Committed to sinning

I attended a conference this week, and I picked up some freebies from the vendors' booths. I put three of them on my desk to remind me of my spiritual condition. The first toy is the smallest. It is a figure made up of a little yellow ball, just a bit bigger than a golf ball. He has a face, with round eyes and a round open mouth, giving him an expression of surprise or confusion. He stands on two stubby little feet that stick out below to keep him from rolling all over the place. And on top there are two stubby little hands, both stuck in a "thumbs up" position. It is as if he likes everything--he gives a thumbs up to what is on the right AND what is on the left. Either that, or, he is standing in the middle of the road hitchhiking, not caring which direction he goes. Whoever stops and picks him up first will determine his destination. Do you ever feel like that?

The second toy I picked up and put on my desk is a plastic figure of a wolf.  He has beady eyes and sharp teeth.  His gray wolf head is perched atop an anthropomorphized wolf body, standing on human hind feet, and his forelegs are very muscular, like a human bodybuilder.  He stands about four inches tall, and balances on the two hind feet and his fluffy wolf tail.  He symbolizes Evil to me.  When I look at him I think of the scripture found in John 10:10, where Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd, guarding against the evil one: "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full."  Who is "they"? The sheep, of course.  But that is not all that a wolf, or his canine cousins, will steal.  Remember the 1988 movie A Cry In The Dark where Meryl Streep plays an Australian woman Lindy Chamberlain who went on trial for the disappearance of her daughter.  This story was made all the more memorable in a 1991 episode of Seinfeld, where Elaine mocks an insufferable party guest with the line, "Maybe a dingo ate your baby."  But I digress.  This wolf looks mean and tough.  He would snatch a sheep from its fold if there were no Shepherd to protect it.  The wolf would steal your joy if you let him.  The wolf stands to the left of my little yellow friend.  The wolf stands ready to snatch up the little yellow ball, much as a dog would do while playing fetch.  With this monster wolf figurine standing over him, it is no wonder the ball has a dazed and confused look on his face.

The third toy I found at the conference is a six inch plush lion doll.  He has soft, golden fur and a fuzzy mane that makes his head look twice as big.  He represents Jesus, the Lion of Judah, or Aslan, if you prefer a reference to C.S. Lewis.  I imagine this figure lying in front of the sheep pen, daring any wolf to come up and try to steal a tiny lamb from the fold.  He stands to the right of the little yellow fellow, ready to defend if needed.  But unlike the wolf figurine, the expression on his face is warm and friendly.  He looks like he would be genuinely hurt if the little guy chose to go play with the wolf instead of staying near.

With all that in mind, let me tell you about the sermon I heard in church last Sunday.  The preacher talked about being a slave to sin.  His text was from John 8.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."  They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and we have never been slaves of anyone.  How can you say that we shall be set free?"  Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." --John 8: 31-37

See, most of us do not just commit sins.  Instead, we are committed to sinning.  Let me tell you what I mean. Most of us know beforehand what we are going to do, and how we are going to cover it up.  "Don't tell your mother," is a line many Dads use when they put their kids in compromising situations.  (Moms use the line, "Don't tell your dad", too, but not quite as often, I suspect.)  As soon as we do what we want, we start thinking about how to lie, confuse, mislead, obfuscate the truth, or just change the subject if asked about it.  I heard a guy in a Celebrate Recovery meeting say that he used to visit inappropriate websites.  But to hide the fact from his wife, who could check the browser history on his computer, he would go to Rent-A-Center, rent a laptop, call up the adult sites, then turn the laptop back in before his wife came home.  He went to all that trouble just to make sure she didn't know what he was doing at home alone.  This is what Jesus meant when he said we were slaves to sin.

