Sin Is Crouching At The Door

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In Genesis chapter 4, Moses records the sad story of the children of Adam and Eve. This is the generation after the fall into sin. In many ways this is the pilot episode for the rest of the history of the world. Conflict, anger, lying, competition, envy, and bloodshed have become the new normal for humanity. 

From one perspective, the ugliness of Genesis 4 is really a cautionary tale about an unheeded warning. After Cain offer’s an unacceptable sacrifice to God, he becomes very angry, to the extent his whole appearance is affected. “His face falls.”  God offers a rebuke to Cain and warns him in the following words: “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”  (Genesis 4:6-7, ESV)

This is the first time the word “sin” is mentioned in the Bible. And much of this account is about the power of sin to grow, overcome, and completely dominate a person.  Cain rejects God’s words, and the rest of the passage is a revelation of what it looks like to be overcome with sin. Anger ripens to premeditated murder of a brother. God describes sin like a deadly predator, a lion crouching just before it takes its prey by the throat and dominates it. Sin wants to take control. 

Cain needed this warning, and so do we, because this is not how we view sin. We downplay our own faults. We believe that we are in control. That we have mastery over the dark impulses of our hearts. We see our sin as a little kitten that is easy to handle, rather than a man-eater.

This portrait of sin is taken up repeatedly through the Bible. Sin is compared to weeds that grow and choke the power of God’s word in our souls (Matt 13:22). Sin is compared to a little spark that can start a whole forest fire (James 3:5). It is compared to deadly gangrene that can spread through a whole church (2 Tim 2:17). And frequently sin is compared to leaven, which is similar to our modern understanding of yeast. The smallest pinch of yeast will take over a lump of dough as big as the world, given enough time.  “A little leaven, leavens the whole lump.” (I Cor. 5:6, Gal 5:9)

    This is one of the lessons of the feast of unleavened bread in the Old Testament. The Jews were to clean out their houses and cupboards of all the yeast/leaven. This is symbolic of making a thorough dealing with the sin in our lives. Paul uses this metaphor in I Cor. 5:7 as a way to instruct us in dealing with sin.

Sin grows, consumes, dominates and destroys. Here are a few ways to apply this idea:

  1. Do not underestimate sin’s power in your life. It is deceitful. Sometimes we don’t see the way sin is working in our lives. Sometimes we don’t want to see it.  When you see one cockroach, assume there is a colony in waiting.
  2. Do not tolerate sin in your own life. There is an important discussion to have on what this means in our dealings with other people in the world. That is for a different place. Suffice it to say that we cannot escape the sins of other people unless we leave the world entirely (I Cor. 5:9-10).  But we must not tolerate any known sin in our lives. Don’t make excuses for it. Don’t rationalize it. Don’t minimize it. Don’t blame others for it. Don’t make peace with it. “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,  the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalm 66:18) The word for cherish comes from the root word “to look after,” and has the idea of looking on something with pleasure. We do this when we treat sin as a welcome friend rather than a hostile enemy. This is a helpful metaphor because it connects well with the idea of repentance, which literally means “a change of mind.” Obviously repentance is more than changing our mind, but it starts there. The first step to turning away from sin begins in the way we view it. We must see it the way God sees it.  We must see it as an enemy, as cancer. We must starve it. We must work to evict it. We must kill it (Romans 8:13).  This is why Paul says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13:14)
  3. Attack sin when it is small and you are first aware of it. Small weeds are easier to pull than big ones. I had a friend go in for colon cancer screening 10 years before it is normally recommended. She did this because of her family history. One physician didn’t think it was necessary.  But when they looked, they found a small tumor that she was able to have treated. The doctor that found the tumor said it probably would have slowly grown without being noticed for 10 years or so until it had done a lot of damage and spread.  The delay could have been fatal. We know that early detection and treatment works for cancer, the same is true for sin.  Look with alarm at small patterns of ingratitude, anger, bitterness, greed, etc.  
  4. Ask God to search your heart for hidden faults. In Psalm 139 David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” In Psalm 19 he prayed, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.  Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;  let them not have dominion over me!  Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.”  Obviously these ideas are not only in the New Testament.  We also need the help of other christians in this regard: “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13)
  5. You cannot do this on your own. You need divine help. The good news is this: Jesus helps us in our weakness. We don’t have enough wisdom, discipline, or strength to manage all of this. Our battle against sin is fought in two ways. There is the conscious intentional battle that we fight, and then there is the part that is unconscious to us. We must work to search our hearts and turn away from sin. But the Holy Spirit works in us continually to help us grow. I John 1:7 expresses this in the context of dealing with the reality of sin in our lives: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” The tense of the word “cleanse” is present, active, indicative. It could be translated “the blood of Jesus his son IS CLEANSING US from all sin.” When does this happen? As we walk in the light. The ongoing work of growth and cleansing happens as we walk with him and one another. A farm worker covered in dirt from a day’s labor can get clean by taking a shower, but much of the dirt gets washed off as he spends his day working around the irrigation sprinklers.  That is how it happens with us. As we trust and walk with Christ he is at work to cleanse us and overthrow sin in our lives.

