The “S” Word
There is a three letter word that we don’t like to say in churches.
The rest of the world uses this word all the time, but we don’t.
It makes Christians feel uncomfortable.
It makes us feel dirty.
Maybe ashamed.
Or embarrassed.
The word is S – I – N.
Sin!
Yep, some of you are probably very disappointed that I am using this word “Sin” in church. I don’t know, maybe you were hoping it would be another three letter word starting with “S.”
Apparently several people thought I was going to preach about “sex” – not “sin.”
So I don’t know what to preach about today. Maybe we should vote.
How many of you want me to preach about sin, raise your hand.
How many of you want me to preach about sex, raise your hand.
Well – doesn’t matter how you voted – the sermon I wrote for today is on sin, so sin it is.
But actually, that’s my point. We don’t want to talk about sin, not even in church.
It used to be quite fashionable to talk in our churches about sin.
Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon that I was required to read in high school – and it was public school. It was considered to be a good example of Puritan literature. I’d be interested to know if they still use that in English classes today.
The sermon was “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
The first time Jonathan Edwards preached it in his home church, it was like any other sermon – no reaction at all. But when he visited another congregation, he preached it again and people actually cried out in fear, they fainted, they trembled and some men actually grabbed onto the pew in front of them for fear of slipping backward into the fires of hell.
How come you guys don’t react that way to me and Joe? We never see you guys tremble with fear or faint. Well, come to think of it, I did have someone faint in one service, but it had nothing to do with the sermon.
But when Jonathan Edwards preached about sin and hell, people acted like they were about to live out “Psycho” or “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or some other frightening movie.
“Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature… The sin of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury. Your heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.”
But we don’t talk about sin anymore.
We avoid mentioning that word – S-I-N.
In our worship services we almost always have a Prayer of Confession. We do this because Christians have almost always included a confession of sin in worship services, and usually near the beginning.
This dates back to the beginning of the Christian Church – even to Old Testament times before Christ was born.
The reason is that when we approach God, we should become aware of who God is – and we should become aware of who we are.
God is great, and powerful, and compassionate, and loving.
And we – well, we are not all that great, or powerful, or compassionate or loving. We have, in fact, fallen short of the glory of God.
I know this not only from having known myself, but I this from having read it in the Word of God.
In the New Testament book of Romans, Paul said, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
In I John 1:8 we read, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
But most of us like to think that we are without sin.
And society has been teaching us for decades to develop within ourselves and to develop within our children a “good, positive self-image.”
And admitting that we are sinful doesn’t seem to lend itself to a good, positive self-image.
In fact, in recent years it has become fashionable in many churches to omit the prayer of confession because the admission that we are sinful seems unfriendly to guests who may visit us in worship. It seems too depressing.
But it is reality, and confession of sin is a needed part of our spiritual journey.
But this is nothing new.
Take a look at how all of this started. There we were in the Garden of Eden.
Then one thing leads to another and Adam and Eve violate God’s instructions – in other words, to use that dreaded word – they “sinned.”
We read that story in the Old Testament lesson from Genesis – but this is what happens next.
The two people feel guilty and they try to hide from God. When Adam faces God, God asks if he has done what he was told not to do. Does Adam admit his sin and ask for forgiveness?
He knows that God is all knowing, so instead of trying to deny his actions, he denies responsibility and he tells God, “The woman you put here, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”
Actually, if you really look closely, Adam is not only blaming Eve, he is implying that it is all God’s fault – “The woman YOU put here gave me the fruit.”
When God approaches Eve, God asks, “What is this that you have done?”
And like Adam, Eve denies responsibility. “The snake deceived me.”
So let’s take a look at this embarrassing subject of “sin.”
The first thing we need to admit – sin exists.
We sin through our actions, but we also have to admit something else, and that is that we are sinful in our very nature.
It is almost as if sin was written into our DNA.
The nature of sin permeates everything we do, so that even when we do good things, there is sin involved.
The name of this doctrine is “Total Depravity.” Man – that kind of phrase makes the simple word “sin” sound like it’s not so bad.
