you think.
But answer this question:
What is more important: the impression that people have of you or their communion with God?
Because when you choose to hide your sins you are prioritizing your communion with people, the impression they have of you. But when you expose and confess your sins you are prioritizing your communion with God.
Jesus has an answer to this question (Matthew 10:28).
Matthew 10:28
"And do not fear those who kill the body but can not kill the soul, but rather fear the one who can destroy the soul in hell and the body."
He said not to fear people, who can kill our body with their death sentences, but we must fear God, because He can throw our soul and our body into hell. The choice is ours.
Source
No matter how much damage is caused by the bad impression of people when they learn of our sins, nothing is more terrible than eternal death.
Pay attention: there is nothing more important than your relationship with God. Neither his ministry, nor his managers, nor his family, nor his leaders, nor his friends, nothing, absolutely nothing.
People can have a good impression about you and, instead, God knows all the filth within that fallen grave. Or people may even have a bad impression on you by confessing your sins, but God sees the truth by releasing your life.
Let's eliminate hypocrisy!
The time has come to confess all our sins and experience all that God has for us. Confession of sins is not condemnation, but a necessity for salvation.
When someone confesses the sins to you, do not accuse, do what Jesus did. He told the adulterous woman: "Neither do I condemn you."
Confess, deliver, receive the words of the Lord: "Neither do I condemn you". He is faithful and just to forgive us of all sins.
May God bless your daily life!