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| Such a thing as “just a little”? |
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Sometimes I rationalize that a little sin is of no real consequence. A stray word here, a stray thought there, no one hurt, no harm done! God will gladly look past it, he would never permit such trivialities to disrupt our rich fellowship. However Jesus pointed out that just a little yeast works through the entire batch of dough. Paul repeated the lesson, further making the point that just a little bit of wrongdoing, if continually tolerated, can eventually misdirect or derail an entire life initially surrendered to God (Gal. 5:7:10).
There are also the good things I know I should do but don’t (sins of omission). Unfortunately (for me), God commands his people to obey the “whole law” and “be careful to do everything I commanded.” James says that even if we succeed in keeping the whole law but stumble on just one tiny point, we are guilty of breaking all of it! Apparently, there is no such thing as just a little oversight either!
Seems the proper perspective is to regard even the most seemingly insignificant offense, or even the littlest amount of disobedience, as completely intolerable to God. Be holy even as I am holy, says the Lord (Lev. 20:26). Geez, all of creation fell on ridiculously hard times just because one person ate something they were told not to! C’mon, she didn’t hurt anybody!!!
This teaches me that the gravity of each and every little instance of sin is enormous, in the spiritual sense!!!!! Enough so that even if I only disobeyed God once in my entire life, I would still need my Savior to die on my behalf, for
49:7 No man can redeem the life of another, or give to God a ransom for him; 49:8 the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough. Fortunately, he did. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).” Ouch. If I consider the penalty as being for each and every wrongdoing, rather than as a collective action, it really makes a difference whether I indulge in just a little bit more or not. Truly no single act of selfishness or disobedience goes unpunished.
My own personal attitude towards a little sin in my life is changing. Each day that I walk further with the Savior, my standards for my own personal conduct inch higher and higher. I hope we all find ourselves becoming likewise intolerant of even a little sin in our lives as he seeks to transform us into his likeness!! (2 Cor 3:18) |
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| I was the first to star this masterpiece! |
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Gene |
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October 10, 2007 at 9:33pm |
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Mike, this reminds me of what my mother taught me when I was little. God gives us a clean white robe when we're little and tells us to run along and have a life. But the only way we'll get into heaven is by coming back in seventy or so years without a spot on it. So, not even a little spot will make it past inspection. It's either perfect or its not. Little spots are still spots.
(That's the reason for the Jesus laundry)
great blog! |
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Rosie |
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October 11, 2007 at 2:13am |
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| GREAT BLOG MIKE.... JUST A LITTLE GOES ALONG WAY..... MY MOM ALWAYS SAID...... |
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Thanks Rosie, my friend!!! I like what your mom had to say!
Jack, no arguments here for "bootstrap religion". Paul addressed it pretty well in Galatians, didn't he? Thanks for the comment. And though I would not limit grace to God's showing up and showing off, I can see how those would be included. :-)
Gene, thanks! And that's one great illustration you were given. Wow!
Rich, thanks. But I'm not sure this even holds a candle to your "Greatest Country Hits" collection, hehe.
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As you said, all have sinned (have spots on their robes). His direction to us is to transform our minds while He conforms us more and more into His image as we walk with Him. As that transformation takes place, the "little spots" get bigger in our eyes and we deal with them as part of our working out our own salvation. The end result is that our standard for ourself is higher, but only by His grace, lest we boast.
Great devotional this morning, Mike. Thanks. |
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| Very good point, voice -- the "little spots" get bigger in our eyes -- how true!! Thanks for that observation! |
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Thanks (Pastor) LoL! This is, and should be a eye opener, and reminder to us all. "It was for me" No matter where you are in Christ we all need to get that Thang right!
I'm Learning a new languge from my friend Mulletpreacher! LOL. Great Blog. |
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Thanks Keith!! (funny, I've never thought of you as a redneck before, hehe)
I just read the following this morning in my devotion time, and it appears to be most relevant to this blog (posted last night)!!
2:2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 2:3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?
