Sin
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Tuesday, April 8th, 2025
A very common thought, especially in today’s culture where there seems to be very little boundaries, is “How much can I get away with and not get caught?” or “How much can I get away with and not pay any consequences?”
For example, a young Christian couple gets too close and play with fire and she ends up pregnant. Horror and remorse sets in, let’s suppose, for both. They tell their parents. Decide to put the baby up for adoption (or to keep it). They repent and ask forgiveness for their sin. They are assured they have received God’s forgiveness. Does that take away the consequences of that sin? The answer is, obviously, no. She didn’t suddenly become un-pregnant. The baby didn’t miraculously disappear from her womb. The evidence of their sin will be obvious over the next 9 months or so. The forgiveness and grace of God will also be evident as she and he heal from the recklessness they exhibited.
I know that seems like an extreme example to use, but it isn’t really. All you need to do is go to 2 Samuel 11 for a real life example in the Bible. Two names: David and Bathsheba. The story is pretty well known. David sleeps with Bathsheba and she tells him she is pregnant. David takes it a step further. He has Uriah, her husband, murdered by having Joab, his general, pull back while in battle. That left Uriah unprotected. It was also supposed to give David a clear view of being with Bathsheba. But the prophet Nathan told him a story that fried David and Nathan pointed his finger at David and said, “You are the man!” David was contrite. He fasted and prayed when his son got sick and died. He wrote Psalm 51, a penitent psalm if there ever was one.
But one thing it didn’t change was Bathsheba’s pregnancy; his guilt and shame over Uriah’s death; and the prophecy that a sword will be in his family forever. It found its fulfillment in the rape of his daughter, Tamar, by her half brother, Amnon. Such ugliness from sin. And yet, David prayed and asked forgiveness. David received that and more. But the consequences!!
That same principle applies to me and you. We sin and think no one knows. After all it was done in secret. No eyes saw or witnessed it. Like the embezzler who thinks no one will find out, sin comes to roost. I guess the best thing to do is to not lay the egg to start with. God’s grace is great. God’s forgiveness is matchless. But let’s not take advantage of it nor take it for granted.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Forgiveness, God's Plan, Grace, Mercy, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Sin, Story
Monday, March 24th, 2025
Compromise. A word with double meaning. It could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. When two (or more) people compromise or soften a position for the purpose of moving forward or making things right or unity, that is a good thing. Sometimes it is called “The Art of the Deal.” However, compromise can also carry a bad connotation. It gives the idea of softening too much, of giving in without much of a struggle, especially in the world of values and beliefs.
My thoughts turn this morning to a character in the book of Judges that all I have to say is one word or one couple and 99% of the people know who I am speaking about. Hint: (_________) and Delilah. But much goes on in the life of Samson long before his escapade with Delilah. Here is a brief summary:
- Born with a Nazirite vow over him. The vow required no strong drink, to not eat any forbidden food, and, in Samson’s case, don’t cut his hair. Even his mother had to abide by the first two while pregnant.
- Samson is born and in time kills a lion who attacks him. Later he touches the carcass to get some honey. A clear violation of his vow.
- He falls in love with a Philistine woman, a clear violation of his sanity. The Philistines were Public Enemy #1 to the Israelites. His misadventures involving her were many.
- Later he spends time with a prostitute in Gaza. Again, a clear violation of his vow. (What is it with these Philistine woman?)
- He meets his match in Delilah, a Philistine woman (Same question as above). If you know the story, Delilah whined her way into his secret: “cut my hair and I will be as weak as any other man.” Even that was not a spur of the moment revelation. He slowly got closer and closer to revealing the source of his strength with her.
Samson is captured, his eyes gouged out and he is put in prison. His long locks of hair now gone. They were a symbol of his vow and the presence and power of God. But in all of this mess something good is happening. Judges 16:22 tells us: “But before long, his hair began to grow back.” Lost in his compromise was the presence and power of God. But deep in that dungeon where he ground out grain, Samson’s relationship with God was being restored.
