Relevance

Whatever Happened to Sin?

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Long time ago, the Garden: the universe was corrupted by two humans who chose sin over the Almighty. God immediately cursed those two, then gave a promise that sin would be dealt with by a perfect sacrifice.

In short, it used to be about sin.

Christians throughout history understood how pervasive sin was. Knew that it was a ball and chain that kept them in bondage. The whole Reformation started because Luther was overcome by his own sinfulness and was begging for release. Sin killed, then killed some more.

It used to be about sin. The freedom we are to proclaim to the captives is freedom from sin. The ancients understood the ugly stain they could not wash out. Seekers wrestled with sin and fell upon God seeking forgiveness from it. The grace that promises to lead us home was offered freely to us when Christ paid our penalty, the penalty of sin. It used to be about sin. Preachers railed against sin. They understood that conversion came only after people understood the depths of their own depravity. Those preachers brought people to the cross, the place where sins were laid down and forgiven. Those converts knew they were saved because that crushing load of sin was removed. They wept over the release from that oppressive taskmaster.

But in churches today, the message has been changed. It is no longer about sin; it is about what we can get from God. Christianity has become the religion of meeting felt needs. Need your car fixed? We Christians can help with that! No one to pal around with? Hey, let’s get a pickup game of basketball going! Can’t walk the walk? No sense feeling guilty about it!

Many seekers, especially in America, don’t want to hear about sin, so our preachers oblige them by not talking about it. “Too scary, too off-putting to people.” “That message doesn’t work anymore.” “You can’t catch flies with vinegar.” So in the place of the message about the depths of sinfulness we all possess, many churches have adopted a message that says, “You are entitled to special treatment, and God is right there to give you anything you think you need.”

Last year, I heard a presentation advertising small groups within a church. This was a multimedia extravaganza that featured numerous real-life stories of people currently attending the church’s small groups. The clip ran almost five minutes, but when it was all said and done, the name of Jesus had never been mentioned. People talked glowingly about what they got from their small groups, but nothing was ever said about triumphing over sin, getting closer to Christ, understanding the Bible, or any of the traditional Christian issues. Instead, we all heard about going to baseball games with others in the group, having someone bring groceries over in a tough time, and the like.

It’s now all about what we can get. Because of this, few people ever talk about sin anymore. I wonder if seekers ever wrestle with their sinfulness. Considering the dearth of time we all claim today, perhaps others simply cannot devote much mental energy to thinking about their own sin since so much time is commanded in getting felt needs met.

The “new” churches that adhere to this self-centered paradigm wrap their evangelistic efforts around conducting felt need analyses or interpreting neighborhood demographic studies rather than working to show people the depths of their depravity and the person who can release that burden, Jesus. We are on the verge of losing the entire sin perspective as we abandon the very core of why Christ came in favor of making everyone happy, lest they find another, more accommodating church to attend.

Jesus said that if He be lifted up, He would draw all men to Him. Are we lifting Him up and showing Him as the Redeemer and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Or have we reduced the Savior to little more than being a sanctified version of Santa, doling out whatever we ask for in the absent shadow of a missing cross?

Joy unspeakable comes from knowing that we will not have to pay the price for sin because Christ already has. In the midst of our endless desire to have our felt needs met, do we still remember this?

Whatever happened to sin?

Fortresses and Compromise

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What does the Orthodox Church have in common with liberal mainline Protestant churches?

Actually… nothing when you think about it. Their commonality is in their complete antithesis. The Orthodox Church is a fortress that probably has not changed one iota since its founding. Mainstream liberal Protestant churches, on the other hand, have given it all away in an effort to be socially relevant. The former is one of the true bastions of historic Christianity, while the latter is letting it all hang out.

Something is to be said for a sense of history and the Orthodox faith understands this well. Church fathers spoke long ago, but still speak today. Orthodoxy remembers.

And yet, there are not many around to do the remembering. People are born into the church, but in all the years I have lived, I have never once had anyone of Orthodox faith ever approach me about Jesus. I don’t know anyone of Orthodox faith. In short, where is the church’s presence in the world?

That’s the problem with fortresses. They keep the world out, but they keep themselves in, as well.

Mainline Protestantism, on the other hand, can’t keep the world out, and has done a good job of losing their brightest and best to the ranks of evangelicalism, charismatic churches, and splinter groups. Between the Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Church of Christ, they’ve probably spawned a hundred splinter denominations, each one seeking to correct the errors of the parent church.

The Jesus of a large bulk of mainline Protestantism is unrecognizable to more conservative Christians. In kind, the Bible is of questionable origin, too patriarchal, and phobic of just about every people group known to Man that fails to go by the acronym, “W.A.S.P.” Christianity is pretty much what you make of it. Absolute Truth? Who needs it!

Despite the soul-numbing “neo-fusion-syncretism” of the mainline churches, they do have one thing going for them: they understand the needs of the neediest. These churches built many of the hospitals, orphanages, senior homes, and community centers found in this country. That contribution is hard to ignore. And despite the fact that many of those accomplishments are in the past, these churches still manage to be on the cutting edge of helping others.

The Christianity that makes the world stand up and take notice is one that blends the best of both. It looks outside, seeing the need and meeting it, bringing the Gospel into the darkness. It also keeps the darkness outside the camp, protecting that which must be guarded and doing it relentlessly. History cannot be forgotten, either, since we must learn from the past and cherish it as part of our link to the Lord Jesus Himself.