What Does It Mean to Sin? (2)

Introduction:

Sin is the transgression of God’s law.

“sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3.4)

ἀνομία [anomia] is [a] (without) and [nomos] (law), or “without law”.

Law establishes boundaries and guidelines concerning what must be done or not done.

Good examples of both are in the 10 Commandments, spec. Exodus 20:12–13 ““Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder.”

When we violate God’s law, we have committed sin, or we have sinned.

To see what this means for us, we can look at other places in scripture where the word is used and piece together it’s meaning better. Our students call this using “context clues”.

Biblical context clues for “lawlessness”

In Matthew 7.21-23, Jesus used the word to describe all who do not do God’s will: Matthew 7:21–23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

From this we can see that the Father’s will (i.e. God’s will) is the standard, the law, the statute which must be carried out. On the day of judgment lawlessness is condemned, and all those who work lawlessness will be cast from God’s presence forever.

In Rom. 6.19 Paul uses it to describe the Roman Christians’ state prior to conversion: Romans 6:19 “I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”

Before one obeys the gospel of Christ, they are controlled and dominated by “lawlessness”, by not doing God’s will, but after becoming Christians these Romans are able to now be controlled by righteousness, or by keeping God’s law.

Finally, in Titus 2:13–14 Paul describes Jesus giving Himself up for us to “redeem us from all lawlessness”: “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

All of the horrible consequences of breaking God’s law are alleviated by God through the sacrifice of Jesus, a sacrifice that redeems us and through obedience to the Gospel purifies us to be God’s people moving forward, deeply committed to keeping God’s law.

Sin is a violation of statute, the punishment for which is death & separation from God. Jesus saves us from the consequences of breaking God’s law.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Sin is Unrighteousness.

“all wrongdoing is sin.” (1 John 5.17)

ἀδικία [adikia] is [a] (without) and [dike] (justice/right), or “without justice/without right”

This word is like saying “wrongfulness” or “right-less-ness”, and we’ll see some versions of how this is translated in a moment.

God determines what is right, good, or true, as in Gen. 1 when He declared all His created works to be “good/very good”, and God defines what is right as well as what is true, in a sense by His nature or by His choice of a thing.

When we violate God’s determination of right, good, or true, we have sinned.

Biblical context clues for “wrongdoing”

Concerning love in 1 Corinthians 13:6, Paul writes “it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”

Notice how is word is used instead of the natural contrast to truth, “falsehood”.

Love, being of God as God is love, does not rejoice at “truth-less-ness”, or “wrongdoing”. The reason is simple: “wrongdoing” is not of God, and as such God does not rejoice in it.

Is there a stronger reason to avoid sin for those that love God, that since God does not rejoice in it, neither will we???

In Acts 8.23, when Simon is rebuked strongly by Peter for his request to purchase the Holy Spirit’s gifts with money, Peter says he has done “wickedness”, and is caught “in the bond of iniquity.”

Simon is, like we saw with the slave of lawlessness in Rom. 6, trapped. Caught. Unable to extricate himself from “iniquity”, or “wrongdoing” (same word). He needs to seek the intervention of God by way of prayer for forgiveness for his sin.

Paul describes Simon’s “wrongdoing” in language far more serious than we tend to think about sin or describe sin!

In Rom. 1.18, really the opening line of Paul’s explanation & defense of the Gospel, begins with God’s attitude toward “wrongdoing”: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

Sin isn’t just some ho-hum thing to God: His burning wrath, perhaps the most terrifying concept of the Old Testament, is “revealed” against this very thing.

It isn’t just “Well, God doesn’t prefer sin.”, or “God would rather that sin wasn’t nearby.” No, God’s response to sin is our response to a house full of spiders: Burn it with fire.

Finally, 1 John 1:9, where John writing to Christians says this: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

For the Christian, one who has responded to the Gospel message with obedient faith, they alone of all people have a solution for their “wrongfulness”. John writes that if we will confess our sins, God will forgive us and cleanse us from these things.

Sin is a violation of principle, an allowance of something into our presence that God does not allow into His presence. Jesus cleanses and frees us from “right-less-ness”, bringing us back into the light of God, where God illuminates all that is right, and good, and true.

Sin is failure to fulfill our purpose.

“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4.17)

This definition of sin is not based on a word, but a concept: Purpose.

This verse comes in the context of God’s will being the sole determining factor for being able to do a thing or not (4.15), along with a reminder that our lives are short and fleeting (4.14).

This context causes us to ask a few questions: If we are to live mindful of our fleeting time and the will of God: Why does God will us to have this time? What purpose do we have? What are we here to do at this moment?

We are created images of God, created to represent and glorify Him on this earth (Gen. 1.26-28)

In God’s divine revelation He has revealed what we should do in His service, a great many things too numerous to provide in this sermon but perhaps well-summarized in Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

When we violate God’s purpose and intent for us as His images, we have sinned!

Similar Ideas in Scripture

Luke 12.41-47: Two servants are contrasted - One fulfilled his purpose and was rewarded accordingly, while the other squandered his time and energies on himself, and was utterly destroyed.

Brethren, this parable causes me to stop and consider: Am I spending my time on me, or Him?

2 Peter 2:20–22 describes the Christian who has turned back from fulfilling their purpose and calling to serve Jesus with the strongest of language.

Sin is a Violation of Duty, a rejection of Purpose.

In Christ, we have a second chance to become who God wants us to be, by conforming ourselves to the image of His Son.

Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

It’s as if we’ve all destroyed ourselves as images of God, but God sent Jesus to us, a living example of what we should be, so that we might be put back together properly!

