How easy it is to point the finger! How easy it is to show ourselves tough when dealing with somebody else’s moral failure. How easy it is to live with shame after a moral failure, to seat in the back of the church or abandon the church all together. How easy it is to turn our backs on our gifts and divine call and even turn our backs on God himself. As I said before, the biggest problem in the world is sin, the second greatest problem is how we deal with it. On the other hand it is equally easy to ignore sin and pretend it does not exist.

Before I continue is important to emphasize that the Bible does not encourage believers to ignore sin, but it forces us to examine ourselves first and deal with sin afterward. Matthew 7:3-5 tells us,

Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye! (NASB)

Beloved, that log is pornography in the secret places; the mistreatment of spouses, the wondering eyes, the lies, the bitterness, the unforgiveness, the lying in our taxes, seeking a disability check without a true reason for it; and the list goes on and on. There are countless logs, they come in all sizes and shapes.

Another ingredient in confronting sin is humility. Therefore when confronting sin, not only should we examine ourselves and make sure there is no log in our eyes, but we must also be in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Galatians 6:1 tells us,

Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well. (NASB)

Even as Christianity demands repentance, our faith is never about condemning, but about restoring. God is the final judge and, as long as a person is alive, there is hope. Our faith also demands our forgiveness.[1] When we do not forgive others, we do not receive the forgiveness of our heavenly Father. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:15, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (NIV)

King David committed adultery and killed the husband of the woman he committed adultery with; a man who was one of his faithful soldiers.[2] There is a man in the New Testament who had sex with his father’s wife.[3] He repented, and Paul encouraged the Corinthian church to restore him.[4] These are examples of public moral failures. David was confronted by Prophet Nathan and suffered painful consequences. The Corinthian man was kicked out of the church until he repented. Hypocrisy is not in confronting these sins. Hypocrisy is when folks with a log in their eyes judge these moral failures and, to make matters worse they do it without humility nor compassion.

Beloved, how many of us would like the world to see everything we think, everything we have done in our lives and everything we have done in our secret places? The world judges what they can see; the behavior, the action, the word spoken and the exterior appearances; God judges the heart. This is what the God told Prophet Samuel referring to David,

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." First Samuel 16:7

We must see more restorations in our churches. We, as believers, more than anybody in the world, should understand forgiveness as we received the forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 18:23-35 describes God’s Kingdom with this parable,

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

In conclusion, it is time to restore those who committed public moral failures and repented, knowing that before the Lord, we were all guilty of such. There are many people in the Body of Christ who repented of their sins, but the Body refused to forgive and restore. Consider the Scripture you just read! Selah!

[1] Matthew 18:21

[2] 2 Samuel 11-12

[3] First Corinthians 5

[4] 2 Corinthians 2