Friday, October 10, 2008

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A True View of Sin

I am old enough to remember a TV series called Petticoat Junction that aired on CBS from 1963-1970.  And I remember one particular episode in which Uncle Joe went to church but slept through the entire service.  Later, at the Sunday dinner, he was questioned as to what the pastor spoke on.  His creative answer, seeing as he had slept through the whole thing, was that the pastor had talked about sin.  That was a pretty safe response, he thought, talking about sin in church.  Not totally satisfied with his answer, his  questioner pushed further, "What did he say about it?" they asked.  "He was against it," said Uncle Joe.  I guess he figured saying the minister was against sin would be a pretty safe bet as well.

Things were different then.  And, I wonder some times what has happened to sin.  What is our view of sin in the contemporary church?  In many places, we don't seem to talk much about sin any more.  We want to be accepting and forgiving and not make people feel uncomfortable, I suppose.  However, in our attempts to avoid the hellfire and brimstone of past ages, I think we have become soft on sin, in the same way our governments are accused of being soft on crime.  The offender, seemingly has all of the rights and the offended party gets nothing.

And so we become accepting of sin.  We embrace not only the sinner but often also the sin.  It's okay.  Not that big a deal.  It was a mistake, an oversight, an accident, an unfortunate occurrence.  It seems not to matter much any more.  And we assume that God really doesn't care all that much about sin either.  But then I open the word of the one who is the same yesterday, today and forever, and I read these words:

"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God" (Hebrews 10:26-27).

Let this scripture blast every soft opinion that we may have regarding sin out of our experience.  We need to take God's view of sin.  Sin of whatever stripe or size or description falls short of his glory and is deserving of death and is an abomination and an affront to Him.  God does not take a soft view on sin and neither should we.  Is it too much to say that he killed his own son because of sin?  What then makes any of us think that we can get away with any of it?

When someone broke the Old Testament law, they were killed without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  The writer to the Hebrews asks, "How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29).  We dare not presume on the Lord's grace and mercy with little regard for what our sin means or what it cost him to redeem us.  And, if this is not strong enough yet, let us hear what it says in 1 John:

"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.  No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.  Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.  He who does what is right is righteous, just as he [God] is righteous.  He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.  No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:6-9).

Does this mean that we will never sin?  I don't think so.  And thank God that he has made provision not only for sins that we have committed in the past but for the wrong that we will do (1 John 1:9).  God understands us.  The problem is not in that direction.  It is that we choose not to understand him.  He hates sin.  It cost him everything to redeem us.  How then can we choose by a deliberate act of our will to do something that nails him to the cross.  That we did it in ignorance before we met him is one thing.  But now, having known and received his loving sacrifice, to throw it back in his face in a sense, that is another thing altogether.

I don't know about you, but I am taking a much more serious view of my sin.  And I cannot pat myself on the back because I avoid what I think to be the "big" sins.  Every sin I commit hurts the one who loved me and gave himself for me.  How could I ever want to, choose to, sin even a little bit.  I know that I likely will, but where is my heart on this whole issue?  It is about time for us as the true bride of Christ to say that no sin is okay.  Let's get the true view of sin.  God's view.  May I come to detest sin of any description as much as he does.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.  Let's join him in that and see the devil's work destroyed in your life and mine!

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