Have you ever wondered how men who have been Christians a long time fall into sexual immorality, divorce their wives, or are dishonest or unethical? Christians tell me these leaders are special targets of the Enemy because they are so greatly used. Although that is a possibility, I have difficulty with it because of what 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 says:
"So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
If a man sins, it is not caused by the greatness of temptation, or by God’s unfaithfulness. Man thinks he is strong, so he is not careful. He is caught off guard and sins. As in everything, the little precedes the big. In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Peter and Susan sought out the wise professor’s help when they were trying to figure out why Lucy was telling such “whoppers.” The professor’s conclusion was that since Lucy did not lie about little things, she would not be telling big lies. It was more likely that their brother Edmund was telling the big lie because he was accustomed to telling little ones. The professor’s answer points us to Luke 16:10: "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."
The test for trust or dishonesty in big things is trust or dishonesty in little things.
The Bible gives several verses of advice which, if heeded, would prevent these sins. The first is in Psalm 19: "Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression" (Psalm 19:13).
Why do gross sins seem to just pop up in evangelical churches? The answer is very simple: they don’t. They have always been festering a long time. They were preceded by many “invisible” sins. Willful sins are endemic. When they are allowed to run rampant in churches, there is no way to stop great transgressions. Ask God to keep you from willful sins, so that they will not rule over you, and you will not have to watch out for the big temptations.
The second passage of advice is 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (see above). The third is 1 John 2:1-2: "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
Read all of 1 John. It tells us the means of not sinning and the means of being forgiven if we do sin.
The fourth passage is the action churches are to take on great transgressions:
"When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. 'Expel the wicked man from among you'” (1 Corinthians 5:4-13).
These four teachings are clear. If great sins keep “popping up,” it is because these commands are being ignored.
This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.
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