Sin is Missing the Mark.

“...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...” (Rom. 3.23a)

αμαρτανω [amartano] is [a] “without” and [meros] “a part or share”, Properly, the word means “having no part”.

Used in ancient times when archers would miss their target. We even have an expression similar to this: “I got a piece of it.”

This is also the root idea behind the most common word for sin in the O.T. [ht] = 235x in O.T., as in Genesis 39:9 “He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?””

We have not measured up the standard we were created to meet: The Glory of God, His moral perfection, His absolute righteousness, His unbroken streak of goodness, righteousness, and truthfulness.

Since Eden, man has always missed the mark.

Look earlier in Rom. 3.9-18: These are quotations not from contemporary authors of Paul, but from David, Solomon, and Isaiah, written 1000-800 years prior! If Paul is wrong here, the human race has had a millennium to prove Paul wrong!

In Romans 5.12 Paul reaches even deeper into human history to highlight Adam, who alongside Eve introduced sin (and with it death) into the world.

Every human in history, who had the ability and wherewithal to do so, has violated the will of God at least one in their lives, save one.

We tend to think of better or worse when it comes to fallen man. We must zoom out to see the true picture of humanity: “The harlot, the liar, the murderer, are short of [God’s glory]; but so are you. Perhaps they stand at the bottom of a mine, and you on the crest of an Alp; but you are as little able to touch the stars as they” (Quoting Handley Moule, Stott, p. 109).

Sin is a violation of Intention.

When we sin, we sacrifice the glory of Heaven for the shame of earth, perhaps best expressed in Romans 1:21–23 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

But God, showing His grace and righteousness, justifies and redeems all who receive His gift through fatih.

We could not touch Heaven, but as the old song goes: “Heaven came down & glory filled my soul, When at the Cross my Savior made me whole!”

Sin is all that does not proceed from faith.

“For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14.23b)

Now, for the skeptic or the cynic, this could quickly be taken out of context: “Hey, Mountain Dew does not proceed from faith, therefore Mt. Dew is sin.” (Now I know what someone in here is thinking: Alright preacher, you’ve crossed over from preaching into meddling: “Mt. Dew is a gift from on high, you hold your tongue!”)

The context of Rom. 14 clarifies what Paul means by this verse.

Romans 14 discusses our exercise of liberties in matters of personal judgment. In Christ, we are free to choose whether or not to do a great many things about which God has not spoken, such as whether we should eat vegetables only, nor not (14.3), or whether we should celebrate holidays (14.5).

We are taught in this passage to ensure that our exercise of personal liberty does not cause our brethren to stumble by violating their consciences

Romans 14:13 “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”

Romans 14:20 “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.”

Now, why is it so important that I avoid offending the consciences of brethren?

The conscience of a Christian is surrendered to Christ.

Our consciences are our personal barometers of right & wrong, which are formed over time by a great number of influences, like our parents, our culture, and most critically God’s revealed will for us.

For the Christian, their conscience has been surrendered to Christ & to God, and we’ve committed to molding it toward pleasing Him and doing His will.

Now, let’s do a thought experiment: Let’s say I come to believe that perhaps consuming caffeine is not something I should do as a Christian (which would rule out Mt. Dew), much like some in the past have argued that all card-playing shouldn’t be done, or that celebrating holidays is wrong.

So, to me at this point in time, Mt. Dew is not something I’m sure I can consume and still be pleasing to God. Simply put, I think drinking this might be wrong for me.

What if I do it anyway? What would it mean if I decided to drink it and violate my conscience, when abstaining from such would pose absolutely no risk to my soul?

It means that I’m willing to jeopardize my allegiance to God by my choice.

THIS is precisely why forcing my convictions reg. personal liberties on my fellow Christians is condemned as destroying the one for whom Christ died!

Its not about the Dew: It’s about forcing another to jeopardize their relationship with God.

In this way, sin is my choice of myself over God, which is sinful in every context, even those that are spiritually benign, like whether or not one should drink Mt. Dew.

Sin is a violation of allegiance.

In His life Jesus aligned Himself perfectly and exclusively with God, and died for us, so that we, through obeying the Gospel message, could pledge “....allegiance to the Christ, Son of God, Maker of Heaven and Earth, & to the Kingdom for which He died. A Holy Nation, Redeemed by blood, Innumerable, Bringing good news of great joy to all!”

Conclusion: Are you in sin?

If you’ve never obeyed the Gospel, you are in sin. You are trapped like Simon, condemned like the wicked servant in Luke 12, and enslaved like the Roman brethren before they obeyed the Gospel.

You’ve seen today what sin is, but we’ve also seen the way out of sin.

In Acts 22:16 Ananias told the trapped, enslaved, and condemned Jewish persecutor Saul of Tarsus: “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’”

Why do you wait? You can be free from sin, all of it, this very hour.

If you are a Christian, brethren, we’ve seen together why sin has no place in our lives.

Yet, sometimes we find ourselves in sin. We fall short, even after baptism. We miss the mark. We do what is not good. We break God’s law. We don’t act from faith. We reject our purpose.

I’m not proud of this. In fact I’m deeply ashamed of it.

But in Christ we have a way out. John described that to us in 1 John 1.9: If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us of all our sins.

Are you in sin? You don’t have to be, and I pray that you will not choose to be any longer.

The power to remove sin is in the blood of Jesus, which we contact in the waters of baptism, and according to which we appeal to God for a good conscience.

If you would be free from sin today, come to the front and make your need known, as we stand and sing together.