Top Ten Truths I've Learned as a Pastor

The following is a short message I did for the ordination of our youth pastor a few weeks ago.

Top Ten Truths I’ve Learned As A Pastor

(Presented at the ordination of Aaronn Nelson)

Since I knew brother Mark Bradley would be diligent to present a message from Scripture, I felt the freedom to share something drawn more from personal experience.  I do believe I could support each of these thoughts with a Bible verse or two, but since I only have about ten minutes, you’ll just have to trust me on that.  I’d like to share with our man of the hour, “The Top Ten Truths I’ve Learned As A Pastor.”

Now, before I share these, I want to recognize the fact that I’ve left out some of the more obvious truths, such as the need for personal prayer and Bible study. Brother Aaronn already knows that very well, so I’ve selected ten, possibly, less-obvious truths I’ve learned, and as you might guess, I’ve learned most of these the hard way… Number ten…

10.)  If you play for an Audience of One, your life will be less noisy.

Being a pastor is a noisy job.  There are many voices vying for attention, not the least of which are those voices in our heads.  Our job, like it or not, is very much performance based.  We are constantly evaluated, if not officially, then casually, and any one person’s opinion of us can turn on a dime.  Come in late one morning, the wrong person notices, and suddenly everyone in the church thinks you’re sleeping in every day until 10:30. 

And the fact is that we are accountable to the church.  However, what is our accountability to the church compared to our accountability to God?  If you play well for an Audience of One, you won’t have to worry about what the church thinks, unless your church is totally out of tune with God, and if that’s the case, you may just want to find a new church. 

Ultimately, you will give an accounting to God for your leadership, and if you remember that He sees the heart and knows what really matters… and stay focused on pleasing Him almost to the exclusion of all other voices… well, maybe, just maybe… you won’t go crazy.

Number nine…

9.)  If you make your ministry about keeping people happy, you’ll only make yourself miserable.

This is similar to the first truth, but worth mentioning separately.  Understand that leadership will almost never take you down the path of least resistance.  You just need to know going in, that being a pastor means not everyone is going to be happy with your personality, your hair style, the way you dress, the frequency of your shaving or more importantly, your decisions.  If you try to make everyone happy, you’ll wind up spinning around in circles until you finally get dizzy and collapse. 

The eighth truth I’ve learned after 20 years as a pastor is this:

8.)  If someone else can do it, let them.

Conversely, if no one else can do it, then do it yourself.  I really mean what I’m saying here.  If someone else CAN do it, let them.  There are certain things no one else can do, because it is at the core of your calling, or they are simply not trained, equipped, skilled or have not been endowed with the leadership to do that particular thing.  However, if it can be done by someone else, ask someone else to do it.

The reason for this is NOT only so you can be freed up to do other things.  That’s just a side benefit.  The main reason to let others do whatever they can is because the most productive thing you can do as a Pastor is develop other leaders… and the best way to make other leaders is to give them leadership.  As Andy Stanley puts it, “People learn on a need-to-know basis.”  If you want to grow leaders, ask them to do things on the edge of their ability.  If someone else can do it, let them.

Number seven…

7.)  If you don’t make mountains out of mole hills, you’ll less likely make mole hills out of mountains.

“Pick your battles” may be an over-used phrase, but it is still a critically important concept in the ministry.  If you spend your time dealing with stuff that doesn’t really matter, you’ll wind up neglecting the things that really do matter.  If you spend your leadership capital on small potatoes, you won’t have that capital in the bank when you need it for big potatoes. 

The best way to be ready to deal with the really important stuff is to make sure you let little stuff go.

The sixth truth I’ve learned as a pastor is this:

6.)  If you risk nothing, you will gain nothing.

This is the basic idea of faith in Scripture… Faith is doing what Abraham did when he just started walking, not knowing where he was going.  Faith is what Joshua and the 2^nd generation after the Exodus did, when they set foot in the Jordan, and the waters parted, but not before they stepped in.  This principle is absolutely everywhere in the Bible.  God gets involved when we get out on a limb.  God steers moving objects.

I’ll tell you what else this means, practically.  If you apply this, you’ll be attempting great things for God, and sometimes, because we don’t hear an audible voice from God… and because sometimes, God even leads us down a road just to test us… sometimes, it is going to look and feel like you failed.  Sometimes it will seem like you went through the wrong door… and walked the wrong path. 

