Sin. Such an ugly word isn’t it? It makes you cringe and harden when you hear it. It seems fanatical, maybe? It’s a word no one wants to use to describe an activity or behavior that is known to the world as, let’s say, not good. I purpose today, that these “not good” behaviors or acts may be what cause us all so much internal turmoil. These “not good” actions cause us to stew on what we should have done, or what we should have said. They cause us to feel insecure, or not good enough. They lead to feelings of guilt and unworthiness. All feelings we experience and all feelings that can lead to a lack of hope in this world. How do we ever get beyond this?
Sin. It seems like a word used by bible thumpers or pulpit pounding preachers to tell us God is angry with us because of our bad actions and ways. Again, all concepts we think of as fanatical or crazy or outdated and don’t want to be associated with. But you came here looking for a way to set yourself free from pain, and I hope to help today by focusing our attention on the truths of human nature and how holding onto sin may cause us anguish and we just can’t see beyond it. Today, I want to present that we are, in fact, sinful by nature. Accepting and understanding sin in our lives, acknowledging it, and receiving God’s forgiveness and grace will be crucial to breaking the chains that hold us in the dark place called hopelessness.
Let’s look at the “what” of sin first and the “why” of sin second. What is sin? Sin can be described as any behavior, thought or action that goes against the divine law. I like this definition because, one, it’s the biblical definition. 1 John 3:4 says, “Everyone who makes a practice of sining also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” I also like this definition because many may be thinking lawlessness is breaking the commandments and what if I don’t believe in God and Jesus and therefore the commandments? There’s the question, eh? If I don’t hold to that belief system, then sin doesn’t apply to me. I can just keep calling sin some fanatical word the fanatical Christians use. But! This is when I challenge those to recognize that their “moral compass” is the same moral compass as the crazy Christians hold. The moral code came from the law of the Creator, the law of God himself. The Great I Am. And fortunately he put it in place for our pleasure and our wellbeing. He revealed it to us to protect us from becoming slaves to our sin. A moral compass can only be considered good by the vast majority because we know what lawlessness is. We know what bad is! I can say that because we all get our back up when someone breaks a promise or lies or steals or cheats. We all get hurt when we were treated unfairly or rudely, or with hate. We can bring this one step closer to home and think about our own actions. When we hurt someone we love, we feel bad about it. When we say something hurtful to someone, we feel it too. When we break a promise or a commitment, we recognize it as a personal failure. We know this to be true because we are quick to come up with an excuse as to why we said or acted the way we did. We try to cover up our nasty behavior with an excuse that will be commonly accepted by the other party. We quickly try to justify why we broke the moral code we hold each other to. Similarly, we are quick to feel pride and self worth when follow the moral code. We feel good for helping others or telling the truth in a tough situation. So good and bad is the same across humanity. Sin is the transgression of the law and I’m holding to the moral law given to use by God.
Now, the why. Why, if God is so loving and kind, why would he make humans who even have the option to sin? And more poignantly, why does God allow evil and sin in this world at all? That’s the heart of the why question. I’m not going to pretend to answer that question with the theological answer that you can readily find online by many notable pastors much better equipped to answer, but my answer to you will be simple, yet encompassing. Why is there sin in the world, why is there even an option if God loves us so? Answer: free will. God created humans in his image. He gave us spirits and intellects and consciousness. With those, comes free will. He created us with the ability to make decisions, make choices based on our own understanding and reasoning and desires. Think about it. What kind of God would he be if he created a race of people who know nothing but to worship him for no reason? Blindly worship him? Demand they worship him? What glory would God get from that kind of creation? And, what joy would the people get never having a choice, never knowing there was the option of rejection? If one was never exposed to sadness, or guilt or hurt, one would never know the pleasure and satisfaction of happiness or accountability or love. We would never know right from wrong, good from bad. That’s my simple answer. God gave us free will to choose Him over evil. He gave us the law, the commandments, the moral compass and code as bumpers for our lives. To keep us on the path of freedom from sin. This doesn’t mean if we follow him we will never sin again. No, that’s impossible, but through your belief in him, your faith in Jesus Christ, he promises a better life. HE is our HOPE. The better life is not a life without pain. No he tells us we will face struggles in this world. John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulations. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” The better life is a worldly life guided by truths and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, AND the promise, the HOPE, of eternity with Him. An eternity that IS free of pain, free of guilt, free of loss and failure. An eternity filled with peace and joy and love!
I used Acceptance as the step for this topic today because I wanted us to recognize we all sin and I wanted to point us back to the HOPE Jesus offers through his promise. We all must accept and admit that we fall short in the eyes of our creator. We all break the moral compass that was laid out for us by Him, but He is our hope. He will set you free.
Let’s finish where we started. 1 John 3:5, “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning”… When you abide in him you are set free because Jesus Christ loved you so much. Loved His creation so much, that He gave up his heavenly glories and comforts to take on human flesh and walk this earthly, lowly walk filled with hardship and persecution knowing all the while that he was going to be horrifically and traumatically murdered in the most inhumane way in order to be the spotless lamb, the perfect sacrifice required by God for our sins. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23. His death as our sacrifice was the ultimate gift of grace. He gave his life to pay for our sins. Our sins of yesterday, today and tomorrow. His blood covers us when we accept we are sinners, ask for forgiveness, and choose to live for Him. Accepting, recognizing, acknowledging that we are sinful is the first step to freedom. There is eternal hope in Jesus Christ which is the gift he gives when we seek forgiveness and live for him through faith.