Throw the First Stone

I am a sinner.

And I am thankful I live in the 21^st century rather than the 1^st, because before rededicating my life to Christ, I would have been eligible for stoning. Scanning the Ten Commandments, I humbly confess I broke seven of them, and still struggle with a couple, but by the grace of God I am alive, and repentant over my old ways.

So when I look at homosexuality through a Biblical world view, I cannot get past the fact that the Bible calls it a sin, and in Romans, the Apostle Paul say it’s a blatant departure from truth.

“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised….Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with other men and were inflamed with lust for one another” (Romans 1: 25-27).

Unnatural, but in general, mankind has a natural tendency to sin.

Premarital sex.

Adultery.

Lust.

Coveting.

Having idols.

Using God’s name in a profane way.

Abortion.

Elevating your husband or children over God.

Stealing a pen from the office.

One day, Jesus came across a group of judgmental Pharisees, ready to sling rocks at a woman caught in the act of adultery.

In an effort to trap Jesus, the religious leaders asked him what he would do in this case. He began writing on the ground, then responded, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Don’t you wonder what Jesus was drawing in the dirt? Maybe they were arrows pointing back to the Pharisees, saying “Get your own house in order before you start slinging rocks at someone else.”

As it turned out, one by one, the accusers walked away.

Since the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage, there’s been a lot stone hurling both at the justices, and at those who have chosen an alternative lifestyle, but if we examined our own lives, we’d realize we have no authority to toss even a pebble.

We are sinners, and God is the only one who has authority to judge.

As fallen people we are simply called to love others as we love ourselves. Jesus thought this concept was so important, he called it one of the two greatest commandments. The apostle John goes so far as to say that “whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20).

This past Sunday our retiring associate pastor preached his final sermon. As a parting gift, he gave all of us a small, round mirror to daily remind us to reflect God’s grace and love. Of all the messages he could have chosen for his last exhortation, he challenged us to quit judging, and to render grace instead. Perhaps in his many years of pastoring, he’s seen too many Christians with rock quarries in their backyards.

Dear friends, we should reflect love, because while we were sinners, God loved us so much that he allowed his own Son, Jesus, to die for us. And there is no condemnation in Christ.

If you matched your life up against the Ten Commandments, how would you fare?

Who wants to throw the first stone?