The consequence for Samson’s compromise was dark and painful. Compromising our values and beliefs leads to pain unimaginable. Maybe feeling cut off from God’s presence and power. But just as Samson’s hair began to grow again, our relationship can be restored. Don’t allow the fleeting pleasures of this life lead to a compromise you will regret.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Compromise, God's Word, Lifestyle, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Sin, Story
Wednesday, March 19th, 2025
The book of Judges in the Old Testament is aptly named. It is about judges. Not judges as we know them-sitting behind some desk with a lawyer or two debating the merits of a case or of a person the case involves. This was a different kind of judge.
The people of Israel had promised Joshua that they would do as he had committed to: “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” That lasted…until Joshua died. In fact, immediately after Joshua’s death (recorded in Judges 2:6-9), verse 10 is pretty poignant: “After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel.” Well…so much for the “As for me and my house” promise. What is even more telling is what it says in the following verses: “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord…They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them…They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashteroth.” {Editorial interject here: this is exactly what God has warned them against! This is why God wanted them to wipe out of people as they took over the Promised Land.}
God was not going to stand by and watch that happen, so He allowed foreign nations to take His people captive. But in His mercy He heard the cries of His people and raised up leaders (judges) to lead the people out of captivity. The pattern is simple to see. Taken captive by a foreign king. Live in slavery and captivity. Cry out to God for forgiveness and relief from captivity. God raises up a judge. The judge brings freedom. As long as the judge is alive, the people know freedom. The judge dies and they return to their sin and idol worship. The Israelites taken captive again. Rinse and repeat the cycle.
The judges are not household names: Othniel. Ehud (the left-handed warrior who plunged a knife into a very fat King Eglon). Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad (a traditional farming tool, a long stick with a pointed end-and sometimes a scraper or chisel at the other end-used to spur or guide oxen while they are pulling a plow or cart). Deborah (and her sidekick Barak). Other more well-known judges are Gideon and Samson.
The sad part is the Israelites kept repeating the pattern-the cycle- time after time. And each time a merciful and forgiving God would come to their rescue and free them. Sound familiar? It does to me. I am them. I go from “As for me and my house” to “I am going to do this on my own.” Fortunately, God is a merciful and forgiving God who lovingly envelopes me in His arms and says, “I forgive you my son.” How about you? Do you have that kind of God?
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Forgiveness, God, Grace, Judges, Love, Mercy, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Sin, Story
Tuesday, March 18th, 2025
“When you play with fire you either get burnt or smell like smoke.” That was a saying I learned many years ago and have probably said it so often that if someone paid me $1 for every time I have said it I could retire. 🙂 It is one of those sayings (IMHO) that just stays with you and carries with it eternal truth.
There are many people who do just what this saying suggests. They see how close they can get to the fire without getting burnt. Or to put it another way: see how close they can get to the edge of the cliff without falling off. The teenager (or anyone for that matter) who sees how close they can come sexually but not “go all the way.” A pastor who cozies up to another but tries to draw the line at full-blown adultery. An accountant who plays with the numbers in an attempt to fudge them a bit in order to make himself look good or to benefit financially (I think that is called embezzlement). The person who says, “Just this once” but then finds himself craving the drugs.
Sin is like that. The enemy never makes sin look bad or ugly. The high, the good feeling, the adrenaline rush, the sexual release, whatever you may want to call it is never seen as ugly or bad. Why would he do that? Why would he make sin look so unattractive? We would all turn away if that was the case. Nope. He makes it look wonderful or fulfilling. The Christ-follower is especially vulnerable to this approach. Bolstered by the belief that “I can do this” that person is prime beef for the enemy to pounce. But most often it is a slow and enticing process. I have yet to talk to anyone who just says, “WOW! That is blatant temptation. I think I’ll just give in.” He slowly entices, sort of the like the cobra that seems mesmerized by the musician, until one moment he strikes.
By then it is too late. The failure to be prepared to do battle against the temptation; the failure to expect the temptation to come; the failure to keep our eyes wide open to what is possible and what we are putting ourselves through by exposure to sin, eventually becomes that which takes us down. In Judges 2 the tribes of Israel were told to take the land and not leave anyone standing. The failure to do so would leave them vulnerable to false gods. Needless to say, they didn’t do as they were told. They fought battles but ended up living in and among those they were supposed to erase. The result was compromise. They got too close to the fire and soon got burnt or smelled like smoke.