Sometimes you’ll need to realize God isn’t blessing something, and you’ll need to let it go and go back to the drawing board.  But listen, there is no such thing as failure as long as you are risking for God.  I could preach a whole sermon on that right there, but just remember as a pastor, that if you risk nothing, you will gain nothing.

Number five…

5.)  If you avoid difficult conversations, you’ll miss out on ministry.

Nancy Beach, a staff member at Willow Creek Church in Chicago said, “Ministry is a series of difficult conversations.”  Now, I must say when I first heard that at a conference I attended, I thought it was kind of bland.  However, after twenty years, I now see it as one of the greatest truisms I’ve ever heard.

My admonition is this: Have the one-on-one conversations.… Work through stuff… Bring in a mediator if needed, but when there’s something sitting there, don’t let it become a land mine.  Don’t wait for an undercurrent of conflict to explode into lightening at the worst possible moment.  Swallow hard… schedule the meeting… go to the person and have the difficult conversation.

Number four…

4.) If you learn to flee sexual immorality, you’ll take away most of the enemy’s arsenal.

I know of no other potential area of sin, from which the Bible tells us to flee.  When the Apostle Paul tells us to flee sexual immorality, the imagery is to run wildly with arms flailing in the air, screaming the word “No.”  Ok, maybe I’m taking a little liberty there, but that’s the general idea.

In my opinion, when it comes to pastors, i.e. men in the ministry, there is no other area nearly as dangerous as this.  Find every way you can to run from sexual immorality.  Don’t try to stare it down.  Just run.

And on a practical note, I’d encourage you to read the book: “Every Man’s Battle,” if you haven’t already… and read it again about every five years.

Number three…

3.)  If you confess and repent regularly, sin will not gain a foothold.

You won’t be perfect, but you can have times of purity, make no mistake.  When I came here in view of a call, I shared that at that time, as far as I knew, I was pure before God.  Some people thought that was a bold claim, but purity is something the Bible calls for, and therefore it is possible.  The Devil is the one who whispers that purity is not possible.  Purity is possible.  And by purity, I mean, that there is no known, ongoing sin in your life.

At the very least, you can have seasons of purity, and those times are precious.  But honestly there will probably be other times where you are just battling, and frankly, sometimes you won’t win every battle.  When you watch a movie you shouldn’t have watched or fail to change the channel quickly enough when the Victoria’s Secret commercial comes on… or when you lose your temper with your kids… or respond to someone’s anger in kind… you’re going to need to be quick to confess and repent.

We are not perfect, folks.  You won’t be perfect, Brother Aaronn.  But if you confess quickly and repent regularly, that is to catch yourself and turn away from your sin in sorrow, then sin will not gain a foothold… and I don’t even want to talk about what happens if sin does gain a foothold.  I encourage you to confess and repent regularly.

Number two…

2.)  If you don’t know where you’re going, don’t try to take people with you.

Pray, pray, pray.  Seek a vision from God.  Seek His direction.  Make plans and take action when you feel like God is in it.  However, and you may not hear this anywhere else, if you don’t know where you’re going, stop leading.

I’m saying there’s a time to wait on the Lord.  I’m saying there is a time to let things be, if you don’t have clear direction.  I’m saying it is possible to do more damage than good with haphazard leadership. I know, because I’ve done it.

The thing to do if you don’t know where you’re going is not just take off somewhere.  The thing to do is seek God with all your heart… and until He, at least, gives you an inch of vision, don’t go anywhere.  You won’t read this in any book I know of, but there is a time for maintenance in our ministries.  There’s a time to let fruit develop for a bit. There’s a time to wait on God.  There’s a time to just be faithful in the basics, while waiting for direction in the specifics.

I might add that we are not in a waiting time currently at First Baptist Church.  Not at all.  Instead, “it’s go time.”  And we’re going to keep going until I don’t know where else to go.

Now, the number one truth I’ve learned as a pastor… is this:

1.)  If you really care about people, they’ll really care about you.

There’s no substitute for love and relationships in the ministry.  I believe God gives shepherds a heart for the sheep.  I have always had a special love for the people God places under my spiritual care.  I really believe this is a God thing, so I don’t know how to be practical with this, other than to tell you to pray for it.  Beyond that, honestly, if any pastor doesn’t care deeply about the people, it may be time to find a new job.

