WEEK 16

UPCOMING EVENTS

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UPCOMING EVENTS

February 2: Live Hangout On Zoom at 8 PM ET

February 22: Live Ash Wednesday Sessions (7 AM & 8 PM ET)

March 2: Live Hangout On Zoom at 8 PM ET

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1. LORD’S PRAYER 

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the Kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory forever.
Amen!”

The Lord’s prayer can be found in Matthew 6:9-13 except for the final line. You can learn more about that final line in this article here.

2. TEACHING

Welcome everyone! Today we begin our journey through sin. Sounds a little odd right? But there’s a reason for it, I promise. When I initially posed this question back in October, the goal was to follow up with, “Is Celebrating Halloween A Sin?” And of course, we had just come off of Yom Kippur which is an entire event dedicated to eradicating sin from Israel. However, the more I dove into your questions the more I realized there’s no way we can cover this in one-week teaching.

On top of that, I think it’s necessary for us to discuss this word right now since there are a lot of questions right now about what sin is and what it isn’t. What really separates us from God? Is there a difference between a moral command versus a cultural command and how do we define those? These are just a few things we’ll be tackling over the next 6 weeks. 

And all of this leads us right into Lent where we begin the month-and-a-half journey of examining ourselves before Holy week. So I’m really looking forward to these questions. We’re going to have some different people lined up to teach on these questions and I think by the end, we’ll have a much better understanding of sin and where God draws the line. 

Let’s begin with prayer.

Every day we wake up with the reality that we live outside of Eden. The older you get, the worse that reminder is. You start aching in places you didn’t know you could ache. Stretch marks form. Wrinkles appear overnight. 

But then it gets worse. You turn on the news or go on social media and someone has just passed away. A hurricane decimates a city. People murdered for the color of their skin or the person they love. 

Death is all around us. It’s is what separates humanity from life. And death is the result of sin. 

In October we talked a lot about sin. You have Yom Kippur which is the holiest day that cleanses the community of Israelites and wipes away all of the sin. And then when we get to Passover as well as the Cross, we find that God is providing a way for us to have our sin wiped away completely. And let’s be honest, so much of our lives revolve around what separates us from God. Are our decisions that we make on a day-to-day basis causing us have a vibrant relationship with God or are they causing us to drift away one decision at a time? And today, there is a lot of discussion about what sin really is. Is it sinful to do this one thing? If so, what makes it sinful? So I want to take the next 6 weeks and answer your questions about sin and help us define it a little better. Because I think when we can define sin in a healthy way, we can have a clearer path to a better relationship with our Creator, Our Messiah, and our Advocate. 

Did you know there are 613 commands in the Torah? That is A LOT of opportunities to sin! And the word sin is mentioned over 400 times in the Bible. Depending on the version of the Bible you use there are around 300 mentions in the Hebrew Bible and there are over 100 mentions in the New Testament. Lots of commandments. Lots of sins. But how do we define sin? I think it’s important that we understand what sin is and isn’t so we can chart the best path forward. Let’s start with the OG sinner. And spoiler alert, it’s not who you think.

The very first time we see sin used as a word in the Bible is actually not with Adam and Eve but with Cain and Abel. The biblical authors tell us this story about how Cain and Abel brought offerings to God. God looked favorably upon Abel’s offering but unfavorably upon Cain’s. I don’t want to get into too much detail and derail us here, but I think it’s important to our understanding of why Cain’s sin was not looked upon favorably. 

When we read these early stories of Genesis, they are mostly pictures of Israel and who they would become as a nation. I mean think about it, the idea of sacrifices hasn’t even been introduced yet so there is some sort of understanding that this represents something else because the biblical authors weren’t careless. So Cain offers “some of the fruits of the soil” while Abel presents the firstborn of the flock. In future books where we learn the commands for offering sacrifices, God is always commanding the first fruits of the labor. Cain does not offer the first fruits here but Abel does. 

And then the biblical authors say this: “This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.” Let’s pause here for a second. Cain plays the victim here as if he didn’t know what he did was wrong. It’s like when I tell my son, “Don’t hit.” And then he hits me or his mom, we tell him to stop or NO and then he starts crying as if he’s the one that was hit. If we believe that Cain knew what He did was wrong, this changes our whole understanding. Let’s keep going.  