 

Cain and Abel

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This Sunday we will continue our exposition of Genesis, looking at chapter 4. The first family, the first sacrifice, the first murder.  Sin has taken hold and is now a master. Here is a great comment to whet your appetite:

"Ch. 3 showed how sin disrupts relations between God and human beings and between man and wife. Ch. 4 shows it destroying the bonds of brotherhood. Indeed, Cain is portrayed as a more hardened sinner than Adam. Killing one’s brother is more wicked than eating a protected fruit. Adam had to be persuaded to sin; Cain could not be dissuaded from sinning, even by God himself." 

New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. Ed. D. A. Carson et al. 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994. 63–64. Print.

Some Thoughts From Our Coffee Cart Outreach

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We did our coffee cart outreach again this morning. This ministry involves offering free coffee/muffins and conversation to folks passing by our building. Immediately outside the front door of our building is a sidewalk and a bus stop, resulting in lots of foot traffic. This allows us to meet neighbors, learn about the neighborhood, refer people to services that can help them off the street, start a friendship, invite people to join us for worship, and often speak about Jesus and offer a Bible.

Thank you Joshua and Chris for serving. We spoke to around 20 (or more) people who stopped at the cart.  To be fair, I didn't count, but there about that many muffins missing from the box of 32.   

Here are a few things I am aware of today:

  1. One of the best things about serving is the fellowship. We not only got to take more steps toward being the light of the world, we got to build our friendships along the way. When you read the New Testament, you get the impression that both Jesus and Paul almost always had a group working together. I had a great time  hanging out, laughing, and hearing more about the lives and testimonies of my friends.  Iron sharpens iron when we work together.
  2. Our neighborhood is deeply broken. Close to half of the people we encounter are either homeless or affected by drug addiction. To be fair, others spoke about the great things in the neighborhood as well. But the pain is palpable.  One man that we spoke to said he was in rehab and was walking to the nearby methadone clinic. I asked him how things were going with the program, he said he felt like a slave. That is what sin does to all of us.
  3. Consistency makes a difference. We have now served coffee and snacks 3 times in the last 5 weeks. We are seeing some repeat customers. This is really good! Today one couple from the neighborhood that was jogging stopped by for coffee because they saw us on a previous day and were curious.
  4. There are many open doors. If you don’t act like a pushy salesman, if you don't dominate the conversation most people are willing to dialogue about their lives and faith. Many are even interested in this topic. I think we have to work on overcoming the fact that many Christians act like awkward salesmen in such contexts. Think of the rude people at the mall kiosks. But, if you truly care about people, ask questions about their lives, and are genuinely interested in others, a lot of doors can open. This means there is room for people that don’t feel like evangelists. A smile and a friendly conversation helps to build bridges for the future.
  5. We are fighting a long term battle. We don’t have to win the war today. Not everyday of the year is a day for reaping. We trust that the Lord will open and close doors. We may plant or water today and someone else may reap tomorrow. We are willing to pray, labor and trust God for the results.

Don't Mow the Weeds

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In Fresno during the spring weeds grow effortlessly. And if we have had a lot of rain, they emerge from the ground with a quick vengence. In outlying areas where the homes have large properties, residents are required to remove or kill the weeds around their homes before summer to prevent dangers from grass fires.

Yesterday at our house, my wife mowed our lawn, by which I mean, our weeds. The last few years have seen a drought in central California and most of the grass has already died. But the weeds are virile and healthy due to ample rain.  She has already mowed them several times in the past month. But they keep coming back. When you mow weeds like this, what you get is a few days of cosmetic appeal. For a while, the yard looks like manicured grass. Green and lucious. But give it some time and the ugly weeds will be back revealing the truth. And through some diabolical mechanism, the action of the lawnmower actually helps to spread the seeds faster than nature would have done it.