Now, I also want to say that especially in a church or a ministry of any size, you can’t be close to everyone.  You can’t know everyone or even most people well.  And you can’t always be there for everyone.  People will sometimes ask for more than you can give, and that goes back to some of the other truths, but what you can do, is care, and you can show that care every chance you get. 

My main point here is that if you do care and learn to show that care, the investment will bring a return, and the positive cycle of love that is created between a pastor and his congregation or area of ministry, can become one of the most fulfilling parts of your life.

My time is up.  I hope these truths have been helpful for our newest pastor.  I’ll close by saying that I am honored greatly to be ordaining Pastor Aaronn into the Gospel ministry tonight.  Thank you.

Church Is About To Get Messy

What’s going on at the church I'm called to pastor? Well, we’re planting a Hispanic church that will meet in our building and use our stuff. What if they break something?  What if their children don’t know how to “behave.”  What if they don’t worship just like we do?  What if there are unforeseen problems?

Church is about to get messy.

We’re turning our VBS into an evangelistic event for children who don’t know Jesus, bussing them in from tough areas in our community, including the trailer parks around our church building.  Also, now we’re not only going to serve in our local homeless shelter, but we’re bringing more and more of the residents (especially children) to church with us on Sundays. Who is going to supervise them? We’re having an Easter Eggstravaganza, not mostly for our own kids, but more specifically for un-churched kids who need to hear the Gospel. What if our children begin to be outnumbered in their own church?  What if there are more difficult children than we can handle?  What if their parents are worse?

What if there’s a mess?

A few months ago, our youth ministry launched a weekly outreach event called “Pause.”  Already, there are about thirty youth attending every week. We designed the event to attract those who don’t go to church. It worked. Some of these kids don’t know about respecting their elders. Most don’t know church rules. They don’t know church language. They don’t know Jesus. What if they do something really bad in our building? What if our youth pastor can’t always control them?

Messy, messy, messy.

In about a year, we will send some of our best people as a team to plant a church in Woodland. Who knows who will go?  What if key leaders go?  What if some staff even feel called to go?  What if it costs more than we thought? What if they wind up doing so well that they become bigger than us? What if they don’t keep any of our traditions or methodologies?

This could get messy.

We are making our music more appealing to young families who need Jesus, a generation ignored too long by too many churches. Sometimes the music might even seem loud. Some people won’t like it. We are also starting a major new program for children during the worship service. What if the leaders aren’t perfect?  What if it isn’t everything we dreamed of at first?  What if someone is negative about these changes?

Messy.

Ever been a part of a small group in someone’s home?  We call them LifeGroups, and we just launched this ministry a few months ago. Before, we didn’t have small groups meeting in homes. We didn’t really have very many people learning to share with each other on a deep level. As John Ortberg said, “Everybody’s normal till you get to know them.”  People are getting to know each other now in our church. People don’t always like what they get to know.

What a mess this could be.

We have four different groups going on mission trips to four different nations within a four month timeframe. That’s going to cost a lot of money. What if some people use their tithes to pay for their mission trip?  What if our giving goes down in the church because we are doing so much for other people outside our church?  What about the needs right here?  What if we give ourselves away until there isn’t anything left?  What if home base suffers because we are so busy working out in the world?

Church is about to get messy…. And church is about to get biblical.

To the church, Jesus said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my MARTYRS in your home town, in your region and even to the remotest parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8) (paraphrased).

God’s power comes to those who place themselves in a position to need it, not to those who keep themselves comfortable. Jesus said those who want to keep, will lose, and those who give, will receive more to give. He said those who risk for the Kingdom will be blessed with more to risk and those who hoard will lose what they have.  He said the greatest is the one who washes disgusting, smelly feet. In essence, Jesus said those who avoid the mess, are not really on His team.

BRING ON THE MESS.

The Birth Story of RiverOaks Church

Prelude: I was recently asked to write down the birth story of RiverOaks Church, the church I founded in Wentzville, Missouri. The following is what made it down on paper, and presumably will be used in their ongoing membership class. God has powerfully affirmed my call elsewhere, but I do miss my brothers and sisters there. I pray someone will be greatly blessed by this God-story.

