I used an example in yesterday’s post how depending on where you might attend church, we have this tendency to set our own ‘standards’ when it comes to condoning or dealing with various sins. Like with those who serve in your church…maybe teaching classes or playing on the praise team or singing in the choir. And believe me, I know what question you want to fire back with…probably has something to do with “If we only let perfect people serve on these ministry teams, then there would be no ministry teams and probably no church!”. I get it. I honestly get what you are driving at with that question.
So in response, my question is…where and how do you ‘draw that line’? You politely refused the person who believes God made them to be attracted to the same sex from becoming a praise song leader knowing that might create a problem with the church members. But that drummer who is a young college age guy is sleeping with his girlfriend and that one ‘gets a pass’? Or maybe you just never asked because you didn’t want to deal with it? What if we just ‘encourage our teams to live honorable lives worthy of example since others see you out front’? That means …what? Are we using the ten commandments as a guide? Those don’t even mention homosexuality …just adultery. Maybe we should include all ‘sexual sins’ to be the defining standard, yes? And who wants to clarify all that?
Can you see where this gets so complicated…when we seek to establish our own rules of righteousness because we are unwilling to submit to God’s? (Rom. 10:2-4)
Yesterday we were looking at the sin of adultery and how Jesus handled that situation where a woman ‘caught in the very act’ was brought to Him to see how He would rule on whether she should be stoned or not. We were reminded in such a vivid and moving way that Jesus did not come to condemn any of us…primarily because we were already condemned. He came to save us. He came to set us free from the very thing that brought condemnation into our lives which was sin. The sad fact of the matter is…the majority of us have never truly believed that Jesus could do what He came to do…which was to set us free…from sin. (John 8:31-36)
We’ve all bought in to the modern mindset that “we are all sinners’…none of us “perfect…just forgiven”. . Yes…we ALL sinned and were dead in our sins. (Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 3:23) But somewhere along the way, we were duped into believing that you could not actually be set free from sinning in this life. I totally understand why we teach and believe that. I’m just saying that does not line up with what the bible teaches. And I’ve been attempting by the grace of God to explain why that is so in these postings this past year.
Let me share this illustration…Imagine you are sitting in a room of other church members for a men’s or women’s meeting. The discussion arises about ‘things we struggle with’ in our daily walk. One man shares how he just can’t seem to control his anger when he’s driving and all those ‘idiots’ out there fail to do such and such and he gets impatient. Typical response? Laughter…because we all can identify with it. Maybe ‘Sister Sue’ who has played the church organ for years talks about how she wishes she would not be so ‘nit-picky’ over her husband’s multiple faults which then leads into a discussion with all the other wives sharing their own husband’s faults as if to make Sister Sue feel better about herself. They all agree to pray in closing they will all ‘do better’ in the future. Then we go break for tea and cookies.
Yet…in that same meeting…someone opens up and confesses they don’t “feel right” about being a hit man for the mob and murdering people for a living…or they guy who peddles child porn on the internet…or the woman who moonlights as a stripper and prostitute to pay the bills at home. Our level of discomfort rises and now it gets awkward because we are talking about ‘serious sins’ now…not just the usual ‘run of the mill’ sins we struggle with daily thanks to this ‘old nature’ of ours which we are quick to laugh off and dismiss because …well…everyone does, right?
Which is why James called us ‘adulterers’. (I did tell you yesterday I would address this today)
We all understand what the sin of adultery involves. As I cited yesterday, Jesus seemed to ‘raise the bar’ on this sin suggesting that if you just dwell or think about doing it…as in lusting in your heart…that you have already committed the actual sin from God’s perspective. (Matt. 5:28) Now you may take exception to that…which is fine but Paul would later write taking this to a whole new level which James backed up by his rebuke to carnal Christians. (James 4:4)
If you have been looking for some good chapters to camp out at and study, may I point you to Romans 6,7, & 8. In chapter 6, Paul makes the case that a new person who has turned to the Lord and been baptized into Christ has aligned themselves with not only Christ’s death, but His resurrection as well. He makes it clear there that those who have done so have ‘died to sin and no longer live in it’. (2) He then continues with this notion that “we also should walk in the newness of life” (3) since we are a ‘new creation’ after all. (2 Cor. 5:17)
He then reminds us that our ‘old man was crucified with Christ’ that the body of sin might be done away with.” (6). This is not poetic language or ‘symbolic’. He says we “should no longer be slaves to sin given we were set free from sin.” (6-7). This echoes what Jesus taught in John 8:31-36. Galatians 5:24 is explicit as well saying that ‘those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with it passions and desires.” (I believe that suggest ‘past tense’ and not future).
