FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE
NATURE OF SIN – II
Romans 6:1 What shall
we say then? Shall we continue in sin,
that grace may abound?
Last week’s post ended with this comment:
Perhaps we simply need a
fundamental exchange of terms. If we
stopped
referring to “sin” and
just called it what it is, “disobedience,” we would see
ourselves in a new
light. We would see ourselves as
rebellious brats still
opting to do what we
want instead of doing what the Creator wants.
What is sin? Is smoking a sin? Is drinking beer a
sin? Is going to the movies a sin? Is making out with your girlfriend/boyfriend
a sin? I have heard stories of German
Christians who go from their Sunday church services out to eat; and while
everyone at the table is drinking a beer, they discuss the horror that American
Christians smoke cigarettes.
When I was a young man at college, I asked a girl if she would go
out with me on a date. She knew I was a
person of faith because I met her in a Christian singing group on campus; so
she told me up front, “I need to be able to have sex with the person I date.” I told her that I could not give that to her;
so she countered with, “Well, what can you give me?” Frankly, at that point in my life, I was both
shocked and exhilarated; and I told her I would need to look at the Scriptures
to find the answer to that question because it was not something that had ever
occurred to me to study.
Men look at sin as either:
a)
what is obviously wrong to their own sensibilities, or
b) what is wrong measured by
accepted norms and customs; or
c) breaking the laws set by
government, or
d) “do’s and don’ts” that we can
see in black and white in the Scriptures.
None of these concepts understand the nature of sin. It is absolutely
irrelevant what we think is sinful. Social
norms or cultural standards are based on human relationships and have nothing
to do with sin. Breaking the laws of governments, whether civil or criminal
laws, is not sin. Even behavior that is contrary
to the do’s and don’t’s spelled out for us in the Scripture does not in itself
constitute sin.
1 Corinthians
6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things
are not expedient: all things are lawful for
me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
1 Corinthians
10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are
not expedient: all things are lawful for
me, but all things edify not.
The apostle Paul states that everything is lawful for him; but
that does not mean he runs amok and enjoys doing whatever he wants to do. He clarifies that though everything is lawful
to him, not everything is expedient; he will not permit anything to bring him
under bondage; and not everything edifies (is not encouraging or profitable to him
or to others). You see, Paul understood
the nature of sin. Sin is not what is
unacceptable to man. Sin is disobeying IAUE.
The word for sin in both the Hebrew and the Greek manuscripts is taken
from a term used in archery. It is what one would call out when an archer
failed to hit the bullseye. It means, “to miss the mark.” What does
that mean?
You missed the mark.
You did not do what you were supposed
to do.
You did not accomplish the
intended objective.
You did not obtain approval for
your effort.
You did not do what was necessary
to obtain the reward.
You failed.
What is the mark? The mark is obedience. Missing the
mark then, quite simply, is disobedience. Missing the mark is not smoking
a cigarette, or drinking a beer, or going to a movie…unless IAUE has said to
you not to do it. The children of Israel
marched around Jericho for seven straight days.
One of those days was the Sabbath; which means the entire congregation
of Israel broke the law of the Sabbath; but they obeyed the will of IAUE. The showbread
in the tabernacle, by law, could only be eaten by the priests who served in the
tabernacle, and that only on the Sabbath; and yet, David and his men ate the showbread
because they were hungry; and the Scriptures did not record their act as having
been sinful. Yahushua and his disciples
worked on the Sabbath day doing good.
The Pharisees criticized that they were breaking the law; but IAUE
approved of their deeds.
Sin, by
definition, is disobedience to the will of IAUE.
Why are we laboring over this issue of the
nature of sin? It is because it is a
critical concept about which our minds think wrongly; and we must have our
minds renewed to think of sin the way IAUE thinks of sin. Once this is clarified in the mind of the
disciple, he/she can no longer wake up in the morning and proceed about the
day in whatever manner he or she pleases.
Our choice of what to wear, what time we leave for work, even what time
we awaken to begin our day are no longer our choices to make. We have a Master, now; who always did those
things that pleased His Father; and it is his purpose to train us to understand
how to please his Father in absolutely everything we do.
We must stop thinking of sin as doing bad
things; for as long as we hold to that idea, sin will be a matter measured by
our own opinions, which effectually makes us our own gods, for sin will then be
a breach of our will instead of the will of IAUE. Sin is what we do every single time we do not
do as IAUE instructs: If we fail to do what He tells us to do; if we refuse to
say what He tells us to say. If we miss
that mark, we miss the only thing that is truly important in our life. Everything else pales into
insignificance. What a tragedy it would
be if the insignificant thing is what is important to us.
Matthew 16:26 For what is a man
profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
If
we are to become faithful disciples, we must learn to think correctly about
this matter.
Luke 1:68 Blessed be IAUE the Elohim of Israel; for he hath visited and
redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
70 As he spake by the mouth
of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
71 That we should be saved
from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
72 To perform the mercy
promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he sware
to our father Abraham,
74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our
life.
The whole purpose of
IAUE sending His son for us was to enable us to serve Him.
Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I
come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to
do thy will, O IAUE.
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings
and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which
are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I
come to do thy will, O IAUE. He taketh away the first, that he may
establish the second.
10 By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of
the body of Yahushua Messiah once for all.
Yahushua
took away the ritual sacrifices, replacing it with the simple doing of the will
of IAUE. He didn’t replace it with
praying a “magic prayer,” then asking us to attend church on Sunday.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of IAUE.
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.
Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the performance
of the will of IAUE.
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