Tag Sin

The Scope of Our Need

Todd R Leave a comment

Today is part 4 of a series on the first Beatitude from Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

In this post, we begin later in the same chapter as the Beatitudes, where Jesus includes as sin matters of the soul’s inclination, which are entirely internal:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” – Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:27-28

Some people say that what is done in private, either alone or with other “consenting” people, is none of our business.  “Who does it hurt?” they say.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells everyone that He cares about what they do, in public and in private.  Even within themselves.  He is not saying this to embarrass anyone, but to break down their spiritual pride and lead them to depend on Him.  To Jesus, intent makes us spiritually poor as much as action does.  Sin is not a matter of consequence; it is a matter of conscience.  It includes not only the action, but the inclination to the action.

But who does it hurt; some might ask?  When excluding from our definition of sin things that other people don’t see, we may be tempted to turn faith into performance art, like the scribes and Pharisees, who “do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.”[1]  Those “ashamed” from Monday’s post who come to church looking for compassion will only feel alienated unless they join in the performance.

If only public righteousness matters, the pressure of keeping up appearances can mean that internal sins – though just as important as external sins that have obvious consequences – remain private and un-dealt with, keeping us from relying on Jesus to restore the joy of our salvation!  Compensating for guilt, and the pressure of managing expectations, become primary drivers of action rather than the guidance of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is nowhere to be found.    When we know we are not really changed and are failing, we may try to hide it to keep up appearances.  We harbor guilt and bitterness and become unable to accept ourselves and love others.

Instead, testimony of our brokenness is an essential part of Christian witness.  In his letters, the Apostle Paul repeatedly mentions his own past because it highlights the grace of God and power of Christ in redeeming him.  Likewise, those connected to Christ must confess their brokenness openly and ask His help.  Hiding our brokenness – keeping it private (sometimes even trying to keep it from Him) – obscures the power and necessity of the gospel from those who need to hear and understand it, and also keeps us from experiencing its power in our souls.  If we do not count as brokenness things where we do not see the consequence, we keep Jesus at a distance and the kingdom of heaven will not rule us.  Who does it hurt?  Well, us to begin, but also those around us who we love less as a result of hidden, secret sin.

Humanity’s need is spiritual, and our brokenness comes from the inside, not the outside.  From conscience, not consequence.  When humanity denies that brokenness is an internal, sometimes hidden, problem, it will face only the symptoms of the problem, and with the wrong prescriptions.  External forces cannot fix our internal inclinations and will tend toward the original sin of Adam and Eve, seeking the tree of wisdom in the garden that seems to offer an alternate way of governing ourselves.  Any laws, including some forms of religion, or systems of coercion will not fundamentally change us, but may provide an appearance of doing so, or worse, an incentive for a harsher system of coercion.  When coercion isn’t working, and spiritual solutions are denied, greater coercion often follows.  Unless we know we are broken, and how we are broken, we refuse the solution offered by the kingdom of heaven and remain lost looking for an alternative that does not exist[2].

We must not accept anything less than Christ’s righteousness.  But we must accept Christ’s righteousness at our very core.  Only the power of the gospel – the good news of the kingdom of God – can make straight what is crooked at its very internal, often secret, root[3].

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3

[1] Matthew 23:5-7
[2] I’m not advocating for anarchy or libertarianism or any particular form of government but pointing out that what a society thinks its government can, and should, do reflects that society’s view on what it expects government to solve.
[3] Ecclesiastes 1:15 and 7:13

Give Up Your Lists

Todd R Leave a comment

Today is part 3 of a series on the first Beatitude from Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Monday covered how the statement could make both the “proud” and the “ashamed” humble and be blessed by God.  Tuesday was about the rich young man who was fully set on earning his own salvation to see that it was impossible, all while Christ was right before him, loving him and offering him salvation by grace.

Today begins with Luke 18:10-14 –

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Similar to Monday’s post, this passage is a rebuke to the proud, while comforting the ashamed, which is made clear at the end of these verses.  This passage also plays on stereotypes of the Pharisee as one who would have been perceived as religiously superior, versus the tax collector, who was under the ban, or that time period’s rabbinic version of excommunication[1].  At the end of the first sentence, the audience would have been expecting the Pharisee to pray well – after all, they were the “experts.”  But as an “expert” in the law, the Pharisee prays (and thinks) in terms of lists of good things and lists of bad things.  As a result, he is able to credit himself with all good things and the tax collector with all bad things because his lists aren’t complete.

