Chase Away Sin

Take a moment and look around at the behavior of those around you. Is the behavior worthy of Christ? We are surrounded by people who refuse to honor Christ. Or worse, those who think they are honoring Christ while refusing to ‘give up’ their sin, so we chase them away.

This is the most common way of thinking about sin, but it is backward thinking. Instead of looking at their behavior, we must look at our behavior. Instead of chasing others way, chase our sin away. Let God judge others. We are responsible for our sins, not the sins of others.

As I spent a few minutes thinking about today’s reading from Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, it occurred to me he wasn’t speaking only about Church behavior. Saint Paul wants us to focus inside rather than outside, either inside ourselves or inside the Church.

Brethren, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men; not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But rather I wrote to you not to associate with any one who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber – not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.” When one of you has a grievance against a brother, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, matters pertaining to this life! If then you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who are least esteemed by the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no man among you wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood, but brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that even your own brethren. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1^st Corinthians 5:9-13;6:1-11

Saint Paul’s expectations for members of the Church were high. He expected us to live up to the name we call ourselves. Being Christians means being united to Christ. Being united to Christ means living according to His will and teachings. His expectations outside weren’t as strict.

So, if Saint Paul expected us to have high standards, then we must look at our personal sins, and not just the sins of those around us. I would say to go so far as to focus all our attention on our personal sins and let those called to ministry in the Church worry about other people.

As a Greek Orthodox Priest, I have been called by the Church to help others fight their sin and return to Christ through repentance. It isn’t everyone’s calling to ‘worry’ about others. The tassels on the fringe of my stole represent the souls of those I am called to serve.

I’m not saying we should ignore the sins of others inside the Church. Saint Paul definitely wanted us to consider the sins of our brothers and sisters when we consider leadership in the Church. There is a difference between those who sin, and those who refuse to repent.

Before we can help others repent, we must first repent from our sins. Think of the safety instructions of an airplane. First place the mask on your face before helping others to place their mask. If we are still reveling in sin, how can we even begin to speak to others about their sin?

There are inspiring examples of holy men and women in the Church who ‘hid their holiness’ from others. Imagine being so successful in your fight against sin that you could work miracles, but instead of letting people know, you acted like a fool instead.

Such was the case of Saint Symeon the Fool for Christ. Nobody knew just how successful he was fighting against sin. He spent his life fighting his sin, and then finally was able to help others. If you want to help others, chase your sin away first. Until then, let God judge others.