7/29/07 -- Sermon

It’s SIN, again.

I have good news and bad news for you this morning. The good news is ALL have sinned -- your neighbors, co-workers, friends, kids, even your parents. Now, the bad news. ALL have sinned. So, guess what? That means you and me, too. It’s not just about “those kind of people”, because you and I are also one of those kinds of people. So who’s the sinner we’re talking about today? Just look in the mirror, and you’ll get a big clue.

We’ve perhaps heard about sins of commission and omission. Those are some really old words that you don’t hear too much anymore today. But what does that mean? To put it very simply, it means sins that are done “on purpose” and those done “by accident”. For example, if I “meant” to do that or planned it, -- like if I got mad or hurt, and wanted to hurt you back. Or that I “didn’t do” something, forgot to call, or include you at lunch. Either way, whether on purpose, or by accident, it hurts. It causes wounds. We hurt God and we hurt each other. SIN causes us to be separated. So, in addition to being hurt, we get further and further separated from God and from each other.

Have you ever had a time when you saw someone, maybe at the grocery store or Wal-mart, and thought, “Oh, I hope they didn’t see me”; and then try to go down another aisle to perhaps avoid them?

Well, guess what? That’s a big clue that there’s probably been some type of hurt, brokenness, or separation between you. Something’s wrong and needs to be addressed, or at least looked at a little closer.

Otherwise, you’d be running up to them, making sure they DID see you, and start visiting or at least smile and wave.

So does sin happen only when someone doesn’t care or hates everyone, like maybe a terrorist?

Sadly, that answer is No. Sometimes the biggest and most grievous sin happens for those we love and care about. This can make it even more hard to bear, and sometimes more difficult to deal with. We may ask ourselves, How could that happen? How could they have done such a thing? I thought they cared about me.

There can be several reasons, but one of them is this. Please listen to this statement carefully:

“Hurt people hurt People”! Let me say that again, Hurt People hurt people. Let me give you this example. Say you have a dog with a hurt paw, maybe a thorn got in it or a cut. You’re just trying to help the dog out-come on, let me see your paw, it’s ok. But that dog hurts, and might growl or even snap at you. It may even be your own dog--who would otherwise be loving all over you, not growling or snapping. But he’s hurt, and so not at his usual self. Many times, we too, lash out, “growl” or “snap” when we’re hurting. We may do that to people we love or who are just trying to help.

Even people who seem strange, mean, or difficult, are many times people who are just trying to protect themselves by using some difficult, gruff, or mean behaviors. They don’t really want to hurt anyone, they just want you and everyone else to stay far enough away from them that they don’t get hurt anymore. They try to keep everyone at an arm’s length distance, so that they can feel safe.

There’s a saying that states, The most difficult or hardest people to love, are the ones who need love the most! It’s kinda like trying to love a porcupine. It can get rather thorny and prickly. So there are people we need to approach with a special care, love, and sensitivity.

At this point, some of you may be saying, OK, OK, I can buy that we sometimes hurt people; but to use that word, SIN? I just don’t know. . . .

Today, we prefer more modern, softer terms such as: made a mistake, wrong decision, bad choices, and error in judgment. Yes, all of those may be true, but many of them (maybe not all) are just plain SIN!

So, is SIN still with us? Does it still exist? I believe it does. Let me offer you another, perhaps more modern term of how to describe SIN:

S = SELFISH: Thinking of ourselves; me first or me only.

I = INDULGENT: The difference between a treat, and an “over-do” (Ex. Couple pieces chocolate vs. ½ box)

This over-doing or indulgence could be related to money, time, energy, sex; any of the resources or

gifts God gives us.

N = Negligence: This one usually goes hand in hand with indulgence. For while we’re over-doing something,

We’re probably neglecting or “under-doing” something else that we should be doing, or that needs our

attention. It could be our family, bills, kids, job, home, church, community, or other responsibility.

SELFISH, INDULGENT, NEGLIGENT.

Have you sinned? Have I? Yes, we all have, and still do.