“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

If Cain just offered the first fruits like God asked there would be no quarrel here. But the biblical author is writing a cautionary tale to the rest of Israel. Do what God commands or there will be consequences. And as we see, Genesis 4 gives us this anthropomorphic identity to sin. “Sin is crouching like a lion at the entrance of your heart and is eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

What can we know from this story? Even though we’re just reading or listening to the words, we can feel the rage building up in Cain. We’ve got Jealousy and anger boiled up to bitterness and the ultimate murder of his own brother.

Now, let’s define sin. The original word for sin in Hebrew is Chata(t), which can sometimes be used for missing the mark or failing to achieve a goal or objective. However, this really does not go far enough. When we look back at Adam and Eve, we see Adam and Eve ultimately rebel against God and seek wisdom on their own outside of God’s wisdom. He was their source of life and wisdom. When Adam and Eve took the fruit from the tree, the temptation was that they would no longer need God because they themselves would become gods. Genesis 3 gives us words like lust, independence, and disobedience. 

Within Genesis 3-4, the original two cases of sin we have a dishonor of God and a dishonor of God’s creation. And when we dishonor God’s commandments and we dishonor God’s creation, we are polluting both the physical and spiritual environment in which we sin – and pollution will always lead to death. 

If sin is the nuclear bomb that has eroded our people and planet then at ground zero we can see envy. Adam and Eve were envious that they did not have the same control and wisdom that YHWH had. Cain was jealous that God looked favorably upon Abel’s offering. Envy isn’t just wanting something you don’t have. It’s lusting after it and saying, I will do whatever it takes to get this, even if it means doing something wrong to get it. 

Paul says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Sin is the action of dishonoring God and dishonoring God’s creation. And when we do so, there is a debt that is incurred. A debt that none of us can pay on our own. Only God is the one able to forgive that debt. The sacrifices in the Temple worked as a temporary cleansing of sin but guess what – we just keep on sinning. And this is why Jesus as Messiah and Passover Lamb is so crucial to our understanding of Sin. BECAUSE He was fully God and fully Human, he was able to bridge that gap WE CREATED and kept digging out so that we could be restored to God. So that no matter how much we keep digging, Jesus still covers the gap. He takes on the punishment and consequences of death that we deserved, covers the gap of sin and death, and offers us that restored new life – and ultimately the restored Eden. So that even when we die physically on earth, we’ll be resurrected and restored into a new body that will no longer know sin or death. A new life where we will no longer have the desire to dishonor God or His creation.

Okay, so we’ve defined sin as a dishonor of God and/or His creation. We know that sin is a transgression against God that incurs a debt that only He is able to forgive. And if you grew up in Church, you probably felt like from a young age we’re just always screwing up and sinning. So what gives? You may even feel like, “What’s the point? If I’m always sinning I may as well just sin away. Do we really have to live like monks to be this perfect holy person?” Don’t worry, we’ll be talking about that more over the coming weeks. But let’s talk for a moment about how God views us and sin. 

Many have this idea that God is sitting in Heaven just waiting for us to sin so He can punish us – the ultimate killjoy. But when you think about a good parent, is that the type of characteristic you think of? Is a good parent really sitting there on the couch saying, “I can’t wait until my kid jumps off the slide so I can yell at them!” If so, they are not a good parent. God is not a parent waiting to punish their children, instead, He’s a good Father who comes down, sits on the floor with us, forgives us, and asks us not to do it again because he knows that if you jump off that slide, you might break your leg or worse. 

Here’s a picture of my Nana and myself (See video). She watched not only my brother and I when we were kids, but she also watched my two cousins as well. She had to deal with 4 boys who were in no way mild-mannered! When I was a child, I thought my Nana was mean. She would tell us not to do things like go into the neighbor’s yard. We couldn’t climb the trees or sometimes even go off of her deck. Moreover, we were not to call each other names or hit one another. She commanded these things to keep order and to protect us from hurting ourselves or each other. And when did not listen, there were consequences. We were put in a corner to think about our decisions, our parents were called, we were spanked, and so forth. 

Now, as an adult, my Nana is the sweetest lady in the world. I can look back on her commandments and discipline as love. She only ever wanted what was best for my and my brother and cousins. She was a good Nana and now today, she is a good Super Nana to my son, Noah. 

