Yesterday I made the crazy argument that we actually should be judging the behavior of 
Christians (which we often don’t do) and that we shouldn’t be attacking the behavior of unbelievers (which we often find ourselves doing). How can that be right? Well, let’s take a quick look at a few verses at the end of 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul tells us:
When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside….
What? That’s in the Bible? Yep, God tells us in several places that we are to hold each other accountable as believers. We often don’t do this. One important point about this – it is to be done in love. And so often, when we actually do decide to hold someone accountable it is not done so in love, rather it is done in condemnation and arrogant pride. How is this possible when we are to be known as people who love each other as family and who should be quick to invite others into the love of our family?
So what we find is that instead of following the words of God, instead of holding each other accountable in love, we are becoming known as those who attack unbelievers. When Christian researchers at the Barna Group asked young adults in America what words best describe Christianity, the #1 response was “anti-homosexual.” And this was true of both non-Christians and church attenders. That blows me away – that if you ask a young adult in America to define Christianity, the definition you will likely get is a negative statement of what we are against, instead of what we are for. We seem to have strayed a long way from our model, Jesus. He wasn’t known as a hater of immoral people. In fact, He was attacked by the religious groups for being a friend of sinners! What happened that we are no longer called that?
Dr. Russell Moore indicates (regarding this one societal issue) – “I think it’s not so much that churches haven’t wanted to talk about it,” he said, “but they haven’t recognized how much the culture has changed around them.” The first step, said Moore, is learning to defend traditional marriage without demonizing homosexuals. “If we can’t empathize with what’s going on in their hearts and minds, we’re not going to be able to love and respect them.”
Dr. Moore’s statement just sheds light on the fact that many Christians do not hold out love to those who do not hold to Christian morality. By taking this stance, we are keeping people from ever coming to Christ and from the possibility of being transformed to have Christian morality.
So yes, we find non-Christians doing whatever they think is right in their own eyes. But instead of us loving them toward Christ. We find that we are doing the same – we have decided to do what is right in our own eyes – judging non-Christians and not reaching out to those without Him in love. At some point, we desperately need to return to letting God be the One that guides us, rather than our culture and our own desires. When we do that, maybe we will find that the words that best describe us are words that tell what we are for – love, unity, compassion – rather than words that tell what we are against.
Why do you think Jesus is known for the love He had (and the things He was for), while we Christians in America today are known for the things we are against? How do we fix this?
— brian rushing
