Sin is serious

Exodus 21; Job 39; Luke 24; 2 Corinthians 9

A friend who works in a women’s prison tells of hearing the following conversation. One inmate says, “I don’t know why I am in here.” Another says, “What did they charge you with?” She replied, “Assault and battery.” The other woman asked, “What did you do?” The first woman said, “Oh, I hit my boyfriend with a car, but only a little bit.”

Her attitude reveals much! I wonder how she would react to Biblical Law. For instance, Exodus 21 begins a list of laws and punishments for only a few things. Two of them show that God takes seriously what many people might claim is “only a little bit” serious:

“Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death . . . . Whoever curses (dishonors or reviles) his father or his mother shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:15; 17)

Imagine the consternation if the lawmakers in this present day put this law of God into effect. Would it stop parental abuse? Or would there be a sudden increase in statistics concerning the death penalty.

This disrespect of parents is only one sin on the list of what could be described as how we break the Ten Commandments. There are more and some seem much less serious, such as craving what belongs to someone else. Yet God considers human attitudes that go against His principles as serious sins. Jesus verified that is in our hearts is the source of our sinful actions.

The New Testament is clear; the seriousness of sin is the reason God sent Jesus to suffer and die on the cross, not a death that He deserved but to give life to sinners:

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44–47)

The New Testament is clear; “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” but this verse does not end with that. The next verse says, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)

It is as if God is the judge and we are guilty of breaking most of the law, but as we stand before Him, we are told that another has taken our penalty. We can go free if we accept that other as our Lord and Savior, giving our lives to Him because He has bought us with the price of His own life.

Sin is serious. So also is the remedy for sin. God’s redemption plan is not only astonishing in the freedom from guilt it offers, but the add-ons that come with it. Here is one example of the life that is offered in God’s redemption package:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work . . . . He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:8–11)

No wonder that the writer of 2 Corinthians ends this section with, “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

APPLY: God is giving me occasion this day to rejoice in all that He has done in Christ for me. I’ve broken His laws and fall short of His glory, but He gave me Jesus, the Substitute who paid my debt and set me free, sending me out into this sinful world with all the grace needed to live for Him. For the enormity of this inexpressible gift, I am deeply humbled and deeply grateful, also deeply willing to do whatever He asks of me as His redeemed servant, His child, and His friend.

Immanuel, God with us

For a while, I was interested in genealogies. My grandfather came to Canada from Scotland and the story interested me. As with all family trees, I found a full spectrum of events, include the death of one infant, the suicide of her father a month later and the gutsy travels of the mother with four other children in a day and in an era where what she did was extremely unusual. Of course, the ‘why’ of these events can only be speculated, but the research made me more aware of the stories in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Matthew and Luke record different names. Perhaps Luke is speaking of Mary’s lineage, not Joseph’s. There are women in the lineage, women (like the men) whose lives were not perfect. Rahab was a prostitute. Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah and mother of Solomon, was taken by David who murdered her husband so he could get away with it. Here are parts of this saga:

“ . . . and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph . . . .” (Matthew 1:5–7)

“. . . and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.” (Matthew 1:16–17)

Even His birth had a cloud over it. Mary was pregnant before she official married Joseph. Joseph wanted to cut all strings, but an angel told him what was going on; this child was the promised Messiah, God in human flesh!

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18–25)

As the celebration of His birth draws near, I am again in awe over what God has done. I look at Hubble’s photos of outer space and shake my head in wonder; the God who created this marvel also wrapped Himself in human flesh and appeared to us, first in a manger, and then in a sinless life, one that ended on a cross — but He could not stay dead. He rose from the grave, promising the same endless life to all who believe.

Jesus Christ is the gift of God. Humanity has no right to this gift, and feels no need for Him. Unless His Spirit visits us, we do not desire Him. Many use His name in cussing blasphemy, most of the time not realizing who this is that they speak of in vain. Yet freely and out of his abundant love and grace, God gave us his Son. “For God so loved the world that He  gave His only begotten Son.” (John 3:16)

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I confess to You my sins and the sins of this ignorant and rejecting world, a world that does not recognize who You are and what You have done. I know the difficulty of expressing the wonder of You, the head-shaking, jaw-dropping reality that God dropped in, not merely to make Yourself known, but to bear our sin and give us eternal life. You are Immanuel, God with us, no longer a babe but the One who created all things and holds the whole world in His hands. You came through a line of sinful people (we all are) showing us that You can bring the greatest good out of the biggest screw ups . . . and that greatest good is You.

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)