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Wednesday, June 1, 2016

How Public?

I wish I didn't feel that I need to blog about this, but here goes.

I was asked a question about repentance and how public it needs to be for the Christian. Others in our world have to answer to their own moral convictions.

I am going to share here what I believe the Bible, the word of God, teaches us to do. In other words the person was asking that if they sinned, as a child of God, how public should the repentance be concerning that sin?

Let me answer by giving an example.

When a person sins in a way that only one or two people knew about it, he or she needs to apologize for the wrong they committed and repent of the sin to God and those people. It could possibly be a situation in your family where you just need to talk to them and ask their forgiveness. That would suffice according to what I read (see the scriptures listed below).

If a person does something that is widely known, a public sin, and a vast majority of the church family is aware or the public is aware of, they need to ask the entire church for forgiveness. That means that they need to acknowledge their sin before the church, ask the church for their forgiveness, repent of that sin to be in a right relationship with the church and God.

Examples of that would or could be considered: an arrest for wrongs committed against the law of the land, loss of temper in public forum, sexual misconduct or sex outside of marriage, public drunkenness, DUI or DWI, drug abuse, manipulating the feelings of people to gain an advantage and getting caught...and I could go on and on. With these sins there should be, from what I understand, public apology given, repentance and forgiveness sought.

My rule of thumb when people come to me and want to make their faults right with God and the church my statement is this..."Repentance and confession of sin needs to only be as public as the sin was itself."

It is hard to hide somethings. There are somethings that are not public knowledge but some are so public it causes the church to be hurt and the name of Christ to be maligned.  That is what we need to avoid at all costs. Sin kills the spirit if it is left unaccounted for.

If you have sinned and the church knows about it, it doesn't matter if people talking about it (gossip) is how it got around, you still sinned and need to repent before God and the church. If you gossiped about someone else's sin, you too need to repent before God and the church.

Don't let the consequences of your sin kill your spirit. Hell isn't worth it!

Matthew 18:15-17
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

I'll see you later!