The post below was previously published in October 2022.
Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin! There, I said it seven times to prove that my head would not explode, that lightening would not immediately strike me, nor would I melt like the wicked witch of the West in Wizard of Oz upon saying it. I noted in my previous post, the aversion to this word and what it represents in our present, mostly secular culture and society, but also even in our modern-day church.
The former is not surprising as our narcissistic, self-centered culture minimizes, legalizes, glamorizes, and even celebrates both sin and sinners. We bristle, scorn and even take offense at the mention of the word as it assaults our sense of autonomy, implying that we are ultimately accountable to someone other than ourselves for the way we live our lives in this world, namely God. In our secular, God ignoring society, we see the term sin as judgmental, repressive and even harmful; provoking ridicule, contempt and even outrage and hostility toward those who would use such a term (Romans 1:32).
Unfortunately, even we who call ourselves Christians have a very limited or superficial understanding of the vileness, the weightiness, wretchedness and destructiveness of sin and its worthy wages of condemnation and death. Preachers fail to teach, and we as individuals fail to pursue an accurate understanding of the heinousness and destructiveness of sin. Our minimization of our sin results in our failing to honor and glorify God as He deserves for the infinite mercy, grace and love He displays in forgiving us for our sin, and to fully appreciate what it cost Him to save us from the ultimate penalty we deserve for our sin, Hell (Matthew 10:28).
Cornelius Plantinga Jr, in his book regarding the destructive impact of sin on God’s good creation, titled Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, in noting the change in many churches approach to sin today writes, “The awareness of sin used to be our shadow. Christians hated sin, feared it, fled from it–and grieved over it. But the shadow of sin has now dimmed in our consciousness.” He noted that where pastors used to speak openly of sin and its dire consequences, they now speak of sin in a mumble.
I recently listened to a Sunday sermon by the senior pastor of a large and well-known church in Southeast Michigan. It was a sermon regarding hope in the midst of failure. The pastor acknowledges himself to be a failure in every aspect of his life, while pronouncing to the congregation that they are no different, but then assuring them that God only uses failures. He did not, and seemingly would not use the term sin or sinner, of which all human failure is the product of. Some ministers even admit to not wanting to use the word sin as it feels excessively harsh, severe, even shameful (which it is meant to be). They express the belief that they can make the same point, namely their congregation’s need for Jesus, by using more understated terms like failure, mistake or inappropriate behavior in place of sin (Romans 7:13).
The problem with that thinking is that Jesus Christ did not come into the world to save us from our failures, our mistakes or inappropriate behaviors, but from our sin, our rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over our lives, and the eternal consequences of it (Matthew 1:21) (Romans 5:8-9) (1 Timothy 1:15).
All mankind, beginning with the first man Adam, have sinned and are under the just judgement of God, cut off from the glorious life with Him for which we were created, helpless in ourselves to do anything about it (Ecclesiastes 7:20) (Ephesians 2:1-3). We are thus in need of the saving benefits of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. However, before we can receive those benefits, we first must acknowledge, from our hearts, we are sinners, deserving of God’s judgement, in desperate need of a savior (1 John 1:8-10) (Psalm 51:1-5).
Sin, in its simplest definition, is the transgression of the laws and standards God has graciously given to promote human flourishing and individual happiness, while magnifying the glory of His wisdom, goodness and grace (1 John 3:4) (Deuteronomy 4:8) (Romans 3:23). Sin is a condition of our heart that displays itself in outward words and behaviors that oppose or contradict God’s design and order for human flourishing and individual happiness. It is manifested in what are referred to as sins, of which the Bible, particularly the New Testament, provides us extensive, though not exhaustive examples of how sin displays itself in our lives (Romans 1:28-31) (Mark 7:20-23).
What makes sin so sinful, so grievous in the eyes of God is that it is a contradiction of, an assault upon His holy and righteous character, which man was created with in the beginning, but corrupted through our sin (Ecclesiastes 7:29) (1 John 5:17).
The Bible makes it abundantly clear from Genesis Chapter 2 right on through Revelation Chapter 22 that God hates and condemns sin; that in its every expression, its every form, type and degree, He experiences it as vile and detestable and infinitely offensive, the supreme contradiction to His holy and righteous nature, and as such will not tolerate it in His presence (Habakkuk 1:13) (Psalm 5:4-5).
Thus, God ordained death, the cutting off of sinners from His gracious presence, and their ultimate exile into Hell, as the just penalty our sin deserves (Ezekiel 18:4) (Isaiah 13:11) (Psalm 9:16-17) (Hebrews 2:2).
Now, the fool, the one who suppresses the knowledge of God by His unrighteous and ungodly living (Psalm 14:1) (Romans 1:18), might respond to this truth with such cynical questions as, “Why is that?” “What’s the big deal?” “Can’t this big God of yours handle a little imperfection, a little rebellion and opposition from His creatures”, or “I thought your God was a God of love, can’t He just forgive and forget?”
The Bible responds to such foolish and blasphemous questions with an emphatic No!! And we will look at two very clear reasons why in my next post.
Grace and Peace ×
Amen!