Summary
The Sin Posse
In the old West, a sheriff who could not keep the peace alone would deputize a posse — a band of riders who tracked down outlaws and brought them to justice. It is tempting for Christians to imagine themselves as something similar: God's appointed sin posse, riding through the dusty streets ready to call out every sinner in sight. The Sermon on the Mount confronts this temptation directly and dismantles it.
"Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get" Matthew 7:1-2. Jesus speaks these words not to the crowds in general but to His disciples — which means He speaks them to us. The warning is plain: do not look down your nose, do not point your finger, do not appoint yourself the eternal judge by holding others to your own standards. The Pharisee in the temple Luke 18 is the model to avoid, not to imitate. Whatever measure of judgment we hand out, we summon down upon ourselves — and none of us wants to be judged by the rigor of our own standards.
The graphic image that follows drives the point home. Why notice the speck in your neighbor's eye while a log juts out of your own? The would-be judge is himself stuck in sin, born like every other son and daughter of Adam in the image of fallen man — hostile to God, blind to His Word. Pretending otherwise is a posture Luther called "naval gazing" turned outward: so eager to inspect everyone else that we never examine ourselves. Yet the sin we know best is our very own — the sin that turns in our own heart. 1 John 1:8-9 is blunt: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive."
Before God's holiness, we are all outlaws. We all deserve to be rounded up and brought to justice; the wage of sin is death and eternal separation from God. Jesus alone has the right and the jurisdiction to stand in judgment — and the staggering news of the gospel is that this same Judge took the sentence upon Himself. Instead of being judged according to what we have earned, we are judged according to His mercy: righteousness, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the communion of saints.
This does not mean Christians never speak truthfully about sin. Courts exist for a reason; God's law exists for a purpose. The full verse from 2 Timothy 2:24-26 shapes the Christian's calling well: "The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness." Correction is a real duty — but it flows from repentance, not bravado. Once the log is removed from our own eye, we can see clearly enough to help with our neighbor's speck, knowing we are no better than they are.
So the "Sin Posse" 7-2-23 image is one to renounce, not to wear. We are not deputies hunting sinners; we are brothers and sisters who have been judged in mercy and are sent to share the law that exposes sin and the gospel that forgives it. Christ's blood was shed for every offender — including the one in the mirror. The freedom we walk in is not the wild west of self-appointed justice, but the eternal freedom won in Christ, and Christ alone.
Video citations
- "Sin Posse" 7-2-23 — Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Texas as a whole is steeped in the old West. And in Western lore, we read a lot and hear a lot about bandits, about outlaws, riding the range. And…