The Battle Against Sin

Christianity is not a list of pre-packaged rules.  D.A. Carson explains that sometimes, Christian pastors get this wrong.  Perhaps we try to discern signs of decay in the culture, and if we are not careful we will begin to say, “Don’t do that.  Do this instead!”  This type of thinking gives the impression that we can fix things by imposing a fresh set of rules—so you can show how righteous, good, and disciplined you are if you adopt all of these rules in your life.

The fundamental Christian motivation is not adherence to more rules.  Rather, Ephesians 4:32 says, “forgive each other as God in Christ has forgiven you.”  God’s Spirit transforms us by bringing us back to the cross so that all of our morality is first and foremost a function of gratitude to God for what Christ has already done.  If you begin to see just how much you were forgiven by what Christ did on the cross, how on earth can you possibly nurture bitterness toward others?  Because we have received so much love from God through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, how can we not also go forth and freely and impartially love others (Ephesians 5:1-2)?  The gospel justifies us and the gospel sanctifies us. 

And yet we are painfully aware of our continual battle with sin, for we are simultaneously justified yet sinful.  John Newton talked about this reality.  Newton, who lived from 1725 to 1807, was once a slave trader who estimated he transported twenty-thousand slaves across the Atlantic.  He said that in his nightmares he could still hear them scream.  At some point in his life he became a Christian and then a pastor.  Near the end of his earthly pilgrimage, Newton said:

“I am not what I ought to be—ah, how imperfect and deficient!  I am not what I wish to be—I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good!  I am not what I hope to be—soon, soon, shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection.  Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”

If you are interested in talking more about “the battle against sin,” you are invited to come and join us for our next Bible study, which takes place tonight (Wednesday, August 24) from 6:30 to 8 PM.  We meet at 9257 Amsden Way in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.