Be a church that balances grace and truth

Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"  11 "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." (John 8:10-11)

This past Sunday, I referenced the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery from John 8. In the story, the Pharisees try to set a trap for Jesus by bringing before him a woman caught in adultery. They tell Jesus that the Law of Moses commands them to stone her, and they want to know what he will do about that. As they see it, Jesus has two options: he can either uphold the law, stone the woman, and lose the favor of the crowd of outcasts and misfits that has been following him, or he can show compassion to the woman and disregard the law, and show himself to be no true prophet. As far as the Pharisees can tell, Jesus has no way out.

This dilemma is a common dilemma for churches and for Christians, for the two options seem to be in contradiction. Either you can uphold a moral standard and trample on people as a result, or you can be compassionate, and trample on the law. Is there a way to show both justice and mercy? Is it possible to neither encourage sin nor condemn the sinner?

In John’s story, Jesus answers the religious leaders by saying, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” When they all leave, Jesus, although he is without sin and therefore has the right to stone her, says to the woman “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?... “Then neither do I condemn you… Go now and leave your life of sin.”

I think that not only the words Jesus speaks, but the order in which he speaks them, addresses the dilemma, and gives us a great example to follow as Christians and as churches. On the one hand, Jesus does not say “Go and leave your life of sin, and then I won’t condemn you.” He does not take the legalistic approach that tells people to get their lives together first before they are welcome at our church. On the other hand, he does not just say “I don’t condemn you” and leave it at that. He shows the woman compassion and grace, and then calls her to repentance and purity.

It is so important for us to get this dynamic right as a church if we truly want to love and welcome everyone while also teaching God’s truth and calling people to obedience. There are some churches who place a high value on being open and welcoming to everyone. But in the process, they disregard or water down God’s Word to the point where their faith looks no different than the surrounding culture of relativistic tolerance and thereby loses its unique power. But other churches react so hard against the relativistic culture that they are determined to “uphold God’s truth,” and if that offends or pushes people away, then so be it. In this way, they resemble the Pharisees that Jesus condemned in Matthew 23:13 when he told them that they are shutting the door of heaven in people’s faces.
 
If we are to follow Jesus’ approach, that means that we will be a church where everyone is welcome here as they are, and then all will be encouraged to leave their sin behind, to be transformed into the image of Christ. No matter what your background, political preference, sexual orientation, marital status, age, gender, ethnicity, you are welcome at our church, and you will not be judged or condemned. However, you will also be challenged to not remain as you are, but to be conformed to the image of Christ.

I do not condemn you – now go and leave your life of sin. This is the message of Jesus to the adulterous woman, and this is the message of the gospel-centered Christian and church.