Sin
Pete Jackson
Apparently the best way to learn is by doing, so I've got here a list of sins for us all to try out for a few minutes. Only joking. If you're anything like me you need no practice to become an expert at sin.
What we are going to look at for just a few minutes is this - what does that word mean in our culture, and what does that word mean when the Bible uses it? I did a Google search for the word sin on Saturday in preparation for this slot. Here's the kind of things (apart from the religious websites and the maths revision websites) that came up often.
Sites for heavy metal bands
Sites selling lingerie
References to 'living in sin'
A 'Kwik Quiz' asking 'which sin are you?' worked out by filling in your name, DOB and favourite colour. An answer would pop up telling you which one of the famous seven deadly sins was your speciality. Also in my research I came across 'Slimmers world' where 'sin' is the word used for naughty foods, those high in fat content or in calories - crisps, chocolate, that kind of thing. You are allowed so many sins a day.
Therefore, in our culture, sin is a silly, archaic word. An out of date concept that if anything is more to do with a spot of adult naughtiness then anything actually worth getting upset about. The contrast with the Bible could not be more stark.
Here's some of the main things the Bible teaches about this word sin.
1. Sin is all about rebellion
The Bible uses various words to talk about this idea of sin and sinning. So in Genesis 4:6 the word there has something to do with 'missing the mark'. Coming short of the standard required by God. In many places in the Bible it talks about sin as people 'going astray' from God (e.g. Isaiah 53:6). That is totally ignoring God and heading out on our own way. And the Bible also often talks about sin as 'transgression' (Jeremiah 2 vs. 29) which is basically riding roughshod over the boundaries that God in his love and wisdom has set.
From all of these we can see that sin is all about rebelling against God, his standards, his word, his loving boundaries, and living without any reference to him. And it's totally outrageous and uncalled for. Sin means we run around God's planet taking his gifts and breathing his air as if we owned the place and as if God was either dead or fictional. It's nothing short of an attempted coup, sin is all about trying to overthrow God's rightful place as God. Sin is about who is on the throne of our lives. We don't want God to be there because we'd quite like that job ourselves. Ultimately it's about wanting to be God ourselves. Some of us do that overtly, some of us do it more subtly by just persistently ignoring God. But it amounts to the same thing.
2. Sin is a serious condition
Jesus says (John 8:34) that sin is something that enslaves us. That is, we can't break free from this rebellious attitude we have, we're slaves to our own selfishness. Elsewhere it's also clear that sin is universal (Ecclesiastes 7:20), that is, it's something that affects every single human being. Sin damages our relationships (no surprise, if I want to be God and so do you, no wonder we can't get on, this town ain't big enough for the both of us), it damages our planet, it ruins people's lives.
And worst of all, it brings us into the firing line of God's justice.
3. Sin deserves punishment from God.
Romans 6:23 tells us that the pay we get rewarded for our sin is death. Which is totally fair. Life is a gift of God and we can't expect to tell him where to go and still cling onto his gifts forever. The sort of death described in the Bible is two-fold, a physical death of our bodies now and an eternal death of being alone and in anguish outside God's kingdom forever.
We can't expect God to just ignore our rebellion, as if all the mess of this world because of sin just didn't matter. He is King of his universe despite our efforts and he will one day squash the rebellion, though he is very very patient. And what's more, he is extravagantly loving and merciful. 2,000 years ago he sent someone to warn us and to give us the way back from sin to God. That's what Jesus was saying when he said;
'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners'
For that reason I'm very happy to hold my hand up and says 'I'm a sinner'.