But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.
1 Corinthians 5:11
I used to be an amateur astronomer. That doesn't mean I read the stars and told the future. That would be an astrologer. I was just a guy with a telescope who liked to look at and photograph planets, star clusters, galaxies and nebulae. I wasn't all that interested in the moon, though. In my telescope it was just too bright and I had to use a filter to be able to study the detail of the craters and plains.
One evening a friend and I were out setting up our scopes for a night of viewing. We were waiting for the twilight to fade so we could see dim objects better. The moon new, so you couldn't see it in the light of the sun. You could only see it in the light reflected from the earth, which is called earthshine. It took on a whole other dimension in the dim light of the earthshine, and always enjoyed finding the new moon in that dim glow. It doesn't matter whether the moon is dark, a half or crescent moon, or if it's lit only with the dim light of the sun reflected off the earth. It's still the moon.
My sin is sin because God is the creator and judge of all and says it's sin. It doesn't matter what light it's seen in. When I sin, I sin. You may think it's not sin. I may think it's not sin. It may not look like much of a sin compared to the sin of others, or I may think it is hideous compared to the sins of others. But, just like the moon, whether hidden in the dark, half sin or full sin, it's all still sin.
It's popular to think our sin is not as sinful as the sin of others. It's also popular to attack others as sinners when they point out our sin. One says, "Your homosexuality is sin," while ignoring their own heterosexual lust. The other says, "I am gay, but you have no right to tell me that's a sin. You're a lustful heterosexual." Another listens in to the conversation of these two sexually immoral people and thinks, "Man, I thought I was bad because my wife said I'm verbally abusive. I'm doing really good compared to these two guys."
God says they're all sinners. We . . . are all sinners. So, whenever we think we are less sinners than others, we are wrong. And, whenever we think that another person has no right to tell us that our behaviors or attitudes are sinful, we are wrong. We are all sinners, in need of repentance. We are all sinners, who are required by the sinless God to preach His full counsel.
Jesus does tell us to deal with our own sin before addressing the sin of others, but we are not qualified to talk about sin because we are sinless. The only non-sinner who ever spoke the Word of God was the Word of God, the Logos, Jesus Christ. We are never qualified to talk about sin. We're not qualified, but we are required. We are simply required to hear God's Word, repent of our own sin, and proclaim His truth to all sinners. Only sinners repent, and only the repentant will ever be forgiven, and only the forgiven will enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Photo by Torsten Edelman, used by permission from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HalfMoon.jpg, not modified, usage does not imply the owner approves or disapproves of this article
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