Be sure a verse out of context will find you out!
Reading and understanding the Bible correctly is an act of worship!
In Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Philip mentioned how a church he knew had “Be sure your sins will find you out” emblazoned over the door as you left. By contrast, in one church I served, we always said, “Remember…you are now entering the mission field!” as people left. Pastor Philip’s experience reminded me of an event in my life.
I taught my three children to always read verses in context and question where a verse comes from when people quote it without context. In Concord, there is a church that has “King James Only” in enormous letters on the side of their church. You will find a variety of houses in the area with yard signs with various Scriptures on them, and one that is on the lawn of the church is “Be sure your sins will find you out.” As we passed it one day, one of the kids asked me, “Daddy, where is that in the Bible?”
“That’s an interesting question. Let’s find out!” The truth was that I had grown up hearing that verse my entire life, always in the context that God was watching for you to mess up and you’d better be careful because your sins will find you out…muhuhahahahahahahaaaaaaaa!
We looked it up and found that this phrase only appears ONCE IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE! In Numbers, chapter 32. Go ahead and read it. I’ll wait.
*Jeopardy music*
You back? Fascinating, isn’t it? To summarize, several of the tribes of Israel wanted to settle on the east of the Jordan. Moses tells them they can do that, but they are responsible to help the rest of the nation to conquer Canaan. They make a promise, a vow, to do exactly that. Moses warns them that God was listening and if they do not fulfill their vows to “be sure their sins would find them out.” What is the sin? Reneging on their promise to help accomplish God’s plan to conquer Canaan. It is a one-time, specific statement for a particular moment in time.
Now the truth is that there are plenty of places in the Bible that tell us that our actions will affect us. We don’t need to take a verse completely out of context to make the point that sin in your life will harm you, and that we will answer for all our actions, both righteous and unrighteous. The point is that without exception, verses taken out of context are either used to beat someone over the head or give some sort of false hope that is unBiblical.
It's not wrong to memorize individual verses. Just make sure to study them in context and make sure not to use them as a weapon or a crutch. The words of God are much more important than that!
SONGS FOR SUNDAY
We Praise You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVVXeKCg9w4
Graves Into Gardens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YihKbG8-X3U
Build My Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYMjO9mL0Tw
Nothing Else