Tradition or Truth (4)
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Tradition or Truth
Tradition or Truth
Good morning all. Thank you for being with us this morning on this Labor Day weekend.
Today we are wrapping up our series on Tradition or Truth. There are more than we have time to look at, so maybe we will pick this up again.
Today will be interesting, and honestly not an easy topic. Please turn in your Bibles, phones, tablets, or whatever you have to Proverbs 6.
Before we get into today’s message, I have found 2 more traditions I would like to share:
Naki Sumo / Crying Baby Festival
What it is: Sumo wrestlers hold competing infants to see who can make the baby cry first and loudest.
Why they do it: Based on the proverb that "crying babies grow fast," the loud wails are believed to ward off evil spirits and bless the child with robust health.
El Colacho (Baby Jumping): In a small town in Spain, a traditional Corpus Christi event involves men dressed as devils leaping over newborn babies laid out on mattresses on the street, which is historically believed to cleanse original sin, though discouraged by modern church officials.
I have no idea where these cam from, but no one is jumping over my grand kids.
Today I want us to talk about sin. I know sounds like fun. I want to hone in on the:
7 Deadly Sins
7 Deadly Sins
If you didn’t know, the list is:
Pride, envy gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth.
The idea these are the foundationla vices or charachter qualities that lead to more sin.
Pride involves an inflated sense of self-worth; envy means desiring another’s possessions, success, or talents; gluttony reflects excessive desire for eating and drinking; lust centers on selfish sexual focus; anger expresses an improper desire for revenge; greed involves strong desire for possessions; and sloth manifests as lack of effort in necessary tasks.1 Each sin generates other transgressions—for instance, anger can lead to harsh speech, violence, or murder.
Pope Gregory the Great first published this list in the 6th century.
The list can be found in the 4th century but it was 8:
gluttony, vainglory, fornication, pride, wrath, sorrow, indifference, and avarice.
Some argue they are form Hellenistic (Greek) gnostics, while others argue Christian origins quoting all listed sins appear in the NT and is found i the early works of Origen.
Sin is sin right?
Martin Loyd Jones once said:
It is because man has an inadequate conception of sin that he has an inadequate conception of the grace of God.
7 Deadly Sins
7 Deadly Sins
So let’s look at it through the lens of Scripture.
Please stand with me as we read the only words that matter.
12 A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, 13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger,
14 with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; 15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Let’s Pray
7 Deadly Sins
7 Deadly Sins
There are lists of sins in both NT and OT.
Paul in Galatians:
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
or 1 Cor 6:9-10
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Even Jesus said:
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
7 Deadly Sins
7 Deadly Sins
This passage in Proverbs gives a good picture of how sin move from inward to outward in our lives. It is also the only list of 7 . But there is a major difference,
The Proverbs list focuses on observable behaviors and internal dispositions that damage community and violate God’s character, whereas the traditional Seven Deadly Sins function as categorical vices from which other sins flow.
The Seven Deadly Sins was used by the early church to educate early Christians on our tendency to sin and in a way to categorize them.
The Con Man’s Description.
12 A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,
The Con Man’s Description.
The Hebrew actually says a “Man of belial” - good for nothing,
13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, 14 with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord;
The Con Man’s Description.
They hide their true self and sows discord by by getting people to focus on others.
We never try to hide our true self do we?
We don’t cover up our issues?
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
The Con Man’s Description.
We have been trying to cover up our sin from the beginning.
It is an important sign if we are trying to hide things.
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
The Con Man’s Description.
Sin has its consequences. Some are more severe and damaging, but in the end it leads to brokenness.
Remember this passage in Proverbs gives a good picture of how sin move from inward to outward in our lives. I think that is why it starts with
16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
God hates them because of they come from and what they become
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Haughty Eyes - Pride
Lying Tongue - Perversion of Truth
Shed innocent Blood - Life is Cheap
At the heart is pride. It is the internal force that leads to soo much more.
Pride says I make my own truth.
Your tongue was made to lift up, first God in praise then others in encouragement
Pride says no life is as important than mine.
All human life is of infinite value to God. It is never an inconvenience or an issue, it is a gift.
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
Abortion, no matter when, is shedding innocent blood
18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,
Hearts devising wicked plans - Plotting Evil
Feet Running to Evil - Carrying out the plot
It begins in the heart.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Hearts devising wicked plans - Plotting Evil
Feet Running to Evil - Carrying out the plot
What begins in the heart, will come out in what we do and say.
The truth is no one has an issue with it today.
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Hearts devising wicked plans - Plotting Evil
Feet Running to Evil - Carrying out the plot
We should not be surprised by what what we see today. This where hearts far from God leads.
18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
False Witnessing - Giving false Testimony in public
Sows Discord - Dividing the Church
False testimony is out every day against our faith.
Ever notice people can say anything about Christianity or Jesus, but you mention Moses, Muhammed, Buddha, or anyone else, your close minded and bigoted.
It is not only outside the church. Sin unchecked has found it’s way into the church.
Church leaders embracing culture and its values in human life, marriage, homosexuality, divorce, greed, power. The list is growing.
Our churches are dividing over obvious biblical truth and the flavor of the coffee.
So what’s the point?
John Stott once said:
The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We…put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God…puts himself where we deserve to be.
Grace is free
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Grace frees us
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Grace gives us a fresh start
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Grace waits on your response.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Tradition or Truth
Tradition or Truth
Pride, envy gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth.
It doesn’t matter the list.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
Tradition or Truth
Tradition or Truth
When it comes to these traditions they can be both good an bad. Our focus is on serving God here and now.
So many churches have classified themselves and thus boxed their influence and impact in.
Ed Stetzer put it this way
The wrong question is whether your church is “traditional” or “contemporary” and which is better. The real issue is whether your church is biblically faithful, acting as the presence of Christ in the community at large, able to relate Christ to people in culture, and is on mission.
Tradition or Truth
Tradition or Truth
What I stand my life and lead this church on is His truth and His mission. What that looks like will differ at different times but the focus will be.
We are all sinners in need of a Savior.
Everyone, no matter the clothes on their backs or the struggles in their hearts are welcome here and God will get our best on everyday not just Sunday.
We be a people and church that seeks God’s plan whether that is on our faces in prayer or standing to our feet with hands lifted in praise.
We will be be worshipers on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday because everyday He deserves our worship.
May that become our tradition as we base it on the Truth.
Let’s Pray.
