Talking about other people is something all of us do. In many ways, our gossiping about others is, I think, the favorite pastime of many. This is especially true when it comes to talking about other people’s sins. We really like to do this.

There is seldom a week that goes by that I don’t hear comments about the actions of others. The incessant banter about the sinfulness of our society is a refrain that echoes almost daily. The magnitude of sins in our world is increasing I am told. The deviancy of our culture has reached epic proportions. (Or at least that’s what many believe.)

Underlying all these comments though is a focus that is almost always about the other. It’s the other persons sins that are the problem. Their misdeeds, their unrighteousness, their objectionable ways are the focus of these conversations.

But what about your sins? What about your misdeeds and your unrighteousness and your objectionable ways? Why don’t we talk about our own sins with the same passion and insistence that we talk about others?

I find this to be a growing problem among Christians. We are always quick to accuse the world of her wrongdoings. We never shy from reminding people what we believe God has deemed to be contrary to His will. We know God’s law and are ready to preach it to anyone who will listen!

And we should continue to do this. Christians should continue to proclaim God’s law. We should continue to teach our people how God desires us to live. This is one of the many things God has called the church to do.

But when we preach God’s law, our focus should be on the sins that our people are actually committing. Our preaching shouldn’t be primarily about the sins of others. We are not serving our people if we take strong stands against the sins of the unbeliever and the unrepentant, but shy from condemning the sins of those sitting in our pews on a regular basis. Yet I find this to be a growing pattern of our preachers and our church leaders: Christians too often focus on the sins of others and not enough on the sins of ourselves.

Yet if we are truly interested in changing behavior, that is, moving hearts to turn from sinful ways, we are wasting our time and totally missing the mark if our proclamation is focused primarily on the other. Such proclamation does nothing. It’s like preaching to a wall. Nobody hears it. Nobody is convicted. Sin remains. Decadence abounds.

Focusing on our sins is what we need. It’s what we should be doing. It’s what the church and her preachers should spend the vast majority of their time on when preaching the law. To that end, sinners sitting in pews need to recognize their sins, much more often and with more vigor that we do the sins of others. We need to turn from our sinful ways, for it’s our misdeeds and our unrighteousness that is the problem.

And as we focus on our sins, let us also focus on the forgiveness we have in Christ. Let us also proclaim the freedom we have in the Gospel. As we preach against the sins we actually commit, may you and I, turn from our unrighteousness and find new life in our Savior, who died for these very sins and rose, that each of us may live a life of holiness.