This and That Sin is Sin is Sin 092712

Jesus:

I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins."   Joh 8:24 

Us:

He told us the we would die in our sins, for unless we believe that He is Him (the Christ) we will die in our sins.

I’ve gotten to where I really don’t care what specific sin or sins a person is engaged in.  And I am beginning to believe it really doesn’t matter.  I am beginning to believe that we have been diverted into talking about specific sins as a means to muddle the real point.

That, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Rom 3:23 is the main, if not only pertinent point. 

I am just tired of all the foofaraw about abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage…ad infinitum.  For me it’s just a diversion, a distraction.  It leads us into too rational a debate about specifics when the real problem is general and endemic to mankind.   

Rom 3:9-18  What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,  (10)  as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;  (11)  no one understands; no one seeks for God.  (12)  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."  (13)  "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."  (14)  "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."  (15)  "Their feet are swift to shed blood;  (16)  in their paths are ruin and misery,  (17)  and the way of peace they have not known."  (18)  "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

The key for me is whether this is true of one who is in Christ or out of Christ.

That may shock some – but:

1Jn 1:8-10  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (10)  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

I think we get terribly “fleshly” when it comes to sin.  We react to what we, individually or collectively, find to be the ickiest most revolting (or frightening) sins and we let the rest lie.  Homophobic is not just a term coined to vilify believers.  It is a term that describes a “fear” of homosexuality and hence homosexuals.  But, why would we ever fear that or them?

Tell me, what is the difference between a homosexual engaged in his or her lifestyle and a father/mother so consumed with the acquisition of wealth that they neglect their spouse or children?  What, pray tell, is the difference between “spinning” and lieing?  What is the difference between cheating on your taxes and stealing from the needy through hoarding your wealth?

Sin is sin is sin and we are all involved.  Believers and nonbelievers.

Yes, believers are no longer “slaves” to sin.  But are they “slaves” to Christ or just good buddies?  Unbelievers are indeed enemies of God but I have met some that have a higher level (sadly) of integrity than many believers I know. 

Remember the “log” vs. the “speck” thing?  Somehow logging has become a regular pastime for believers and specking not so much.

As many of you know I work as a consultant to support our ministry.  Most of my clients are either non-believers or ambivalent-believers.  I work every day in a morass of sinful attitudes and behaviors.  Trust me, greed, self-tenderness and deceit do a lot more damage in the un-saved world than many of the sins we love to rail and rant about. 

NOTE:  I recommend that you get and read Kuypers, Lectures on Calvinism.  Not to make you a Calvinist but to get a clear view of how things have been and are falling apart – just as God said.

In my work people always want to tell the “the problem.”  But rarely if ever is the problem THE problem.  Usually the problem they present is merely a symptom of a deeper problem – sin.

This is the case with believers and non-believers.  Sin.  Sin is the rejection of and/or rebellion against God.  That’s the cake – EVERYTHING ELSE is frosting and decoration. 

I would ask you to really pray about where your heart is on the knee-jerk sins we have singled out for special attention. There is only one unforgivable sin and I don’t really know that we can really know when someone has really committed it.  But, I believe that grace and mercy demand we not get obsessed with any particular sin in our dealing with the lost.  Sin is sin is sin.

Heb 12:1  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely (sin which so easily entangles us), and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,…..

Sin is sin is sin! 

I am convinced that those who God calls to Himself – from whatever “sins” they may prefer – will be led to face and deal with sin through the ministry of the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit.  Aren’t you?