This reminds me of the different ways we approach immoral behavior. Often in the church we want to use external rules, shame, or peer pressure as the primary, and sometimes exclusive method of dealing with bad conduct. We mow the weeds.  We end up with is people appearing moral for a while. I say “appearing” because very often legalistic church culture just drives the behavior underground. People are still as sinful as ever, they just can’t be honest about it or get real help. 

But there is another way. When we address sin with the gospel, we can acknowledge both it’s ugliness and its “treatableness." With the gospel we see that sin is not a problem simply for those people, it is a problem for all of us. When we seek to help a brother or sister with the gospel, we come with humility as fellow sinners. When we approach sin with the grace of God, we can offer a serious diagnosis and a strong treatment. Grace gives us power to change. And it gives us hope for the struggle that takes place in our hearts. It also gives us a different motive for change. When we are motivated by grace, we pursue change out of a higher love rather than a fear of being caught or punished. We are constrained by the love of Christ.  

When we use the gospel as our primary approach for dealing with sin it looks different it because it isn’t only concerned with appearances. It aims for the heart.  It goes beyond the expressions and social effects of sin to ask about the thoughts and intents of the heart. And it offers something that the heart longs for. It is concerned with roots. It sees the stalk, flowers, leaves, and fruit of undesirable actions as effects of deeper causes. The roots are the real problem. All our sinful actions spring from things like pride, unbelief, idolatry, lust, etc.  The size of the weeds is significant as an indicator of a problem.  Short weeds look better, and might fool someone taking a passing glance, but they are still a serious problem. In fact, short weeds can be worse than tall ones because they are easier to ignore.  When character problems are hidden they are typically more dangerous because they avoid notice. When we are armed with the gospel, the revelation of the problem can be regarded as a mercy.  

The church is in a precarious position. It shouldn’t seek to drive sin underground through hypocrisy and shame (legalism). But neither should it celebrate or tolerate it through indifference (license). But it should welcome the honest reality of our struggle with sin.  It should treat sin with a grace and power that is greater than sin. And it shouldn’t focus merely on externals. It must aim for the heart, the root of all behavior. In many ways this is far more radical. Doing this will slowly effect the outward actions. But it often takes longer. Much like planting new seeds takes time to see growth, the slow process of pulling weeds instead of mowing them produces long term health and beauty in the soul.

A Simple (And Free) Method For Discipleship

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If the mission of the church (and therefore the mission of Christians that make up the church) is to make disciples, one of the most important questions is: how do we do this? Classroom instruction and time around a book can be helpful, but too often this is where discipleship ends. It is merely information transfer.  But when we look at Biblical examples of discipleship, we see something different. Jesus’ interaction with his disciples before the last supper is a great clinic on discipleship. Here we not only learn about humility, but how to teach humility.

In John 13:1-20 we have the well known account of the foot washing.  Cleaning dirty feet was a lowly job reserved for slaves. It was beneath ordinary people. So when there is no servant to wash the feet of the disciples before the passover meal, Jesus does the job himself. He does the work that none of them are willing to do. This is shocking. The master has become the slave. And he is doing this to show them how they are to serve others.  I realize that this passage is about more than Jesus' example, but that is beyond my focus here.

Note several things about his teaching method. It is a simple example we can use when discipling others, including our children.

First- Do. In v. 1-5 Jesus takes action to wash the feet of his followers. He removes his outer garments and gets the water basin.  This is simple, but important to note. Jesus doesn’t simply talk about servanthood, though he does this in many places. He actually models servanthood for them. He shows them how to do it.  He provides a concrete example of an abstract idea.  In order to make and mold disciples we need to spend time together with them. We need to do things together that demonstrate what it means to follow Jesus. They need to see an example that they can follow.  We need to take them along as we pray, visit sick people, help those in need, have conversations, volunteer, clean up the mess, make plans for the future, etc. We need to do the actions of every day life, and also actions that would be considered “ministry.” And we need to do this deliberately.  We need to do these things with them.

Second-Engage. In v. 6-11 Jesus interacts with Peter while he is serving them. Jesus is a providing the example and Peter is engaging Jesus. Peter is paying attention and he protests this outrageous and shameful act of a master becoming a servant. And Jesus discusses this with Peter. We need to have conversations while we are “doing” the things of life and ministry. And it would be really wonderful if we did some things that were so shocking (e.g. Masters taking the job of the slave) so that lively conversations would follow. We need to explain, clarify, answer objections, point out details, etc.  Discussion during activities, as well as time for silence are important parts of teaching.

