05/29/2019
Do you make excuses for sin? Do you make room on the seat beside you for sinful people? Do you find it noble, or gracious, to greet sin with a smile and a handshake? So often today we hear excuses made for allowing ourselves to coexist, tolerate, or even fold sin into our everyday lives. How do we approach sin in our lives? At what point does it stop being tolerated, and begin to influence our lives?
“you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;”
Psalms 45:7 ESV
I was placing some groceries in the trunk of my car, and as I leaned over to do so I rubbed up against the rear bumper. I didn’t think much about it, but as I closed the trunk lid I saw that I had a line of dirt across my pant legs. I tried to brush it off, but these pants would need to be washed before they would be clean again. I immediately regretted not having cleaned my car... I knew it was dirty, but I decided to let that task go a few more days. I tolerated the filth, and now it had soiled my pants. Sin is just like that... it doesn’t look so bad when it isn’t directly affecting us, so we tolerate it, and then in an instant we find ourselves filthy.
“I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.”
Psalms 101:6-7 ESV
We should behave righteously, and abhor sin in our lives, and we should also surround ourselves with righteous people, and institutions. When we accept sin as a matter of course, and find excuses for allowing it to sit at our table, or by way of our hunger, to eat at its hand, then we need to look at ourselves because we have dirt on our pants. Jesus dined with sinners, but it was to deliver His message of faith to them, and to change their lives... not as a way of accepting the sin they embodied.
“And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."”
Matthew 9:10-13 ESV
Today we hear messages that are meant to confuse us; they are carefully crafted to seem good, and loving, but loving the container of sin is the same as loving the sin itself, and is contrary to who we are as Christians... and children of God. Our bodies and spirits are like wineskins, they can take on the smell, and flavor, of what they come in contact with... like the biblical reference to wineskins in the smoke.
“My eyes long for your promise; I ask, "When will you comfort me?" For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.”
Psalms 119:82-83 ESV
We become tainted by our acceptance of sin, and our association with it. Sin is a communicable disease that sickens us, and it easily transferred from person to person. So stand apart in your faith... seek to be Holy... or set apart. Place yourself in proximity to righteous people, and guard again the subtle devices of sin as it tries to woo us into accepting it.
“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
Colossians 2:8 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who has redeemed me from sin, and conquered death. I thank you Holy Father for setting me apart from the world, and transforming me from an old smoky wineskin into a fresh new vessel meant to hold the wedding wine of Christ. Help me Lord to remain pure and untainted by sin, but if I should become ensnared by the wiles of the evil one... open my eyes, call me out, and cleanse me once again in the blood of your Son. Teach me Gracious Father how to go into the home of sin where I will speak about redemption, and deliver the gospel of Jesus; teach me how to remain pure in the face of such sin, and to show pity for it, not acceptance of the darkness I encounter there. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who has set me apart and called me His child. Great are you who even while I was in sin sent your Son Jesus to redeem me with His blood. Praised be your name for the grace you poured out upon me, and the transformation the sacrifice of Christ worked within me. All glory is yours Father, because it was by your will, that my soul was saved, and set apart from the sins of the world.
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”
Romans 12:9 ESV
Rich Forbes