2 posts tagged “working definitions”

"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.)

What is the gospel of Jesus Christ?  The question probably sounds pretty elementary.  Yet, I'm terrified that a majority of people who claim Christ (whether young or old believers) do not have a working and full definition of the gospel. 

Problem #1: WORKING DEFINITION:  A working definition is one you understand well enough to be able to explain it in your own words.  You can relate it to your life and other people's lives.  (As opposed to a static memorized definition or a catechisms . . . where you know "the right answer" in words but you don't really understand the concepts.)  If the gospel of Jesus Christ is central to your life, you should have a working definition of what it is.

Problem #2: FULL DEFINITION:  Many people and many churches understand or focus on one aspect of the gospel at the expense of a full understanding.  (Mark Driscoll calls this the sin of theological reductionism.)  For instance, some people focus completely on how much God loves you and in so doing ignore the fact that God hates sin.  Or other people might emphasize the fact that God wants to restore the whole world and so all they talk about is how we are enacting restoration and how we should treat the environment at the expense of the personal work of Christ on the cross that brings new spiritual birth in people.  None of these ideas are wrong.  The point is that emphasizing one without the other aspects is to miss the full picture (WHICH IS A BIG BEAUTIFUL AMAZING PICTURE!).

So here it is:  the gospel of Jesus Christ:

God created us in right relationship with Him.  We disobeyed His desire for our goodness (sin).  We became spiritually dead in our separation and broken relationship with God, and earned eternal death as the due punishment.  God out of undeserved grace sent His Son, Jesus Christ to take the punishment of death on the cross that we deserved and to satisfy God's wrath and justice. Jesus not only died the death we deserve, but He also conquered death and reigns fully alive and victorious over death.  When the truth of the gospel opens our dead hearts and births life in us, we put our full hope, trust and faith in the work of Jesus on the cross, and He sends the Holy Spirit to live in us.  God credits us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God in us teaches us to hate sin and to love the things of God (redemption, restoration, love, forgiveness, hope, healing, etc.).

P.S. gospel means good news.  THIS IS ALL FREAKIN GOOD NEWS! (Maybe I should go back and replace all the periods with exclamation points.)
P.P.S. We're going to talk about what the gospel shows us about God, what each part means and how it applies to our lives and scriptural basis for all this in the coming days. Get excited!