The Biggest Sin In the Church Is…?
If I were to ask you this question, what is the biggest sin in the church? What would you say? How would you answer this question? I received this quote from a friend and found it very insightful and challenging for our church. Ed Stetzer wrote,
“If I preach about gay marriage, everybody cheers. If I preach about sin you can hear the amens ring. But those aren’t the real problems. I tell people that the biggest sin in our church is you sitting there doing nothing and still calling yourself a follower of Jesus.”
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I know I’m commenting without knowing the context of this quote, but is he saying then the sin is hypocrisy? Saying one thing and doing (or in this case, not doing) another? I suppose I would go deeper and say the greater ‘sin beneath that sin’ is that we don’t love God enough (i.e. with ALL our heart, soul, and mind). If we loved God as we should, which is of course responsive to our growing understanding of his love for us in Jesus, then we would be an active obedient follower.
February 4, 2010 at 4:09 pm
I think I would agree with your assessment; except the fact that I would might argue that it is not that they don’t love God ‘enough’ but that they don’t love Him at all. There are not two classes of disciples ( such as Super-spiritual and the nominal; the pastors and the people). We are all called to love Jesus supremely over all other relationships; we are all called to give our lives and carry our cross; and we must all abandon all of our possessions to be His disciple. So, yes, once the love of God is set on fire in our hearts we desire to do all of these although imperfectly. If people loved Him little or not ‘enough’ they still would be doing something.
February 5, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Thanks for the clarification. I see now I was assuming a different audience than the author. He was saying that the evidence of their not doing anything revealed their unbelief. While, as you said, those who are true followers will be doing something and growing in their obedience to serve more and more.
February 11, 2010 at 4:57 pm