Rom. 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do
not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
You often hear
people today talk about the fact that we should not “preach condemnation” to
people, and I couldn’t agree more. But there seems to be a misunderstanding as
to what that actually means. I know ministers of God who have devoted their
lives to knowing Jesus Christ, and preaching His Word to those who don’t know
Him so they can receive what Jesus died and paid. Yet when such ministers
preach all of what scripture teaches us, when it comes to bringing any type of
correction they are immediately accused of “preaching condemnation”.
I hope you
stay with me here for my whole article because you will see that what some are
being accused of as preaching condemnation Jesus Himself did as well as Paul
and the other apostles. They would have been accused of this as well. Let’s
first of all look at what a minister called by God, and in the text we will
look at more specifically, a pastor is told that they should actually be doing.
2 Tim. 4:2
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine.
First and
second Timothy are letters written by Paul to a young pastor, Timothy, who was
the pastor of the church at Ephesus. Paul tells him clearly what his
responsibility is. Preach the Word, not manmade doctrine or what your opinion
of the Bible is, just preach the Word, all of the Word. Be instant in season
and out of season. That means to stay ready whether what you preach is received
or not. Next he was told to reprove. This in the original language means to
show people in what way their lives are wrong according to the scriptures.
He is to
rebuke, which means to reveal what is forbidden and what restraint should be
taken in living your life. Next He was to exhort, which is defined as giving
advice to one’s duties and obligations, even in giving warnings to people. So
when you look at what the Bible tells us the responsibility of a pastor is you
can see that if a pastor today reveals any wrong in someone’s life, if they
tell them what scripture says is forbidden, or if they tell people what their
duties are as a believer and even warn them of wrongful practices, it is often
labeled by other as “preaching condemnation”, yet they would be doing what they
were commissioned by the Lord to do.
Our foundation
verse tells us that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus
who, do not walk according the flesh but according the Spirit. I know that most
early translations do not have the last part about walking according to the
flesh in this scripture, but when you read the rest of the chapter you can
clearly see it is implied. He who is carnally minded sets their minds on the
things of the flesh. If you set your mind on the things of the flesh you are
going to do fleshly things, which Paul says is enmity against God. Simply put
that means it is opposed to God. Now if you do live this way you are going to
feel condemned. If this is pointed out by someone they are not condemning them,
they are condemned for living in the flesh. Are there those who preach
condemnation? Yes, but what exactly is that.
John 8:3 Then the
scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they
had set her in the midst,
John 8:4 they said
to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
John 8:5 Now Moses,
in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
John 8:6 This they
said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But
Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did
not hear.
John 8:7 So when
they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who
is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
John 8:8 And again
He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
John 8:9 Then those
who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one,
beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the
woman standing in the midst.
John 8:10 When Jesus
had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman,
where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
John 8:11 She said,
“No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you;
go and sin no more.”
If we
simply look to what scripture reveals is “condemnation” we will understand what
it actually means. Here the scribes and Pharisees bring this woman caught in
adultery to Jesus and they bring up the fact that in the Law of Moses one who
was caught doing so was to be stoned. Jesus after stooping down and writing on
the ground rises up and tells them that whoever is without sin should throw the
first stone. They of course begin to drop their stones and leave one by one.
Then Jesus
looks to the woman and asks a very important question, “Woman, where are those
accusers of yours? Has no one condemned
you?” What was it that would have been considered by Jesus here “condemning
her”? He was referring to them fulfilling the Old Testament command to stone her to death because of her sin.
She responds that no one condemned her, which is obvious because they all
dropped their stones and left choosing not to kill her for her sin. Jesus said,
“Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” This last part of the verse is
often overlooked.
Many only
refer to the fact that Jesus wouldn’t condemn someone so we should not. I
agree. But what was that condemnation? It would have been to stone her to death
as required in the Old Testament Law. But notice what is often left out. Jesus
told her to go and sin no more. Today you hear preachers and believers saying
it doesn’t matter if we sin for after all God loves me and I am saved by grace.
It is true that God loves us and if one is born again it is true that they are
saved by grace, but telling someone that sin is wrong and correcting people
from the foundational truths of the New Testament is not preaching
condemnation, it is fulfilling a requirement as a New Testament pastor.
This in no
way means that a pastor should just spend all his time trying to show his
church family or other believers coming to him for help what they are doing
wrong. We need to teach people how to walk in Bible faith. We need to teach
people how to develop their walk with God and who they are in Christ, but we
must also teach people and warn them about the things that are hurting or could
hurt their life. As my pastor Dr. Barclay has said many times the body of
Christ goes through these pendulum swings. We go from one extreme to another. We need balance in teaching the whole
truth of God’s Word and that includes helping people by bringing correction.
