Sign in to join Roger Himes's fan club.
What Is Sin? How Do We Define Sin? Can Doing Good Things For the Wrong Reasons Be Sin?
"Whatever is not done in faith is sin" (Rom 14:23). We've seen the New Testament (NT) says we must live by faith. This verse says If we don't live by faith, and do things in faith and responding to God, we are in sin.
What is sin? What is the definition of sin? How do we define sin? What is the unpardonable sin? Sin is separation from God. The unpardonable sin is not believing and trusting in the finished work of Jesus. Sin is living life in 'self', disregarding the Kingdom of God, beginning with unbelief.
Of course there are actions that are sins, but sin begins deeper in our thoughts, minds and attitudes. In another Gospel Tip we'll look at the seven deadly sins. But both sin and righteousness most often take the form of being nouns, not verbs. They are states of being more than actions we take, or things we do.
Doing Good Things For God
Romans 10:1 says the Jews had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. This describes many Christians today too. We do things trying to become right with God, gain his favor and blessings, and receive promises. We do this even though Paul says we can never give to God to be rewarded for what we do (Rom 11:35). We will never impress God enough to move him.
Paul says it's 'a form of religion.' I call it 'do-do religion.' It's human religious action is not founded in the finished work of Jesus: 'the religion of done.' Not being grounded in Jesus' finished work, and thus relying on what we do and don't do, it is not of faith - and thus it is sin.
The Jews Were Ignorant About God
Paul says what they did was 'not according to knowledge.' What did he mean? The next verse tells us: they did not know the righteousness of God because they were trying to carve out their own, self righteousness (Rom 10:2). You can't know God's righteousness if you live in self righteousness. Self asks, "What can I do to impress God? - to get what I want?"
He says they did not submit themselves to God's righteousness. How do you submit yourself to it? You do so by believing and trusting in Jesus, and receiving his free gift of grace and righteousness (Rom 5:17). It's very simple, and very easy, but we complicate it in self.
What Is Zeal For God?
It is asking what else you can do to get something from God - "How can I impress God?" The gospel says we have ALL things of God's Kingdom, but we refuse to believe it. Not believing, we strive to get them. We pray. We fast. We quit sin. We attend church. We read our Bible. We give money. We work in the nursery. We try to 'draw nigh to God' by doing all these good things.
Do you know that all these good things can be SIN? It's what Romans 14:23 says we started out with: "Whatever is not done in faith is sin." If you do these things to try to get something from God, you are not living in belief, so you're not in faith. If you're not living in faith, you're in sin.
Should we do all these good things? Yes! But we turn them into sin if we apply law to them and do them in SELF and self righteousness (Phil 3:9, I John 3:4).
Sin begins in unbelief. We believe we are separated from God, which is not true, but we try to 'close the gap' by things we do. This is living in unbelief and sin. Paul says we are made nigh to God by the blood of Jesus. It's not accomplished by what we do but by who we ARE in Christ.
The gospel is given to us to straighten out our thinking. Let it straighten out your thinking. When it doesn't, we let our zeal for God lead us into entering into 'revival,' and 'new waves of God' that actually take us further from God and get us stuck deeper in religious mud.
ROGER HIMES, THE GOSPEL COACH www.TheGospelCoach.com Live life at least 50% in a year than you are today -- in the finished work of the cross of Christ. The gospel empowers us to live life better by accident than we ever could on purpose. Follow us on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/TheGospelCoach
Article submitted Sunday, August 21, 2011 & read 23 times.
Leave your comments through Blogz:
3-1-0-0-4-ADSO
Copyright © 2012 IcoLogic, Inc.