What is Sin?

Sin is something that's amazingly popular.  It's the one thing that everybody on the planet participates in.  Even the people who don't recognize or follow any particular religion or faith system believe in sin, as the popular phrase "Nobody's perfect" is what's used when someone says, thinks, or does something not right.

Now there are some static, linear definitions of sin like "missing the mark" or "falling short of God's perfect standard" or "anything you think, say, do, or attitude you possess that isn't what God has prescribed."  All of those are absolutely true.  They are fine definitions.  But they also fall terribly short themselves, and do not speak to the depth of sin in our lives.  The problem with linear definitions is that they reek of religious moralism.  Sin just becomes a check list to avoid.  And when you avoid the negative checklist, it's just too easy to compare yourself to others and see how much better off you are than they, and you become self-righteous which is a form of pride.  Which is sin.  Perhaps the most dangerous one.

So how do we understand sin on a deeper level?  In Tim Keller's book "The Prodigal God," he unpacks the parable commonly known as the Prodigal Son from Luke 15.  The younger brother in the parable is the poster-child for a rebellious sinner.  The older brother is the steadfast, hardworking son.  But at the end of the parable, it's the older brother who finds himself not enjoying the Father (note the capital "F") and the rebellious younger brother is restored back into the family.

The lesson? Sin is more than just breaking the rules like the younger brother.  Sin also includes using our morality and obedience to get the things we want - like control over God (like "foxhole prayers" - God, if you just get me out of this, I'll sell all my stuff and be a missionary to deepest, darkest Africa).  So, as Keller puts it, sin is really putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord, and Judge.  We do this both through our rebellion and through our moralistic obedience.

The bottom line?  Sin is idolatry.  The idolatry of ourselves.

What is the Trinity?

"Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son; and praise the Spirit Three-in-One" -from the hymn 'All Creatures of Our God and King'

Scripture is clear in teaching that there is One God (Deuteronomy 6:4), yet there are three persons in the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.  Each person is fully God - they share the same essence (that's how they're One); but each is distinct in his role.

Confused yet?  I thought so.  People have been knocking this around for a couple thousand years.  The doctrine of the Trinity is something that only God Himself knows fully and that we can only understand in part.

Now, while the word 'trinity' doesn't appear in scripture, we clearly see the Triune God in passages like Genesis 1:26 (the use of the 'Us'), Deueronomy 6:4 (the word 'one' is plural), Matthew 3:16-17 (Jesus' baptism where the Father speaks and the Spirit is illustrated as a dove), Matthew 28:19 (where we are to baptize disciples in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and in Jude 20-21 (Pray in the Spirit, keep in the love of God, wait for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ).

Why does it matter that God exists as a Trinity?  A couple reasons.  First, it helps us understand the longing in our lives for relationships.  Since we're created in God's image (which is communal), we have a strong, inherent desire for community ourselves.  Interestingly, when God ordained the first marriage as recorded in Genesis 2:21-25, the term "one flesh" ( Heb. 'echad') is the same word used in Deuteronomy 6:4.  Secondly, and more importantly, the doctrine of the Trinity shows us how holy and perfect God is.  1 John 4:8 plainly tells us that God is love.  Now, we all know that love is something that can be given and shared - love always has an object because love is an action more than it is a feeling.  For God to be love, God must exist in a communal way for Him to "be love", and therefore to be self-sufficient.  The Father, the Son, and the Spirit share this love among themselves.

On a personal note, while I can sit here and write about the systematics of the Trinity, in no way do I comprehend it.  But I embrace the mystery of it and praise God all the more for it.  For if my limited, finite mind could understand everything about God, to me, He would then cease to be beyond me - cease to be holy - cease to be God.

What is the Bible?

The Word of God. Sacred Scripture. The Holy Bible.

