MINISTRY / Real Christians don't sin

"One of the people who stands out for me from my mission trip to China is a Christian woman who was shaken to the core by something her pastor said in a sermon." 

Justified people don’t sin

These words come from one of 316NOW’s professors. Although the meeting he recalls is five years in the past, the memory of their conversation still frustrates and frightens him. 

"Pastor," she told him, "I don't think I'm right with God. Last Sunday, the pastor at the local government-approved church said in his sermon that justified people, people who are right with God, will no longer sin. But I sin. Does that mean I am not right with God?" 

Justified people are forgiven

Our professor continues, "This Christian was suffering because her church was misusing God's law and misrepresenting the Bible's message of grace. My heart aches for her. And for all the other Christians across China who never hear about the free forgiveness and full acceptance that Jesus has given them." 

He is right, of course.  The type of Christianity that is taught throughout China minimizes the gospel and emphasizes the law. The bulk of Chinese Christianity robs the gospel of its good news. In its place, those churches substitute the impossible demand that only perfect people can make themselves right with God. 

Fortunately, the Spirit brought that troubled Christian woman to a Lutheran professor who would explain what God's good news truly is. Unfortunately, China contains hundreds of thousands of Christians who are taught that heaven is a treasure they must earn rather than a treasure God has fully and freely given. 

What a privilege 316NOW has to be used by the Spirit to change that. One soul at a time.