Saturday, August 10, 2019

What about sin?

I am currently reading the book, Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.


In chapter 2, Bridges discusses sin. Specifically, how the idea of sin seems to be disappearing from our culture. And not just our culture, but our churches as well. If and when we do address sin, it is the "big" sins, such as murder or abortion, etc. (basically the sins of others) He makes this statement in the chapter, "But on the whole, we appear to be more concerned about the sins of society than we are the sins of the saints." (Bridges, Jerry. Respectable Sins (pp. 9-10). NavPress. Kindle Edition.)

 Think about it. When is the last time you heard someone condemn one of the big sins? Now think about when is that last time you heard someone condemn gossip, anger, white lies, etc.? 

Which of these sins make us guilty of being sinners? Answer: all of them. 

He brings the point home to me when he says, "that means a 99 on a final exam is a failing grade." 
(Bridges, Jerry. Respectable Sins (p. 12). NavPress. Kindle Edition.) It means that anything less that perfection is imperfection. 

But it is this fact that makes the gospel so beautiful. Remember, ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24) So here is my conclusion: As we fail to see our sin (and ourselves as sinners), we fail to see the beauty of the gospel. As we fail to see the beauty of the gospel, we rob ourselves of our ability to appropriately respond to it. This is not the self-help gospel of many today, it is the God-help-me gospel of the Bible. 

Yet as we do the opposite, that is focus on the sins of others, it makes the gospel into something it was never meant to be, it makes it into legalism. It makes it into something that is ugly, challenging to do, hard work. But Jesus said that his burden is easy. 

God, be merciful to me, a sinner! (Luke 18:13b) Which man went away justified?



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