As scripture
teaches we should speak the truth in love. If someone loves you then they will
tell you the truth, and they will do so with a heart to try and help you to
keep from hurting your life. If you don’t have a pastor that is doing all of
what Paul told Timothy is his responsibility, then you are being robbed of what
God has for your life. One of the problems is that people don’t want to be corrected;
they only want to have their ears tickled to soothe their itch. Paul said in
the following verses this would happen.
2 Tim. 4:3 For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their
own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
teachers;
2 Tim. 4:4 and they will
turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Here Paul continues
on from our foundation verse to tell Timothy that the time will come, and it’s
here, that people will not endure sound doctrine, they will instead want people
to tell them what they want to hear. They will turn away from the truth, and be
turned aside to fables. This means they won’t want to hear the whole truth of
God’s Word, but instead will want to hear that which agrees with them, even
though it’s false. This is happening everywhere. We have ministers today who
are telling people what they want to hear. If there is something that offends
people, even though it is something that is clear in scripture, they just leave
that out. For example scripture is very clear about the power of the Holy
Spirit, His gifts, and being baptized in the Holy Spirit, yet more and more
churches are getting farther away from teaching anything about His gifts and
His ministry in the church.
We have
churches that are more of an entertainment center than they are a place for
people to get delivered, healed, and truly set free. The reason this is so
important to understand is because if a believer gets caught up into this not
only will they be open to deception because they are now believing fables and
not getting the whole truth of God’s Word, they will also not develop as a true
disciple of Jesus Christ and they will be powerless against the evils of the
day. It is what scripture calls idolatry when we make a god to fit our
lifestyle. Instead of coming to Him and fully surrendering our lives unto Him,
many want a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
2 Tim. 3:1 But know
this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 Tim. 3:2 For men
will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2 Tim. 3:3 unloving,
unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
2 Tim. 3:4 traitors,
headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2 Tim. 3:5 having a
form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
Unfortunately
there are many in churches that have been in church for years who still fall
under the above categories. The church exists to take people in who need to
have their lives fixed and should through the truth of God’s Word lead them
into a relationship with God, and then teach them how to get free from the
bondages of the old nature. But God will never compromise His Word in how that
is done because He knows to do so will not actually produce a disciple. Jesus
said we are to go and make disciples for Him, not just gather people. God is
already beginning to move by His Spirit to revive the believer who is hungry
for God so that they can go into all the world and be a vessel He can flow
through to change the lives of others.
2 Tim. 2:20 But in a
great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and
clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.
2 Tim. 2:21 Therefore
if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor,
sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
This is
what the believer in Christ should be walking out in their life. The vessel
that the Lord our Master Jesus Christ can use is one that is a vessel of honor.
One who is sanctified and useful for Him. I do believe that one of the things
that has been lacking in many churches is the understanding of who we are in
Christ. It is through this revelation that we begin to develop our relationship
with God, and we begin to understand who Jesus made us to be. But right along
with that understanding comes the work of sanctification or what our spiritual
fathers called consecration unto God. Simply put we should become holy as He is
holy, set apart unto Him.
1 Cor. 2:15
But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by
no one.
Here Paul
tells us that one who is spiritual, born again and seeing things through Word
of God, they are to judge all things, but we are not to judge the person
themselves. This has been very clouded in the church. It is not wrong to judge
what someone does in the light of scripture as to whether it is right or wrong.
What we are not to do is judge them to condemnation. We are not to make a
judgment as to whether someone will go to hell or not for they may accept
Christ before they die. This is what scripture teaches, for even Jesus and Paul
judged what people did as
right or wrong in the sight of God.
This is not
condemning people, but condemning what they are doing as right or wrong. That
again is what a pastor is required to do if they are going to obey their call
in Christ. Judging what one does as sin is not judging the person. If we are to
no longer address what is right or wrong we are going to allow satan more
opportunity to mislead people. One is not preaching condemnation to address as
required in scripture what God says is acceptable and what is not. To preach
condemnation would be to say one must either fulfill the requirements of the
Old Testament Law to be born again, or too declare one will be in hell when we
don’t know if they may repent or not.
If you have a
pastor that is teaching you the whole counsel of God don’t let the enemy make
you think he is preaching condemnation. We need to be aware of this truth
because it is causing many to live in error. The truth, the whole truth is what
sets people free.
See You Again
Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”
God’s Best Be
Yours,
Pastor Darryl Baker
