Just joining us on this one? Go here for part 1…
So, dabbling in sin is not a viable option for the true Christ follower. That would seem obvious at first glance. However; observing this country’s behavior ( a country who claims to be 85% Christian) clearly shows that the majority feel a little dabbling, some critical relabeling, redefining and PC language is all you need to have the best of both worlds—the ‘Get out of Hell Free’ world and the ‘sin a little here and there’ world.
The tragic thing?
Neither of those worlds actually exists. God is an all or nothing God. He wants our whole heart, whole life, whole will…
Everything.
And that’s why it’s a bad idea to serve as a “Designated Enabler” for your brothers and sisters in Christ. And since it is (a bad idea) let’s be clear on what it is.
Designated Enabler = Anyone who helps another “dabble” in sin, even with the noble intention of preventing them from full blown sin.
Huh?
Hey, it’s my made up term, so I get to make up the definition. But let me further unpack it so we’re all clear—because one thing will trip us up if we’re not careful—and it’s this, the role of Designated Enabler will always seem noble at first—and may even BE noble at some point, but at its root, it’s always inherently flawed and ultimately destructive.
Why?
Because God doesn’t have ‘classes’ of sin. There’s no JV sin verses Varsity sin. Sin is sin and if we enable another to keep right on sinning, we are sinning ourselves. James 4:17 says,
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” James 4:17
Pretty clear? And what is the ‘right thing’ to do in this case? The right thing is to be a good enough friend to tell your loved ones the truth. Not the PC truth (that’s an oxymoron if ever there was one), not the convenient truth, not the ‘partial’ truth—nothing but the actual truth, and the truth is, there are things the Lord tells us to completely abstain from…period.
Psalm 15:1-2 says, “ Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth (emphasis added) from sincere hearts.”
Some of us need to stop being people pleasers and worrying so much about everyone liking us, Instead, if we truly care about people we should gently (and sometimes not so gently) steer them away from the very things that are slowly killing them spiritually—the very things that will rob them of
harder thing, the difficult choice—but in the end (should you choose the road less traveled) your friendships will go beyond the surfacey, meaningless chatter to real agape love and impactful, kingdom building substance.
Let’s end part 2 with this—examples of “Designated Enabling.”
- Always volunteering to be the designated driver for your alcoholic friend instead of confronting him or her with the fact that they need to stop drinking for good.
- Teaching youth that sex outside of marriage is fine as long as you use a condom—you are a designated condom dispenser, but not a godly mentor to those young men and women.
- Being a “safe place” for people to go and dump their gossip and slander. While we need to be available to counsel and pray for our loved ones when they’re hurting, we are not to “be available” to support them in their quest to hurt others. If we do this, we are nothing more than Designated Gossip Bins.
Again, looking at Psalm 15 we read about this,
“ 1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?”
Answer?
“3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends.”
Again, it was made fun of, ridiculed endlessly, and written off as naïve, but, as it turns out, Nancy Reagan’s “just say no” campaign has a lot in common with what God’s Word tells us to do. Even when it seems impossible, even when we are addicted and need help learning to say no (if you need help, then get it!), even when we are hopelessly unable without God’s help (especially when we are hopelessly unable without God’s help)—getting to the place where we say “no” to sin is a place Jesus wants us most.
When Jesus dealt lovingly and graciously with the woman caught in adultery—a woman with an obvious weakness in the area of sexual control—He then expected her to approach life with a new outlook toward the sin of sexual promiscuity…
John 8:10-12, “10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you? 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
And to the lame man who had lived a life of blaming everyone else…
John 5:13-14, “13Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”
Or, put another way…
“Just say no.”