The Pharisee manages this level of pride in spiritual accomplishment by narrowing down his list of sins to “things that other people do.”  He also excluded more subtle or internal manifestations of sin from his lists.  For example, at other times, Jesus said Pharisees “devour widow’s houses,”[2] which may have been a form of extortion.  Also, in his heart he may have been unjust and an adulterer just by making this prayer – judging the tax collector and misrepresenting God.  God’s justice on the tax collector was poured out on Jesus – who was this Pharisee to say who that justice applied to?  Also, in over-emphasizing the law, the Pharisee was “cheating” on God by idolizing the law as a way to salvation.

By narrowing the list of sins to “what others do,” and reducing those sins to the external evidence of them, rather than the heart level, this Pharisee blinded himself to his own need, and therefore missed the blessing of the Beatitude.  The only way to feel rich in spirit before God is to lower the standard, or to humbly accept Christ’s righteousness – the riches of His spirit – in place of your own.

In Psalm 51, King David wrote of his repentance after committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed in verses 16-17:

“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
            you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
            a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

This broken spirit and contrite heart recall the first Beatitude’s promise of blessing and the ability to follow God’s will, which David prayed for back in verse 12 of Psalm 51:

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
            and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

We can’t constantly compare our record of our sins with our record of the sins of others if we want to receive God’s blessing.  Our records are always incomplete and biased.  Doing so is only likely to destroy our ability to love those who God loves and to whom He offers His grace, including ourselves.  We are poor in spirit, but we only realize it when focusing on Him, and we only are blessed when we decide His standard and opinion are the ones that matter.  If we are Christians, the standard is Christ and through our adoption as children of God, He sees Christ’s righteousness when He gives His opinion of us.

Humbly knowing this, we can go to our house justified, and in eternity be exalted by Him, the only one we should compare ourselves to and the only one whose judgement matters.  For now, this humility enables us to love God and love others as we love ourselves.

To find joy, give up your lists of sins and replace them with Christ.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3

[1] See an earlier post, Found! A Man in Need of an Ally, for an explanation of the ban as applied to tax collectors, and for Jesus’ striking decision to forgive Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector.
[2] Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47

The Last Enemy is Death

Todd R Leave a comment

In life there are many difficult questions, and two of the hardest are also common objections to Christianity: 1) Why doesn’t God do anything about the evil in this world? and 2) Why do bad things happen to good people?

However, the Bible does not leave Christians without hope in the face of these questions.

First, part of what God is doing about the evil in this world is the fact that everyone dies.  The Bible teaches that every bad thing in this world is a result of sin – people deviating from God’s purposes – and that because of that sin the world is cursed[1].  Not only do people hurt each other, but the creation itself, including human nature, is not in its ideal state.

Death was not originally part of this world, but came in to the world as a result of sin and is a constant reminder of it.  In Genesis chapter 5, there is a genealogy from Adam to Noah.  The phrase “and he died” is repeated over and over again and is a reminder that this world is not perfect.  God created a consequence for the sin of mankind: death.  While the Bible doesn’t explain why there was a snake in the garden or why Adam and Eve sinned, it does describe what God is doing about it.  When we ask why bad things happen, we acknowledge that bad things exist, that they shouldn’t exist, and that they can happen to anyone.  God isn’t doing nothing about the evil in the world – we all die and that is part of the judgment.

So, the two objections to Christianity (Why doesn’t God do anything about the evil in this world? and why do bad things happen to good people?) end up being contradictory because part of what God does about the evil in this world is that bad things (death) happen to everyone.

However, the Bible teaches that there are two deaths: a physical death and a spiritual death.  In the first, our soul is separated from our body and our body dies.  In the second, our soul is separated from God eternally and our soul dies but exists forever away from God’s presence and blessings.  A second thing that God is doing about the evil in this world is that the first death is universal, but the second death is not.

Fortunately, judgement and death aren’t the only things God is doing about sin.  What does this mean?  Note the second half of God’s curse on the serpent from Genesis 3:15 –

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
            and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
            and you shall bruise his heel.”

Who is being bruised here?  In the last phrase, Satan is injuring Christ through the crucifixion, but it’s described as a wound to the heel because it is not fatal.  Jesus was raised to life eternal.  On the other hand, Christ shall bruise the head of Satan – a fatal blow that he will never recover from.  This was determined from the beginning.

While judgement comes to all in physical death as a result of sin, through Christ there is a way out from spiritual, eternal death.  Jesus has paid the price for our sin and has conquered eternal, spiritual death as a result.

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” – 1 Corinthians 15:26

Praise God!

