By: Mark Smith

Tuesday morning’s second speaker was Ed Stetzer, author, church planter and director of Lifeway Research and Lifeway’s missiologist in residence, who stated at the onset: “I want to call us to live Gospel-centered, repentance-filled lives.”  Stetzer focused on what he said was an unlikely topic for a conference for pastors and church staffs: hidden sin.  Utilizing Galatians 5:19, Stetzer said, “Unconfessed sin affects the entire mission of God.”
“In the eyes of a holy God,” Stetzer continued, “there is no difference in being a warlock and lusting after a larger church… sin destroys us.”  He urged pastors and church workers to examine their hearts—as a daily pursuit—to ensure that hidden sin is not touching their ministry.
Stetzer noted that Christians tend to believe they are doing alright when they are avoiding major sins similar to those that have ruined some high-profile pastors.  Then he noted that even the seemingly small sins of the heart can have dreadful results.  “If Satan cannot compromise our beliefs,” he said, “he is happy with compromising our character.”
Stetzer then examined four truths about secret sins.
1.    Secret sins are only that way for a short time.  “God has a desire to bring sin out and will do so publicly if you won’t address it,” he said.  Stetzer advised that we should take all sin seriously.  “Sin is not a pet that we can train,” he warned, “it is a beast to slay.”  He then noted the joy in constantly ensuring that we are allowing Christ to control our sinful hearts.  “The repentance-filled life becomes a joy-filled life,” he stated.
2.    Private sin can devastate the community of faith into public defeat.  “Pastor, your sin saps your church’s spiritual power,” Stetzer cautioned.  “One man’s sin can have devastating results for all God’s people…sin gives rise to a mutual weakness.”  Stetzer said the only way to defeat sin in our lives is to become broken before God and to confess the sin in our lives.  “Get broken,” he said, “or God will break you.”
3.    The church’s toleration of sin distracts the church from the mission God calls it to.  Referring to I Corinthians 5, Stetzer noted that the Corinthian church served as an example of a church that tolerated sin in its midst.  He encouraged pastors to take on the difficult task of following the biblical mandate of church discipline to ensure that their church was not being weighed down by the toleration of open sin among some members.  “We must take seriously the damage and permanence of sin,” he said.  “When we allow sin in our churches we are sapped of our spiritual power.”
4.    A return to God’s mission begins with repentance before God’s standard.  Stetzer quoted John Calvin who said, “The heart is an idol factory.”  The nature of all men’s souls, he said, is stained by sin.  “Every day we have to die to self,” Stetzer said, “and live for Christ.”  He denoted Genesis 4:7 (“If you do well, will you not be accepted?  And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.  And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it”).  “Sin is ever crouching at your door,” Stetzer advised.  “And for some, we have let it in.”  He noted that Christians sometimes “find ways to justify our own sin.”  But the solution, he stated, is: “The power of the Gospel must again resonate in our lives.”
Stetzer concluded by encouraging attendees not to try to live sinless lives, but to allow Christ to reign in their hearts.  “The mark of the Christian life is not the absence of sin,” he said, “but the freedom to repent and to live in service to Him.”