Today we’re beginning a seven part series called "Those Confusing Church Words."
Most unchurched people have heard of some of these words but they have no idea what they really mean, or how they are affected by them, if they are affected by them at all.
It might surprise some of you, but there are lots of folks who have "grown up" in church who don’t have a good understanding of what some of these church words mean.
So, for the next 7 weeks we are going to look at some of the most widely used and perhaps misunderstood words in the church vocabulary.
Now, there is no way we can do an exhaustive study of these words in a 30 minute message, but I hope to give you enough to whet your appetite for some individual study of these words.
Today, we are going to look at the one word that has disappeared completely from almost everybody’s vocabulary, including many pastors - SIN.
It’s not a popular word.
It could easily be put into the category of those profane "four letter words", if it only had four letters!
What is sin?
Is it just those little mistakes we make as we go through life?
After all, everyone makes mistakes, right?
Or is sin something more than that?
• C. D. Cole says this about sin, " Sin is a cheat, a deceiver, and a destroyer. It promises pleasure and pays off in pain. It promises life and pays off in death. It promises profit and pays off in poverty - the loss of all good. Every sin is committed for profit." Nobody would sin if he did not think it would profit in some form or other. There is profit in sin, but it is short-lived.
How can we define sin?
Let me give you some of the current definitions of sin:
The modernists say "sin is good in the making."
That’s how we get the idea that sin is nothing more than those mistakes we make in life.
We learn from our mistakes.
With this definition sin is no big deal, because the more mistakes you can learn from the better person you will become.
The Christian Scientists have another view of sin.
They say "Sin is a figment of a perverted imagination - an imaginary creation of abnormal minds. The man who is convicted of sin is unbalanced, and the man who mourns over sin and seeks forgiveness from God is terribly insane. Such nonsense is refuted by science, and Scripture, and common sense."
The popular view "regards sin as only crime against society. Sinners are young men sowing wild oats, prostitute women, murderers, and gangsters."
The rest of us are "good people" and because we are really good we don’t have to worry about that thing called sin.
Interesting definitions, all of them, but none of those definitions are found in the Bible.
The Bible does define sin, though.
In fact, this passage in 1 John 3:4 gives us the best definition of sin around: "Sin is lawlessness."
There can be no sin where there is no law.
If there is no Lawgiver to Whom we must give account, then there can be no sin, for sin is lawlessness.
The Bible says, "… through the law we become conscious of sin." (Romans 3:20)
God gave us "The Law", some rules to live by.
But the Law doesn’t just focus on actions.
Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.
Sin doesn’t just include individual acts, such as stealing, or lying, or committing murder, but also attitudes that are contrary to the attitudes God requires of us. (Systematic Theology, Grudem page 490).
Sin actually starts in the mind and develops into an attitude that results in an action or a series of actions.
The Bible says, "…after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:15)
The more a person sins, the worse the attitude gets and the worse the action gets until, at some point, the sin is suppressed.
We Christians call that "hardening the heart."
After a while sin doesn’t bother the person any more.
The person might know that what he or she is doing is "wrong", but it doesn’t bother them because their concept of right and wrong is skewed.
Many people, maybe the majority of people, will never confront their sin.
It’s often difficult to face, so they make an attempt to get rid of the concept of sin.
The sin itself doesn’t go away, but it can be overlooked, and people spend lots of time and energy trying to get rid of the concept of sin.
In fact, entire societies have made it their business to get rid of the concept of sin.
This is how:
I. If you want to get rid of the concept of sin in the world, or in a society, or in your own life, the first thing you do is get rid of God’s truth.
Adam and Eve did this in the Garden of Eden.
They questioned what was true.
When God told them they would die if they ate from the tree, they decided to doubt the veracity of God’s word and conduct an experiment to see if God spoke truthfully. (Genesis 2:17)
So, they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Did they die? Yes.
They didn’t die an immediate physical death, though the process started.
We were meant to live forever.
But they did die an immediate spiritual death.
God cast them out of the garden.
They were separated from him.
That’s spiritual death - to be separated from God.
Sin causes spiritual death and if it’s not confessed and turned from it will result in eternal separation from God.
God’s truth couldn’t be further from the minds of the majority of people in the world today.
We live in an age of relativism where all truth is relative and all truth is O.K.
If Buddha’s truth works for you, the let it work for you.
If New Age truth works for you, then let it work for you.
If Allah’s truth works for you, then let it work for you.
If Joseph Smith’s truth works for you, the let it work for you.
But, if God’s truth works for you then you are part of a radical right wing conservative fundamentalist conspiracy and you must be silenced!
All truth is O.K. except God’s truth but God’s truth is the only truth that matters.
That is the effect of sin in our world today!
II. Then, to get rid of the concept of sin, you nullify God’s law.
You begin to view God’s law as meaningless and outdated.
You declare the law invalid and not applicable to your situation.
Or you say, “That’s not what God meant.”
Adam and Eve did that in the Garden of Eden.
The serpent said, “Did God really say you couldn’t eat from that tree?”
And Eve’s response was, “Maybe that’s not what he meant.”
God’s law set the moral and ethical standards for His creation.
It’s His, and he can make the rules.
The question that comes into play is "What is right?"
Listen, Adam and Eve knew right from wrong.
They knew it was right to obey God, and that it was wrong to disobey God.
The Bible says that God told them they could eat from any tree in the garden EXCEPT the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
By the way, that was the Law for Adam.