Pretty powerful phrases to describe a book.  Actually, the Bible is a collection of books, letters, & poetry.  66 of them.  Divided into 2 main categories: the Old & New Testaments.  What's so interesting is that these books, mainly named after their themes (e.g, Genesis, which means "beginning") or authors (e.g., Luke) or target audience (e.g., Philippians, written to the Christian in the ancient city of Philippi) all communicate the same idea: God connecting with and redeeming his creation whom He loves.

Think about that.  These books were written over the span of 1000 years by 40 different authors from all walks of life on 3 continents in 3 languages...the story is all the same.  Amazing.

The most famous passage describing the Bible is found in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

These two verses communicate that the Bible was literally "breathed out" by God Himself.  He inspired the writers of Scripture to write down His words through their hand, through their personality, through their culture.  These verses also communicate that the Bible is good (profitable) to teach right thinking, correct wrong thinking, train people for right living, and correct wrong living.  That kinda covers it.

But my favorite verse about God's Word is found in Hebrews 4:12.  It says, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

The thing I like about this verse is that it shows the Bible as living.  This means that you can interact with it.  It speaks to you.  And since it's living and active, it doesn't get outdated...it remains relevant.  But relevant for what?  For our lives.  It's message cuts through all the crap in our lives and gets right to the heart (which another verse in the Bible says is the "well-spring of our lives").  It hits us right where we live...right to the place that really matters most.

So when you read the Bible, approach as not just a book, but as the Words of Someone who wants to talk to you.  Get past what may look like archaic rules and listen to what it's saying to your heart.  And lastly, try reading it from the perspecitve of God revealing Himself to you...Him taking the initiative to meet you.  The Bible isn't about God "proving" to the world that He exists, but rather saying something like, "Here I am.  I know life is frustrating and confusing and heartbreaking.  But let me tell you a story that spans the length of time.  Let me tell you the Great Plan that I have for you.  Let me tell you how much I love you."

The Bible may just become living and active in your life if you read it like that.

What is the Gospel?

Simply put, it's good news.  It is "news" to be responded to...a grand story that actually happened and is still happening.  But good news about what?  Good news about who?

Practically everyone on the face of the earth, or at least the people that I know and have known over the years, agree that we're all jacked up.  Something's wrong with us.  Parts of us, sometimes all of us, feel broken...disconnected.  We have this phrase that we throw around: "Nobody's perfect."  The Bible calls this "sin" - falling short of perfection.

You see, in the Bible when God first creates everything, it's paradise.  He had a perfect connection and harmony with his creation.  But then the fateful day came: our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God and the perfect, harmonious connection was lost.  Life became a series of struggles, failures, and disappointments.  People chose their own way instead of living the beautiful life that the Creator made us for.  But not only did this break our connection with Him, this pride sent us down a path that leads further and further away from Him...ultimately to a place called Hell, where any glimpse of God doesn't exist.  Complete and utter torment.

But God had a plan.

His plan was to come to earth Himself to live the life that he designed us for.  He would come to rescue us from ourselves and from our sin that is bringing us closer and closer to total destruction.

Jesus lived the perfect life.  A life unmarred by sin.  Beautiful.  Holy.

And then he was killed.  Some people, mostly religious ones, were threatened by Him.  They followed all kinds of rules that God had established, but they forgot that a deep love for God was to be the motivator for the rules, not self-righteousness.

But this was part of the plan.  For sin to be forgiven by a perfect, holy God, a sacrifice was demanded.  Blood was demanded.  Typically the blood sacrifice of a beautiful lamb.  But an animal couldn't take care of all sin - past, present, & future.  It was just an animal...a symbol.  For sin to be dealt with on a cosmic scale, that demanded the Ultimate Pure Lamb, God Himself, Jesus Christ.