[1] See Genesis 3:19 and 3:22

The Traps of the Wicked

Todd R 2 Comments

The world is, unfortunately, full of people who seek to get other people in trouble, and this has been true for millennia.  Far back in Old Testament history, King David wrote in Psalm 140:4-5:

“Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
            preserve me from violent men,
            who have planned to trip up my feet.
The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
            and with cords they have spread a net;
            beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah”

When David wrote this, he was probably describing immediate, physical threats against him, but when I read verse 5 it sounds like many obstacles Christians currently face.  Every day, we encounter traps put in front of us, and David’s Psalm has many applications.

What about irresponsible news coverage, which too often includes inappropriate opinions and suggestions about how we should think or act?  We could pray, “Guard me, O LORD, against putting my faith in falsehoods.”  Or “Guard me, O LORD, against temptation to hate my enemy.”  Or “Guard me, O LORD, from putting aside the work you have for me to do to fight battles that aren’t mine.”

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

Also, the internet is a dangerous place.  Many websites use sexual images to get our attention, and in some cases if we even stop for a second to stop scrolling and look, those websites take that as interest and show us more of the same.  We could pray “Guard me, O LORD, when websites ‘have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net’”. Other websites use misleading and provocative headlines to pull us away from what we intended to look at.  “Guard me, O LORD, against click bait that leads me where I should not go, and that makes me spend my time unwisely.”

Back to the Psalm, note that in verse 5 David describes threats as being “beside the way,” meaning they are off the main path we should travel.  The traps may be hidden off the side of the road with bait trying to lure us aside to an ambush.  Therefore, the key is to stay on the road.  Proverbs 1:17 says “For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird.”  Even birds, if they see a trap, will know to avoid it.  Yet people don’t seem to be as wise, or else they wouldn’t fall for click bait and other temptations.

One of the best ways to stay away from those who “have planned to trip up my feet” is to stay busy doing good things.  Samuel Johnson wrote: “If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.”  He knew temptation is most powerful when we are alone with nothing to do, which applies to much of our time online.  I try to use writing as a way to stay busy when solitary, but that doesn’t always work for me and might not work at all for others.

Staying on the right path, we avoid snares and traps, which are near, but not on, the true way.  Once we allow temptation to move us a little, we often find it has moved us a lot, and into a trap.

What can we all do to avoid the traps of the wicked?

“Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
            preserve me from violent men,
            who have planned to trip up my feet.”

The Difference Between Grace and Mercy

Todd R 1 Comment

The words “grace” and “mercy” are often used interchangeably, as if they mean the exact same thing.  But what if they’re both used in the same sentence?  For example, the apostle Paul almost always opens his letters to the churches with some version of the phrase “grace and peace,” but in 1 Timothy 1:2 he added “mercy”, writing:

“To Timothy, my true child in the faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If grace and mercy were the same thing, it would be redundant for Paul to use both words, so they must have different meanings.  Paul uses these two words again later in the chapter, in 1 Timothy 1:13b-14, verses that give a clue to the different meanings:

“But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

Paul had been writing about how before Christ found him, he was a zealous persecutor of Christians, dragging them to prison and also supervising the stoning of Stephen, one of the church’s first deacons, then “But I received mercy…”.  Paul deserved to be punished for his hate of and actions against Christ’s people, but instead received mercy.

Then he writes that “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”  Here, Paul is receiving something from God – faith and love.  Did Paul deserve these things?  No, but he got them anyway.

Perhaps mercy is when you don’t get a bad thing that you do deserve, and grace is when you do get a good thing that you don’t deserve.  In Christ, we get both grace and mercy.  Paul’s words in 1 Timothy match this description.  By mercy, Paul didn’t get the punishment he deserved for his sins, and by grace Paul did get the faith and love he didn’t deserve.

Therefore, Paul, along with all of us, have 3 things to be thankful for: God’s mercy, and the faith and love that we get by God’s grace.  None of us deserve the “faith and love” God gives us (or it would not be grace), but when we are saved, we all receive these same gifts.  And we get them in place of what we actually deserve.

So, consider what we have received by grace.  Even our faith is a gracious gift – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).  This faith we receive is enough to save us and reconnect us to God but is not yet a perfect faith that enables us to fully trust God with all of our life decisions.  We receive a love that is part of God’s character and is what we are to give to all people, but not enough for us to love perfectly.  However, when we are reborn in the new heaven and new earth, we will have perfect faith and love.  What a world that will be!

Knowing the difference between grace and mercy gives us more to be thankful to God for, so thank God for both His grace and mercy, and the faith and love that come with them!