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godly woman, could be called upon to counsel girls in
your church regarding abstinence. Young people need
to be challenged to make a commitment to postpone
sexual activity until marriage on the basis of the vital
relationship they have with Jesus Christ. The gospel
must be at the heart of our message. They need to be
encouraged toward a future built on a biblical lifestyle
of one man for one woman for life, as God planned it.
But what about the young men and women inside
and outside the Church who get caught up in the sin of
fornication? We cannot ignore them. What should we
do with them? Reproach them? Shun them? Condone
their lifestyle by doing nothing? Or is there a better
course of action?
Since Christ is the head of the Church, our first
question should be, “What would Christ have us do?”
Notice that when He saved us, He left us on earth to
function as members of his body. He didn’t call us
home right away so that we could live pure, sinless lives
with Him in heaven. Rather, when Jesus ascended into
heaven, He gave us this mandate:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matt
28:19-20)
If we were in heaven, we would not be able to show
Christ’s love and grace to a lost and dying world. The
reason that we have been left on this earth is to carry
out Christ’s Great Commission. Following the example
of our Head—Jesus Christ—we must be willing to
pursue those whom some in our culture and churches
would tell us to shun—single teen moms. We must
remember that the grace of Christ extended to us
excludes boasting and a pharisaical attitude of selfrighteousness.
Our worst times are not beyond the
reach of God’s grace. In our best times we are never so
good that we do not need God’s grace. The grace of the
gospel must reach out to young women in their sin, but
not leave them there.
Jesus’ Example
Let’s take a closer look at Jesus so we can emulate our
leader:
When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He
was eating with the sinners and tax-gatherers,
they began saying to His disciples, “Why is He
eating and drinking with tax-gatherers and sinners?”
And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is
not those who are healthy who need a physician,
but those who are sick; I did not come to call the
righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:16-17)We must
guard against self-righteousness and remember
from what we were redeemed. God, in his divine
love, took the initiative. He did not redeem us
because of any good in us. He sent his Son to die
for us while we were his enemies (Rom 5:8); He
saved us by his grace (Eph 2:8-9). We did not
merit salvation in any way. We were dead in our
trespasses and sins (Rom 3:23). Only God could
enliven us by his Holy Spirit (Eph 2:1). We are
all on the same level because we have all sinned
and are capable of sinning in every way. We must
humbly say, “I am just one hungry beggar telling
another beggar where to get bread.”
In his own words, Jesus gave us a vivid illustration
portraying his priorities. He told the story of a shepherd
who had lost one of his many sheep. He left the other
99 safe in the fold and went after the lost one. When
the sheep was found, the shepherd rejoiced over it more
than over the 99 that had not gone astray (Matt 18:10-
14).
Jesus did not just talk about having compassion for
sinners. He lived it. He seized every opportunity. He
broke the cultural taboos of his time when he spoke
to a Samaritan woman at a well. He wasn’t put off by
the fact that she had been married five times and the
man that she was presently living with was not her husband.
He knew she was thirsty and he offered her living
water—eternal life. Jesus chose to minister to her
even though He knew all about her sin. What’s more,
he chose a woman who was on the lowest rung of the
social ladder to be his messenger. She put her faith in
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