Why sin once saved?

Some questions do not let one go.  They cling to the soul as though one's very life depended on it.  This is one of those questions.  It won't let me go.  It is as though I am gardening and there are weeds in my garden that I must get rid of before they destroy the land and make it infertile.  

When it comes to sin, Paul described his feelings thus, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it,  but it is sin living in me that does it."  (Romans 7.15-20)  In a nutshell, he wants to do good but he keeps reverting to doing bad.  I understand him so well.  I think we all do. 

Paul concluded, "I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."  (Romans 7.25b)    When we see fellow Christians in sin, we often shrink back in fear of being judgmental, as though we did not understand their human weakness as well as our own.  The scripture comes to mind, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eyes and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7.3)  This scripture has often made me so scared to point out any wrongdoing that I have said nothing at all and been guilty of something far worse: apathy.  

When I, as a Christian, meet someone who does not know Jesus as his personal Saviour and Lord, I cannot judge him.  I did not always follow Christ.  I lived my life ignorant of His ways and His will.  I neither sought it nor knew it, but once I understood that Jesus is the truth, the way and the life, and I started following His path, I noticed my life change for the better.  I knew I was on the right path, as surely as only a soul can.  For there is no explaining faith.   My point, however, is to illustrate that I needed saving, not judgment.

It is imperative that I help my brother in Christ when he is going astray.  "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?" it says in 1 Corinthians 5.12, "Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside.  'Expel the wicked man from among you.'" Paul makes a clear distinction here between judging the world and the church.  "... you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler."  (1 Corinthians 5.11)

On the one hand, God appears to show compassion with our human nature, and on the other hand there appears to be a strict rule against associating with anyone who is in sin after his conversion, as though we are to cut out people from the Body as though they were a tumor.  This is a very hard teaching indeed.  

It is no wonder we as Christians often do not confess our sins to each other.  We are afraid of judgement.  We are afraid of being expelled from fellowship.  We are afraid to be "bad" Christians, thinking we should know better, and behave better.  What do we need reminding of?

When we think of sin, we think of grace.  We remember that God gives us grace.  We mess up and He extends His grace.  I guess the question is really whether or not grace has its limits.  "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" Paul asks in Romans 6.1, almost provokingly.  "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." (v. 13)

There is nothing more heart-breaking to know that someone is continuing the religious rituals of remembering Christ before having a meal, or going to church, or mentioning God once in a while, to make others believe that they are still on the right trek, whilst knowing deep down inside, or just under the surface of things, that they have actually chosen their own path again.  I am reminded of something God once said of His people, "Praise is on their lips, but their hearts are far from me".  And I ask myself, what is my responsibility here?  Or is it my duty to my King?

I believe God is shaping our characters, and we each have a journey which holds many crossroads, not just one.  On our journey there are those that stand and watch, and those that take your hand.  Britney Spears has a song out at the moment which begins with the lyrics, "there are two types of people in the world, ones that observe and ones that entertain."  She is boasting about her performance skills, but the lyrics did make me consider the attitude we choose: active or passive.  I can either see someone take the wrong turn, and do nothing, or point out the right path and pray the Holy Spirit will lead them back.  

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12.2)  If we are not convicted of God's message to us roughly two thousand years ago, that there is a kingdom of heaven, and that we need to be born again to get there, and that we are to be holy as God is holy, then these scriptures will mean next to nothing.  It is only when we realise that He means us - you and me - that it becomes a matter of life and death.  Of the soul.