The Birth Story of RiverOaks Church

(A Brief Synopsis)

By: Mark Ford, Founding Pastor

 A Comfortable Position

We were serving at a church in Southern Missouri when God first led us to plant a church.  I say “us,” because the calling came to both me and my wife, Kristy.  The funny thing is that we were happy right where we were.  I had finished seminary and was doing what I wanted to do in a wonderful, growing, vibrant church.  In fact, during my time there, the church had doubled in size.  The people loved us dearly, and we loved them.  I was the worship pastor.  Things were going great.  We were very comfortable.

An Unwanted Yearning

That’s when it hit: an unwanted yearning for more, or for something different.  We couldn’t explain it.  Both of us felt it.  Suddenly, we weren’t okay with doing what we were doing for the rest of our lives.  God wasn’t okay with us doing what we were doing for the rest of our lives.  But why?  We were doing what God had called us to do.  I was doing what I had been trained to do and what I had always dreamed of doing, and God was blessing my efforts.  Why did we have to start wanting more?  We believe this yearning came from God.

We began to talk about vision.  At the time, we didn’t know we were talking about vision.  We just found ourselves having these passionate conversations about what the church could or should be like, and we began to realize that this new vision (seemingly out of nowhere) was not going to fit in with where we were serving.  What could this mean?  I wasn’t even the Lead Pastor.  Who was I to have vision?  Who was my wife to have a vision for the church?  Still, a vision developed in us both. 

We were incredibly restless.  What was God trying to say?  We had no idea whatsoever.  We decided to stop talking about it, and start seeking God about it.  We agreed to pray and seek the Lord for two weeks and then to reconvene.  After two weeks that included fasting and praying and studying the Scripture, we came back to compare notes.  Our conversation went something like this: 

“I think I know what God is saying.” 

“Me, too.” 

“There is a passage of Scripture that I keep coming back to, and it’s like part of it just jumps off the page and screams at me.” 

“Me, too.” 

“The passage God is using is Isaiah 61:1-3.” 

“Me, too.” (Yes, really.)

“I think God wants us to plant a church!” 

“Me, too!!!”

A Preliminary Vision

Of course, the conversation was more complex than that, but the point is that we had both independently come to the same passage out of the whole Bible, and we both interpreted it to mean that God wanted us to plant a church.  We had never considered planting a church, nor had we discussed it, nor did we even really understand what church planting was.  God spoke to us totally out of the blue.  And that wasn’t all He had shown us.  He had given us at least a partial vision for what this church would be like.

The passage God used to lead my wife and me to plant a church ends with this sentence: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor” Isaiah 61:3 (NIV).  Not only did we have part of the name for our church plant, but we had a preliminary vision as well.  This thing was going to be different.

                                                                         

The Call Accepted

We got on our knees beside our couch right then and there, and through many tears, together, we said “Yes” to God.  We didn’t even know what we were saying yes to (and we knew we didn’t know), but we said yes anyway.  After that, we kind of just walked around in awe and wonder for awhile, like Mary, “pondering these things in our hearts.”  We were clueless, but we were called.  We had said yes to God.  Now what?

Others Called

           

That weekend, we traveled a few hours to visit with my parents.  I needed to see what they thought.  I was nervous.  Our kids were only about four and six.  Did I mention we were in a comfortable position?  Well-paid and well-taken care of, we were about to take a leap of faith into the unknown.  I wasn’t sure how my parents would react.  I just wasn’t sure what they would think or what they would say.  It isn’t always easy to let your children take risks, after all.  As we walked in the door of their house, I noticed a printout on their refrigerator door.  It was Isaiah 61:3 typed out.  Yes, really. 

We sat down and began to share and it wasn’t long until their eyes were wet with tears.  I don’t remember who said what, but the gist of it was that Dad was about to retire, and they had recently decided they wanted to be a part of a church plant.  Right then and there, with no further deliberation, they told us they would be along for the ride.  They said they would move to wherever we were to plant and join the team.  I can’t possibly communicate how affirming that was.  Tears still come to my eyes.

Hurry Up and Wait

After that, God put us through some tests.  The biggest test was the fact that He gave us no further direction at that point.  When?  Where?  Who with?  How?  Silence.  No further instructions.  And then something very strange happened.  God led us to another church.  We began to assume church planting must be down the road a ways for us. We never wavered that God wanted us to plant a church, but with no further direction, we simply put it on the back burner.

