What is it about sin?
Often we are just far too simplistic in our understanding and appreciation of our own sinfulness.
We are so good at seeing it in others, and very accomplished in excusing it in ourselves.
My guess is the instruction to be putting sin to death (Romans 8:13 & Colossians 3:5) is one many of us have not spent much time considering. It doesn't seem a very happy topic of thought or consideration, nor perhaps do we even want to approach and diagnose what is really going on in our lives.
What is it about the leading of God's Spirit?
However God in his love and patience is not going to want us unaware of what we need to be doing and it is clear from Romans 8 that our appreciation of the Gospel will cause us to want to look sin in the face with a desire for it to lose it's grip upon us. In other words, the Holy Spirit will lead us to fight against sin in our lives.
What is the sin underneath the sin?
So often we have been told that certain behaviour is sinful. Lying, jealousy, lust, theft, greed etc. But being told something is wrong doesn't necessarily equip me to overcome it. The more helpful question is to ask 'what is actually driving these desires within me that lead me to a particular sinful action?' So, an example: If I lie, it is likely I do so because I cannot handle you knowing the truth about me. So my need for your approval and your good opinion feeds such a strong desire in me that I feel I must lie. What is driving me is great fear, insecurity and a belief that my well being and happiness rests in my status before you. It is not just the sin of lying that has occurred, rather, far more deeply, the sin of trusting in the things of man rather than God is driving my very motivations. I will not be able to stop lying if I don't address the deeper issue.
Sin...and the Gospel death blow
What the Gospel shows me is that my approval, happiness, joy, security is already fully met in Jesus. He loved me even in spite of my sin (which I'm afraid others won't) and he accepts me counter-conditionally on the grounds of his mercy and commitment (which others won't do ultimately either). Because I am united to his good name eternally, I don't need to fret and worry about establishing and keeping my own. Telling the truth then becomes far easier because I'm not held captive, indeed enslaved, to the opinions and approval of others. The gospel has released me from a terrible idolatry and set me free to actually want to tell the truth...even if it means I may lose your good opinion if I admit my failures to you.
This is certainly a battle, but can you see what is happening here. Through the wonder of Gospel truth, through the leading of God's Spirit I am putting this sin to death because I am cutting it out at the very source. My need and desires are transforming and so my life will transform as well.
Battle ground, not cafe
Hoping sin will suddenly stop tempting us is to 'cafe up' the Christian life. Sipping away at the Scriptures and being chatty with our friends simply won't cut into some of our deep and shameful sins. Think battle ground and our need to 'suit up' with the truth of the Gospel and you'll have a far more realistic, and I dare say, effective and enjoyable Christian life. Why? Because you're actually living out what you believe and you are being led by the Holy Spirit.
I recommend you purchase it and read it.
I was so encouraged by Sunday night's talk and feel so much better equipped to battle against sin - and kill it! I think I have always taken the 'I shouldn't do that' approach - which often left me feeling defeated and despondent when I then failed to break a sinful habit! Praise God that he gives not a spirit that makes us slaves again to fear but the Spirit of sonship!
ReplyDeleteI quite like this related quote from C.S Lewis -
ReplyDelete"Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible."
-C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity
maybe it's the battleground analogy that i find so fitting but i also find it so true. An initial sin makes the subsequent ones much easier to justify (and vice versa)- which makes the stuff that we do do everyday in putting sin to death so important. Praise God that we can rely on Christ to free us from the tyranny of sin otherwise we would either just look back on a history of defeats and get despondent or simply close our eyes to them all together.
Yeah thanks Mike this is great to think over.
ReplyDeleteSin is so deceptive, but God does give us the resources to face things head on.