It’s strange really. The way our body ages but our mind still thinks we are the same person. Just the other day I was in the bathroom at home and a stranger startled me. Why was this old guy in my house? Even more disturbing, why was he in my bathroom? My fears subsided as I realized I was just passing by the mirror and the old guy, was what I looked like. I don’t say the old guy was me, because from the depth of me I don’t feel like the gray hair and lines in my face are who I am. I have not yet decided to allow myself to think of myself as old.
I admit though that there are things I don’t remember. I don’t mean to say I am forgetful. Though my wife may argue. I am talking about important things. Not a date when something happened ages ago. Not what my wife asked me to pick up at the store on my way home. I mean that I don’t remember what it felt like to not fear. I don’t remember what it felt like to know everything. I don’t remember when a job became my identity. I remember being excited for Christmas morning, but I don’t remember what that feeling actually felt like. Worse of all I don’t remember when my faith in Jesus went from a love relationship to a duty that was bound by the fear of being cast straight into Hell.
I blame it on Shannon
I remember the first time I felt that fear grip me. I was in 5th grade playing softball at recess at Jefferson Elementary. It was my turn to bat. As a kid I didn’t have the power swing I developed later. But I had good contact and I was fast. So singles were doubles and balls hit on the ground I could often beat the throw to first. But today was my day. Mr. Elliot was pitching and all the kids were scattered across the playground. The athletes were in the infield, but the kids who didn’t really want to play were in the out field, and I mean way out there. No fence meant they could go so far back that they never had to move to make a play. Shannon was the furthest out. He was way, way out there. I knew I would hit it in front of him and outrun his throw easily.
The pitch came in a little flat and my timing was the best I had ever had. It was the one I dreamed of. I smoked it! That ball screamed off my bat and streaked like a falcon into the outfield sky. I was so impressed and surprised by the hit I wasn’t even running fast. That ball was gone! That is when it happened. Shannon happened. He looked up and saw it flying straight to him. He shouldn’t have been there. No one plays that far out. Not to mention he was about as athletic as an elephant on a tennis court. It all happened in slow motion. He didn’t move one inch from his spot. The ball literally hit him in the chest and landed in his open glove. He didn’t even try to catch it! I was robbed! I was stripped of my one moment of glory and power!
That’s when the most vile and unimaginable thing in my young Christian life happened. Without thinking, without even knowing, out loud, I said my first curse word. It sounded like someone else said it. My ears heard it before my mind comprehended it was my mouth that had said it.
At that moment I was gripped with a fear I had never known. I had sinned and there was in my mind, nothing stopping Satan from tearing his way through the Earth below me and dragging my 11 year old lifeless body straight to the depth. Guilt and shame mixed with the fear and my soul was crushed. How could I have sinned against God? How could I have said that word unless sin was alive inside my heart?
Many feelings I can’t remember, but that feeling will never leave me. What an amazingly horrible misunderstanding of God I had developed. No one came out and taught it to me. No one had to, it was implied and suggested at every turn. Guilt and fear had become a tool to keep me from sinning. A legalism that was never written down and was never preached had grown inside me and choked out the freedom Jesus died to give me.
When as Christians we harp on a list of wrongs, sins, and dont’s instead of shining the light on Jesus grace and love, we abuse people spiritually and steal the freedom God intended us all to enjoy.
“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year after year, make perfect those who drawn near.”
Hebrews 10:1
It goes on to talk about the futility of the old sacrifices except to remind us of our sins. They never could actually deal with Sin except to satisfy the wage or debt of Sin, which is death. Then he reaches the point we need to grab hold of today.
“then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’ He takes away the first, that He may establish the second.”
Hebrews 10:9
In part one we touched on the balance of Grace and responsibility, but here is a section of Scripture that is often used to go to extremes in dealing with sins in our lives. As I have traveled and lived in the church world for 50 years now I find Grace has become a dividing line instead of a unifying truth. The implied teaching seems to be either that we can sin all we want because God has already paid the price for it, or that any choice that isn’t pure as the driven snow sends our souls straight to Hell.