The Hazelwood Connection

We moved to Hazelwood, Missouri, where I served as Worship Pastor in a larger church for the next two years.  I learned so much there and even had the opportunity to preach a few times.  Those two years would prove to be critical as God prepared me for church planting.  Also, at Hazelwood we met a couple of families who would later help us get our church plant up and running.

While we were at Hazelwood, my parents retired and moved to Wentzville.  We would make the 45-minute journey to see them regularly, and that’s when something happened.  God began to answer the “where” question.  Over a period of months, God led us to plant our church in Wentzville, and the back burner became the front burner.

The Return of the Call

I shared with the Senior Pastor of Hazelwood that we were feeling led to plant a church in Wentzville.  He was very supportive.  Things that don’t matter anymore got a little weird after that, but God had a plan in it all, and in the end, together with my parents and two other families, we committed to planting a church in Wentzville.  We had some of the most incredibly powerful times of prayer I’ve ever had in my life.  Desperation fuels powerful prayer, and we knew we were desperate.

Our first meeting with our tiny core group happened on September 18 of 2001.  My Mom (designated church historian) still considers that the beginning of the church, and in many ways I guess she’s right.  That night, we named the church, and in the following weeks we hashed out our vision, core values and bylaws, among other things.

Leap of Faith

I resigned from the church in Hazelwood effective January 1, 2002, officially beginning my tenure as pastor of RiverOaks Church (all four families) on January 15.  I had no guaranteed funding of any kind.  We sold our house and planned to live on savings and maybe a second job, but God took care of us with the tithes of those families and some other funding that came along.  There was a time when we didn’t know if the next paycheck would come, but God and His people always came through.

Core Provided

God quickly began to bring us other families who wanted to be a part of such a venture, and our group grew from three families to about 30 people total.  With those families (and that included several children) we met for a period of about nine months.  We met in homes, just like the early church, with programs planned for the children as the adults met, and we prepared to launch our church out into the community.  We held various outreach events and did everything we could to get out the word that a new church was about to begin. 

Launch

On September 8, 2002, RiverOaks Church held its first public service.  A mobile church at that time, we met in the Timberland High School Cafeteria.  Children’s ministries were held in the gymnasium.  Even though we had done much to get the word out about our new church, we had no way of knowing if anyone other than our tiny core group would actually show up.  I was informed enough to know that if that were to happen, we’d be done before we started.  Instead, our prayers were answered, and 119 men, women and children, most of whom we had never seen before, and who did not know each other, walked through the front door.  Worship was powerful and that morning, two individuals trusted Christ as Savior for the first time.  We knew all we needed to know:  God was with us.

That was only the beginning.  That was the birth.  The next 11 plus years were the ride of my life, but I’ll save that story for the next installment.  RiverOaks Church has a new pastor now, and is still going strong for the Kingdom.  I’m so fulfilled to have founded a church that God has used and is still using to change so many lives.  May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to be glorified through the ongoing work of RiverOaks Church.  Soli Deo Gloria!

ADDENDUM
I'd like to add here the names of that original group. The original four families (besides my own) consisted of Gordon and Elaine Beachy and kids, Bill and Janet Bridgeforth, and Russell and Barbara Ford (my parents).  Eric and Jen Peterson (and baby Amber) joined us very early as well.  Huge thanks to them all for believing in our God-given dream.

Note To Self (and other pastors)

The Greek word translated “pastor” is poimen, also the word for shepherd.  New Testament writers were tapping into a well-known Hebrew (Old Testament) idiom for a person who would be a spiritual leader over God’s people.  The Old Testament has much to say to shepherds.  The book of Zechariah, especially, contains some poignant shepherd-admonitions.  Today, in my daily study, I came to chapter eleven, verse sixteen.

For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.  Zechariah 11:16 (NASB95)

Here, God is threatening to raise up bad leadership as a form of discipline, but in this we can assume the opposite would be God’s idea of a good shepherd.  This is a great reminder for me and anyone else in pastoral leadership.  According to this verse:

A good shepherd/pastor will:

1.) care for the perishing,

2.) seek the scattered,

3.) heal the broken,

4.) sustain the one standing, and

5.) cherish (not exploit) the strong.

One could write a sermon on each of these phrases, but I’ll leave it at that.  Thank you, Lord, for this sobering reminder and the fulfillment that comes in doing your work.

From my wife...

Ok, my wife does a little newsletter each month for the minister's wives (and female director of music/children's ministry) on our staff.  The article she wrote this month is outstanding, and I wanted to pass it on to my readers.  Here it is... 