Third-Debrief. In v. 12-17 Jesus “debriefs” the disciples after he has washed their feet. He takes time for conversation and instruction when he is done. He asks, “Do you understand what I have just done to you?”  This is an opportunity to make sure they got the message. He is going to provide the proper interpretation for what just happened. Then he clearly says that they need to do this to one another (v. 15). He provides more instruction about true greatness (v. 16). This is important because they are going to be teachers and “masters” some day.  Finally, he gives them an incentive, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (v. 17).  Masterful.

The lesson for us is simple. In order to make disciples we need to do more than invite people to a classroom. We need to do things with them and for them. We need to engage them while we are in action. And then we need to talk and explain what just happened. 

Here is a personal example, I have done this while taking people with me to visit the sick, whether at home or the hospital. On the way to the visit I will ask, “what does the Bible say about being sick?” There are dozens of equally good questions, but I like this one. It can open up almost any line of discussion.  We have a conversation about this. Then I tell them in simple form what we are going to do during the visit. Then we spend time with the person. We talk, pray, sometimes bring a gift. Ask questions. Lots of listening. Then, after we are done and on our way out, we discuss the visit. I want the person to have a chance to express what they saw and ask questions.  I want to make important connections between theory and practice.

Do. Engage. Debrief. It is a simple method that only costs time and humility. But if you do this you will be imitating one of Jesus’ methods and on your way to developing well rounded and Christlike disciples.

What Should the Church Say About Abortion? Some Thoughts and Free Resources

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It is not an understatement to say that abortion may be the most divisive issue of our generation. The deep emotion that clouds this issue tempts us to lose reason and truth in a forest of political ideology. Further, the church cannot avoid the question about its own role on this issue because of the politics, emotion, or past abuses. Even when churches and pastors decide not to engage, they have taken a side, often the side of cowards.  And while most political support for the prolife cause comes from Catholics and Evangelicals, it is sadly true that most churches do very little to engage on the abortion issue, especially at a spiritual level.

For some Christians, cultural issues like abortion are THE mission of the church. In my opinion, this is a mistake as well. The church has a mission to testify to the truth of Christ and through this, to make disciples. And while our good works also play an essential role, we cannot escape the New Testament emphasis on speaking the word of God to every creature. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth (I Tim 3:15). We are to make and teach disciples (Matt 28:18-20). We are to witness to the risen Christ (Acts 1:8)

But we have to see that the gospel is only good news if there is a problem to be remedied. Mercifully, the gospel always comes with a call to repentance. It is a call to trust in Christ, and to stop trusting and serving our idols (I Thess. 1:9-10).  If we are to be like the apostles, we must call all people to “repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:32). Because of this, any church that perpetually neglects the abortion issue is failing to call the culture (and the church) to repent. And it is failing to offer the healing medicine of the gospel to areas of guilt and shame that need it most. Men and women who are suffering from abortion as part of their past are betrayed when the church is silent.

At Free Grace Church we have been committed from the very beginning to engage on the abortion issue in ways that are wise, compassionate, prayerful, materially-supportive, bold, and grace-filled. In addition to supporting and partnering with prolife organizations, each year on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday we take time to address the abortion issue directly. We address it at other times, but we feel it is important to come back to speak truth against one of the darkest sins of our generation.

We welcome you to join us this Sunday as we address the issue again. We will be looking at why abortion is wrong, and why you don’t even need a Bible to see this. Our services start at 10am on Sunday morning, and we meet at 3385 E. Shields Ave near First St. (next to Target). You can find more info here.

We would also like to offer these free messages from previous years to help you think through the issue.

Is Abortion Selfish? This is a controversial question and even asking it is offensive to our generation. But what if we take seriously what prochoice authors themselves say about their motivations for abortion? Listen to the message here. http://bit.ly/1OqpMTt

Abortion and Lies? Our society is awash with misinformation and falsehoods when it comes to the abortion issue. What are the foundational lies that abortion culture is built on? Listen here. http://bit.ly/2jNubcG

Also, several years ago we preached on "Abortion and the Charge of Hypocrisy" and that resulted in a discussion on Life Report with Josh Bram. You can listen below.