What is Your Attidtude Toward Sin?: Success or Obedience

1 Peter 1:16 states that “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” We understand and know…wait a minute. We actually don’t understand but we do know in our heads that holiness is basic and foundational in the Christian life. The real question and why don’t we experience it more in daily living? By the way, I’m including myself in this question. Why do we, Christians, find ourselves constantly defeated in our struggle with sin? Hopefully, we are at least aware and know of the struggle even though we can’t quite wrap our lives around it. We know that there is a battle with the flesh, that selfish sin nature that we all have since Genesis chapter 3. We know that this world is constantly drawing us away from our devotion to God as we float in our idolatry of pleasing ourselves with all those “good” things we find ourselves consumed with. And yes, we know about the evil one, who puts are those lies in our head, telling us we are pretty good people, as he leads us unaware to our demise. So why do we and why does the church, Mount Zion Baptist Church, so often seem to be more conformed to the world around us than to God?

I find that my problem is that my understanding (okay, listen up, this is key) or I could say my attitude toward sin is more of self-centeredness. You say, “What does that have to do with it?” Think about it, because of the world’s affect on us, especially in our western word here in the U.S., we find that we are more focused on our own “success” over sin than we are actually over the fact that my sins and yours has offended and grieved the heart of God. We hate failure, even in our struggle with sin. Why is this? Well, because we have been conditioned (the world) to be success-oriented, and it doesn’t even enter our mind that primarily it’s offensive to a holy God.

Plumer notes, “We never see sin aright until we see it as against God.” Think about that for a minute and let the truth of that statement sink in as you reflect on it as it relates to our own lives.  He goes on to state that “All sin is against God in this sense: that it is His law that is broken, His authority that is despised, His government that is set at naught…Pharaoh and Balaam, Saul and Judas each said, ‘I have sinned’: but the returning prodigal said, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before thee’; and David said, ‘Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned’ (Plummer, 557). Do you see the difference in the understanding and attitude towards sin?  It seems to us, like it’s no big deal but they lead to opposite ends of the spectrum. One is God centered, while the other is man-centered and American Christianity has been man-centered for the last few decades.

What’s the answer? It’s not our sacrifice or legalism and doing more to try and have the favor of God (man-centered). David had the right attitude and understanding when he said, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17). Let me try and explain that for us. You see, God wants our heart and that means we willfully walk in obedience not our success at doing church. Obedience is oriented toward god; success is oriented toward self. You say, “Isn’t that the same thing?” NO! It’s a matter of the heart, our attitude and although it seems like such a small difference but what appears small over time and distance moves you farther and farther away from God. Think about it, it has been this subtle, self-centered attitude or wrong understanding that has been and is the root of many of our difficulties with sin. So until we are willing to deal with it honestly before God, we will not walk in obedience and holiness. Yes success is a by-product of obedience but see that the difference is orientation. Success is orientated at self (man-centered) and obedience is orientated at God (God-centered).

So let’s chew on this biblical truth and on living an obedient, holy life, and then we will experience the joy of success over sin (did you see the orientation in that last sentence?). Let us begin this journey with looking at all our sin as an offense against a holy God, instead of only as a personal defeat over it.

Bibliography

Plummer, William S. Psalms. Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust., 1975.