Loving Words: You Are A Sinner

An interesting trend is emerging within churches and among many who profess to be Christian. If you tell someone the gospel (you are a sinner, and Christ is the sacrifice for your sins and that He rose from the grave. Put your faith in His blood, and God will save you from your sins and give you eternal life), then you are not showing the love of God because you are judgmental and intolerant.

Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment in the law. He replied, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Often, the second greatest commandment is given as proof of judgmental and intolerant attitudes. In other words, if you tell someone they are wrong, or even worse, a sinner, you are judging them and intolerant of who they are.

Let’s examine this train of thought. Is telling someone they are a sinner judgmental or intolerant?

Since Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all our heart, soul, and mind, let’s start there.

How do we manifest God’s love in our lives? Jesus answers that question simply enough in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

God has given us hundreds of commands, but let’s keep to the topic at hand: sharing the gospel and, in particular, that people are sinners.

Jesus gives us the commandment, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). There are sixteen separate verses in the New Testament that use both the words “preach” and “gospel” to tell of people preaching the gospel or command us to do so. Since we are to keep His commandments if we love Him, and proclaiming the gospel is one of His commands, we demonstrate the love of God by sharing the gospel with others.

However, some will claim that proclaiming the gospel is telling people God loves them without mentioning their sins. God loves them in their sinful state. Therefore, no mention of their sin is needed.

God does love people in their sinful state; otherwise, He would not have sacrificed Himself for them. However, in the Biblical definition of the gospel, our sins are clearly mentioned. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

If we love God, we are to keep His commandments. One of His commandments is to share the gospel with everyone. The saving gospel is: you are a sinner; Christ died for your sins, He was buried and rose again on the third day.

How can we keep the greatest commandment without telling people they are sinners and need the Saviour?

Moving on to the second great commandment. How can we claim to love our neighbor if we do not warn them of their impending doom?

Suppose someone was riding a bicycle toward a cliff and appeared unaware of the death looming in front of them. Most people would start yelling and screaming, waving their arms, doing everything possible to stop them. If you were close enough to the cyclist, a decent human being would go as far as to knock the cyclist off the bike to save them from going over the cliff. Yet, many Christians never tell anyone the complete gospel because they do not want to appear judgmental or intolerant.

Many people claiming to be Christians need to ask themselves, “Why did Jesus come?” When the angel told Joseph that Mary was still a virgin and he was to marry her, he also explained to Joseph that the baby was to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

If saving people from their sins was the reason Jesus came, and the fact that we are sinners is a central point of the gospel, and sharing the gospel is one way we demonstrate our love for God, then how can being silent on the subject of sin show any love at all?

If mentioning sin or the fact that people are sinners is not what Christians should do, then the New Testament itself is not a good Christian example. The words sin, sins, sinner, and sinners appear in two-hundred thirteen verses of the New Testament. Seventy-three of those verses are in the gospels. Several verses contain the words more than once.

Salvation comes through faith. John 3:18, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

Faith comes from the Word of God. Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the world of God.”

Without the gospel, the whole gospel, people will spend eternity in the flames of the lake of fire. It is not loving God or your neighbor if you never mention sin and the rest of the gospel to others.

Be a loving Christian. Tell others that Jesus loves them so much that He died for their sins and that they need faith that leads to repentance. Matthew 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”