It wasn’t real complex, only one statement, but it was enough.
And it was morally right for God to give Adam that rule.
So the basis of right and wrong is found in God’s word.
Not eating the fruit was right, eating the fruit was wrong.
Now, you might ask yourself, “What was so wrong about Eve eating a piece of fruit from that tree? Seems like a silly rule to me.”
• Have you ever had your children challenge one of your rules? That’s because, to them, all of your rules are silly and stupid.”
This was Eve’s problem, though.
She trusted her own evaluation of what was right and what would be good for her rather than allowing God’s words to define right and wrong.
She decided that the tree was good for food, good to look at, and good for making her wise.
So, she "took of its fruit and ate." (Genesis 3)
We began to nullify God’s Law in the early 80’s when a Federal Court ruled that the Ten Commandments couldn’t be displayed in public schools.
What causes children to kill children?
What causes women to want to kill their babies?
What causes teenagers to desire promiscuous sex?
What causes homosexuals to demand that I accept their lifestyle?
It’s because we decided to do what was "right" in our own eyes and disregard the Law God gave for our wellbeing.
Do you realize that before the standard of conduct changed from God’s law to our "anything goes" law:
crime was down,
taxes were down,
divorce was down,
prices were down,
people were healthier,
marriages were healthier,
families were healthier,
people were more intelligent,
and we had more time, just to name a few benefits of following God’s law.
God’s law is pretty straightforward and simple.
Take a look at them: (Exodus 20)
1. Don’t worship any other Gods.
2. Don’t worship any idols.
3. Don’t misuse the Lord’s name.
4. Take a break on the Sabbath.
5. Honor your father & mother.
6. Don’t murder.
7. Don’t commit adultery.
8. Don’t steal.
9. Don’t lie.
10. Don’t covet.
Do you realize that God breaks all our rules for building good self-esteem?
Our rules say, “accentuate the positive” yet look at all those negatives in the Ten Commandments.
It’s amazing how well those rules worked.
But, you know, God is wise.
He knew we had trouble remembering those ten, so when he came in a body we could relate to, he summed it up in two:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)
Man’s laws are complex and contradictory.
• For example, why is it that you can’t drink alcohol until you’re 21, but you can vote when you’re 18, you can drive when you’re 16, and you can have an abortion when you’re 12?
• Why is it that we need more “hate crime” laws on the books when we already have laws on the books for hate crimes?
• Why is it that if a father spanks his child he can have his child taken away and placed in the custody of someone who’s only reason for being a foster parent is the money?
• And, why is it that this same father can go to jail for abuse while there are laws in the works that give homosexuals the right to sexually molest children as long as the “child gives them permission?
It’s because we are depraved and don’t want to accept what is right!
The fact is that when you nullify God’s law you throw everything out of balance and nobody is in control.
• This is how: Imagine an army battalion going to war. There are only officers. All of the officers are barking orders, but no one is following them. Do you see the chaos that will soon follow? But now, imagine that same army battalion with one officer barking orders and a group of men carrying out those orders. Now you have a smooth, well functioning battalion.
When we follow God’s laws we function properly, and we function well.
III. The last thing you do to get rid of the concept of sin is to replace God with something else.
Remember I said earlier "if there is no Lawgiver to Whom we must give account, then there can be no sin, for sin is lawlessness"?
That’s what Adam and Eve did.
Adam and Eve were God’s creation, created in His own image.
They were to be dependent on Him.
They were always to be subordinate to Him as their Creator and Lord.
But, they succumbed to the temptation to "be like God" and made an attempt to put themselves in God’s place.
If there is no god except you, then you are free to do things any way you like.
And people do just that.
We live in a world of pluralism.
There are lots of gods out there.
Pick one you like, and if he (or she) places too many demands on you, then find another.
It’s no big deal, with so many to choose from.
There are a couple of problems with that attitude.
First of all, we aren’t wise.
We like to think we are, but we aren’t really.
Wisdom enables a person to see the big picture.
We only see the picture that’s before us, and how the scene relates to us.
God sees the whole picture, and how the scene in our lives relates to everything.
Have you ever considered what affect your decisions have on someone else?
God does.
Second, we don’t really know what’s best for us.
We like to think we do, but we don’t really.
Have you ever wanted something so badly that you were consumed by it?
All you thought about day and night was that thing you wanted.
You might even have prayed about it and said, "God, I really want that thing" or "God, I really want you to give me that job" or "I really want to do this or that."
And you pray and pray and pray…but God doesn’t answer.
That means, God doesn’t give you what you want.
So you get mad and huff and puff like you’re going to blow someone’s house down and, all of a sudden, something better comes along.
God gives you the best, even though you wanted something else.
That’s because God knows what’s best for us.
He has all the facts; He knows us better than we know ourselves because he sees us as we really are.
No, I’m afraid we wouldn’t make a very good god.
Could you imagine a person with horrible organizational skills being God?
What a mess.
Look around you.
Do you see anyone who qualifies to be God?
IV. How does all this apply to us?
We don’t have try so hard to get rid of the concept of sin.
Sin is more than a concept.
Sin is reality.
But, look at verse 5, "… you know that He appeared so that he might take away our sins."
Jesus Christ came to offer forgiveness of our sins.
We can’t get rid of our own sin.
No matter how hard we try, no matter how many good deeds we do, no matter how nice we are, we can’t get rid of our own sin.
Only Jesus Christ can do that.
