Weeping Over Sin
"Let the priests, the Lord's ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, 'Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, 'Where is their God?''" (Joel 2:17).
Recently, I watched an "Andy Griffith" re-run, which featured in part Otis Campbell, Mayberry's infamous town drunk, played by Hal Smith. Initially, I laughed at his antics, his slurred speech, transposing his syllables, body swaying, etc. Then, it hit me: There's nothing funny about being an alcoholic! I do not wish to sound super-spiritual or unreasonable but can it be that we as a church culture have allowed ourselves to become desensitized by the travesties of sin? Are we minimizing the destructive forces of sin? Is there a need to re-think what makes us laugh? Years ago, I heard another pastor say, "You can gauge your heart by two things: What makes you laugh and what makes you weep." I believe he was right!
Then, I later heard the late David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge, say to an audience of pastors, "If you haven't wept over the sermon you're about to preach, then don't preach it!" Could it be that many preachers in today's church no longer weep over sin? Sin destroys us and steals our divine potential. Sin is no laughing matter! Are you willing to consider my words before you toss me aside as harsh and even legalistic?
Before I continue, let me give you background information that led the prophet Joel to write such a sobering verse. In the Bible, weeping between the porch and the altar is a call to intercede for others and repent for one's sins. It is a time of lamentation and deep sorrow. The prophet Joel was deeply concerned and heartbroken over the sins of Judah, and in this verse, calls the apostate people back to God. The main message of the book is that God will deliver his people from evil and bring about a new day. Joel's message is one of salvation through repentance, and it includes a call to return to God. It was Joel who prophesied the coming world-wide outpouring and said, "In those days, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts 2:17), the verse that Luke would refer to on the Day of Pentecost. I believe we're living in "those days"!
However, I also believe that brokenness and weeping over sin precedes any move of God. When we become desensitized by sin, it probably means that we are world-focused and not Christ-focused. The things of this world have a way of stealing our affections away from the Lord, leading us into a life of spiritual mediocrity.
My prayer is that God will bring a God-like hatred for sin and a God-like love for righteousness into our hearts. That we too will hate sin and what it does to people we love, and humanity in general. This is not a call for cry babies; it is a call to weep over sin. Only the Holy Spirit can produce such a move. May we allow the Lord to break our heart over what breaks His. May we experience a new revelation of the ugliness of sin and its effects in our lives, our homes, our churches, our nation, our world. Let's allow the Lord to weep through us, and no longer give the world any opportunity to disdain the church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Allow me to issue a call for all at Hope Community who long to see a move of God, and heed Joel's words in 2:12, "Yet, even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart (rend your heart) with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." What does it mean to "rend our hearts"? To rend one's heart literally means to "tear away". How does this occur?
We humbly come to the Lord in true repentance and we ask, "Lord take this (whatever the sin) out of my heart because I don't want anything between my heart and Your heart, Jesus." Then trust God to begin changing your heart. And you can trust God to do this because in 1 John 1:9 He promises, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." When was the last time you wept in grief over your own sin and were willing to rend your heart?