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| Sin - one size fits all. I like this blog, Mike. I catch people saying, "Well, it's not a big sin" but sin is sin - it doesn't come in different sizes! Thanks for this post. |
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...and the most beautiful part... atonement/propitiation/redemption is the same thing, one size fits all! Seems the more we consider the gravity and consequence of each and every little transgression, the greater and greater that salvation appears!
Thanks for the comment (&star) Kristie. I love hearing from the lil' penguin! |
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Mike,
It is a true saying that the most finite sin against an infinite God is worthy of an infinite punishment. In life today, we value the degree of a sin on the basis of the value of the one sinned against. A spit in the face of a beggar is barely worthy of report. A spit in the face of your mom will get you slapped. A spit in the face of the Queen of England is an offense worthy of prison. Spit in the face of God is High Treason, worthy of eternal torment. How little we value God when we see our sins as not that big of a deal.
Two things quickly... You said "she" when Eve ate the fruit. Don't forget that in Adam, not Eve, mankind fell... Small detail, but very important. If only Eve would have eaten, only Eve would have fallen.
Second, it is misleading to say that God gives everyone a White Robe at birth. That is not Biblical, but you already know that. God gave Adam a white robe. Now, everyone that is born from his DNA is given the same dirty robes He earned. Yet we are still held accountable for them being dirty, because we were there in the garden sinning in Adam. What a glorious truth Original Sin is! |
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Barrett, the statement "how little we value God when we see our sins as not that big of a deal" is incredibly true and incredibly convicting. I deeply thank you for wrapping that thought up so clearly and concisely.
Yes, biblically it was through Adam that death came to all mankind. But Eve's first bite is what began the most momentous chain reaction in history, right? Thanks for the clarification! |
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Glenn |
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October 11, 2007 at 6:16am |
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Thanks Mike for your reminder, that even the smallest sin is a total afront to our God. We tend to catagorize sins into levels if you will, thinking that murder is far worse than telling a white lie, but you point out it is not the size or magnatude of the sin, but the fact that "even the littlest amount of disobedience, as completely intolerable to God. Be holy even as I am holy, says the Lord " (Lev. 20:26).
All I can say is praise God for his grace, and forgiveness even for the smallest of sin, and his grace to transform us into his image.
peace |
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ReformedOne...I'm sure whoever wrote the "white robe" comment (and us as well) know that's not biblical truth...it was prefaced by saying it was something a mother said to a child to help with understanding.
I don't think that's misleading, I think it's a nice way to simply get the message to someone that's young. Or would you prefer to tell a three year old the specifics of his/her Adamic nature in biblical detail?
They'll probably not stick around. Jesus spoke in parables for the same reason. It gives you something of this world, of reference, to relate to, and then speaks a truth that is needed to be relayed. |
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Growing,
While it might be a nice way to share with a three year old and Jesus indeed did speak in parables, Jesus never did speak a truth that contradicted the Bible. I truly think that little children have the ability to recognize when they do something wrong as sin, and also to recognize it as something that they are unable to prevent themselves from repeatedly falling in to. Instead of beginning a path towards moralism (trust me, I grew up on that path and it starts very young) we should instead ask questions of why they think they lie to mommy and daddy.
There are a million questions that can be asked at any age to help a child recognize their helplessness. Instead, we often parade around Bible characters as examples that all good little christian boys and girls should follow after, telling them to grow up to be like Daniel, or David, or Joseph, or even Jesus. So no, they don't need to be taught explicitly the doctrine of OS, but they can learn that their nature will run, sprint even, for the nearest mud puddle again and again. If we teach them to keep themselves clean, we start with a foundation that does not look towards a savior for cleansing, instead of teaching them about repentance and trust in Jesus.
How many times are kids asked if they love Jesus? How fewer times are they asked if they trust Jesus?
Growing, I'm not trying to say anything against you or the original poster. But I've often found that parents teach misleading things like this to their children because they themselves don't know the distinction. The greatest aid in teaching our kids is for us ourselves to know the truth. |
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reformed -
I'm not espousing a Moralist viewpoint here.
What I'm pointing out is something that JESUS did do....
