"Respectable Sins- Often Overlooked"

 

Our current sermon series is titled Respectable Sins, which is the title of a book by Jerry Bridges on the theme of “confronting the sins we tolerate.” The preface of this book, which we find born out in our culture, is that there are many “sins” in our society that are considered “acceptable.”  In fact, many people around us would not call them sins at all, but just normal human behavior… such as anxiety, discontentment, selfishness, impatience, jealousy. 

 

We need to face up to the truth that “some forms of cancer grow undetected until they reach a terminal stage.” Sin, like cancer, has a way of doing that-- if left to its own devices.  Satan would like nothing better than for a believer to pretend that his sins are not really sins at all. Consider the “respectable” sin of selfishness. What happens if selfishness in a Christian is ignored and left alone to grow and develop? As a follower of Christ, I need to ask myself, is my selfishness really acceptable? It may be subtle or hidden, but am I willing to deal with it seriously, even if my culture says, “Don’t worry about it… everyone is selfish to a certain degree…??”  

 

  I have a brother who found a small cancerous growth in his knee.  It was an early discovery, and could have gone undetected for a long time… It could have kept growing and spreading, and destroying. So it was very much a God-thing that the cancer was found early, and of course, this was taken very seriously and is being treated every day with radiation. Sin has to be taken seriously, and it’s a lot easier to treat is when it’s small… before it starts to take over.

 

No chemo is needed, but the cancer will still have to be cut out by surgery. In the same way, we must treat any sin in our life seriously. It may take some time to deal with it effectively.  The end goal is for the sin to be cut out of our lives.  

 

Pastor Leslie gave us the metaphor of the window that gradually gets dirty, not too noticeable at first… but then our view starts to get distorted and blocked.  “Likewise, sin—especially the so-called “acceptable” or “subtle” sins—can exist in our lives, virtually undetected and dangerous. We can be deceived into believing that such sin is not all that bad,--- into denying that sin is really sin,--- and into not even thinking about sin. In fact, the word sin has virtually disappeared from our culture—and is even avoided in some churches.” (Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins Discussion guide, p. 17)

 

Join us for this sermon series, which will continue through March ‘09

Pastor Frank