I was asked in college the answer to a hypothetical scenario. If a man goes to church and gives his heart to God, then on the way home breaks the speed limit and dies in a car wreck where does he spend eternity? This question in itself is meant to cause a division in the class. Some argue grace and God’s love, and some argued a literal legalism that sent him straight to Hell. Churches have split, souls have been lost, and even marriages and families torn apart by the doctrine of grace.
It is just like the Devil to use what God means for unity and life to instead destroy.
So what does Jesus say?
Jesus spent 33 years on this planet, living in the same problem filled body and world that we do. What does He say about sins and the repercussions? His teaching never included condemnation for sinful actions. Not once did He sentence someone to eternal punishment for acting out in sin. He also didn’t ignore them. He instead loved them and reestablished a relationship with them and then directed them to “sin no more”. Why? Simple, sinful actions harm us, others, and drive separation between us and Him.
Jesus instead taught against Sin itself. Below is a list of things that He spoke out against:
Matt 20:28 Selfishness Matt 15:1-20 Impurity/sins of the heart
Luke 20:45-47 Pride Luke 5:27-31 Judging others
Matt 16:1-4 Unbelief Luke 11:28, Matt 21:28-32 Disobedience
Matt 22:13-39 Hypocrisy John 13:34-35 Hatred
Matt 6:4 Greed Matt 6:15-15 Unforgiveness
You may have noticed that all the things listed above are conditions of the heart and not outward actions. These are a result of the Sin within us. It is the motivations of our actions that matter to Him. Is that to say that stealing is acceptable? Absolutely not, but it does say that we steal out of selfishness and that dealing with the selfishness will eliminate the stealing. Eliminating the Sin inside eliminates the sinful actions that hurt so many. Condemning someone for a sinful action is like telling a cancer patient to eat more so they stop losing weight. If we never deal with the cancer, no matter how much they eat, the disease in the body will continue to weaken and deplete them until they finally succumb to the killer inside them.
We teach children right from wrong because they are too young to understand the convictions of the Holy Spirit and can’t discern why things are “wrong.” 1Cor 13:11 tells us that we are to move past this. “When I was a child I spoke like a child, I understood as a child, and I thought like a child: when I became a man, I put away childish things.” As adults we are expected to know the difference between right and wrong. This is why children aren’t tried as adults.
If we look at sin and the responsibility of our actions in this light then we begin to better see Sin as the problem and not the sinful actions that are a result of the Sin itself. God cares about why we do what we do. He hates Sin because it causes us to do sinful things. It has a far reaching effect that destroys.
Focus on the right things and all things will change
Paul made it so clear in Philippians 4:8 “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things” I would go so far as to say that the church world needs to change its approach to winning the lost. People know what they do that is wrong, they even often understand why it is that they do it. No one needs to tell them how wrong they are. No one needs to try and guilt them into submission of the Gospel. No one needs to belittle them and call them sinners. We all know just how broken, damaged, wrong, and sinful are actions are. What the church should be doing is focusing the world on what is pure, and just, and lovely. If we shine the light on Jesus’ grace, love, faithfulness, and the eternal life He gives the Sin that so easily besets us grows less and less attractive. We begin to recognize our need for Him. We are drawn to Him by lifting Him up, not by putting others down.
John “I if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
This was specifically concerning in what manner He would give His life for us, but also a clear figurative instruction to lift Him up as what we preach, teach, and share in love. This is why I say He doesn’t “care” about your sins, but wants to save you from the Sin that is inside you. Focusing on Him and sharing what He does for us is the only way to bring about Repentance. After all it is “Godly sorrow that works repentance”, not guilt and shame. 2 Cor. 7:10
Church, let’s focus our efforts on shining Jesus’ love for the world and not condemn it. Let’s reach out in love with open arms and not pointing fingers. Let’s preach more of the Savior and His greatness as Paul did. 1Cor. 1:23 “For I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus and him crucified.”