So if we readily admit that we are still contending daily with our ‘old man’ and that he is ‘very much alive’…what are we saying then? Yes, Paul mentions in one place about ‘dying daily’ and we can address that later. My concern is this idea that so many seem to confess that their ‘old man is far from being put to death’. And herein lies the problem…Paul speaks to this in Romans 7. And we will need the help of the Holy Spirit to ‘open our eyes’ to this truth.
Let me begin here by saying that if you have been divorced and then remarried, this illustration he uses here is not directed at you so as to ruin your day. And if you are currently considering a divorce from your spouse, please do not take this as a ‘free pass’ to continue in that direction. Paul is addressing this idea how a true follower of Jesus…a ‘believer’ is set free from the old law that brought curses and wrath and condemnation and death. He likens this to a married man and women simply citing the law that reads that a woman is ‘bound to her husband as long as he lives’. (7:2). I guess that is where we get that ‘until death do us part’ line in marriage vows. But if her husband dies, then she is ‘free to marry another man’ having been ‘released’ from the law.
But IF…her husband remains alive and she marries another man, then she will be called an adulteress.” (3) Paul is using this example to illustrate how we commit ‘spiritual adultery’ if I may use that term. I would submit to you and defer to the Holy Spirit to confirm this point…but as a believer in Christ, we are part of His church which He likens to as His ‘bride’.
If we are claiming to be the ‘bride of Christ’…wedded to Him, in a sense, yet…our “old man” is still alive…as in we have not yet put him to death…what does this suggest?
Paul spends the whole 6th chapter there explaining how we ‘died to sin’ and our ‘old man’. But if our ‘old man’ clearly remains alive…as evident by the fruit coming out of us, well…now we have a problem. We can certainly ‘profess to know God but by our actions deny Him.’ (Titus 1:16). The bulk of James’s letter addresses this as well. He was calling out all these professing believers who were quick to praise God with their mouths but in the next breath curse their brothers. James was incredulous asking…’can salt water and fresh water both come from the same spring? Can a fig tree bear olives? Brothers…these things should not be so!”
As long as we are not discussing those really big , glaring sins, we have this habit of ‘laughing off this old flesh nature’ because everyone else deals with it too. But while chuckling over those ‘insignificant’ sins may be funny to us…let me share with you how God looks at it. He sees it in the same way that you might respond if you found out your spouse had been betraying you and when it went public…everyone at church just laughed and elbowed each other with a wink saying: “Well….you know guys will be guys!”. The laughing stops there if you are the one hurt by it. Guess what…when we continue to allow our flesh man to reign…God sees it as betrayal as well. It’s not funny to Him and if you don’t believe that, you are deceived.
Look what God spoke to Hosea in his opening chapter…saying “the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.” (1:2). That word ‘harlotry’ had broader meaning there in that context than it does to most today. And he does not ease up there. God said he would ‘punish them for their ways…and reward them for their deeds…they have ceased obeying the Lord…for a spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray’. (4:9-12). Then in the next chapter…”They do not direct their deeds towards turning to their God for the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, they do not know the Lord.” (5:4) And then: “For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God.” (9:1)
Why does this matter? I may be wading further in today than needed but I will ‘sow some seed for thought’ and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Most students of the bible know that Revelation alludes to a ‘false church system’ of the last days. And while most ‘Protestants’ point to the Roman Catholic church being that system, little do they realize that no one denomination has exclusive rights to that label. Rev. 17 gives more insight to this ‘Mystery Babylon The Great- The Mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.”
Any church that promotes a gospel that teaches we need not fully embrace the cross that Jesus commands us to take up…and to die to self is teaching that we can continue in a form of godliness that conforms no man to the nature of Christ. To suggest we can allow this rebellious heart to live and then expect and open door to the wedding is in for the mother of all nightmare awakenings. When we refuse to deal with this ‘old man’ and attempt to ‘walk in the spirit’ …avoiding our own cross, then we are the ‘double-minded’ people that James rebuked there in his letter. Go look at what his remedy is there in 4:7-11 admonishing us to ‘purify your hearts you double-minded’. That is the ‘two minds’ Paul speaks to in great detail in chapter 8…the carnal mind vs. the spiritual mind.
Again…all I can do is point you to is the Word and encourage you to examine this for yourself. We can't get the ‘problem fixed’ until we see what the ‘problem’ is. That’s why I like to remind myself that the ‘gospel’ really is ‘good news’. But you can’t appreciate the ‘good’ news aspect until you hear the ‘bad news’ first. Join me tomorrow? :- )
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