"Where's the Fruit?"

I did something kinda funny the other day. Okay more than funny…more like air-headed. I was all jazzed up about this new watch/fitness device I bought. Couldn’t wait to try it out! I charged it up and got ready to run. I was really disappointed by the end of the run, because 2 of the 4 areas the watch was supposed to monitor couldn’t possibly be correct!!! I had been running at a pretty good pace for a pretty good while and my watch pronounced that I had only burned 19 calories and gone .13 of a mile. What?!? I shared with Mark that my new dream watch was not so cool and promptly going back to the store. That’s when a key factor occurred to Mark.  My watch tracked stats by following my movement on a GPS. The problem was…my first run with the watch on was on the treadmill. Hellooooooo!  Once I got past feeling like a total moron, I was really relieved. The whole episode made me think about my walk with Christ. Sometimes, when I am giving my very best to follow Christ I experience difficulty instead of victory or breakthrough. Sometimes, I feel like giving up when passionate, consistent prayers don’t seem to be answered. Like my watch…life just isn’t telling me what I want to hear. Kinda like the first time I saw a fruit tree. I thought it looked pretty ugly in my new yard. Just looked like a dead, knarly twig to me, but then summer came and I couldn’t believe the amazing flowers and fruit is produced. And to think I almost chopped it down. A great reminder that appearances are not always what they seem. When life or the enemy discourages us we can know our efforts to love and follow God are worth it in every way. Though appearances may deceive us at times, God is working down deep in the marrow of our souls to produce fruit. So don’t give up! Remain in him till your faith becomes fruit.

The Most Repeated Error Taught Within Otherwise Solid Churches

Think through this thought with me. I believe there is an error that is being taught in most of our churches today. Sunday School teachers teach it. I guess some pastors preach it. People repeat it in theological discussions, post it on Facebook and build other teachings around it. You’ve heard it said a thousand times: ALL SIN IS THE SAME TO GOD.

The problem with that statement is that it is patently false and stands in contradiction to any honest reading of Scripture. There is absolutely no way a person can read through the Bible and come to the conclusion that God can’t tell the difference between one sin or another or that God is equally offended by every sin or that His response to every type of sin will be the same. Another untruth that derives from this false premise is that all sin should be treated the same by people or the church. The whole of Scripture contradicts these ideas, and so do many specific verses as I will demonstrate shortly.

But first, we must ask from whence this idea came?  As far as I can tell, this idea came mostly from a desire among church members not to be judgmental, which, of course, is a good desire in and of itself. In fact, these days we’d rather be wrong than judgmental. I’ll write a future blog on the common misinterpretation of what it means to be judgmental, as that is a related but different discussion. Back to the point, we simply don’t want to say one sin is worse than another. We want to equate all sins, because that ensures that we cannot deem someone else’s sin to be worse than ours. Again, this comes from a good heart. The problem is that the idea that no sin is worse than any other sin is simply not true.

But surely,  since we’re talking about Pastors and Sunday School teachers teaching this idea, it must have come from somewhere in the Bible, right?  Well, sort of. There are portions of “The Sermon on the Mount,” where Jesus indicates that the less obvious sin, such as lust, makes one just as guilty as the more obvious sin, such as adultery. He says the same of hatred and murder, etc. However His point is that both the obvious and less-than obvious are sinful and either will equally make one guilty.  His point is not that both sins are exactly the same to God. Similarly, James says “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (2:10.)  The point of these teachings is the same. We have all sinned. Sin of all types makes us guilty before God… guilty enough to face judgment and Hell. So, in the sense of making us guilty before a Holy God, yes, any and all sin does that. However, neither James nor Jesus came close to teaching that all sin is exactly the same or that all sin is the same according to God. Big difference.

And so someone asks: How does the Bible refute the statement, “All sin is the same to God?”  That’s a funny question. The Bible doesn’t need to refute it, because the Bible doesn’t say it in the first place. However, does anyone really believe Sodom and Gomorrah would have been burned to the ground because the people broke the speed limit or because most of them made copies of CD’s?  Does anyone really believe that a perfectly just God sees the sins of Hitler exactly the same as the sins of whatever godly spiritual leader you respect?  Is a lie or gossip really exactly the same as mass murder to God?  Come now.

