Let me back up a little...the series of sermons that Tim and I have are from Ronnie and Janelle...they picked them up in England. There are a few others with equally interesting and though provoking titles such as, "God is so big and so strong, He can't be hurt; The Lord gives and the Lord takes away...always ending with,'and other Christian Myths'. The pastor is Pete Read and he is quite funny and has this wonderful english accent that is positively entertaining to listen to! Back to my point. He begins the sermon with multiple scriptures frankly stating that the word 'sinner' refers to those that are pre-God, outside of relationship with God or independent of God. (Genesis 13, Psalm 1, 25, 51, Proverbs 11, 13, Matthew 9, Luke 5, Romans 5, 1 Timothy 1:5) Biblically speaking, all those that are in relationship with God are called Saints. We, His people, are His saints. Our inheritance is in heaven (Eph 1) and God's inheritance is in the saints. We are His treasure. No wonder He protects and looks after us! It seems to me that it would be offensive to God to keep calling ourselves sinners if God sees us as HIS saints and HIS inheritance! He calls us His holy and righteous ones, we are sacred and set apart. So then, what is the relationship between saints and sin? Acts 3 says that once I have turned to God, my sins are blotted out. But that doesn't mean I don't struggle with sin. When I put my faith in God, I am not still in my sin-I am free. We are freed from the guilt and shame, but also the power of sin over us.
However, there is an important 'tension' to keep in check; the tightrope between justification and sanctification.
1. Justification: having right standing before God. Christ makes this possible through His death and resurrection. It can be a slippery concept on it's own without sanctification-Is it right that someone has terrible things hidden in their heart and keeps sinning because they know that they are 'just a sinner' and God's grace will cover them? NO! It's like having a rich relative of a murderer pay to have that person released...How many of you or how many people do you know that live this out daily? I once had a friend who was involved in perpetual sin and they used to say, "I don't doubt God's grace...and maybe that's my problem." You see, they believed that God would always forgive and cover them if they said sorry, but there was never a true change...
2. Sanctification- cleansing of my inner life, Christ's character being formed in me, being made holy. God does a work in our life to make us clean. Not just to deal with the past, but to give us a power for the future to deal with sin. When we repent, we have to be sure that we allow sanctification, true change, or we are doomed for failure or a life spent trying to live out 'rules' without the heart behind it.
So then, how do I live? Eph 4:24-"Display a new nature, because you are a new person created in God's likeness: righteous, holy and true." We should think of ourselves as ex-sinners, saints who might occasionally sin. If I live like a sinner (saved by grace), I live with a certain inevitability hanging over me. We live up to who we believe we are. If I believe I am a sinner grasping to the grace of God...but know I will still make it to heaven one day...I will live it out. I will always struggle...I am just a sinner. Chances are: I will crash.
1 John 1: 5: "This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you, God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But 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, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
God doesn't expect us to sin, yet so often we expect it! We live in a state of just waiting to slip and fall. I want to encourage you with what has encouraged me:
Become what God says you are: A SAINT, A HOLY ONE, SET APART for HIM...
...if you do sin: confess, repent, be cleansed and restored.
3 comments:
Hey Jenn:
Preach it!! Great thoughts. You may (or may not) have noticed that I don't use the "Sinner saved by grace" phrase for the very reason you state. We used to be sinners who sinned habitually out of who we were. We are now saints who can experience God's grace and forgiveness when we do what is not "natural" to our standing in Christ.
Thanks for the reminder so aptly put.
Pastor Marv
(This is Marla's hubby speaking...)
Hi Jenn,
Your thoughts are so encouraging.
What is awesome is that if we go a step further with your words, we can start to understand what McLaren is saying in "A New Kind Of Christian". The character Dan Poole recounts a conversation between him and the character Neil Oliver. Neil is trying to explain the problem with the evangelical phrase of making sure we are "getting souls into heaven"(McLaren, 2001). McLaren writes
"Would God want a heaven full of people who wanted to be "saved" but didn't necessarily want to be good? If we pitch the whole story as, "Do you want to go to heaven or hell?" he said, we run the risk of attracting people who want salvation from hell without necessarily wanting salvation from sin. This would be a story about being chosen for elite privilege, not sacrificial service"(McLaren, 2001).
I personally love this quote (and the whole book). It points to our salvation and our sainthood as sacrificial service to God. Therefore our acceptance of Christ's sacrifice means even more than salvation, it means we are accepting our place in his body (the church), and accepting the great work he has in store for us as part of that body. If we live out Christ's love to the world by "carrying our cross" this means that His sacrifice is ongoing.
Thank you so much for writing what you did Jen and give us a call if you feel like pondering. Marla and I love you guys very much.
M&M
Preach it!
I have this problem that this song is in our choir. I want to cansle this song. But the rest of the choir think this song is a beautifull song. But tomorrow I'll tell them it will be the last time I will play it. Thank you, I toally agree!!!
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