CHANGES
For those of you who are over the age of 15 you have probably seen a lot of changes.
Attitudes have changed, language has changed
The meaning of language has changed
One that particularly has hit me is the meaning of the word sin.
Now AI am not old but it has changed so much
Once upon a time it meant something
Now it’s just an extra piece of chocolate cake.
Sin has lost it’s punch
Knowledge of the seriousness of sin
Now that’s fine but one of the things we need to realize is that it is the knowledge of sin that is the door way for the gospel
What is the point of Jesus dying if all he died for was an extra piece of chocolate cake?
If that is how the world sees things then we don’t need a crucified savior
We just need Jenny Craig and weight watchers
Sin had been downgraded in our society
And yet in Proverbs there is a strong image of it so strong it should probably come with an R rating.
PROVERBS 26:11
Although the world we live in doesn’t take these things that seriously
God still does.
The vile image of a dog returning to it’s own vomit is a view of sin from how God sees it.
And it’s exactly how we need to see it too.
The need for Jesus only comes when we realize how bad the stuff is we need saving from.
Sin is what we do too.
When were talking about sin it is easy to take a them and us attitude to it.
Only people who don’t know Christ sin right?
No, we do it too, our sins may not be as scarlet but there still pretty revolting.
The image of the dog well that applies to us too.
So not only does the image reveal something of how God see’ our sin, but it also reveals something of the nature of sin
So in what ways is sin like the dog eating it’s vomit
Why do we sin?
Reason 1 The reasons dogs don’t have a problem with eating their own vomit is because they have a low thresh hold to vomiting.
What that means is it doesn’t take much to make a dog Sick, slightly too much flavor, a little too much spice in Fido’s food and he is likely to be sick.
Now people are different, believe it or not human beings are not totally like dogs
In comparison we have cast iron stomachs, it takes a lot to make us sick. We generally have to be really ill to actually be physically sick
But for Fido it doesn’t take s lot to get his stomach juices churning.
So when it comes to eating it, they don’t have a problem, they do not recognize it as being sick
So there is absolutely no problem in wolfing it down again
It’s that failure to recognize it that makes it so easy for the dog to carry on.
And so often with us it is our failure to recognize our sin that means we can just carry on with it again
We don’t see it as God sees it, we don’t recognize it for what it is
We fail to see far too often the sin in some of our action and because we fail to see it we don’t have a problem in wolfing it down again.
We eat it because like the dog we don’t have a problem with it
Reason2
We eat it because we are used to it,
Changing you diet is hard
I remember the first time I ever ate pumpkin
In the UK pumpkin = cow food
It isn’t meant for human consumption.
My wife Is Maori her father still like the old Maori food
Fresh kina, rotten corn, pork bones and puha
He Things it’s great,
But cannot understand how I would eat
Black pudding, or how my mother could eat tripe
The difference is it’s case of what we are used to
What we have been brought up on
It is hard for us to change habits
To change what we eat
For the dog it is hard to change a habit he has learnt from being a puppy
For us it is hard to change our sinful nature
Sin has become and unnatural part of who we are
In the beginning creation was perfect
But since the stuff up all have been induce in sin
For some it is so deep that they can’t even see it.
Like the dog and his carrot stew diet
We have gotten used to sin.
Reason 3
We do it because we think we need it
Dogs tend to reingest there vomit because they think they need it
When you have something missing from your diet you’ll take a vitamin
For a dog the richest source of vitamins is probably what they ate last night for dinner
A reason why we sin is because we so often think what sin offers us we need.
It has been said that the average western male spends half their life searching for something to fill the holes in their lives and the other half trying to give it back.
One of the reasons why we have such a high divorce rate is the feeling that the person can fill our lives, and when we realize they don’t it’s time for them to go
We spend so much energy on chasing stuff to make us happy,
Is that sin?
Yeah you better believe it,
God is supposed to fill that space that is why he made it
It’s sin to try and fill our needs with anything else
Now I don’t know about you but I reckon dogs are pretty dumb animals
So maybe we can forgive them for their little indulgences,
But we should really know better shouldn’t we?
I guess we don’t really see sin in the same way as God does, but when you see it as vomit, and your stomach starts to churn a little then you can start to realize how bad it really is.
It should repulse us, but often that is not enough.
If all I do is fill you with a pile of guilt and you walk away from here with guilt and nothing else then I may as well have stayed at home
What you need is something to move on from
Because we actually need to start unlearning the behavior that got us there
The first thing is obvious you need to name it for what it is – Sin
Then you need to keep away from it, if something causes you to fall over avoid it.
You also need to recognize that it isn’t good for you, it is not what you need
You need to recognize that it is an issue, don’t brush it under the carpet because vomit has this horrible way of stinking out the house when it is left undelte with.
What else you need to do is give it to God.
He hates it but he can deal with it
His Holy Spirit is there to help you overcome your sickness
Someone said to me a few months back that this whole thing doesn’t fit
How can we say God loves you, when he see you for what you are
A vomit eating fool
I guess we need to realize that God’s love is bigger than our eating habits
EVA
My daughter is almost 2 and she developed this wonderful habit of eating rubbish
We see dust bin
She saw smorgasbord
But I don’t love her any less
When she has feasted upon the contents of the dust bin I don’t lover her any less
I want her to change her habit – or I am going to have some very interesting stories to tell at her 21st birthday
But I love her all the same
And that is what God’s love is like for us
He loves us even if there is a string of vomit hanging from out chins.
So how are you with God
Have I touched a raw nerve?
Have you been kicking yourself about the habits that you know aren’t’ right but feel unable to change.
I f so have you tried bringing it to God.
Or maybe you feel as though you have done something so disgusting that y6ou feel God could never want you Back?
The good news is that there is a way back to God
As you give the contents of your sick bag to God
There is away to forgiveness