It’s also not a contest of how “big” or “small” the sin is -- you know, like comparing telling a little white lie to say, something huge, like murder. It also doesn’t matter who did what first, or bigger, or longer, or any of that stuff. The Bible tells us that sin is sin, it all needs to be forgiven. All sins need to be taken to the cross. We’re told that God doesn’t see sins as big and small, but rather all the same.

I used to wrestle with that, and wonder how that could be. That doesn’t seem right or even possible.

I was shown an example of a NO TRESPASSING sign. If you cross the line, you are trespassing. It doesn’t matter if you are one foot beyond the sign, or 100 yards -- you are trespassing! One thing that is different, though, is that it doesn’t take as long to get in there or out of there if you are only one foot inside the trespassing boundary, verses the 100 yards. What I mean by that, is that sometimes it is harder to turn around or repent of a sin that you’ve been doing for a long time, and that has become a habit or lifestyle behavior. We may have accidentally veered off the straight and narrow path, or lost our way, followed others, or whatever, until one day we look around and say to ourselves, how did I end up here? This was not at all what I intended or where I want to be.

Thankfully, the ground is level at the cross. Forgiveness is available to everyone, and for all sins.

The shed blood of Jesus covers all of our sins. Yes, even that one -- whatever that one is. It’s covered too.

1John 1: 8-9 tells us that if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (But)

If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just. He will forgive us of our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

What a great feeling and sensation -- to be clean and pure again. To have a clean slate and a fresh start.

You know, the word - SIN is actually another old word that was originally used when describing archery.

The bow and arrow stuff. It means “missing the mark” or missing the bulls-eye. Some adjustment needs to be made before trying it again or “giving it another shot”. Here was the goal -- the bulls-eye, and we went too far to the left or to the right. We went too much, or not enough.

For instance, take the characteristic of concern. It is a good goal. It is good to be concerned for others. But if I take it too far one way, say too much concern, I can become nosey and interfering. If I take it too far the other direction, with too little concern, I can become callous, uncaring, or down-right indifferent.

How can we know if we sinned, or missed the mark somewhere along the way?

At night, as you are winding down or going to bed, take a few quiet moments to review your day. See if there’s any situation or person that floats into consciousness that creates an “ouch”. If it was an ouch towards you, ask God to forgive that person and to not allow resentment or bitterness to start growing in you. If you caused the ouch, ask God to show you what to do to make things right. Then either do it, or if it’s too tough, ask for the willingness to be able to do it.

Sometimes, it can be as simple as saying the words, “I’m Sorry” or “I was wrong, please forgive me.”

Most things in God’s world are really simple. We are the ones who complicate it and get things all tangled up.

Sometimes pride gets in the way. Whatever the problem is, if we sincerely ask God, He will show us what happened, where, and what we need to do about it now.

This morning, the verse of Isaiah 61:1 came to me.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners.

God urged me to share it with you. He has placed a burden on my heart to let you know he is aware of many hurt, broken, and bruised places amongst his children. He wants to heal us. He wants to make us better. He wants to make us whole again. But we need to do our part to help and cooperate with God.

There are 3 A’s that we will need. We will need to become Aware. Then we will need to Admit. Finally, we will need to take the Action how God instructs us. Aware, Admit, Action.

I will be passing out a sheet for you to take home. You can consider it your homework if you like. This coming week, prayerfully consider where the wounds, hurts, and ouches are in our church, and in all areas of our lives.

No names are necessary, write as the Lord leads you. There are 3 main areas to examine at this time:

Resentments -- what things have hurt you or caused you anger.

Regrets -- what things have caused you sadness.

Reaffirmations -- what things have made you happy and proud.

Finally, do you know of any of our church family who is no longer here with us, and why that may be.

Next week before communion, we will take the sheets folded in half, place them in a basket, and offer them up to the Lord. None of these will be read aloud, or shared with anyone. This is between you and God.

God wants to heal us, but we first have to admit we need to be healed, and made whole again.

Let us pray.