Introduction To the Deadly Sins

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”(Genesis 4:2-7)

The man huddled on the cabin floor was slowly freezing to death. It was high in the Rockies in southwestern Alberta, and outside a blizzard raged. John Elliott had logged miles that day through the deep snows of the mountain passes. As he checked for avalanches and as dusk and exhaustion overcame him. He had decided to “hole-up.” He made it wearily to his cabin but somewhat dazed with fatigue, he did not light a fire or remove his wet clothing. As the blizzard blasted through the cracks in the old cabin walls, the sleeping forest ranger sank into oblivion, paralyzed by the pleasure of the storm’s icy caress. Suddenly, however, his dog sprang into action, and with unrelenting whines, finally managed to rouse his near-comatose friend. The dog was John’s constant companion, a St. Bernard, one of a long line of dogs, famous for their heroics in times of crisis. “If that dog hadn’t been with me, I’d be dead today,” John Elliott says. “When you’re freezing to death you actually feel warm all over, and don’t wake up because it feels too good.”

This story illustrates the spiritual condition of many people today. They are cold spiritually, and sadly are oblivious of their true condition. Thank God for all the ways in which he arouses such sleepers. He sends his messengers to nudge them awake. Sometimes the methods used to awaken them are drastic, but always for their good. We should never think that because God shakes us, he therefore hates us. God awakens us from lethargy because he loves us, and wants to save us from an eternal death.

This morning we will begin a series of messages I’ve titled: Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Godly Virtues. Each week we will look at a different sin found in the historical list commonly called the seven deadly sins. We will also look at its contrary virtue.

This morning, as a way of introduction, I want to ask and answer several questions in regards to sin and virtue. We will start with sin. If you are not familiar with the seven deadly sins, they are: pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth, and greed.

Sin 1. What is sin?

Both the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek words for sin have similar meanings. Both words mean to miss. Literally, and especially in the Greek, the word for sin means to miss the mark, as in archery. The archer aims at a target but misses. The archer aims for the yellow bullseye but the arrow strikes a couple of inches to the left and hits the blue ring. Sin is missing the mark. God sets a standard of holiness and purity. But we miss. We aim and miss. Billy Graham writes,

People ask the question, “What is sin?” Sin is coming short of God’s righteousness. God is righteous and holy. He cannot look upon sin. A diamond may be perfect to the natural eye. But if you take it to a specialist and he looks at it through a glass, he sees a defect in it. And God looks at us that way.

When we compare ourselves to others, we may look pretty good. When we look on the outside and not at the heart, others may look pretty good. However, when we compare ourselves to God, we don’t look so good. God looks at the heart. He knows the motives. As Romans 3:23 puts it, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

How should we define sin? It is difficult to give a precise definition, but perhaps the best way to put it, sin is a breaking of God’s law. As 1 John 3:4 says, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.”

Sin includes what we do when God’s commands have told us not; but also, what we do not do when God has commanded us to do it. Sin is a desire to place ourselves as ruler of our lives when in fact that authority rightly belongs only to God who created us.

2. Why these seven?

This list is not a biblical list. These sins are of course mentioned in the Bible, but not in one passage. However, the Bible does contain lists of sins. One example is found in Proverbs 6.

There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.(Proverbs 6:16-19)

Other lists include:

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – 10 sins

Galatians 5:19-21 – 15 sins in 4 categories, and

Revelation 21:8 –8 sins

This list of seven dates back to the 200s. A monk wrote a list of eight sins and written in order ascending order of wickedness with pride being seen as the worst of the sins. It was later reduced to seven sins and the order reversed.

There have always been efforts to list or categorize sins and this isn’t the only extra-biblical list. Even other religions have written lists.

3. What makes them deadly?

Is there something worse about these seven than any other sin? What was it about these seven that qualified them for a list of the seven worst sins? The seven were seen as particularly damaging because left unattended they could seriously affect one’s spiritual – more so than other sins.

I thought it was interesting that a survey in Discipleship Journal asked it readers to list areas of greatest spiritual challenge to them. All seven of the Seven Deadly Sins made the list of top ten. So, these seven have been considered problems throughout church history.

According Roman Catholic theology, which we don’t follow, there are two types of sin: venial and mortal. Both are sins but mortal sins can remove your justification. What we have to realize is that all sin, not just these seven, are deadly. When Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death,” it doesn’t say these seven sins, but all sin. We should be concerned with all sin in our lives.

Henry Ward Beecher told of a mother in the wild frontier country who was washing clothes beside a stream. Her only child was playing nearby. Suddenly she realized he was no longer near her. She called his name, but there was no answer. Alarmed, the mother ran to the house, but her son wasn’t there. In wild distress, the frightened woman dashed out to the forest. There she found the child, but it was too late. The child had been killed by a wolf. Heartbroken, she picked up the lifeless body, drew it close to her heart, and tenderly carried it home.

Beecher concluded, “Oh, how that mother hated wolves!” Understandably, she detested them because of what they had done to her only son. However, every Christian parent should feel that way about evil. Like a wild wolf, sin can destroy children. Many mothers and fathers who are so careful to guard their youngsters from physical harm don’t notice the sinful forces that threaten the spiritual welfare of their boys and girls. As a result, they leave them unprotected. They show little concern for the friends their children make, the magazines they read, or the TV programs they watch. Any sin, any evil influences should be viewed as a deadly threat.