Don’t give into temptation. Let’s be aware of what “we are playing with.”
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God's Word, Lifestyle, Opinion, Reflection, Sin, Temptation
Thursday, March 13th, 2025
“Just follow your heart.”
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times. You can’t watch a Hallmark movie or Great American Family without hearing it. You can’t read a self-help book (I will leave them unnamed since I don’t want to publicize them) without hearing that phrase. You can’t go to a high school or college graduation without hearing those words somewhere in the speech. Without a doubt it may be one of the most popular phrases used in our culture.
Last night in my group I call Wednesday Night Conversations, we discussed this phrase. I shared some statistics with them that I thought were quite telling:
- 84% of Americans believe that the “highest goal in life is to enjoy it as much as possible.”
- 86% believe that to be fulfilled requires you to “pursue the things you desire most.”
- 91% affirm that “the best way to find yourself is by looking within yourself.”
(Source: “Don’t Follow Your Heart by Thaddeus Williams-p.xiv)
But, in reality, following your heart is a really bad idea. To follow your heart implies that you take it as seriously as the Christian takes the Bible, the Muslim takes the Koran, or some cult follows its rule book/leader. You must redefine your identity and anything less than full obedience and expression of every subjective feeling of sexual attraction is unforgivable. Anyone who questions you is a bigot, a phobic, a hater, or worse, an “R.” Our ancestors got a lot wrong, like us. But the one thing they got right was that feelings were not the final authority of right and wrong. Why? Simple. Feelings cannot be trusted. You wake up one morning and you feel absolutely great. Your day goes well. You wake up the next morning with a headache to beat all headaches and you didn’t sleep very well. You day goes terribly. What was the difference? How. you. felt. The fallacy in all of this, the unalterable truth the “follower your heart-ers” want us to think, is that deep down we are all basically good. Aaaah yeah. I know myself. I know I rationalize, make excuses, point the finger of blame, and tend to dismiss criticism.
Word to the wise: don’t follow your heart. It is deceptive and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Instead, we need to align ourselves with God’s Word, whether it goes against our grain or not. The TRUTH is not up for grabs or auction. We need to pray that God will give us a new heart (Jer. 24:7), one that will follow His lead and not our own.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Faith/Feelings, God's Word, Lifestyle, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Sin, Story, The Heart, Truth Telling
Thursday, February 20th, 2025
“You are as stubborn as a mule.” Ever heard those words…only not so kindly? Other words can be and have been used as substitutes. Since I don’t talk that way, I prefer to use the more bland word “donkey.”
My reading this morning from Everyday Gospel included Balaam and his incident with his donkey. Balak was fearful of the horde of Israelites who were at his doorstep so he commissioned Balaam, a “prophet from God,” to pronounce a curse on them. Balaam first refused but the lure of money drew him to Balak. It was on his way there when Balaam’s donkey saw an angel and three times was beaten by Balaam for his stubbornness. (See what I did there?) 🙂 Anyway, eventually Balaam saw the angel and was rebuked by his donkey and the angel for beating his donkey. Long story short Balaam pronounced what was supposed to be a curse on the Israelites but it came out as a blessing. Unable to pronounce a curse, Balaam gave Balak another approach: have your women seduce the Israelite men, thus compromising who they were. Intermarriage was forbidden in the Israelite culture and, more importantly, by God. It got so bad that one of the Israelite men flaunted his Midianite woman in front of others and took her into his tent. Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, took a spear and thrust the spear completely through him and into the woman’s stomach. Lovely picture (and you can use your own imagination), but it stopped the plague.
Okay…so that might have been a bit TMI for now. But not really. God doesn’t take sin lightly. But let’s pedal backward for a moment. I’m still intrigued by the donkey and Balaam. I have been called the other word (with some adjectives added) in the past, and I may hear it again in the future. But, in this case, it just might be a compliment. I have, at times, been as stubborn as a mule. I will admit that. As I have gotten older I realize there are some hills worth dying on and some that I will let others have. I’m sort of stubborn when it comes to truth. But other times? It’s not worth it. When I think of being stubborn and being almost cartoonish about it, I think of a little child standing with his arms crossed and a lower lip pouting out. I heard it once said that a little girl was being punished and told to go to stand in a corner. Her comment to her mom was, “I may be standing on the outside, but I’m sitting on the inside.”
