Living as God’s People in a Sinful World ~ Bible Study blog for March 13

Tonight, we meditated upon the story of Noah.  As the human race grew increasingly violent and corrupt, Noah was the last man to walk with God.  God commanded him to build the ark, and together with his household, they gathered two of every creature to take refuge upon that ark during the great flood that God sent upon the earth. 

This story is a challenge to us as we consider the sinfulness of our own generation.  How do we compare with them?  And how do we as God’s people live faithfully in a world so full of sin?  How does God want us to relate to those whose hearts are inclined toward evil?

First of all, it’s easy to look past our own sinfulness to the sinfulness of others.  For the child of God, there will always be the temptation to look down upon others and act “holier than thou,” merely by virtue of our faith.  The one fact that remains true for all persons is that we are all sinners—and as such, we all desperately need the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  Thankfully, this is a gift freely given to all people, that we receive by faith.  It is when we fail to recognize our need for his righteousness and forgiveness that we go astray.  God’s Law functions like a doctor’s diagnosis—it reveals the truth about who we are.  But Christ immediately stands by, giving his body and blood as the perfect sacrifice that cleanses away all sin.  His selfless love becomes the power that turns us from our sin to walk in newness of life. 

But what about those who fully believe that they are righteous?  Un-repentance is a condition of the heart as well—a hardness of heart.  Unrepentance acknowledges no need for Christ’s righteousness.  It confesses no need for forgiveness.  It blindly and erroneously believes that God approves of how that person lives.  The unrepentant sinner seeks no amendment of life, and continues to do what he/she believes is right by his/her own eyes.

So what are we to do as we are confronted with so much evil, day in and day out?

First of all, we remember our own sinfulness.  We have no high horse upon which to sit in judgment of our neighbors.  We need Christ’s gift of forgiveness just as much as even the most evil person.  So we confess our sin and receive forgiveness.  We return to the waters of baptism daily, where the sinful person is drowned and the new person rises up from the water for new life in Christ.

Secondly, we pray for sinners.  We pray for God them, not in the hopes that God would necessarily make them “holy like us,” but instead that God would break their hearts of stone and give them new hearts.  We pray for Jesus to become the faithful shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine in search of the one who has gone astray, so to save him/her from being devoured by their sin.

Thirdly, we bear in mind that God often empowers and sends us in ministry to the very people we pray for.  There is no tougher love than to confront a brother or sister with the reality of their sin.  But this is the very essence of interceding for another on God’s behalf.  In Matthew 18, Jesus instructs his followers to go and point out the person’s sin in private.  If that fails, take others with you, so that your word may be confirmed by the presence of two or more witnesses.  If that still fails, tell the church.  And if that fails, and the person refuses to listen, we must then distance ourselves from that person.  As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are bound in a covenant of faithfulness to God and to each other.  When someone goes astray, love demands that we do everything in our power to restore that person.

It is incredibly difficult to live as a child of God in a sinful world—especially given the fact that we ourselves are sinners.  To walk in love of neighbor, to forgive, to reconcile, to intercede, and to put Christ first—I daresay these are more gargantuan than Noah’s task of building his humongous ark, filling it with two of every creature, and maintaining it and his family during the flood.  But God’s grace enables us to do God-sized works.  By grace, we can be who we were created to be and live as we were created to live.