Easter-2

We talked about this last week. Sin brings death. So the question we have is - what does sin mean to me?

Sin is ultimately about disconnecting from God and His power

The most common word for sin in the bible, ha-mar-tah-ma, ORIGINALLY meant ‘to miss the mark’ or ‘to fail in duty’.

Other words translate to overstepping limits, rebellion, or even trespassing.

Sin LEADS to death - but death starts with disconnecting from God and His power.

Isaiah 59:2 NIV

But your iniquities have separated you from your God

So the big, big problem with sin is this separation it creates between us and God.

But there’s a thing about sin that we need to confront.

Sin finds it’s source in our hearts

The root of understanding and conquering sin in our lives is understanding where it starts and what it looks like.

STORY - Jesus got blasted by the pharisees for how his disciples were eating food without a ritual cleansing prior to eating. Pharisees = doing this exact thing is the only thing that God cares about. Just tick the boxes or else.

So jesus teaches the people - he says, it’s not the method of eating food that is what causes defilement in a person. It’s something else.

Matthew 15:18–19 NIV

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

And this is a pretty strong list. Murder, adultery, theft, etc

It’s easy to look at that and think - all I need to do is avoid the BIG TICKET items, and keep away from the external stuff that seems really bad.

The jews at the time had a similar perspective at the time of Jesus. God set out a specific set of rules, and you were perfect so long as you didn’t break any of them, and kept away from all the heathens that would pollute you just by being nearby.

But Jesus says - no, the issue goes way deeper. And it starts in our hearts.

Matthew 5:21–22 NIV

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.

So this list is way different. We pat ourselves on the back and say, hey, haven’t murdered anyone yet!

Jesus says - if you’ve ever been angry at a brother or sister - then you already crossed that line.

Because the second your heart steps into that lane - then you’ve stepped out of the power and the plan of God.

See, we think, it’s that external action that really defiles us. We think it’s murder that makes us cross the line. But Jesus says, no, the stuff that comes out of your heart is what does the defiling.

That sounds terribly defeatist because - I mean, we can skip murder easy enough, but being angry at someone?

But the point of that isn’t to say that there’s no hope. The point is to understand what our hope IS.

Salvation means submission

We’ve boiled this idea of salvation down to simply asking for forgiveness. Saying, i’m sorry, God says, don’t worry about it, I cleared your debt. Then we’re scott free.

The problem is, that understanding doesn’t involve a relationship with God. It’s about avoiding judgment.

That relationship is the only real, true, life giving aspect of our lives. But when we boil it down to, just say sorry, and you just keep doing you cause you’re covered - where’s the relationship?

Imagine if your definition of marriage was, ‘i need to avoid cheating, avoid being abusive’. I haven’t broken any rules or laws in my marriage.

While those are valuable things - they aren’t the main points. And in fact, if those are the ONLY points - you have a toxic relationship at best - but realistically you don’t even have a relationship.

Forgiveness is God saying, I will not hold the consequences of your sin against you - when you come to me, you can come freely, without guilt or shame.

While sin brought about our death, it also brought about our isolation from God. And Jesus says - that’s solved now.

STORY - When my kid wanders off - I can forgive their motivation and their reason. But them wandering off is still super dangerous. Get eaten by a bear, etc.

Jesus talked about this reality:

Matthew 7:21 NIV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

He said - there are people out there who recognize Jesus as Lord - and miss the kingdom of heaven.

The bible even says ‘There are people who will heal and cast out demons, and not enter the kingdom’.

Another way of understanding jesus is to say, It’s not those people who only recognize i’m king who will get in. It’s those people who walk with me, follow me, submit to me, who will find eternal life.

So what’s the determining factor? Submission to Jesus.

‘Only those who do the will of my father who is in heaven’ will enter the kingdom of God.

Don’t get me wrong - it’s AMAZING to be a good person. You won’t find any saved people who aren’t good people. James says, if you say you have faith but you’re not a good person, you’re lying about your faith

But the point isn’t simply the choice - it’s restoring that relationship with God. Getting back to that pattern in the garden of eden, where we walked around with God every day, and had him in our lives.

That’s an intimidating invite, to say, we need to walk along with God every day. We’re not perfect.

But there’s a promise with this:

God’s Spirit will give you the power to get it done

Ephesians 1:18–20 NIV

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

So Paul says, that same power that raised Jesus from the dead - it’s working in us.

The same promise in Philippians.

Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

Because, remember - God knows we’re imperfect. So he will send his spirit to us to help us along the way. That’s what real forgiveness looks like - not that he just says, ok, i’ve erased the ledger. Now go away.

Real, true forgiveness from the Lord is an invitation to go back to that life-giving, fundamental relationship with Him. And to have absolutely no reason to have to say no.

That’s what we’re inviting you to today. That radical relationship with jesus, offered free of charge, where he steps into your life as you submit to his wisdom and power, and he walks you through whatever may come your way.

The thing is - Jesus’ way is way more powerful than we could ever imagine.

STORY - The disciples on the boat, in a storm. Have their own solutions. But Jesus calls peter to just walk on water.