Legalism: Throwing Stones

“God did not ration His grace to me so I will not ration it to others.”

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of Our God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

I have my juniors read The Scarlet Letter within the first few weeks of school. Although they complain about the language and the length, they are captivated by a story that intermixes judgment, revenge, shame and hypocrisy. Why? Because they can relate.

We talk about how in our churches today, we don’t make sinners wear a “Scarlet Letter” of sorts. However, we do have our lists of seemingly “unforgiveable sins”. I asked my students what they thought those were. Here are what we as the church are communicating to sixteen and seventeen year olds as just some the unforgiveable sins:

-          Murder

-          Abortion

-          Homosexuality

-          Adultery

-          Divorce

Divorce. One of my students shared that because his father was divorced, he was not able to be a deacon in his church. His story broke my heart. I personally know his father…he is an awesome guy. He loves the Lord and takes great care of his family. I realize that every church has the right to determine what their specific qualifications for leadership will be, however, have we elevated divorce to some other level above every other sin? I realize that each scenario is different…for instance, I would be uncomfortable if my Pastor or one of my Deacons got a divorce while in his present position and never stepped down to organize and deal with his personal issues. However, if the divorce happened in the past and the man has since proven his devotion to the Lord and to his family, do we still hold that against him? You may be running 1 Timothy 3 through your mind frantically looking for the clause that states, “husband of but one wife”. However, upon further study, you will realize that the Greek means, “devoted to one woman”. Also, don’t ignore the line, “the overseer must be above reproach”.  You must realize that if applied extremely and absolutely literally, this verse takes all of us out of the game because I don’t remember the last time I was ever perfectly above reproach. In fact, I should step down from my ministry yesterday if this were the case.

If your feathers are beginning to ruffled, God knows that I am not trying to bash the church or excuse sin. I love the church…I am all about the church and I am paranoid of sin. However, I am pretty fed up with those of us who make up the body of Christ “benching” fellow believers so to speak because they skrewed up at one point in their lives.  Is that honestly what Jesus did? I have been glued to John 8 over the past couple of weeks. A woman “caught in the very act of adultery” is dragged before Jesus and threatened to be killed. Jesus bends over and writes in the sand. As He stands up, He says, “Sure, stone her. Only those of you who don’t have any sin in your lives, throw the first stone.” The Bible is clear that the oldest walked away first, leaving only Jesus and the woman. Realize, Jesus had every right to kill her. But He didn’t. Instead, He says, “I don’t condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.” The woman walks away perfectly free…free to follow Jesus and to serve Jesus. He put no stipulations on her. So why would we?

What about the Apostle Paul? Here is a man who thought he was being a devoted follower of God, only to realize he had it all wrong. After his Salvation, he has to deal with the fact that he is a murderer. Is it any wonder why he says in Philippians 3:12-13, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect…But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead...”? Later, in 1 Corinthians 15, he grapples again with his past by stating that he was “one abnormally born” into the family of God and “the least of the apostles and does not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” I wonder…would we let someone like Paul into our churches as a Pastor or a Deacon today? I mean really think about that. Paul goes on to say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” Amen! Isn’t that true of all of us? Yeah, we sin and have some pretty messy pasts…and that sin may have happened when we were unsaved or even saved. However, if we have asked God’s forgiveness and He has showered His grace over us and we are now living pure, God-honoring lives, are we really limited to only certain ministry positions? I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around that.

Alright, well enough with my ranting and raving. I am sure I am going to get slammed with comments remarking on how I have forgotten this verse or have overlooked that chapter. But I just want to leave you with Jesus’s words…”If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”