So what does the Bible say?  Well, Jesus told Pilate (John 19:11) that the sins of the Jews were GREATER than his sin, because they should have known better. This alone refutes the idea that one sin is not greater than another. The Apostle Paul said there were certain sins that should lead to a person’s dismissal from a church body (1 Cor. 5, etc.) Christ indicated this as well in his letters to the churches (Revelation 2-3). Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is certainly singled out as “worse” than other sin in Matthew 12:31. In Luke 12, Jesus even seems to suggest that there may be differing degrees of punishment depending on the nature of the sin. In Matthew 23 and Luke 20, Jesus calls out the sins of certain religious leaders as “worthy of greater condemnation” than the sins of others. Also in Matthew 23, Jesus talked about “the weightier things of the Law,” perhaps indicating some laws (rules) may be more important than others, heaven forbid (See Leviticus.)  Matthew 6 and 18 call out “un-forgiveness” as a particularly heinous sin. And, in fact, certain sins are consistently spoken of as being exceptionally offensive to God throughout the Bible. There can be little doubt that sexual immorality and idolatry are portrayed as particularly offensive to God. In short, no honest reading of the Bible could possibly leave one thinking that all sin is the same to God. No way.

As Jesus said in Luke 7:47, “He who has been forgiven little, loves little.”  Let us not rob future believers of a powerful testimony by telling them there is nothing exceptional for which they need to be forgiven, when, in fact, their sin might be exceptional. Paul said, because of His previous murderous actions, “I am the chief of sinners.”  I guess he assumed that tracking down Christ-followers and having them killed was a particularly bad kind of sin before a Holy God. It sure felt like a worse kind of sin to Steven, don’t you think?  Yes, Paul was forgiven more than some. That’s why he also loved more than some.

Let’s get practical. What am I really doing when I say that committing homosexual acts (for instance) is no more offensive to God than a momentary prideful thought?  What I am doing is watering down the sin of same-sex intercourse, and forgetting all that the Bible says about it. Don’t misunderstand. Pride is certainly evil, sinful and worthy of damnation to God, but we don’t normally elevate our sin of pride to the level of sexual immorality in this argument. We simply can’t pull that off. Rather, we lower our view of sexual immorality until we can view a lifestyle God called “an abomination” as “not really that bad.”  This is exactly what is happening. Watering down sin is the end game of our wrong thinking here. When we say “All sin is the same to God,” what winds up happening is that we basically throw up our hands and say, “Oh well, I might as well do whatever I want, because I’m going to do something wrong, and anything I do that is wrong is just as bad as anything else, so I might as well just do what I want.”  We also stop acting as salt and light in a dark and tasteless world, because now we are all dark and tasteless. It’s all the same. There is no purity. There is now, no “straight and narrow.”  There are only shades of gray, and we are all gray. There is no ability to walk with God, because we all have a sinful thought or a slip of the tongue now and then, and now that is just as bad as shacking up with a golden retriever. Forgive my bluntness, because it is designed to drive home the point in a way that can’t be ignored. The idea that God sees all sin the same is simply not reasonable.

God killed Ananias and Sapphira for sin. He wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah for sin. He didn’t wipe out every city nor did He kill every church member, yet we know that every city and every member of the church had sin. Clearly, some sin is more dangerous before a Holy God.

So, am I saying we should go around telling people their sin is worse than ours or come up with lists of those sins that are particularly bad?  No. I’m not saying that at all. There is another discussion to be had about what the world SHOULD hear us saying and what they should NOT hear us saying. Our primary job is not to judge their sin. In the scope of this blog, all I am pointing out is that we need to stop saying “It’s all the same to God,” because that is a lie from Satan with pervasive consequences for our churches and our culture.

All sin is damning. That much is true. Only by the blood of Christ are any of us saved and no one is “too bad” for salvation in Christ. The issue at salvation is not “how bad is your sin,” but “how great was His sacrifice?”  We are saved by grace through faith, and not of works (Eph. 2:8). No one is good enough and no one is beyond hope (See all the “whosoever’s.”)  All of that is true. But be careful, brothers and sisters. When the world hears us saying “All sin is the same to God,” we may think they will appreciate our “tolerance.”  However, all they are really hearing is that we worship an unjust God who doesn’t make any moral sense. Worse, they are not hearing about the God of the Bible. Perhaps we need to choose our words more carefully, when we are talking about our God. And that’s a thought to think through.