Mon 31 Jul 2006
The longer I’m a Christian, the more I become convicted at just how lightly I take the issue of sin. I find myself treating sin as though it were just a minor inconvenience, just a case of the sniffles rather than a cancer. This conviction came once again the other day as I was reading 1 Peter. In Chapter 2, Peter develops an argument about the glories of election, that God would call a people unto Himself, making them a “spiritual house” built on the cornerstone of Christ. God, in His grace and mercy and for His glory, has called those “who were not a people” to be His people.”
But these things are far from dusty intellectual pursuits for Peter. These are the truths about salvation and they are not just for the head but for the whole life. Truth about God should always affect His people and move us to action. Peter admonishes:
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation (1 Peter 2:10-11).
Peter commands us to “abstain from the passions of the flesh.” Most Believers would agree, we should stay away from sin, we should try to avoid it and we should try to do it less. But that’s the extent of it for most people. John Owen’s idea of “mortifying” or killing our sin seems foreign to many of us because we don’t believe that sin is really all that serious. But notice, Peter furthers his admonition and tells us why we are to “abstain from the passions of the flesh,” it is because these very passions, these sins “wage war against your soul.”
Sin is not just a case of the common cold. We cannot take a few Bible verses like an antibiotic and be on our way. Sin is a cancer that embeds itself into our very beings, it is not neutral, it is trying to destroy us. Peter says that the “passions of the flesh” are “waging war” on our souls. I know that I rarely take sin that seriously, particularly when I give in to temptation. I find myself saying that it’s not so bad and that as long as I dont’ do whatever it was again very soon, everything will be fine.
Scripture, and God take sin seriously. When we minimize the seriousness of sin, we are also minimizing the holiness of God. What makes sin so serious is not just that it’s waging war against us, it is a direct affront to the holiness of God. God’s holiness is what determines the seriousness of sin. Sin is punishable by death (Romans 6:23) and Jesus takes sin so seriously that He commands that we take drastic measures against it:
And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell (Mark 9:43-47).
This is thinking that takes sin seriously and that understands that we are at war and yet this is thinking that so few of us share. We must be willing to flee from sin (1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Corinthians 10:14, 1 Timothy 6:10-12, 2 Timothy 2:22, etc.). We must “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12), knowing that this is a fight to the death and that if we do not kill sin, it certainly desires to kill us.
on 31 Jul 2006 at 10:39 am 1.Kevin Leggett said …
Prior to my position in retail, I once believed that people were generally good. Not in the sense that they could get salvation from their good works, but that people generally meant well. Now having worked as a manager at Hastings, I have found a whole new side of humanity. The “cancerous” state of everyone around me. People are generally lazy and decietful because of the illness so deeply embedded in their nature.
Makes me appreciate salvation even more. Not that I am guiltless of committing sin, but that I have found the greatest love of all as the ultimate escape from the bondage of sin. That is Christ, our Lord.
on 31 Jul 2006 at 12:44 pm 2.Amber said …
I totally agree with this post. It’s something that we tend to just read straight through and not really let it permeate our hearts. I think our initial reaction is to read through “abstain from the passions of the flesh” and just think of the really bad things. Okay, passions of the flesh,…murder, lust, adultery, hate,…check, check, check, check — okay, I’m good. Next. We don’t really want to take the time to think “What are MY personal ‘passions of the flesh’ that are areas of sin for me?” We don’t often let it get as personal as: anger/temper, over-eating, idolatry of our children/tv/spouse/cellphone, etc. But if we truly did, each of these “little” things would become serious issues. We would take Mark 9:34-37 seriously and we would live it out — daily. We would see each other “individualizing,” for lack of a better word, those passages for their own lives and cutting out whatever it is that causes them to sin. And that pruning process would be different for each person, not a cookie cutter formula of “abstain from this list and you’ll be fine.” But as you said, “killing our sin seems foreign to many of us because we don’t believe that sin is really all that serious.” And also, “Scripture, and God take sin seriously. When we minimize the seriousness of sin, we are also minimizing the holiness of God.” Minimize God? How many people think of it like that? That certainly is the biggest grievance of all, is it not?
on 31 Jul 2006 at 2:17 pm 3.Bryan Riley said …
Amen. But as we wake up to this reality we must be prepared to wear our armor and let God rule completely in our lives because it will draw out the enemy. When we are asleep to this reality, Satan can focus on other fronts.
on 01 Aug 2006 at 5:25 am 4.Bob said …
Thanks for the insights of truth. I sat and read and thought of how I too at times treat sin “not-so-serious.” I loved the thought … Sin is not just a case of the common cold. We cannot take a few Bible verses like an antibiotic and be on our way.
In many cases we “1 John 1:9-it” … commit it, confess it, forget it. How lightly see our sin, the depths of it forgetting the cost of it.
Keep sharing the truth.
on 02 Aug 2006 at 1:41 pm 5.Nathan Copeland said …
Amen and Amen. A sober and timely reminder. Would love to read another post on the subtle deceptiveness of sin. Like cancer, it often eats away slowly, undetected. Sick! Lord, help us.