Scripture shows us that God (in all three persons) has a uniform
response to sin. Below is a selection of
this reaction.
“Behold, the Lord's
hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot
hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have
hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled
with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue
has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for
truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring
forth iniquity.” Isaiah 59:1-4
“Let no corrupt word
proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it
may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by
whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:29-30
“knowing this: that
the law is not made for a righteous person, . . .for fornicators, for
sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other
thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,” 1 Timothy 1:9a-10
“For whoever shall
keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” James
2:10
Often as we speak about sin, we
talk about “little” and “big” sins.
Somehow we are comforted, talking about ‘murders, adulterers, kidnappers’
and the like. These sins are easy to see
the awful immediate consequences in loss of life or relationships. Sins like ‘lies, perjury, perverseness, and
sins of omission’ seem to be lesser sins, since they seldom have grand visible
effects. However we are judging based on
worldly, temporary, flesh-based judgments.
In the greater, spiritual sense there is only one judgment; completely
righteous, or not.
Sin is defined as going
against the will of God. A sin of any
type therefore breaks the communion with God.
God is the author, giver, and sustainer of life. Like a branch we must stay connected to the
source of our life; to be disconnected leads to a slow death. This is why the wages/reward/harvest of sin
is death. Whether our sin is taking
someone’s life, or just taking advantage of them through deceit, we commit a
sin against God. No one else in the
world may know; but you and God, and it will equally separate you from Him.
Our ministry as a church and
individually requires God power, or all our efforts will turn to naught. Individual sins can certainly hamper the
progress of the entire body (see Achan and the battle of Ai in Joshua 7). We rightly judge the sins of murder,
fornicators, and sodomites, they are atrocious sins. We must also see the seriousness of lying and
omission, since they separate us from our living water of Life.
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