As we all reflect and mourn the evil, tragic killings at Virginia Tech, it reminds me of how indignant we can be(and rightfully so!) at evils committed toward others, yet how blase, indifferent, casual, and unemotional we are about the heinousness and gravity of our sins towards God.
The fact is that it was your sin, my sin, the victims of Virginia Techs sin, and the wicked killer's sin that put Jesus Christ on the cross to bear the judgment and wrath of God, to atone for our sins, to pay our unpayable debt, and to satisfy the holy justice of God for us in our place. Sin is a very grave and serious matter!
What is Jesus view of sin? In the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, Jesus describes the son's sin like this:
"He squandered his property in reckless living. he squandered his property in reckless living... (and) devoured (it) with prostitutes" (Luke 15:13,30 ESV)
But when the prodigal repents he says,
"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son"(Luke 15:21).
Sin is not just throwing your life away for foolish, harmful things. Sin is not simply bringing bad consequences upon yourself. Sin is an offense against heaven. All sin is against God more than anything else. That is the nature of sin. It is against God. It is an assault upon God. It is against God first, before it is against man.
Is it no wonder why Jesus could make statements like He does in Matthew 10:28?
"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Jesus teaches us to see sin as far more serious than we ever dreamed! People today even within the church are offended by eternal hell as a punishment for sin because they do not see sin as it really is. The reason that we don't see sin as it really is, is because we don't see God as He really is. The seriousness of sin arises out of what our sin says about God. Sin says other things are more precious and valuable and to be more desired than Him. Jeremiah 2:12-13 puts it this way:
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."
Do you see what has happened here? Sin is ultimately turning away from God who is worthy of infinite and supreme worth and ultimate desires, and instead, preferring other things to Him. No wonder why Jeremiah uses such strong words as "be appalled" "be shocked" be utterly desolate"; because the seriousness of the crime warrants such a reaction from heaven. Oh that we would be appalled and outraged at the killings of Virginia Tech. Oh that we would begin to be appalled at the at the crime of our sins against God! Sin is an infinitely outrageous crime and is worthy of infinite punishment.
That is why we need to pay attention to Jesus words in Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Do you hear the intensity of Jesus words about hell? Is He overreacting to trivial offenses? I like the way John Piper put it:
"They are a witness to the infinite worth of God and to the outrageous dishonor of human sin"
Precious people physically perished at Virginia Tech on Monday. That is a tragedy. Let us grieve, comfort, and pray for the families and friends of those who were murdered that day. But oh how many souls are eternally perishing on a daily basis. That is the ultimate tragedy and the destiny of multitudes of people that would make the deaths and carnage of Virgina Tech, minuscule in comparison. Do we grieve, mourn, and get indignant about that biblical reality? Should we? Are we asleep? Do we care? Do we believe? What should be our appropriate response? Are we taking our sins way to lightly? Are we living as if Jesus Christ is our life, our treasure, our Redeemer, Lord, and Savior?
The battle against sin in our life is of such primary importance. The issue in our life is do we love, cherish, value our all sufficient redeemer. Jesus warns us about our sin but He also rescues us from our sin. Jesus points us to a cross where we find rescue from hell and grace to prefer Him to all the sins that we used to cherish. The challenge in our life is not just to stop sinning, but to prefer Christ above all things.
To be continued...
4 comments:
I'd appreciate your comments more if they weren't tied to a current tragedy that families are still grieving. As a culture, we seem attracted to sensationalism and current news. If it's not in our headlines, we don't much care. Human death, selectively chosen, makes for sensational headlines. Virginia Tech = BIG HEADLINES; abortion = been there, done that; slave killings = who cares; drunk driver deaths = of course; and sadly, death by sin is openly denied by our pleasure-addicted world. At the moment, I'd prefer to grieve with those who grieve than join in condemnation with the media.
Christ comforted Lazarus' family, he didn't strongly condemn their sin of disbelief. He showed grace in the midst of all sorts of sin. But Jesus consistently abhored pride. Like Moses, we who love God need to fall on our faces in remorse for our corporate sins. I was very heartened to hear today at work of a local Korean church that was holding special prayer meetings in remorse for their corporate sins. We can all join in that spirit.
If I try to follow God's ways, I'll grow in grace. If I focus on hating sin, I fear it will lead me into more bondage. That said, we need to abhor evil and cling to what is good.
Bob Kessener he4gvu@gmail.com
First of all, I don't see where anything that was said is joining the media in condemnation and the failure to grieve and pray for the suffering.I was using the event to cause us to reflect upon a much graver and weighty issue that is virtually ignored and minimized these days.
Secondly, I beleive that God often times sends us many messages and warnings during times of calamity.
Thirdly, you cannot take the incident of lazarus family as a means of negating the strong commands and warnings of Jesus about sin. I have only scratched the surface in what he teaches.
We are told specifically in scripture to fight, run, pluck out, work out, stop, start, etc. (Read Romans 6, 1 TIMOTHY 6:12; Philippians 2:12-14; Hebrews 12:1-4; 1 Corinthians 9:27; Luke 9;23 for instance)Christianity is war and you don't fight war passively. It is not focus on God alone without fighting sin nor is it focus upon fighting sin without focusing on God. I find we often times reduce everything toeither or propositions when the scriptures so often teach both/ and.
I wanted to add that I know the heart and spirit of your comments dear brother.
I think it exactly events like this that God can use to awaken us and to be the hands, feet, and voice of Christ to a world that is lost in sin and eternally perishing.
We can grieve with those who grieve, not join in condemnation with the media, and be prophetic voices to our culture as well.
This is a great warning to all of us- sin is against God first...
Im grateful that God is doing a work in my heart and will finish what He's started [Phil 1:6] in us! I pray He somehow brings more to Himself thru the tragedy of Virginia Tech....
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