Willing to Be Thought of as Mean

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 10, 2017

Matthew 18:15-20

Willing to Be Thought of as Mean

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What is the worst thing that another person can think about you?

Cheap? Lazy? Smelly?

How about mean?

Being thought of as mean is the worst possible outcome in life. I don’t think this used to be the case, but it sure is a fear of many today. I mean, you’re afraid of being thought of as mean, right? So am I.

We should be self-aware enough to care about how we come across to others. But when this fear of being thought of as mean forces you not to tell the truth, that’s a problem.

Now there are three ways you can end up being thought of as mean.

You can actually be evil or

you can tell the truth to hurt someone else in order to make yourself feel better or

you can tell the truth out of love for someone’s safety.

Before the flood, Noah was called a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5 NIV). Very likely when his neighbors came around to see the ark being built, Noah preached to them about what was coming and why it was coming.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

HEBREW 11:7 NIV

He condemned the world by faith, because faith is agreeing with God. And Moses recorded what God had said about the world.

⁵The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶The Lord regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled. ⁷So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

GENESIS 6:5–7 NIV

Noah preached not his own condemnation. He didn’t speak about his own personal disgust for the world’s evil; he preached the judgment of the Lord, so that some might be get on the ark and be saved. Noah didn’t care if his neighbors thought of him as mean; he just didn’t want them to drown and go to hell.

Fast forward to a decade or so after Jesus ascended into heaven. The early Church is being torn apart by those who insisted that Christ dying and rising for salvation wasn’t enough. They were insisting that you had to follow the old laws of Moses to be a “real” Christian. So to be a “real” believer you had to be circumcised and you had to eat certain foods and avoid others.

Even Peter had been taken in by this false teaching, so Paul had to speak the truth in love. He confronted Peter “face-to-face” not out of anger, but out of concern for his soul. He loved Peter enough to risk being thought of as mean in order to set him straight back onto the full and free Gospel of Jesus, who lived, died, and rose for our sins.

You care about your neighbors. Care enough about them to risk being thought of as mean. When one of them sins against you, speak the truth in love to them. Speak clearly and calmly about the sin in question and then speak clearly and joyfully about the forgiveness of that sin that we receive in Christ’s dying and rising. He died for all sin, including the sin in question. He knew the sinner by name and the sin in question when He willingly suffered and died.

If your sinner won’t listen, get back-up from a trusted fellow believer. This is someone who can be trusted to keep the matter confidential. If your sinner still insists on calling their sin not-sin, then it’s appropriate to get the Church involved. And if your sinner clings to their sin even then, then they must be shown and not just told that they are in danger. This is what Jesus said:

¹⁵“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

MATTHEW 16:24–25 NIV

When you do this, you’re taking a big risk. The one who sinned against you will very likely think of you as mean. They will think your trusted believer is mean. And they will think the Church and her pastor are mean. This is a risk we must take. By faith we sacrifice our reputation to the scorn of committed sinners and of the world. As Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome:

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ²Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

ROMANS 12:1-3 NIV

When we remember what we are and what we were, we will warn our fellow sinners out of care and love, risking ourselves in the process. Why? Because of our Savior, who risked and lost everything for us! Not only did lose His life, He also risked His good name. Indeed His reputation continues to be trampled on by the unbelieving world. But risk and lose did not stop Him because He loves you.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45