March 29, 2005

  • well, here's a question that someone asked one day after I preached re:
    take the log out of your own eye before helping your neigbor get the
    speck out of his eye:

    Does this verse mean that we are not to help others get free of sin till we are free of sin?

    Does this verse mean that my sin is log sized compared to the sin I see
    in others (which is precisely the opposite of the way I tend to see it)?

    Does this verse mean that until I've struggled myself to rid myself of
    a particular sin, that I am incapable of understanding the difficulty
    my neighbor has getting rid of his?

    What do you all think?

    God is good all the time  All the time God is good

Comments (6)

  • Gosh, I hadn't thought about that from this angle. I know that ultimately it does point out the fact that our sins always appear small to us, but the same sin in another appears large. We are so quick to notice sins in others instead of our apparent sins.  We are not to judge another unless we are judged by the same measure, but at the same time are to help others when they stray.

    We are living stones who rub against each other, and that helps to refine us for the temple of God. I think that this verse implies that we have to be aware that we are all sinners, that we all have our shortcomings. If we walk alongside of someone and help them through their sin, that is great, but we are not to be walking around just pointing out the sins of others, that is not edifying. A good shepherd will lead by example and compassion. As we deal with our own sins and realize the difficulties we have in ridding ourselves of them, we can be compassionate.

    Often when we point out the sins of others it is because of pride (The man who said thank God I am not a sinner like those), but all sin is objectionable to God. I find that I often make excuses for my sins (I was tired, I was busy, I was....) but am more critical of others. I think we need to be the reverse, more critical of our own sins, and more forgiving of others.

    Oh how hard it is to be built into the living temple of God.

    I am curious, what is A & A?

    Heather

  • I don't think it means that we are not to help others get free of sin till we are free of sin?
    I think this refers to the hypocrite who points out "Sin A" to someone when they themselves are more guilty of "Sin A" than the other. Rather, instead of a condeming attitude, he should approach the brother in sin as "Hey, I noticed you struggle with ****. To be honest, I struggle with **** even more..." and it would go from there.

  • Heather,

    I have had this weird thought come to me via the "curriculum" God's currently got me going through:

    What if the christian community is going to grow together, NOT by all becoming less abrasive toward one another, BUT INSTEAD by becoming more able to handle appropriatly the abrasive we MUST BE to one another as God uses us to polish one anothers' lives?

    A&A is Axis & Allies, which is a board game some of "the guys" around here play.  I liken it to Risk on steroids.

    Jonathan, what an awesomely simple paradigm shift from yelling at one another about each others sins, to realistically seeing our own troubles with getting out of sin, and helping one onother as fellow strugglers.  Thats huge!!!!!!!

  • Perhaps you have a point, but what scares me is that we are also held accountable by how we judge each other. I am hoping to build others up, not tear them down. My pastor says that church is like a training school that helps us learn to get along, that we make a big mistake by leaving when something upsets us or someone doesn't meet our expectations. That is when we should be searching ourselves and seeking guidance from the pastor or the elders to sort things out. Often it is a mis-understanding. That is not to say that if a church is more of a cult that you shouldn't leave, but often people church hop and find the same problems whereever they go, and usually those problems stem from themselves.

    I'll have to look up that game, my teenaged sons are into Risk big time, I guess I have to learn it, sigh, but they may like the other as well. Now I know a birthday gift for my son.

    Heather

  • i don't think we ought to be always abrasive; that seems rather unkind, don't you think?  gentleness is a fruit of the spirit, pissing people off to get them to change is not.  abrasiveness is not.  in-your-face-ness is not.  even confrontational skill is not.  it seems as though the highest priority is love, which may involve confronting another person (gently) about his/her sin or may involve words of encouragement or may involve praying for someone or may involve tons of other things, "but the greatest of these is love."  the focus is not to be the sin, either in our own lives or the lives of those around us, it is to be loving God and loving others.  that involves getting rid of sin, but the goal can't be the absence of something, that's ridiculous.  you have to be aiming at something you can be or do, not something you shouldn't be or do.  so the thing to focus on is love, and dealing with people and sin and what-have-you will come as byproducts of love.

  • Tgram, I agree wholeheartedly that we musn't be purposely abrasive, but be gentle, even in instances where bold correction is called for. When I wrote that we must be abrasive, I was more thinking about the fact that people bother one another. They just do. I've known a range of folks with a range of maturity, and have seen and heard much complaining from and about them. Our stock in trade as humans is complaining about how others aren't satisfactory. That "must" stems from the fact that we will always be "bothered" by someone or another, and what if God's plan for us is to grow in our humility, our love, our forgiveness, our grace giving, toward such people, rather than constantly complaining about them, or harping at them.

    A corollary observation is that much complaining comes from people about someone that God probably has "a will" for how they ought to be getting along. Students complain about teachers, parishoners about priests, parents about children, employees about bosses, pastors about people. I wonder sometimes if we don't use complaining as a strategy to excuse our treatment of folks. If I can establish the failures of a person, then I don't have to love, forgive, submit to, work with, etc. them anymore, do I?

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