A Biblical church is one that loves sinners, but hates sin and preaches
against it. Tragically, 95% of all churches today go to one extreme or the
other and in so doing, sin horribly. Many churches today either hate the
sinner or else love the sin. Both are unacceptable to the Lord.
Hating Sinners
The first wayward group of churches are those who hate sinners. These are the self-righteous churchgoers who act “holier than thou.” This is the Lordship Salvation gang, who pervert the Gospel and require a commitment to clean up one's life in order to be saved. This is the Calvinism crowd, who falsely teach that only those who persevere in the Christian faith will make it to Heaven. These are the false prophets who teach that salvation can be lost by failing to live a righteous life. Let me tell you friend, if salvation could be lost, we'd all be hopelessly lost in our sins... “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).
These are self-righteous churchgoers who condemn people, shunning them away, hypocritically viewing others as being more sinful than themselves. The truth is that we're all dirty, rotten, hell-deserving sinners. James 2:10 states, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” It is a sin to hate sinners.
Loving the Sin
This group never preaches against sin. These are the churches who march in support of abortion, hire a lesbian for their pastor, and see no wrong in homosexuality.
The church at Corinth had this same problem (1st Corinthians 5:1-5). There was a man, a member of the church, who was living in adultery with his step-mother. The whole church knew what was going on, but the pastor wasn't preaching against the sin of adultery from the pulpit. The Apostle Paul heard of the situation while away in another city, and he writes the Epistle of 1st Corinthians to address the issue, and several other issues in that church. In 1st Corinthians 3:1 Paul calls them “carnal” and “babes.” This describes many churchgoers today in America... carnal and childish. Fortunately, by the time of the writing of 2nd Corinthians, the man had repented of his sin and the church was doing better spiritually. Paul's preaching had benefited the church in the Lord.
So-called “love” that allows sin
in the Church is nothing more than sinful compromise. Pastor
Lon Solomon says that abortion and
homosexuality are only “a minor concern” in their church. It must be their
church, because it's sure not God's!
A Just Balance
God wants us to love people, unconditionally, and that includes the vilest sinner; but He also wants us to hate sin, without compromise. It was God's love that nailed Christ to the cross, to pay our sin debt. Professed Christians who have a hard time understanding God's unconditional love for sinners, fail to realize the depth of their own wickedness. It's a good thing that God loves even the worst of sinners or we'd all go to Hell immediately.
Don't be in the first group who hate sinners, who are self-righteous and like to act like they're better than people who choose to openly live in sin. If it weren't for God's grace, we'd all be in Hell. Just because we try to live righteous as believers doesn't make us righteous. Did you get that? We're not righteous because we live a righteous life. No, rather, we're righteous because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Romans 4:6, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” It's ONLY through Christ's righteousness, which is by His precious blood, that we can claim the righteousness of God. Even the best Christian has no righteousness to boast of. We have no self-righteousness to offer God. Calvinists, Lordship Salvationists and those who teach that salvation can be lost fail to understand this fundamental Christian doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And don't be in the second group, who compromise concerning sin. It is tragic that many church services today are patterned after the sinful world, and are more resemblant of a Rock concert. I recently visited a Baptist church where the pastor wore blue jeans, the women wore pants and the music was worldly. There was no preaching against sin, no mention of Hellfire or God's judgment, and the only invitation to sinners was to “follow Christ.” That is a false gospel. Judas was a follower of Christ and yet went to Hell. You'd better get born-again!
