FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE
NATURE OF SIN – III
Matthew 9:9 And as Yahushua passed forth from thence, he
saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto
him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him
Last week’s post ended with this comment:
We are instructed to
renew our minds so we can understand and recognize the
will of IAUE in order to
be able to do His will. Over and over
again, we have
seen in the Scriptures
that we were created for this one glorious purpose…to do
the will of IAUE. Failure to realize this purpose in our life
is the ultimate failure;
and that failure
cannot and will not be rewarded.
Sin. It is not a popular
topic of discussion. Typically, we engage the discussion from a theological
point of view instead of a personal one because we absolutely do not want to
air out our sins in a public forum. This
kind of relationship to the subject of sin is one of the reasons why the
church, today, still thinks of sin as “bad things” we do; and the badness of those
things is measured by how we or the public views any particular act. That is
how we arrive at the idea of big sins versus little sins.
Killing someone is a big sin because it takes a life and wreaks
havoc upon the victim’s family and friends. Taking a pen or a few postage stamps
from the boss’s office without permission is a little sin because stealing a
few petty office supplies would probably go totally unnoticed and would hurt no
one. In this simple illustration we can
see how easily we separate sin from its connection to IAUE and make it little
more than an issue of human morality determined by social norms and standards.
This deception is one of Satan’s most effective tools at
rendering the church powerless to influence the world. As long as we live our lives with this
perspective of sin, we do not and cannot bring to our society any appreciation for
the holiness of IAUE. This is why I
suggest that we replace the word “sin” with “disobedience to the will of IAUE.” When we have that concept firmly established
in our thinking, we can no longer evaluate our choice to sin in terms of whether
or not it will affect the people around us, or if they will even ever know what
we have done. It will have to be
evaluated on the basis of choosing to rebel against the authority of IAUE. Sin has nothing to do with social norms and
standards. It is not about the affect
our actions may have on others. Sin is
about who has the right to rule our lives.
Sin is a litmus test to determine who our Master is.
It is natural to man to keep something to himself, some private
luxury usually held in secret. On the
outside, we show the world what we want it to see; but we forget that our
Father in Heaven sees what we do in secret.
We delude ourselves into thinking that we are not going to be held
accountable for our rebellion against His will, rebellion against His right to rule
over us. The fact of the matter is:
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; IAUE is not mocked: for whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap.
If we continue in sin, there are two ways that accountability
for our rebellion against the will of IAUE may come to us; neither way is “pretty,”
but one certainly involves more mercy than the other.
1. IAUE may discipline
us. His discipline is always intended to
strike at the root of our right of self-government. Sin; after all, is our expression that we
believe we still have the right to govern our own lives. One of His forms of discipline is to
depreciate our finances either by reduction of income or increase of expenses. The love of money is the root of all kinds of
evil; and it is money that enables us to determine our “comfort level” in life.
Diminishing our finances inevitably brings us to a place of recognizing that if
IAUE does not intervene to help, we will suffer beyond our own ability to
protect ourselves. We arrive at a place
where we discover that we do not have the power to control our life; so why
should we assert our authority to do so? Every person has certain areas of
vulnerability that when “poked” will turn their attention back to IAUE. That is what His discipline is intended to
do.
2. Satan may devastate
us. The Scriptures are clear that when
we sow to the flesh, of the flesh we shall reap corruption (Gal
6:8). “Shall” is not the same as “may.” While “may” expresses the possibility of the
consequence, “shall” guarantees it. Paul
tells us in Romans 6:16 that we are servants of the one we obey. When we give ourselves to disobedience to
IAUE, our choice means we serve Satan.
Never think that Satan is benevolent or even neutral when it comes to
his intentions in our lives. His job is “to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John
10:10). Sin has pleasure for a
season; but when that season is over, the one we have been serving will use
that sin to destroy our lives. What we
consider a private luxury is really nothing more than an investment in our own
demise.
We have before us a mental battle. As many preachers and teachers have said, “The
battle is in the mind.” Spiritual
victory is won in the mind, when we learn to think correctly.
Proverb 14:12/16:25 There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of
death.
