I gave a sermon on 8/9 entitled "rethink:" and suggested four topics (sin, grace, church and evangelism) that we may need to spend some time thinking about again or in an entirely different way. Over the next few weeks I am going to blog about some of those different topics that might need some rethinking, some of which I spoke about this morning and others that I didn't get a chance to touch on. Feel free to join in on the conversation at any time.
We often think about sin in terms of good vs. bad or right vs. wrong. I think this can lead us to think that anything that is good can’t be sin. So, who decides what is good or not? If we’re honest, it usually ends up being you and I who decide when it comes to those day in-day out, everyday decisions, right? So that means that anything that I think seems good or feels good is obviously not sin.
We need to rethink:sin as anything or anyone that comes in between us and our relationship with God. If our spouses, significant others, careers, hobbies, etc. come between us and God, they are becoming sin. Even things that are good, like loving my wife, can become sin if my love for her trumps my love for God. The Church, when seeking after Jesus is a good thing but if we make the seeking after Jesus part more important than Jesus Himself…I think we might be sinning.
When we stop for a second to rethink:sin we begin to see it as this thing God detests and that we are all guilty of we realize we may need to take a little time to rethink:grace.
5 comments:
Francis Schaeffer is a interesting source of intellectual consideration of sin
I paraphrase but he said something like "We know what sin is, the rest is permissable!"
I get concerned when believers become obsessed with sin to the degree that they become "prescriptivists." i.e. They prescribe a piece of scripture or an anecdotal pill.
I like what was said in a pop new age documentary.
What you want in the world and in yourself go after that. Don't focus on or avoid that which you don't want.
Very difficult to no have a donut but much easier to go and have something healthy.
Steven Slomkowski: thanks for the read and comment.
i agree, an obsession with sin is certainly not healthy either is the other extreme, apathy.
that is an interesting paraphrase that you shared, it made me wonder if sometimes we don't really know what sin is, hence the need to rethink it i guess. if it comes down to my wants, then i am drowning in sin. to me it seems like it is only when my wants are the same as the wants of Christ that 'wants' should be focused on.
thanks again for sharing and bringing up some interesting points.
Hey Matt,
You're welcome but you got the thinking started.
Blessings!!!!!
" to me it seems like it is only when my wants are the same as the wants of Christ that 'wants' should be focused on."
What if Christ's 'wants' are for you to do whatever your little heart desires as long as Christ is the center of anything you do. If not, it then becomes a life long struggle to "know God's will for me".
His will is for you to love Him and love others.
Matt: thanks for the read and comment.
i would agree that Christ wants me to do "whatever [my] little heart desires as long as Christ is the center of anything [I] do." and i think this is what i had said earlier only in a different way. if Christ is the center of anything i do, then it is really whatever His little heart desires, not mine, just like it would be His wants and not mine.
i think you summed up God's will for our lives well. thanks for sharing.
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