How should we respond when Christians fall?

“Hypocrite! Christians are all hypocrites!”

We hear the same things every time someone who claims the name of Christ falls into sin. How do we respond to the accusations? How do we respond as the world gloats?

Don’t be so quick to dismiss the claims. Are we really hypocrites? The evidence doesn’t lie – many who claim the faith and fall are often the most outspoken among us all, so we should respond to the accusations with great humility.

The truth is that we are ALL hypocrites. Jesus told us not to judge lest we be judged, yet people – Christians and non-Christians alike come out in judgment. The very people who say “don’t judge me” one moment turn and gossip in judgment on someone the next. We all have fallen short of even our own standards, let alone God’s standards.

How many times have we said, “People should act like this,” and then turn around and do the very same thing we just said people shouldn’t do? How many drivers have I been angry with in one moment, then catch myself doing the exact same thing the next?

As a follower of Jesus, I am frequently tempted to hide my struggles because I believe that if people knew who I really was and all my struggles they would never come to the faith, but the truth is that I still struggle with anger, lust, and pride on a daily basis – my thoughts are not always pure, I don’t have everything together and sometimes, yes, I am a hypocrite.

Maybe if we told others the truth – the truth that we are not good, maybe more of them would believe us when we talk to them about God’s grace. We are not saved because we look good; we are saved because Jesus is good. I’m not saying we don’t change when we come to Christ, but what I am saying is that we need to be honest and open and apologize when we do fail. The world doesn’t need another hypocrite – the world needs the truth in love. We need to come into the light and expose our works so that everyone will know that God is good, and we are not.

Christian, it is not our job to hide our sins – that’s what the world does. Jesus said in John 3:20,21 - “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

So I’m coming into the light; everyone needs to know that I was a wretched sinner who was saved by the grace of God. Christianity isn’t about my goodness, it’s about God’s goodness. If God can transform even the life of someone so wicked as me, He can save anyone. I’m not saved by my good works, but by the work of Christ.

And if it’s true that we all are hypocrites – that we all need God’s grace and mercy, then remember that mercy triumphs over judgment. We need to be merciful when people fall. We must not be known for eating our wounded but for our love even when someone stumbles publically. Don’t join the chorus of mockers, be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful. Look to the cross – Jesus loves sinners enough to die for them, and He told us to follow in His example. Love sinners, even fallen ones.

Knowing our weakness and knowing God’s kindness, it’s about time that we started telling people the truth about ourselves and the truth about God – that He loves sinners like us. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, so be humble and gentle in the face of accusation, and let’s come into the light and pray – pray that we too do not fall into temptation. Pray for the families of the fallen, and yes, even pray for those who have stumbled, that they may be restored.

Sincerely, the least of those loved by God,
- Paul

Christian Love Without Hypocrisy

How should we respond to the Supreme Court ruling as Christians?

First, to any who would call themselves homosexual, I know and love people who identify with your life, and I’ve heard their struggles and felt their pain. Anyone with a heart would weep at the treatment many of you have received at the hands of your fathers, families, strangers and even friends. I know that Jesus gave Himself for all kinds of people, straight and gay, and the doors of heaven are wide open to all who would turn and believe in Him no matter what they’ve done. I mean, let’s be honest, if God saved me – a wretched, selfish, hateful legalist, then He can certainly save you, and just because my beliefs cannot let me condone your lifestyle, that does not mean I would not be up at 3:00 AM if you needed anything, nor does it mean I believe that I am a better person than you; I’m a sinner desperately in need of God’s grace just like everyone else.

Second, to my brothers who are upset about this: be careful, be very careful, because God has not called us to build an American theocracy but to build His kingdom – a kingdom made of people whom He loves. You may be able to blast your way through an argument but you are then forgetting the command to show perfect courtesy to all people and to speak evil of no one (Titus 3:2). How do you desire God to treat you when you’ve been faithless and when you have dishonored Him? Wrath or mercy? It is not God’s wrath, but His kindness that leads us to repentance and we should desire mercy more than sacrifice. If what we are saying is not in love, we gain nothing, so please pray for people instead of writing scathing words that will do nothing but drive men away from the Kingdom of God.

Third, and most importantly – to those who call on the name of Jesus and yet are condoning homosexual marriage. I have to ask what you do with the 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 passage, which states very clearly that those who practice homosexuality as a lifestyle will not enter the Kingdom of God. You say that “love wins” but how can you love what God speaks so clearly against? My flesh would love to mince words here, but God calls it an abomination. Did He suddenly change His mind? God says He doesn’t change, and that means if He felt it was an abomination back then, He feels the same way today. The New Testament reaffirms the same sentiments about homosexual practice (Romans 1:26-27, 1 Timothy 1:10-11, Jude 7), so we must not deceive ourselves into thinking that this law was merely a portion of the ceremonial or cultural law of ancient Israel.

So is it loving for you to see someone walking into a minefield and to say nothing? Or worse yet, to tell them to continue onward? You have made the mistake of being the mouthpiece for the serpent. You have asked the deceiver’s question, “Did God really say…?” when God has made Himself clear. You have told people, “You will not surely die” when the scriptures make it clear that they are marching toward destruction. This is neither accepting nor loving; you are ensuring that your hearers are not accepted – that they never enter the Kingdom of God. Please do not fall into this error – we are called to live not as the culture dictates, but to speak the truth in love. We are called to be counter-cultural, which means that some of our beliefs will always be unpopular, whether we speak out to forgive our enemies or to love untouchables, or whether we speak against slavery, gladiatorial fights, abortion, gossip, or homosexuality. If you have fallen into sin in this area, God is faithful and just to forgive – repent and speak what is true, and do it in love.

Understand that I did not pen this because I think I’m better than anyone (for I was a terrible sinner when God called me), nor is it because I enjoy judging anyone – that’s infinitely above my pay grade to do so. Rather, it is because I believe what the scriptures say: that we already stand judged in our sins, all of us, but Jesus died to rescue us from every sin: from lying and from homosexuality, from gossip and even from murder. So when one comes to faith, he is no longer a liar or a homosexual, but a blood bought Christian who needs nothing else to identify himself with besides Jesus. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:19