When we learn to think correctly, with the thoughts of IAUE, we
cease acting in ways that produce death and destruction in our lives. It is so tempting to go along with the
masses, because there is a sense of security in the numbers; but if the masses
are wrong, what does it profit to be numbered among them?
Most of us want to belong.
We want to be a part of the “herd.” It is a natural human reaction. It takes a certain arrogance or pride to want to be isolated from the masses. We do not want to stand out from the crowd and
have people think of us as a separatist, or worse, as a reprobate; however,
when it comes to obedience to the will of IAUE, there can be no compromise.
Consider the lemmings who herd themselves over a cliff to their
death. Would the one lemming who steps
out of the crowd and goes a different way be deemed foolish; or are the masses
who plunge blindly and submissively to their death the foolish ones, trusting
in the group mentality to be the correct way for them?
Consider a group of 20 or more friends at college; and the idea
is fomented to vandalize a building on campus in order to make a statement
about some cause. Everyone agrees it is
a good idea. You do not agree; but do
you go along because you don’t want to stand alone; or worse, be cast out of
the group? If you go along, however, you
are sure to be arrested and have a criminal record. Which decision is wisdom?
The church at large does not see sin from IAUE’s perspective,
and the entirety of the fellowship of believers that grows out of this wrong
thinking has corrupted every single other aspect of their lives both
individually and collectively. There is a
callousness toward sin in the attitude of the contemporary church. Jokes are made about sin from the pulpit; and
the congregation laughs on key.
Disobedience to IAUE has been incorporated into comedic routines by
preachers and evangelists. It is little
wonder that their converts also have no regard for the holiness of IAUE.
Christians, today, think about committing a sin. They know it is wrong, that they should not
do it; but they think to themselves, “Afterwards, I will pray 1 John 1:9 and
get rid of the sin.” They are only
thinking of themselves. They are not
thinking of the heartbreak their thoughts and actions are to IAUE; and they certainly
have no concept of the destructive repercussions of their sin. As I have been saying, we think of sin in
terms of how bad it is…in our opinion.
Well, let’s look at how bad it is in IAUE’s opinion.
Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 Woe
unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come;
but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off,
and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or
maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting
fire.
9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it
from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than
having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Do you think Yahushua was speaking allegorically in this
passage; or can you get a glimpse of how important this matter is to him and to
his Father, IAUE? If your hand or foot
or eye causes you to sin, cut them off.
Your hand or foot or eye is not nearly as important as walking in the
holiness of IAUE. Your willingness to
let your flesh lead you into temptations represents a total disregard for the
eternity that IAUE desires for you.
Matthew 18:15 If your brother sins, go and show him his
fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
16 But if he does not listen to
you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell
it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him
be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Messiah provides an urgent procedure to deal with a
brother who is walking in disobedience to IAUE, giving the individual three separate
opportunities to repent and to be restored to IAUE. If he refuses to repent,
that sinning brother is to be removed from the fellowship, for his life
represents a corrupting element to the church; and stains the body’s
representation of the holiness of IAUE.
That brings us to our opening passage of Scripture.
Matthew 9:9 And as Yahushua passed forth from thence, he
saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto
him, Follow me. And he arose, and
followed him
Matthew (also known as Levi) was a tax collector. As such, he was hated by the Jews because he
participated with the Roman oppressors in collecting tax monies from his own
people to support the Roman occupation. Tax collectors also became rich by
collecting more than was required in order to pad their own pockets. Yahushua walked right up to the table where
Matthew was at work, spoke to him directly and said, “Follow
me.” That was not an
invitation. It was a command to Matthew
from the King of the Jews. Matthew
immediately got up, left his table and his job, “and
followed him.”
If we can understand this one point, we can put sin to
rest in our lives. We do not accept Yahushua into our hearts and lives. He accepts us into his. The gospel is not an invitation to ask
Yahushua to forgive us of our sins and come into our heart to be our “personal
Lord and savior.” Nowhere in Scripture
is such an absurdity to be found. No,
the gospel is a command; and the only correct response to the command is
obedience…obedience that begins with that initial response and follows with us
the rest of our lives.
Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the performance
of the will of IAUE.