Jesus goes on to explain the basic difference between a slave and a son.  The distinction is important, because we who have joined God's family have become sons, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus. Does this mean that as Christians we do not sin?  By no means!  Let's look at the Scripture reference again. Who is Jesus talking to? "To the Jews who had believed him."  These were believers in Jesus.  Were they sinners? Of course they were.  But Jesus was teaching them that they were no longer slaves to sin.  What happens to slaves who disobey?  They get punished.  They get separated from their Master and their family and friends, either by being imprisoned or by being sold to another.  That is what he means when he says "A slave has no permanent place in the family."  But to those who belong to God, they have a privileged position.  They do hold a permanent place in the family.  Instead of punishment, they receive forgiveness.  Instead of banishment or imprisonment, they are promised a place at the King's table, and a room in the King's palace.

It is pretty hilarious what the Jewish believers were telling Jesus during this lesson.  "We are children of Abraham, and we have never been slave to anyone."  Has anyone read the Old Testament?  At one time or another, the sons of Abraham had been slaves to just about everyone.  Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Persians--the list is endless.  How could they say that they had never been slaves to anyone, when at the very time they were speaking with Jesus, they were subjugated by the Romans?  And yet we today are in the same state of denial.  We look at headlines in the news, and hear of murderers and adulterers and think, "I am not that bad." But what did Jesus say? If you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you have committed adultery in your mind.  If you hate your brother, you are as guilty as the murderer in prison.

So what are we to do with our sin?  Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  Avoid it, shun it, and throw it off.  Don't leave the door open to sin, because your enemy, the devil, "comes to steal, kill and destroy."  Would you leave your home unlocked, with the door cracked open, so that a thief could walk in and take away your possessions? No!  So why would you plot in your mind how you will do this or that, but later you will act like nothing ever happened?  "Be sure your sins will find you out." (Numbers 32:23)  Do not let sin steal your joy.  Ask for and claim the forgiveness of God, but also shut the door to sin so that it doesn't happen again.

I was in an insurance seminar once, and the instructor told of a Christian Pastor who took to heart the scripture that says to take in strangers.  He would open his home to homeless people, to those recently released from prison, and to just about anybody.  Most of the time, when the house-guests left, they would take something of value with them.  He lost so many of his possessions, and made so many claims against his home-owners policy, that the insurance company dropped him.  He could not get anyone to sell him home-owners coverage because of his insistence on opening his home to felons and drug users.  And yet how often do we put our spiritual life into the same peril by opening the door to old habits and attitudes, and then wondering why God would allow us to lose our sense of safety and security?

Going back to my little yellow ball-shaped buddy on my desk, the one with the confused look on his face and both thumbs up.  It reminds me of the Native American proverb about an elder who tells his grandson that there are two wolves that are fighting inside of him.  One wolf is angry and mean, while the other is gentle and loving.  The grandson looks up and asks, "Grandfather, which one is winning?"  The wise elder answers, "Whichever I feed the most."  This story tells a lot about human nature, how we have a dual nature of sin and sonship.  I think it is derived from the oriental idea of Yin and Yang, the equal amount of black and white, of good and evil inside us.  Jesus, I think, did not teach that.  I believe he taught us to banish evil from our lives, to place it outside the camp, and to live in the light of God and in His presence.  There should always be more light in our lives than darkness.

Earlier I quoted from John chapter 8, where Jesus admonishes us not to be slaves to sin, but rather to act like sons.  Earlier in the chapter, John tells the story of the woman caught in adultery.  The pharisees threw this woman, probably naked, into the public square and dared Jesus to take a stand.  The Law said she should be stoned to death.  Jesus said, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."  One by one the accusers left.  Finally, the woman alone stood before Him.  He did not accuse her, but rather told her to "go, and sin no more."  Do you ever wonder what happened to that woman after her encounter with Jesus? Was she the paragon of sinless perfection? Probably not.  She probably didn't ever become a leader in the church.  She probably stopped prostituting herself, stopped the affair she was having with the Pharisee. However,  she likely committed some sins as she went on with her life.  But rather than allowing the sin to define her, she could now ask forgiveness.  She could enjoy restoration into the full fellowship of God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son.

And so can we.