Hold Sinful Actions Accountable, & Be Accountable For Your Own Sins

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’ (1 John 1:8); ‘(15) <Jesus said,> “If your brother or sister <in Christ> sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you.  If they listen to you, you have won them over. (16) If they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ (17) If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”’ (Matthew 18:15-17)

In line with the last WOTD blog post, a report came out in 2022 regarding the actions of the Executive Committee and leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention covering up sexual misconduct within the SBC as a whole.  The sin of sexual misconduct is grave, but the tolerance of many such episodes over a prolonged period due to the fear of ‘losing face’ made it worse; especially when it is a large denomination like the SBC.  This tolerance over the years has caused this to become a large scandal; had each episode been dealt with proactively, promptly, and publicly (with respect toward the victim(s), and due process for the accused) this would not be the ‘bombshell’ it became. 

That stated, it is good to have this out in the open so it can be remedied and hopefully prevented in the future.  We must understand that this will not stop sins committed by church leaders, as they are human and it is of the human nature to sin.  However, being open and taking action promptly may prevent some occurrences and demonstrate to the public that SBC leadership does not have (like our politicians) an ‘elitism’ or two-tiered approach to justice (rules for thee but not for me).   

This must start at the individual church level, as each Southern Baptist church, including Murdock Baptist Church, is ‘independent’ or only very loosely confederated with the SBC; the governance and setup of Murdock is internal to its congregation, having created and ratified its own constitution for governance and led Spiritually by the Lord and Scriptures through the Pastor with the Elders.  I can state as fact MBC has been open when it comes to scandals that have occurred, and fortunately those occurrences are very rare and are dealt with promptly.  Leaders should set the example, and not be made into examples.

There will be sin until it is cast away by God; the question is not eliminating it (although we can try, with the help of the Lord of course) but how we deal with it.  The SBC leadership attempted to cover up the accusations for years, and thus handled them poorly.  MBC, when issues are found, make it known what the accusations were and act promptly, handling each situation properly, to the best of our abilities.  We should strive in both the SBC and our own church to do better, improve, and through the Lord’s wisdom deal with each situation promptly and properly. 

Pray for those who have been harmed to be comforted and be made whole by the Lord; for those accused and found ‘guilty’ after due process to repent of their sins and to accept accountability and consequences; for the Lord to provide churches (such as the church in Bradenton recently) and the congregations of each one harmed the strength to overcome these stains laid upon them and to move forward in Faith.

We must be careful when we hear about church leaders falling in sinful actions, that we do not look at them and think that they should be without ANY sin given their stature.  That is unrealistic; a pastor or church leader cannot avoid every sin as they are human, but accountability should be in that they avoid, in the human perspective, those sins that involve others or brings shame to the church – those that we know are egregious and immoral, like those of a deviant sexual nature.

In the Bible, we are told King David did the same thing, actually worse (2 Samuel 11:1-12:25). David was a man who was the chosen leader of Israel by God.  David saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and ‘had to have her’ so to speak, and being the king, did.  Knocking her up, David tried to trick Uriah into sleeping with Bathsheba, but Uriah, being a noble man, did not as long as his comrades were in battle.  David then ordered his men in battle to withdraw and leave Uriah by himself, for the Ammonites to kill.  David then married Bathsheba, and thus tried to cover Bathsheba’s pregnancy to appear legitimate. 

However, God (through Nathan) brought it to David’s attention that He knew, and this illegitimate child would not live, and that David would have to suffer the shame of his consequences later in humiliation and defeat through the defilement of his many wives publicly at the hands of his traitorous son, Absalom (2 Samuel 16:22).  Now had David perhaps admitted his sin with Bathsheba to God and to Uriah, and repented accordingly, while there may have been repercussions and consequences, they perhaps would not have been as severe.  Uriah may have been alive to either accept the situation or have allowed Bathsheba to go with David, God may have allowed a different outcome with the baby and perhaps prevented Absalom from acting so; we’ll never know unless it’s revealed in Eternity. 

What we do know is Jesus, in Matthew 18, gave us clear instructions on how to deal with sin within the church.  If we find wrongdoing of any level, we communicate first on a personal level, to allow the accused to see their sin, repent, and take responsibility to correct their mistakes.  If the sin continues without repentance, we are to then provide counsel by a small group (two or three in Jesus’ example) to the accused, to either show the accused that it is not a personal but a corporate notification of their sin, or to have the small group decide if the accuser is perhaps wrong.  (This is in accordance with Deuteronomy 19:15).  Should this counsel find the accused has sinned and will not repent, then the accusation will be made public and the accused may be removed from the congregation at that point. 

It is hoped the accused will early on repent, and through correcting their sin will publicly admit to it, in the level it needs to be.  If you tell your wife her dress looks wonderful, and she finds out it really doesn’t, apologize to her and her alone; there is no need to go in front of the church.  When teaching something incorrectly in front of the Life Group, repent and correct that in front of the Life Group corporately.  Should something egregious be done openly affecting the church as a whole, then there is the need to go in front of the church to repent and correct the situation.

Don’t compound sin by hiding it, but repent any wrongdoing and correct the situation caused by the sin, if possible.  Stay strong and pray, fellowship and study the Word to avoid sin as much as possible.  Stay in the light of the Truth!