That’s me sometimes. “Do what God? You talking to me?” “I don’t wanna!” And there you have it. Stubbornness. I need to be more like Balaam’s donkey and less of an…well you know. Are you stubborn? How have you learned to deal with it? Has God softened your heart?
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God's Word, Lifestyle, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Sin, Story, Stubbornness, Surrender
Tuesday, February 18th, 2025
Don’t you just love being around negative, griping people? (In case, you can’t see it I have my tongue fully in my cheek).
You could be having a fully alive morning and then meet someone whose very presence seems to put a damper on it. You walk through the door into your office or a meeting and immediately you can tell “that person” is in the room. The joviality and ease of the room is missing. Or worse, you may already be in the room, laughing and having a nice relaxing moment with colleagues and then “that person” walks in and it seems like something has sucked out all the air in the room. Gone is the joviality. Gone is the ease of conversation. Gone is the sense of anticipation of a good and productive meeting.
I’m not very tolerant of negative, griping people. I avoid them like a plague if possible. I hate to admit that I will sometimes take the long way around rather than come face to face with a “Debby Downer” or a “Frowning Fred.” Neither of them seem to have a good thing to say and seem to only cling and hang on with helpless rambling.
Numbers 16-17 is one of those passages of Scripture which makes perfect sense and we can relate to. Several of the men (Levites) decided they didn’t quite like Moses and Aaron’s leadership. They couldn’t understand why they had to listen to and do what Moses said. So they rebelled. Bad thing to do. Moses was God’s appointed leader and to take this approach was not going to turn out well for them. Long story short: it didn’t. The earth swallowed them up. Even after that show-and-tell, the very next morning they began muttering against Moses and Aaron again. What is wrong with those people? They just had a vivid demonstration of God’s judgment as He reacted to their rebellion and now they are at it again. Needless to say, it did not turn out well for them either.
There are several lessons to be learned in these two chapters. One is the stupidity of complaining against God’s work. Perhaps the most prominent is that God’s grace is seen as Aaron stands between those being destroyed and those kept alive by his actions. It is a great picture of a future time when someone who would be on a hill called Calvary and He would stand in the gap and take God’s judgment for sin on His shoulders.
Now THAT is amazing grace!
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Complaining, God's Plan, God's Word, Griping, Lifestyle, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Sin, Speech, Story
Friday, February 7th, 2025
We all have different battles we face. Some are mental-we struggle with depression, or suicide, or feelings of low self-worth. Some are physical-a long-standing physical battle like MS, or cancer, or chronic fatigue, or back issues. Some are social-we hate crowds so anxiety is a daily struggle, or we have this fear of rejection, of being seen as a misfit. Some are spiritual-we seem to struggle daily with distance from God, or of feeling guilty because we don’t keep a vow we made, or of a sin that keeps haunting us. But there is one battle we all face and we cannot get away from it, cannot rationalize it, nor can we “set the table right.” The struggle we all face is a 3-letter word:
S-I-N
“Sin leaves each of us guilty. The question is, ‘What will we do with our guilt?'” Paul David Tripp states in his little opening gambit from February 2nd. The Scripture reading for this past in the Everyday Gospel Devotional and is the basis for this week’s message is Leviticus 5-23 and it is all about sin. As I have already stated, we all face it. It and the guilt that accompanies it is inescapable. In the OT Law system they had different kinds of offerings to make. We in the NT era of grace have Someone who had already made that offering for us. His name is Jesus.