Because of Jesus' death and His resurrection from the dead, you and I can be reconnected to the life that we were intended to have all along.  You see, Jesus is our Rescuer.  He rescues us from ourselves and our evil sin.  It doesn't make us instantly perfect by any means.  But as far as God is concerned, He just needs to see our sincere faith, hope, and trust in the finsihed work of Jesus.  Then he begins to transform us over time to become more and more like Jesus...ultimately ending in a face-to-face reunion with our Creator in heaven...for all eternity...completely purified from sin forever...experiencing pure joy and peace.

That is the good news.  It's all about God...His love...His plan...Jesus our Rescuer.  That's the Gospel.

"Salvation belongs to the Lord." The Book of Jonah, chapter 2, verse 9.

"What Is" Update

The new blog series will begin next week.  Here is a list of topics that will be covered:

What is the Gospel?

What is the Bible?

What is the Trinity?

What is Sin?

What is Salvation?

What is the Kingdom of God?

What is the Church?

What is Hell?

What is Heaven?

Since I'm planning on giving simply, brief overviews of each topic, I highly encourage anyone to ask questions by leaving a comment.  Also, for further reading to deal with these topics more in depth, as well as other "What?" questions, please pick up a copy of my friend Elliot Grudem's book "Christian Beliefs."

Blog series to start the New Year off

So I think I'm going to start a new blog series for the upcoming weeks.  The series will be called "What is ___?"  I'll deal with things like: What is salvation?  What is biblical authority?  What is the atonement?  What is missional living?

So, if you have any suggestions, please let me know.  The idea is for these to be Cliff's Notes sorts of things...so my "answers" to the "what is" questions will be brief.

Also, I've begun a new blog directed specifically for Illinois church planters, that is to be a supplement for a new Illinois church planting network that I'm calling "Cloverleaf."  The blog's address is: www.cloverleaf-illinois.blogspot.com

Peace

I'm so not an office guy

2009 has begun, I'm another year older (as I celebrated my 36th birthday on Jan. 1), and as I'm putting in my first hours of work in the New Year, I'm reminded of how much I don't like to be in my office.

Why? There's no one there, for one.  I'm the only "employee" of my church. And being a pastor, I'm kind of in the people business, so it doesn't make much sense to be in an environment where I can't meet and talk with people.  Besides, you never know what you're going to get at my office since the heat & air conditioning are pretty tempermental.  Plus our wireless router is going bad, so my internet connection is off and on (and I'm too lazy to replace it).  So I basically pop in there every once in a while to grab a book I need or print something off.  Other than that, it's only coming in for various meetings and such.

So where do I work?  I have many offices in Springfield, depending on where I want to be and what I want to drink or eat or where I may have meetings set up with people.  Here's typically where I hang:

Downtown: my favorite place is Cafe Moxo...free internet, bottomless coffee, and unbelievable soups.  My second favorite downtown place is Andiamo's...free internet, bottomless coffee, and great pizza-for-one at lunch.

Near Westside: I'm at Brewbaker's quite a bit since it is right around the corner from my house and I usually walk or ride my bike (before my bike was stolen)...free internet and a great selection of coffee, but the food's a little pricey and portions are a tad small. I'm usually at the Monroe/Chatham Rd Starbucks once or twice a week to enjoy a French Vanilla Latte or a Chai Tea Latte.

Further Westside: Despite it getting crazy crowded, I'll end up at Panera a couple times a week simply because of 3 things: free internet, bottomless coffee and pop, and padded chairs...padding is very important. Sometimes I'll go into Barnes & Noble, but usually not to work, but to browse the 'zines and books for purchase.

Eastside: Sometimes I'll end up at the Eastside Panera, but that's become very rare.

North end: Nothing up there, but I've heard a rumor that my cigar shop has free wi-fi (but my wife doesn't appreciate the smell).

South: Don't really hang down there, but I've heard decent things about Centrum Cafe.  We'll see.

So, there you go.  I guess I have many offices around town where I meet, study, plan, and write.  One last note, for late-night meetings, Dublin Pub is my winner.  But no one in their right mind should eat a horseshoe after 8pm.