2 posts tagged “consequences”

I had a really good conversation with one of my college students recently and the part of the conversation came down to this:  There are times in our lives when we think we are under spiritual attack and we aren't.

We are reaping the fruit of our actions.

Let me say right out of the gate that I believe in spiritual warfare and spiritual attack 100%.  I just believe that calling things spiritual warfare when you are dealing with the consequences of your own sin is the same as blowing off your own responsibility in a really "spiritual" and "Christian" sounding way.

Here are some examples:

1.) If you feel completely overwhelmed with your finances and yet you haven't begun to obey anything about what the Bible says in terms of how to handle your finances wisely (I.E. make a budget, get a job, spend less than you make, be overwhelmingly generous, etc.), then you are not being spiritually attacked in the area of your finances.  You are feeling the tension of how bad life is when you ignore what God has to say about life. (Proverbs 27:23, 2 Thessallonians 3:9-12, Proverbs 22:7, Matthew 5:38-42)

2.) If your schedule has you constantly feeling stressed, busy and like you have no time to hang out with Jesus, then you aren't under spiritual attack in terms of time management.  You are feeling the tension of disobeying God and what He has to say about your priorities. (Mark 12:28-31, Matthew 11:28-30)

3.) And here's where it gets even funnier:  Romans 14:23 says that "everything that does not come from faith is sin."  So obedience isn't just limited to specific topics like finances and priorities that the Scriptures talk about a lot.  If you keep pursuing that relationship that God has told you to stop pursuing in prayer, go ahead and get ready for it to blow up in your face.  If you keep pursuing that career that God has told you to stop pursuing, expect it to keep falling through.  How long will it take us to realize that the things God is urging us towards are for our good?!  And when He urges one direction and we push the other, it's called sin; and their our consequences to our sin.

Praise God that isn't the end of the story.  The cross of Christ stands and screams out to us that our sin and it's consequence aren't the end of the story.  The real spiritual attack isn't the fact that your circumstances may not be good right now.  The real spiritual warfare is whether or not your soul will own up to it's own sin and in that moment run to the heart of God.

"We disobeyed His desire for our goodness (sin)"

Today we're gonna talk about a popular three letter word; sin.  Let me just say that this post is probably going to make you uncomfortable.  However, it's the truth and this morning I read John 7:7 where Jesus says, "The world [...] hates me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil."  So now, while all hopped up on spiritual testosterone, I tackle everyone's favorite topic: Sin and You!

Due to the nature of today's post, I decided to start with some indirectly related humor.  This makes me laugh.

We have become a bunch of spiritual libertarians in terms of our sin.  In other words, we don't think our crap stinks.  The vast majority of people in our culture either claim "There's no such thing as sin. . . I'm glad that works for you . . . but who are you to judge me?" or the religious equivalent: "I'm covered in God's grace . . . I got my all paid ticket to heaven . . . so sin doesnt' really concern me too much anymore."

DISCLAIMER:  I'm not that guy standing on the corner yelling at you that you're going to hell because you're a whore monger.  We DO need to clarify a few things about sin if we're going to understand how good the gospel is.

Defining Sin:  First let's understand that sin is more than just breaking the rules.  Romans 14:23: "Whatever does not come from faith is sin."  That's a lot bigger than action.  Sin includes heart motivations (1 Cor. 4:5), attitudes (Heb. 4:12), actions and intended actions (Matt. 5:21-47) that push us away from trusting  and proclaiming God's goodness.

Here's why that matters, EVEN IF (and it's a big freakin' if) you are capable of following all of God's commandments perfectly, at the end of the day you are still full of sin.  The question is not "Did I break the rules?".  The question is "In every single one of my motivations, attitudes, actions and thoughts did I trust and live by faith in God?".

the Heart of Sin:  If sin was simply breaking the rules, then God is just some kind of weird rule-nazi and then the cross isn't going to make any sense at all.  But God isn't all about the rules (though they do matter).  He is all about His own glory.  (See the end of Living in Light of the Gospel (Part 3))

At the heart of this sin issue is the fact that we have replaced God with other things.  We have trusted, feared and lived for money, alcohol, popularity, power, relationships, and more than anything else ourselves.  We have declared, "Alcohol can cure all my problems!"  We have lied to ourselves, "She can satisfy me and make me feel whole!"  We have honestly believed, "I can do it.  I can make life work on my own.  I DO NOT need any help."

The heart of sin is that we have declared with our lives "God isn't God.  He's not even all that good." 

A friend of mine was working at Starbuck's and a girl asked him, "So I have two friends who are lesbians but they are some of the best people I know.  Do you really think God will send them to hell just because they're lesbians?"

He responded absolutely correctly, "No!  No, He won't send them to hell just because they're lesbians.  The lesbian issue is a much smaller issue than the fact that at a heart level they have told God that He is not who He says He is, and He's not good.  I think that is the greatest sin we are guilty of and very deserving of hell."

the Consequences of Sin:  So I know we've all heard it a thousand times, but try to read with fresh eyes and ears Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death".  Can we please go ahead and make that connection.  Think back to the last time you dealt with death; the death of a family member, the death of a best friend.  Remember all the pain and all the desperation.   Remember the hopeless feeling.  That's what we earn by treating God like a piece of crap.  When we turn our backs on God and flick Him off over our shoulder as we walk away, when we live like we're what the story is all about and act like we can fix ourselves; we are ambassadors for death.  We grow it in ourselves and we spread it all around us.  We speak words of death to all around us.  We kill relationships for a buck or our pride.  Emotionally, relationally, physically; we lie to gain, we cheat to gain, we steal to gain and in the end we die and we lose it all.  And in the now, we're already dieing and we don't know how to make it stop.

The weight of sin is a terrifying thing.

Or here's what's even more subtle and sneaky:  Maybe you're great at being a good person.  You are generally nice and you give to some charity in Africa (or twenty) and you value people more than money and if you had to grade yourself, you'd say you're doing alright.  The problem is you end up tricking yourself and other people into thinking that being good will heal them and save them from the consequences of their sin, when only God can.  

Only God can take away the punishment that He's handing out.  Only God can fix our perverted hearts.  Only God can teach us to hate sin.  Only God can reveal the depth and beauty of His glory to us.  Until we own the weight of our sin, we'll never know how much we need Him.

PS (in case you're thinking the good news sounds pretty bad so far, don't worry; things will get better on Monday.)