We will be exploring that in depth Sunday morning. I’d like to invite you to join us in person if possible. If not, we live stream both services at 9:00 and 10:45. You can send a request to our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, IN. You may also watch via our YouTube channel at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. If you happen to watch, would you mind letting us know? No pressure. I promise. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Tags: Choices, Forgiveness, Jesus, Reflection, Sermon Series, Sin
Tuesday, February 4th, 2025
As I read this morning from Leviticus 11-13 during my reading through the Bible, I kept wanting to either skip past some things or to simply say, “I read this” and close my Bible. After all, no one is checking up on me. Right? I mean, who would know? Well…you know the answer to that question. 🙂
Now…in case you are not in the “read-the-Bible” mode, I’ll just tell you that Leviticus is part of a mind-numbing section of Scripture where rules, laws, and stipulations are laid down for the people to follow. I recently had someone ask me, “How in the world could they remember all of those laws and ‘eat this and don’t eat this’ or ‘don’t touch this'”? That’s a great point! The answer is: I don’t know. Leviticus 11-13 is about what they can and cannot eat, touch or get near. It is about skin diseases and what is clean and unclean and how long to be in quarantine and when to get out. See why I was looking for a way out?
Then I went back and read a couple of sentences I highlighted in Paul David Tripp’s Everyday Gospel Devotional.
“By the loving miracle of God’s grace, unclean hearts are made new and pure.” (p.42)
“Although the laws surrounding leprosy had to do with God’s lovingly and wisely protecting his people from a deadly infection, they also point to something profoundly deeper. Sin is the ultimate infection. No one escapes this disease. {My note: Romans 3:23 shows us that}. It separates us all from our Maker. It cries out for the ultimate cure, one only the Messiah can provide.” (p.43)
Psalm 69:5-6 is rather poignant: “O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you. Don’t let those who trust in you be ashamed because of me. O Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies, Don’t let me cause them to be humiliated, O God of Israel.” (NLT) What a difference our lives would make if that verse was a daily prayer. The stain of sin won’t just go away. We can’t wish it away, hope it away, dream it away, fantasize it away, speak it away, sleep it away, or pretend it away. It is humanly unremovable and can only be taken away by an act of grace. 2000+ years ago that act of grace was done on a hill outside Jerusalem.
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Tags: Choices, Forgiveness, God's Plan, Grace, Jesus, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Sin, Story, Surrender
Monday, February 3rd, 2025
One of the topics that is often taboo to talk about these days is S-I-N. It puts us on edge and make us feel uncomfortable. The “why” is up in the air. Sometimes it is conviction. Sometimes it is guilt. Sometimes it is “I’m not as bad as so-and-so because they have done such-and-such.” Close to that last one, but not quite landing on top of it, is “I just don’t care.” I’m wondering if this might be the most common these days, but also the most dangerous.
Someone has said, “Sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go, cost you more than you ever wanted to pay, and keep you longer than you ever wanted to stay.” You don’t have to think about that statement too long before you realize it is true. Take, for example, the people of Israel. They clamored for a representation of God so Aaron molds a golden calf. In Exodus 32 not long after their promise to follow God, Exodus 32:6 tells us “The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” That is a $10 word for “immorality.” Yep, they just slid down that slippery slope they found themselves on. I hate to think of how much that describes me.
Here’s the thing though. God takes sin seriously. While we may pooh-pooh it. While we may turn a blind eye. While we may even justify ours or someone else’s sin, God takes it seriously. Very seriously. Case in point: God goes to great lengths to prepare Aaron and his sons for their responsibilities as High Priest (Aaron) and priests (his sons). Moses makes sure that all God told him to do is fulfilled. He relates it all to Aaron and his sons. All seems right. Until Leviticus 10. Verses 1-2 tells us that Nadab & Abihu, two sons of Aaron, offered strange fire-fire different from what had been commanded-and “fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up, and they died there before the Lord.” What exactly that means is up for debate. Some suggest they offered the wrong kind of incense. Some suggest they were drunk (God stipulates no wine or alcoholic drink in verses 8-9). Whatever it stands for, they disobeyed God. And as I have said before, God takes sin seriously. To quote Paul David Tripp: “To God, no disease that has befallen humanity is more significant and destructive that sin.” (February 3-p.42 from Everyday Gospel Devotional). Expulsion from the Garden was the consequence of the first sin. Who knows what the consequences of our sin will be?
Let’s take sin seriously. Adam and Eve. Nadab and Abihu serve as just 4 examples of the consequences of taking sin lightly. Let’s not be one of those statistics.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God's Word, Lifestyle, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Sin
