This is the third part of a three part blog in the issue of really loving each other within the context of the local church (take a moment to read through the previous two entries if you haven't already).
Your feedback suggests that my assessment of our ability (or lack of it) to really love each other is on track. I know it is hard to admit this, trust me when I say it was hard for me. I have had to face the reality that I have been part of the problem over the years more that I have been a part of the solution. But we will not get better at loving each other if we are not honest about our need to improve, and if we don't get better at it we will lose a lot more people who are really hurting.
Just as a reminder - we are talking specifically about loving and accepting those who are in sin and/or have made a mess out of our lives because of that sin. These people are absent from church because they feel the judgement of their fellow Christians and see how people pull back from them when they struggle. Many of these people intended to stay away from church only for a little while to "get their lives in order" but they have been gone for years. It's a vicious cycle because we really need the help of the church to overcome our issues, but we fear their rejection so we isolate ourselves only to find that we slip further away from our faith when separated from the church.
We know the problem, but what is the solution? It is tempting to just say that we need to learn how to really love and accept each other, and that is good, but it's not the whole answer. Teaching the church how to be more loving is only like treating the side effect of a problem without dealing with the root cause. You see, I am convinced that the real reason why we fail to love and accept each other so often is because we fail to fully understand just how much we are loved by God.
There is an amazing account in John 8 of a woman who was literally caught in the act of adultery. She was condemned by the religious leaders and brought to trial and used as a pawn in their attempt to trap Jesus in a difficult moral issue. I am so challenged by Jesus' response as he defends the woman against her accusers but still manages to deal with her sin. This is love in action! Jesus refused to treat this woman badly even though she deserved it and the law permitted it, instead he gave her the last thing in the world she was expecting - love and acceptance! Having shown her that love, when he told her to "go and leave her life of sin" that his words had so much more weight to them. It is said that this woman, although unnamed here, did leave her life of sin and started following Jesus from that day on.
Why is it that too often as Christians instead of acting as Jesus did in this moment, we are the ones holding the stones ready to give the guilty what they deserve? Could it be that we have forgotten all of the times that Jesus came to our defense when we were the guilty ones? Could it be that we have forgotten just how unworthy we have been of the unconditional love of God, and we somehow now believe that we are better than those who sin? Could it be that we have become the Pharisees?
Jesus said: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48) That means that all of us who have received the incredible unconditional love of God have a responsibility and a command to offer that same love to those around us. It means that because God loves us so completely even when we sin and make a mess of our lives, we can do no less than love others who sin and fail and do all the things we have convinced ourselves we are no longer guilty of.
Friends there is so much at stake here, there are so many people missing from the church because they fear our judgement - the feel like the woman did being brought before the religious leaders to receive her punishment when they come into our services. They feel that way because we have treated them that way. We must change for their sake and our own. We must never forget how much we are loved by God, and allow that truth to change how we love and accept those who fail.
If we can do this, we will become the church that Christ would have us be, a true representation of his love in action in this world!
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