Once Georgia Southern football coach arranged for a couple of country boys to burst into a routine team meeting and throw a six-foot rattlesnake on a table in front of the team. Everyone screamed and scattered. Russell told the team, “When cocaine comes into a room, you’re not nearly as apt to leave as when that rattlesnake comes in. But they’ll both kill you!”

The same is true of sin?

4. What about eternal security?

To say that some sins are deadly, even for Christians, what does that say about eternal security? What are we to make of the doctrine of once saved always saved? Isn’t that what Jesus said in John 10?

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one.(John 10:27-30)

If you do not believe the doctrine of eternal security, does that mean that you can be saved one day and because of a sin you can be lost the next? I think we have misunderstood both our salvation and what it means to stay in it.

Mike Yaconelli once wrote in the Wittenburg Door:

I live in a small, rural community. There are lots of cattle ranches around here, and, every once in a while, a cow wanders off and gets lost. Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, “Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of grass right next to a hole in the fence. It then sees another tuft of green grass on the other side of the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know, the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.”

Similarly, it is possible to enter into the process of nibbling one’s way to lostness. It is possible to move from one tuft of activity to another, never noticing how far we have gone from home or how far away from the truth we have managed to end up.

These seven sins are deadly for this reason. They start out simply enough, but quickly leads us away from God. It is not that any single sin – the Seven Deadly Sins or another – but it is a habit of sin that leads us from God and from our relationship with him.

Let’s turn our attention to the virtues: humility, kindness, patience, abstinence, chastity, diligence, and liberality.

Virtues

1. What is a virtue?

If we were to view sin as the abuse of God’s grace, virtues would be the working of God’s grace within us. I don’t want to say that the opposite of each sin is a virtue. Instead, a virtue is just a correction of that vice. For example, next week we will look at the sin of pride. The matching virtue is humility. If pride – thinking too much of ourselves – is one extreme, the other is thinking too little of ourselves. Then the virtue – humility – is thinking correctly about ourselves, seeing ourselves as God would see us.

In his book Confessions, Augustine wrote,

Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him.

Virtues are doing things God’s way with is timing. We get into trouble when we try to rush along ahead of him.

2. Why are they beneficial?

Why bother with these virtues?

First, it’s God’s desire. God’s desire is that we become more and more like Jesus. When you think of someone who exemplified all these virtues the first person to come to mind is Jesus. Jesus was humble and patient and kind.

Second, we will then bring glory to God. Jesus told his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount:

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.(Matthew 5:16)

And Peter wrote,

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12)

When we do what is right and live virtuous lives, people will be drawn to God.

Third, we want to avoid God’s punishment. I’ve always known that life is easier when I’ve done what I was told to do. When I growing up, I found most of my problems came when I didn’t do my homework or my chores or when I did something I knew was wrong. The same is still true. Not every bad thing in our lives is caused by our wrong choices, but many are. We would get along much better if we simply did what we knew was right.

3. How do I cultivate them in my life?

How do we allow God to cultivate and grow these virtues in our lives? We will discuss this more in each message, but here’s a quick overview.

First, develop godly habits. Survey respondents were asked to note when they were more likely to give in to temptations. They gave two answers: When they had neglected their time with God (81 percent), and

When they were physically tired (57 percent)

Conversely, resisting temptation was easier when:

Accompanied by prayer (84 percent)

Avoiding compromising situations (76 percent)

Bible study (66 percent), and

Being accountable to someone (52 percent)

Reading the Bible, prayer, and worshiping with other Christians may not seem like much, but a regular habit of these Christian disciplines goes a long way.

Second, learn to follow God’s leading. Augustine wrote,

Sin arises when things that are a minor good are pursued as though they were the most important goals in life. If money or affection or power are sought in disproportionate, obsessive ways, then sin occurs. And that sin is magnified when, for these lesser goals, we fail to pursue the highest good and the finest goals. So, when we ask ourselves why, in a given situation, we committed a sin, the answer is usually one of two things. Either we wanted to obtain something we didn’t have, or we feared losing something we had.

If we sin when we rush ahead without God, then we need to learn to wait on God. Moses got into trouble when, wanting to help the Hebrew slaves, struck the Egyptian taskmaster. Saul got into trouble when he grew impatient of waiting on Samuel to arrive to offer sacrifices. Virtues are not just the right action but the right action at the right time. Learn to wait on God.

Third, allow God to work in your life. Think of the fruit of the Spirit listed for us in Galatians 5:22.

. . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

These are the kinds of virtues God wants us to have. Not only that, but we read in Philippians 1:6 that God is at work in our lives, bringing to completion what he has begun. We must allow God to work, not fighting his leading or discipline.

God told Cain that sin was crouching at his door desiring to have him. God pictures sin as an animal lying in wait. Sin, then, is not just a breaking of God’s commands, but is an active force seeking to ambush Cain. Peter repeats this understanding of sin when he says in 1 Peter 5:8,

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Sin desires us, but God says we have a choice. God told Cain that he could master it, that he must overcome it. It’s a choice. We have this choice. We don’t have to live lives ruined by sin. We may sin, but we don’t have to be slaves to it. God has sent us his Son to free us from sin.

As we go through this series, I hope that it will be a time of examination. Every sin may not relate to you. You may not have a problem with a particular sin. But we must also watch out. It is usually in the area we think we are least likely to fall that we end up falling.

I also hope this series will bring hope. God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. However, there is a condition. We must confess our sins. But how can we confess our sins if we aren’t aware of them?