Last week we talked about the nature of God compared with our sinful nature. Today we will look more about what sin is. Sin keeps us in darkness and prevents us from being in the light and being close to God. But what is sin specifically? It is only when we break the Ten Commandments or violate Gods law? Or is it when we violate God's perfect standards in any way? The Apostle Paul talks about many specific examples of sin in the context of "works of the flesh".
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21 ESV
http://bible.com/59/gal.5.19-21.esv
The list that Paul gives includes more than just the Ten Commandments and all of the things on the list are still applicable today. Sexual immorality, sensuality, impurity, and orgies cover a variety of things including sex outside marriage, pornography, and lust. These things the the majority of focus from conservative evangelical groups, and they are definitely destructive to our relationship with God because we become engrossed in physical pleasure at the expense of our relationship with God and we defile God's creation.
But there are many other parts of this list that seem to get ignored by large parts of Christian society. Money, fame, career, and even family can all be idols that we worship instead of God. Enmity, anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and strife likewise separate us from God and from each other - harming the ideals of relationship between God's creation. We really need to focus on the entire list and not just the ones that we want to emphasize - Paul warns us that doing the things on the list will cause us not to inherit the kingdom of God.
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV
http://bible.com/59/2ti.3.1-5.esv
Paul's letter to Timothy talks about additional bad qualities of people that highlight separation from God. His command to avoid such people should be taken to mean people who persist in that way of life despite receiving the message of salvation through Jesus. We cannot discount the example of Jesus's life (and even Paul's) where they routinely associated with sinners in order to spread the Word and show love. But by persisting in the company of people like described above, we run the risk of being influenced by them rather than influencing them to change. Christians must always be watchful and cautious to spread the message while avoiding falling away themselves.
“And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."”
Mark 7:20-23 ESV
http://bible.com/59/mrk.7.20-23.esv
Jesus highlights that it is not creation that defiles us, not the things of this world or food - but rather things that come from our heart. This was contrary to Jewish views and even matters of ceremonial purity that stressed external and physical purity. But Jesus stresses purity of the heart.
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
James 4:17 ESV
http://bible.com/59/jas.4.17.esv
There are not only sins of commission (things we do) but also sins of omission (things we should do but don't).
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23 ESV
http://bible.com/59/rom.6.23.esv
Here is consequence of doing all of the sins listed above is clear. They lead to death. On the other hand, the gift of eternal life comes from the sacrifice of Jesus our Lord. But how do we reconcile this? We can see that even disciples of Christ are not perfect - so how is it that they can avoid the consequences of sin? The Apostle John illustrates it a little better for us.
“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
1 John 1:5-10 ESV
http://bible.com/59/1jn.1.5-10.esv
As followers of Jesus, we must confess our sins to each other and always be striving to walk in the light. By walking in the light, we have fellowship with one another and with God. But every time we sin, we fall off the path of light that Jesus has laid down for us to follow - it is important to quickly get back on the path through humbling ourselves, confessing our sins, and asking for help from Jesus to make us more righteous. The path of discipleship is a daily walk where we have to constantly watch where we are going and not veer off to the right or left. If we do leave the path, we must quickly get back on or else be lost in darkness.
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