Church bulletin:
A pastor friend was chatting to a lady the other day, a person he describes as godly and faithful. In the course of the conversation this woman expressed her admiration for Rahab. Then she said, I too was once a whore. Such language certainly packs a punch. It is honest, it is raw, it is confronting, and it is consistent with God’s Word. Rahab has gone down in history as a redeemed prostitute. The woman conversing with my friend acknowledged what she was, and thankfully no longer is. In doing so, she owned her sin.
God is honest with us. He does not sugarcoat sin. In Isaiah 64:6, the prophet describes our righteousness as filthy rags – he means menstrual cloths. If we think that our morality can in any way commend us to God and earn His salvation, it would be like presenting to Him a used menstrual pad. The language packs a punch and is even unsettling. That is because God needs to get a message across – even when we are at our best we are tainted with sin and completely unacceptable to Him. The Bible contains much confronting language designed to get our attention – those who show contempt for the truth are pigs. People with too much to say, their tongue is set on fire by hell. To continue in sin is to behave like a dog licking up its vomit. So detestable are the lukewarm to Christ, He will vomit them out of His mouth.
When we explain truth to non-Christians, we must be plain and we must be honest. They need to understand what sin is, the vileness of sin and the consequences of sin. The Bible does not leave us guessing. We are given lists of sinful behaviour. It is clear what will happen to the unrepentant – God will judge with eternal damnation. Hell is not merely separation from God, it is to experience the full fury of His wrath. We are not to be rude, overbearing or aggressive, the gospel is a gracious message and must be conveyed accordingly. As the apostle Paul states, our speech is always to be that of grace, yet seasoned with salt. If gospel presentation lacks salt, if it lacks grace, it is not actually the gospel that is being presented. It is dishonest.
When we confess sin to God, we must be honest and accept responsibility for our actions and attitudes. He is not interested in platitudes, excuses, justification, or promises to try harder. We can’t confess every sin because we are not aware of every sin, but neither should we be content with vague and non-descript confession. If all we ever say is, Lord forgive me of my sins we are not taking confession seriously. What sins have we committed. When we confess sin to one another, we must be honest and accept responsibility for what we have done. Confession is empty without godly sorrow. There is nothing worse than someone apologizing while at the same time trying to absolve themselves – like the apology from the Olympic committee over the blasphemous opening ceremony.
Some people might find the language of the woman who spoke with my friend unnecessary and distasteful. Honesty, however, magnifies the grace of God. Onlookers found it unnecessary and distasteful when a woman lavished Christ with expensive perfume and kissed His feet. He said in response – those forgiven much love much. Honesty is pleasing to God – “blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Perhaps some Christians are spiritually shallow because they have not first known the honesty of owning their moral degradation and mourning over it. Perhaps some Christians show little grace and love toward others because they do not honestly get to grips with the seriousness of their sin and how much they have been forgiven
Honesty is not the best policy, it is the only policy.