You connect with someone on their level (usually something they can grasp)
You use the Law to point out that they (and all that have lived) have sinned
You point out that the punishment for ANY sin, regardless of scale, is death
You point out that NO DEEDs or WORKs can remove the sin
You point out that the ONLY way to be cleansed of these sins is to REPENT and accept Christ as your Savior.
Look at the story of the woman at the well, the rich young man, all these times that Jesus did JUST that....he made them call out their guilt rather than judging them (though He had all right to do so).
The Law of God judges us. Our sin condemns us. Christ's sacrifice releases us
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That's why you can't just walk up to someone and say "you're a sinner, and you're going to hell", even though it's true!
Why?
Because doing so will not make sense to the person you're talking to if they don't have some grasp of why they're being judged and condemned.
Maybe I'm off topic too much, but for a child, if telling them that ANY and ALL of the bad things they do ruin God's perfect creation (like the little dirt on the clean robe) will keep them from getting to Heaven without accepting Christ and REPENTING, is speaking to their level, you can then explain that EVERYONE is in that same position - of sin - and that unless they love and trust in Jesus to 'clean them up', they're doomed.
If Adam and Eve hadn't sinned, God's creation would still have been perfect. There would have been no death, and no sin.
I have a VERY smart 3 year old, but he isn't gonna grasp the concepts you're speaking of.
What he will grasp is that he needs to be PERFECT in God's eyes (like the clean robe), and realize it's an impossible task (living in a dirty world), and there's only ONE way to get clean (saved through Christ's sacrifice).
All have sinned, all have fallen short of the Glory of God...and all need a Savior. Any distinction or 'grading' of one sin vs. another comes from our need to justify ourselves and our actions.
Believe me, I grew up Catholic...I knew some sins were 3 Hail Marys....others were 10 Our Fathers ;)
All I'm saying is that I like the white robe analogy. We're put into a mud puddle at birth and are asked to come out perfectly clean.
Ain't gonna happen, is it? Not without Christ it isn't. |
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Growing,
We're saying the same thing. The only difference is, I haven't had to spell it out to a three year old yet. You have, and I think you've done it right.
And I'm sorry if it came across that I meant you were purposefully teaching moralism. I know a Christian wouldn't intentionally do that. But for myself, what I heard from my parents I turned into moralism, while all the time, they were telling me about faith in Christ. I think we should always be careful that our words are not misconstrued, but it wasn't until I was in my twenties that my parents were able to hear what I had "learned" as a child, and they still marvel that it was received so legalistically. Thanks be to God that He is in control of our children, either through or in spite of our instruction! |
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Sue |
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October 11, 2007 at 9:26am |
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| You sure do have teaching gifts Mike! You can thank me next month :) |
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i starred ya late last night, but it was too late to write anythang so I'm writin a comment now.
I thank you hit a good point when you used the word "indulge". As my pastor says, we liscense ourself to do little thangs all the time, that God hain't never said was ok. And we tell ourselves that its just a minor thing and God couldn't possibly be that strict. But in reality God is holy and he expects us to live holy too. When we are truely saved, we take on the very nature of Christ and sin will make us sick to our stomach. And the closer we get to the Lord the more He chastens us and calls us to be seperated from this old world. That's what's happenin to ya, God's takin ya to a new level of sanctification. Good word Mike, as always. God bless ya man. |
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BTW Growing,
I agree with you entirely that it is the role of the individual's conscience, and the Spirit in it, to convict of sin. I can stand in front of a rapist all day long and tell them they are a sinner but it won't lead to repentence until they see it in their own mind. Most often, it is the most effective to show them all the signs of sin and see that light come on that they are the one condemned. And as we tell them, it never hurts us to keep our own sinful state in mind as well. Sorry if I came across too harsh. I hate typing. I can never say what I'm trying to say in the right way, with compassion. |
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yup...that's all I was making sure...that you knew we were saying the same thing, with different words.
:) |
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Yea, like I thought I would eat a little hand full of candy everyday & found myself gaining 5 lbs. before the end of the week. Now thats a great visual of how a little goes far!
I deal with water chemistry in pools. A little bit of Algae not taken care of becomes alot of algae the next day!
A little bit of teasing or rough housing with the kids always turns into a BIG fight.