Total Depravity doesn’t mean that we are all totally evil. It simply means that the good we do is often faulty – faulty in our motivation or faulty in the way we do good things.
We see this throughout the Bible. In chapter six of Genesis, God looks out over humanity and says “Every intention of the thoughts of humanity’s heart is only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon makes the observation, “there is not a righteous person on earth who does good and never sins.” (7:20)
So this is our nature, and we have to deal with it.
It’s time for the church to admit once again that we are sinful.
Genesis teaches us that sin exists. It also teaches us that sin has consequences.
Now obviously, it impacts us. Adam is punished for his sin.
But it’s more than just that.
When we do something sinful, that has a powerful effect not only on the guilty individual. It also has a powerful effect other people.
In Genesis, the sin of Eve effects Adam, and Adam’s sin effects Eve – and it has an impact on all humanity. St. Paul said in Romans, “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people.” (Romans 5:12)
Now where is the logic of that?
It is easy to see why Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden, but what about their children who were yet-to-be-born? How come they couldn’t go back to the Garden and enjoy things the way we were supposed to? How come we have to deal with death, just because of Adam and Eve? Where is the logic of that?
In the Old Testament book of Exodus, God says that he does not leave the guilty unpunished, but that “he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7) Where is the logic of that?
The logic is in its reality.
What we do impacts other people.
In the first Superbowl after the attacks of September 11th, one of the commercials was unlike any of the others. We all know about those wonderful Superbowl commercials. They are light, entertaining, sometimes artistic, and occasionally more memorable than the game itself.
But these adds were disturbing and unsettling to a lot of people, especially since the entire nation was still healing from the then-recent wounds of 9-11.
These were not so much advertisements as it was a public service announcements. An anti-drug spot.
A group of teenagers are seen on the television screen.
One says, “I blow up buildings.”
Another says, “I killed police officers.”
“I killed my teachers.”
“I bombed a bank.”
And then the commercial takes a slight shift, with one young person saying, “I didn’t hurt anyone but myself.”
“Drug abuse is a victimless crime.”
“It doesn’t hurt anyone but me.”
And finally, there is the message, “Drug money finances terrorism.”
Then at the end, “Everytime you do drugs, you participate in terrorism.”
What we do impacts other people.
A woman who abuses alcohol while pregnant – in fact who uses alcohol at all during pregnancy – can lead to birth defects in the unborn child.
Statistics show that when a child is abused, the scars of that experience often lead the child to grow up to become an abuser.
We really cannot fully understand how broadly our actions impact other people. When I buy a shirt for a cheap price, I may think I’m getting a good deal – but who made that shirt? Was it made by underpaid children in some sweat shop overseas?
What I do, good or bad, effects my wife. My son. My friends. My church. Sometimes what I do impacts people I don’t know, but those people know my friends or family and they are hurt.
But the good news is, God forgives us when we sin.
In Romans, Paul says that through the sin of one man, Adam, death came into the world. But then Paul says that God’s grace comes through one man, Jesus Christ.
If there was no story of redemption and grace, then the Bible would have ended with Genesis chapter 3. But even at the very beginning, we see the love and mercy of God.
The story of Adam and Eve is full of symbolism, and one of the most powerful is the nakedness of Adam and Eve, which in Genesis becomes a symbol of shame. It is after their rebellion against God that Adam and Eve become aware of their shame. They try to hide from God and they make feeble attempts to disguise their shame with fig leaves.
Fig trees – it is ridiculous to think that you could use that material to make clothing. So when Adam and Eve have been punished for their sins, Genesis says this: “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” In the symbolic language of Genesis, God is covering their sin and shame.
It is a theme that weaves its way throughout Scripture, in both the Old and New Testament, we read, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”
The great lie that Satan offers is that we are without sin. We are not. But out of fear of punishment, we deny the reality of who we are, and we refuse to believe that we are sinners in the hands of an angry God. But thanks be to God. As one of the Old Testament prophets said, “God does not stay angry forever but he delights to show mercy.”
Copyright 2007, Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
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