When it seems okay to do my own thing…

Piper writes about using excuses to not do what God wanted him to do. First it was writing a lecture instead of making a tough visit. Then it was wanting to play with a new computer program instead of writing the lecture. Some who read what he called his “remaining corruption” would not think any of that was sin, or at least not a big deal. 

I can hear the words, “I’m only human” or some other explanation, yet it is far too easy to miss the implication of ‘doing my own thing’ especially when it seems innocent or reasonable. Taking seriously God's description of sin is a rare thing:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

The  fact is, whenever I do what I want instead of what God wants, even in ignorance of what God wants, Piper is correct. Those ‘my own way’ things are sin. It does not matter how innocent they look or what puts them on our mind as important. If the activity is not the will of God, or not a result of listening to Him, it is my own way, and the Bible says that is sin, sin that was laid on Christ and for which He died.

Taking His definition seriously can make me seriously distressed. I am guilty of sin that didn’t seem wrong but was and is sin because I’ve walked away from God. Even if I noticed that was what I was doing, how many excuses have I made? How often do I reason it away? Or even blame God in the sense that I didn’t do His will because… with dozens of excuses and some of them related to circumstances that pop up — and who is in control of circumstances? Those excuses actually put blame on God for my selfish actions.

In the realization of the depth and width of sin, only the gospel can keep me from total despair. As Piper writes, what would I do without the incredible assurance that Christ died for me, for all of my sin?

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (Romans 5:6–9)

This is not to be an excuse to go on doing whatever I want to do. Instead it is the reason for wanting to die to sin and live for Jesus, to walk in the newness of life and not revert back to selfish motivations. Even though this happens, Jesus died that I might be set free from its power and pay close attention to my motivations and who I am trying to please.

PRAY: Jesus, this is one of those days when I feel like doing easy stuff, yet have a challenge in the works. I’d prefer to be lazy today, do my own thing, but this timely message is telling me to put off all that and not let my negativity control my life. Just You, just You. Amen.

Protesting Evil

Piper’s devotional for today is a letter to a company that advertised an erotic film in a place where it could be viewed by children. He gave sound reasons why this was wrong, not only for children but for society in general.

He didn’t publish the results, but I remember making a similar protest many years ago. A local corner store had a magazine section with several close-to-porn covers on lower shelves, clearly visible to children. I didn’t write a letter. I called for the manager and made a statement and left the store. The next time there, not only were those magazines moved, they were not even on any shelves! Sometimes it’s possible to make a difference just by speaking up.

Piper makes a good argument to that advertiser. Mine wasn’t much. What stands out to me is saying what needs to be said and having the courage to say it. This is an obedience thing. The Word of God generally focuses on rebuking sin in other Christians, but it does not leave out commands to hold the unsaved world accountable for their sin.

AI says these are the most damaging sins to others: murder, adultery, lying, deceit, exploitation, abuse, neglect of others, and gossip. In one reference, the NT lists these:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 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. (Galatians 5:19–21)

Such sin is deadly to the person committing them, but also harmful to others. How many families have been split up or destroyed by sin? How many nations and cultures are not doing well because of sin?

While Christians know that change of heart comes through the activity of the Holy Spirit, we are responsible to give the Spirit our cooperation. Silent Christians are not useful. Neither are sinning, self-centered Christians, or those too fearful for losing their own comfort so stay silent rather than being persecuted.

But how do I know what the result will be? Asking a store owner to move magazines could have resulted in her saying, “There goes a goody-two-shoes” and laughing, or much worse, but it didn’t. I’ve not thought about it much, but speaking up could have saved someone from a life of addiction to that junk. That seems minor, but it is on the list of the junk that resides in the human heart. That junk defiles us as well as hurting others. Jesus said:

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:18–20)

While the NT speaks of my responsibility to warn others concerning their fate, the OT says if
I don’t, God will hold me accountable for their loss. The connection? If God wants me to speak so the Holy Spirit can use what I say, I must obey. I need to pay attention to His voice and do whatever He asks. My motivation is not to be thwarted by wanting my own comfort.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:17)

PRAY: Jesus. this is important stuff. You tell me that I “have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel” and to “speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests my heart.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4) May I listen to know when to speak, and to know how to do it, and to trust You for the opportunities and the results.

 

There is a way that seems right . . .

 

After a discussion of sin in a children’s Bible class, a five-year-old looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said, “But I’ve never murdered anyone.” Everyone does it. Everyone puts sin in categories. That does not make it right.

Some assume that telling a “little white lie” isn’t as serious as committing perjury or cheating on their income tax isn’t as serious as robbing a bank. Others think if they keep most of the ‘important’ laws, God will overlook the ‘little’ ones they don’t keep. The NT describes this assumption like this:

But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:9–11)

It seems the early readers of this letter from James were thinking their sins of prejudice, partiality, and indifference to the poor weren’t as serious as sins like murder and adultery. Or they thought they could make up for their favoritism by keeping God’s law in other areas.

Bring that thinking into modern Christian life. What sins do I look down on? The ones that I’m not guilty of committing? I know that all sins aren’t equally atrocious or damaging, but this verse says that from God’s perspective every sin violates His standard. When you break one law, you break them all and are characterized as a sinner and transgressor. That puts all people in the same category. We all fall short and cannot justify ourselves by the sins we don’t commit or by trying to counterbalance our sin by doing good. Sin is sin.

There is one sin that I’m thinking of that gets a lot of press these days. Some Christians are falling for the lie that it isn’t a sin, or that God loves everyone so it’s okay to sin that way. Others are repulsed and think this is the worst ever, particularly since some who do it are so blatantly insistent that it be accepted as normal.

I need to remember that if I gossip, tell a lie, am partial to some and unkind to others, or do anything that is not of faith, I am sinning (Romans 14:23). Even if I “know the right thing to do and fail to do it, for me it is sin.” (James 4:17) Sin can be blatant or subtle, but if it violates the nature of God, it is sin.

PRAY: Oh Jesus, You have shown me many times to keep my judgment of sin focused on my sin, rather than the sin of others, no matter how little my sin may seem compared to the horrendous things that go on in this world. You want me to see sin as an affront to Your holiness. I’m not to hide it, make excuses for it, or measure it by other sins that I think are worse. Sin is sin and it separates me from fellowship with You. I am convinced that this verse is one of the most important principles in the Bible to remember and practice:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

There is nothing else that I can do to deal with my sin. I am not my own Savior. Nor can I confess the sins of others or accuse or point to them as being worse sinners than I am. We all fall short. Only You have offered forgiveness and cleansing to sinners because only You have the power to do that, a power based on what You did at Calvary. You shed Your blood for my forgiveness and freed me from condemnation.

PONDER: The law was given to show us our need of a Savior. We cannot keep that law. Read Galatians 3:10–29 regarding the purpose of God’s law and Titus 2:11-14 to be reminded again why Jesus died.