A little weed seed blows into my grass and I have weeds everywhere in my yard!
Smiles~
Shannon |
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| Good analogies shannon. That story about the brownies would fit good here too.... y'all heard that one? |
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Glenn, yes, PRAISE GOD for his great salvation!!! (and thanks for the comment)
ReformedOne and GrowingInFaith, you guys are AWESOME!! Thanks for the brief but spirited discussion, clearly done with love and respect. Man, I LOVE MyChurch!
Sue, you are too kind. And no, I do not wait a month to respond to comments. (lol)
I'd hope that you would never feel the need to comment with apologies when it comes from the heart (Carrie Ann). I'm thankful for your friendship!
Hey Shannon, those are great illustrations! Like one m&m always leads to a handful, then another and another! |
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| Story about brownies? Mullet, you're makin me nervous man.... |
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| mmmmmm..... m&ms. What's wrong with just one? |
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| hehe, nothing, long as you aren't on a diet! |
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Gene |
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October 11, 2007 at 10:29am |
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Mike, you've been through a lot in this blog. You need another star, man.
Mullet, I can't wait to hear about brownies (and me sitting in that little white robe. . . . )
Hey, ReformedOne, share some of those m&m's! I'll have to post some pictures of my window sill at work. There's about 8 m&m dispensers lined up. |
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Deb |
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October 11, 2007 at 11:36am |
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| Great blog again Mike. How do you keep coming up with them? I feel myself growing stronger and stronger every day in my faith, and like you said "my standards for my own personal conduct inch higher and higher". Doesn't mean I won't still sin, but I am sure trying harder to do the Father's will rather than my own. |
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Another great post Mike God bless |
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Gene |
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October 11, 2007 at 4:48pm |
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| MH, I have the blue one with the saxaphone still in the box. That's my favorite one too. Favorite #2 is red and yelow at the movies. (sorry, Mike) |
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Patrick and Jack2U, thank you!!!
Tropical, thanks ofr your comment. I believe your point is that obeying God is now a matter of obeying the Holy Spirit informed conscience of the believer, rather than a set of codified laws. I agree! Though God's Word does give us an idea of what it takes to walk in obedience. Please correct me if I've misinterpreted what you wrote. |
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Tropical,
I agree with you on WDJD. I've thought that for a while. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to turn it into a bracelet yet... :) Living WWJD makes Jesus into Ghandi, a role model to be emulated. It reduces the sacrifice on the cross down to an example of a misunderstanding. Jesus only wanted to show love, and they killed him for it. It removes the entire reason of the cross, the Father and Son aspect of it. Without "it pleased the Lord to crush Him", we have little more than the worst lynching because of a misunderstood message in history. It makes the cross into a byword, an accident that cut down a great preacher in the prime of his ministry. Rather, the cross IS the ministry. It was the purpose for which Christ was sent. We must recover this truth today.
Two things we must realize, We are branches. Do branches pick themselves off the ground and graft themselves into living roots? Sort of like Terminator 2 where the shattered metal guy starts to melt and pull himself together? No. Branches are dead. They sit there. The Vinedresser must pick them up and graft them in. Additionally, let us not be surprised by pain in this life. In order to be grafted in, branches must be cut to the green wood. You don't graft bark into bark. You graft green wood into green wood. So why are we surprised when God cuts away bark?
Second thing, as you aluded to, the righteousness by which we stand is NEVER a righteousness that is in anything in us. At Justification, we stand in Christ alone, and at glory, we will stand in Him alone. It is not in us to improve, maintain, or possess this righteousness. We are not declared righteous because we are righteous. Righteousness is imputed, not imparted. God does not make us righteous, He declares us righteous. He declares us to be something we are not, just as He declared, and punished, Christ as Sin for us. If Christ became an actual sinner, He would have been guilty, and not seen the resurrection. This is meaty stuff that takes time to digest, but it is at the heart of the Gospel.
Barrett |
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Barrett, you and I are on the same wavelength on the WWJD/purpose of the cross thing. The cross is the ministry.... well, we also have Jesus' words. If it were the cross and only the cross, why did Jesus spend 3 years wandering from place to place? But ultimately you're right IMO, the cross was the point of his coming here.
