What is sin?

Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)

Whoa. That just looks heavy. I don’t intend for it to be. We’ll see where this blog goes. I have been thinking about grace and sin and righteousness and all that a bunch recently… and had some interesting thoughts to share… and perhaps get some feedback on through the little comment feature here in blog-dom.

A friend of mine is dealing with some sin in his life – some real and acknowledged… and some hard to pin down (like, is it really sin, or not — more on this below). And it has really made me think about what we DO with sin.

Sin is obviously anything contrary to who God is and what He wants for us. And sin is what Jesus came to pay the price for. We owed a huge, unpayable debt for our sin, and Jesus died once for all to pay for it. All of it. Forever. That is grace. Grace gives us freedom to live, messed as we are, in the fullness of God’s love and presence and greatness. Knowing full well that our freedom has been bought – past tense – and that we are God’s Righteousness. (2 Cor 5:21) Does not depend on what we DO. That is awesome. That is incredible. That is what we need to remember when we are worried about losing favor with God. Righteousness is not EARNED (even though we may convince ourselves that it can be) it is the free gift of God, so that no one can boast. (Eph 2:8-9)

But, what do we DO with sin? How do we live out righteousness? Better yet, how do we help each OTHER live out righteousness? Do we?

See, in college (Bible College) I remember a big emphasis on accountability groups and how they are vital to your "walk" as a Christian… and I have always been kinda leary of them… never been a part of one (I don’t think…)… cause it’s the whole guilt thing to me. It’s righteousness driven by Do-s and Don’t-s and the guilt of having to report your failings to your closest friends. I don’t think that is what Jesus was all about.

A friend of mine recently told me that Jesus was all about making people conform… I said quite the opposite. There’s no "MAKE" in Jesus. He does not guilt people into things. He does not condemn the broken. The only folks he railed on… the Religious Right. 🙂 The keepers of the Rules. The Pharisees. And was he bashing their sin? No, actually… he was bashing their attempt at righteousness! How crazy is that?

Jesus, from my reading of his life, and from my living daily with him now, is not about holding me to a sheet of rules or keeping track of my every move – grading each step I take. Jesus is about the full life of righteousness in him and in his grace.

Isn’t he?

Why then do we try SO HARD not to sin? This is where it gets fuzzy. And what is sin? Do we keep the extra stringent rules that Jesus told the Jews… (Murder is not just killin someone… it’s your anger toward them too. And adultery is not just sleeping with someone… it’s your lustful thoughts too.) Or, do we split hairs and try and argue around what each of the ten commandments really means etymologically? Do we keep all 600 or so of the laws in the old testament? Do we only go by the New Testament?

Is sin the acting out of the evil in our heart? Like malicious words spoken in anger or bitterness, sexual deviancy in its various forms, drunkenness, stealing, murder… all attitudes of the heart brought to fruition in sinful actions. Or is sin simply the evil in our heart? Should we be convicted (in our spirit and by others) for the evil that is in our heart, even if that evil is kept in check – kept inside???

The other night, my friend, whom we shall call Javier for anonymity, asked me to stop him from eating before he gets gluttonous. We were eating a rather scrumptious meal… and he did not want to sin in his great pleasure. And I asked him, is it REALLY gluttony (and thus, a sin) if we eat one bite too many? He said, yes… but upon clarification, he just said it’s an attitude.

I think I agree that sin is an attitude, or a condition of the heart… but I am not sure that we need to be so cautious in all that we do that we do not step one foot over the line… that we might somehow offend or lose favor with God. Was that Javier’s motivation… I don’t think so. But on the outside it appears that way.

I don’t think that is how Jesus wants us to live. Paul said in Gal 2:21 – "I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die." Certainly a desire to "Be holy as (God is) Holy" is not treating grace as meaningless is it???

In the end… I think not. More on this later. There is a goodness to striving everyday to be more of who Jesus is. But our motivation needs to be kept in check. I don’t think that God wants us doing good to earn his favor. We can’t. I don’t think He wants us doing good to earn the favor of others. That is missing the point. He certainly is not about to guilt us into doing what is right – or not doing what is wrong. But he does tell us how life will be best.

What do we DO with sin? How much do we have to keep in check? I think the better question is, how can I live the life-to-the-full that Jesus came to give me?

THIS is eternal life… to know YOU the One True God and Jesus Christ whom You sent.

Know Him. Live with Him. Love Him. Jesus will continue the work HE began in us. (Phil 1:6)

More later…