Tuesday September 16, 2014

Read: Romans 12:9, Galatians 6:1-2

Imagine that one day you wake up late. Frantically, you jump out of bed and go through your morning routine at double speed. You throw down some brekky, have a quick shower, give your teeth a quick brush while getting dressed and rush out the front door to where you need to go. In the whole time you were getting ready you didn’t even think to look in the mirror and without realising it you have left the house with breakfast (maybe vegemite) smeared all over your face. You are now going about your day with a big smear on your face without even realising it.

What would you want your friends and colleagues to do? Should they mention it and risk embarrassing or upsetting you or should they leave you alone, doomed to go about your day without realising. I think all of us would want our friends to mention it to us. We would rather be able to deal with it with them than to have everyone see and laugh at us behind our backs.

This principle is no different in the church. In the middle of commands to love and to honour one another in verses 9-13 he exhorts the believers to “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” His point is this: if we truly love one another we will be absolutely serious about dealing with evil and with sin in our own lives and in the lives of others. We will be committed to what is good and righteous instead of what is evil and sinful.

If we have this kind of love we cannot just ignore sin in our own lives or in the lives of others. Instead we have to lovingly confront that sin. We have to confront each other about the smear of sin on our lives instead of simply letting each other go about our lives oblivious or rebellious. We must confront sin.

Paul encourages the believers similarly in Galatians 6. The believers are to gently confront and restore those who are caught in sin. This is one way that they can carry each other’s burdens and show their love for one another. The most loving thing to do is not to ignore sin or sweep it under the carpet, it is to lovingly and gently confront sin in one another’s lives.

So what does this mean for us? Firstly, we should be bold to confront sin where necessary in each others lives. This isn’t optional, or something for the advanced class. We are all to love each other and to love each other enough to deal with sin where it needs to be dealt with.

Secondly, before we confront sin in another believer’s life we must carefully examine ourselves. In Matthew 7:3-5 Jesus tells us to examine our own lives for sin before we confront sin in the lives of others. We must also carefully examine that we are motivated by love and a desire to build others up rather than tearing them down. We must be willing to be confronted about sin as well as being willing to confront others.

Finally, when we confront sin in the life of another believer we must do so lovingly and gently with the goal of encouraging them and building them up. We are not seeking to discourage them about their sin but to encourage them to live righteously. Let us be absolutely serious about evil and sin in our lives and in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Prayer:

Use the Bible passage from today and the reading notes to write down your prayer points before you pray.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

¥ Pray that God would work in your heart and the hearts of all His people that they might be absolutely serious about dealing with sin. Pray that He would foster committed brotherly love amongst His people.

 Witness Moment:

Christians who love one another enough to be serious about dealing with sin in their lives are a powerful witness to unbelievers. Are you being a witness by your love for others?

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Under what circumstances do you think it is necessary to confront another believer? When (if ever) do you think it would be wise to not confront sin? Why?

2. How would you approach confronting another believer about a sin in their life?

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro: People who care about us very much sometimes have to say things to us that are hard to hear, like when we have done something wrong.

Share: A time when someone pointed out that you had done something wrong. How did it feel? Did you change?
Read: Romans 12:9 Paul tells the believers to love what is good and hate what is evil. This means that sometimes we have to say hard things to each other. Sometimes people will have to say hard things to us too. Who might say something to you when you are doing something wrong? How should you respond when this happens?
Pray Together: Thank God that He loves us, even when we do bad things.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro: People who care about us very much sometimes have to say things to us that are hard to hear, like when we have done something wrong.

Share: A time when someone pointed out that you had done something wrong. How did it feel? Did you change?
Read: Romans 12:9 Paul tells the believers to love what is good and hate what is evil. This means that sometimes we have to say hard things to each other. Sometimes people will have to say hard things to us too. Who might say something to you when you are doing something wrong? How should you respond when this happens?
Pray Together: Thank God that He loves us, even when we do bad things.