Tropical, the point I was trying to make in the blog wasn't that we should be trying to perfect ourselves. I sought to express the true magnitude of every single transgression, or "sin". I don't try to root out sin in my life by rooting out sin in my life, but rather by abiding (as you said). But I am also faced w/many decisions each day, some of which constitute sin and some don't. It would be easy to allow myself to step out of the abiding and into sin if I thought there were harmless, innocuous sins, right? But if I continuously realize that each and every little sin demands the death of my Savior, won't that motivate me all the more to abide in him??? I would quite logically think it would. And that is the point of the blog.
And one more thing to ya....regarding your Gal 5:16 quote, see this blog to know where I stand on that one.
And Barrett, "righteousness is imputed, not imparted" is a brilliant statement, but one that can be very difficult to explain. Especially to those who read the Bible literally. When they read the many instances where the apostles tell us don't sin, or stop sinning, or we won't sin anymore, etc., they see "imparted" not imputed. You need to blog again, buddy! :-) |
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Mike,
Sorry, but not blogging has been free-ing! I'll just content myself to hog your blogs! Hope you don't mind.
It is true that our not sinning is not accomplished by not sinning but rather by treasuring Christ above all else. What is sin, but not treasuring Christ as supremely valuable. That is one thing I love about John Piper (and Jonathan Edwards) is that they don't reduce Christianity down to propositions that can be mentally assented to in addition to everything else that absorbs your daily life. Rather, they see treasuring Christ as supreme in every facet of life as Christianity. Do you work? Then magnify the supremacy of Christ in your work ethic. Do you play? Then show the supremacy of Christ in your recreation. We (Christian Hedonists) see every second of the day as a chance to show Christ as our treasure so the world may know that He is glorious. He gets the glory, we get the joy.
As we walk the Christian life, the Law is not a ladder by which we climb our way to heaven. But, we do not cast it away either. As Christians, the law isn't to be fulfilled, it has been fulfilled, as you've blogged about. We return to the law as assurance that we are indeed in the vine.
I agree that "imputation" is a hard thing to understand. But it is there. It is Biblical. But often times, the hardest concepts to understand are the ones that are blatantly in front of our faces. We just don't want to see them.
Barrett
P.S. I too have wrestled with why Jesus walked for 3 years. We must first see it as fulfilling the active righteousness demanded of him, but there is an additional aspect to it as well. In a way, Jesus did demonstrate the benevolence that should be a hallmark of all Christians. There should be a sort of pity on all creatures, not only Christians. Christ showed this in compassion to those who he knew would still not believe in Him. Yet it did not stop Him from easing their suffering when he could and when it would glorify the Father. Amazing. |
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| Barrett, you add a lot to any blog you comment on, so please feel free to drop in any time! |
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Mike,
I receive an email from MyChurch every time someone responds, and I laugh because the link shows up as http://www.mychurch.org/blog/77028/such-a-thing-as-just-a-little#comment
If you add your question mark, the last part looks like "Such a thing as just a little comment?" Apparently, from this blog, no...
Ha! |
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Imagine all the obstacles a person might have to overcome if he were to walk from New York City to San Francisco. One man who accomplished this rare achievement mentioned a rather surprising difficulty when asked to tell of his biggest hurdle. He said that the toughest part of the trip wasn't traversing the steep slopes of the mountains or crossing hot, dry, barren stretches of desert. Instead, he said, "The thing that came the closest to defeating me was the sand in my shoes." Our Daily Bread.
Sometimes it's those small sins that we overlook that causes the most problems. Great post Mike! |
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That's Barrett! You'd almost think I titled this for that very purpose. Almost.... :-)
Pastor Tim, that is a pretty profound little devotion there. And an amazing correlation to this blog. Thanks for sharing it! |
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Mike,
Once again you have hit it on the spot. Even a little bit of sin in our lifes opens the doorway for death and allows satan to have a foothold in our life. Therefore we must "die daily" and give it all to God so that we can have total victory through Christ.
Jeremy |
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