But as time goes on, some rules no longer apply to me. I can walk into a neighbor’s yard if I want to. I can climb the tree…okay probably not in my current physical condition, but you know what I mean. However, there are still timeless rules I should respect. When I walk into Nana’s house, I should take my shoes off to respect her house. I should still treat my brother and cousins with respect, not calling them names. Christopher, if you’re watching this, I’m looking at you! There are some commandments that are specific to a time and place in culture while others are timeless. And when we are examining sin in the Bible, we have to be able to discern what is a cultural command versus a moral or timeless command. And hopefully, as we continue diving into this topic of sin we can discuss a little more about those differences.

Before we wrap this up, you’re probably wondering why I didn’t bring up Satan at all today. Well, it’s because ultimately sin is an “us” issue not a Satan issue. Furthermore, I think we often misunderstand who Satan is and thus assume he has more power than he really does. Some people love blaming everything on Satan. But he is just an accuser. He’s just a tempter. Satan is not responsible for your sin. You sin because you chose to sin. You may have been tempted, but it’s the old, “If I told you to jump off a bridge would you do it” scenario. As we read last week, Jesus was tempted in every way as us, and yet He did not sin (Hebrews 4:14-15). I am not downplaying that we are up against an enemy. Peter tells us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). However, when it comes to sin, more times than not we are our biggest enemies. Sin is crouching at our door, but we must master it. 

Ultimately, sin exists because we choose it. It’s not Adam’s fault. It’s not Eve’s fault. It’s not Satan’s fault. It’s our fault – collectively and individually. When we look back on Yom Kippur, we see that there is a responsibility on us, both individually and corporately to make and receive atonement for our sins. It was the High Priest’s job to make atonement for the entire people BUT it was the collective responsibility to stop working, fast, and seek forgiveness. In spite of the fact that we have no one to blame but ourselves, we have a God who comes down to us, who forgives us, and provides us with a new way forward. And because of God’s deep and massive love for us, we no longer have to be determined by our sin or our past, but we are granted a new life and forgiveness through the Messiah because of Jesus’ work as the Passover Lamb. Death is crouching at our door, but Jesus has overcome it. 

So how does this origin of sin cause us to love God and our neighbor differently or better?

First, it causes us to love God knowing that He is a gracious God. He doesn’t just strike us down at the first sin. Instead, he gives us the opportunity to repent and to make things right. And this causes us to remember that we should not dishonor God by going against His commandments because His commandments are out of love for us. He is a good Father that wants the best for us and knows that our sinful behaviors will only lead to death and negative consequences. Even though sin always pollutes, corrupts, and leads us to death our God always offers us forgiveness, redemption, and a new life.

Secondly, it causes us to love our neighbor knowing that we have ALL sinned, as Paul said in Romans 3:23. And since we have all sinned, we can have grace and love and forgiveness for other people the same way God has for us. Paul said in Ephesians 4 and 5, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us.” 

As you are making your daily decisions, think about what decisions are honoring or dishonoring God and His creation. Are there things you do out of daily habit that are causing harmful consequences to you or others?

3. HAND WASHING

You will need a bowl of water and a towel at this point if you’re wanting to participate. Please know you do not have to participate if you would rather not.

-Psalm 24:4-5

4. COMMUNION 

You will need the elements at this point if you’re wanting to participate. Please know you do not have to participate if you would rather not. Click here to learn more about communion.

Why do we take communion every week? Because it’s a reminder of what Jesus accomplished for us both on the Cross and in the Resurrection: Forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to our Creator, and new life in the resurrection.

Click here to view the different views on communion.

We do not take communion lightly. We do believe that Jesus actually meets us here in this sharing of the bread and cup. Please make sure to take time and answer the questions below before participating.

Ephesians 4:32-5:2 – “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!” and “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

Scriptures To Consider:

Isaiah 53:4-5
Acts 2:42-47
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Mark 14:22-26
Luke 22:14-20
John 6:52-58 (See article here for more insight)
1 John 1:8-9

Want To Get Involved?

Thank you so much for being a part this week! If you’d like to help us out, here’s what was need: 

1. We’re in need of people who love worshipping and can record worship music. Or have their own music already recorded that they would be willing to let us use in these sessions.

2. We’d love for you to lead some of the sections (For example, you would film yourself using your phone blessing and lighting the candle, or saying the Lord’s prayer. And we’re open to other spiritual practices that help you grow with Jesus).

3. If you know how to edit videos, use WordPress sites, and/or love social media and would like to help out, please reach out!

You can email us at [email protected] or use the form on the website here.