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Morning Thoughts |
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This morning, the
concept of sin brings about heated debate from both extremes. In the
ever-crumbling morals of the world, less and less of what the Bible declares as
sinful is viewed as such. For example, sins of the Bible are simply termed
"lifestyles" nowadays. Two generations - or at the most three - would have
probably never dreamed that such evils as homosexuality would be as accepted as
they are today. Who knows whether another generation or two will see other
Biblical evils promoted to the point of forced acceptance. Truly, this extreme
mindset shows the marked decline of morality in the world in general. Yet,
there is another extreme viewpoint on the subject of sin that perhaps goes
unnoticed or is even accepted in Christian circles. It this extreme viewpoint
that we hope investigate in this writing. Many times, we hear
statements made from the pulpit that sound correct, but a further examination of
the thought reveals that it really does not measure up to Biblical teaching.
Regrettably, I have been guilty of making such statements in my own preaching
that I have later had to correct. While my phraseology was not ill-intentioned,
the heart of the thought was still ultimately incorrect. Have you ever heard
the statement, "There are no degrees of sin, for sin is sin?" Sometimes, the
statement is followed by the thought, "All sins are bad, and none is worse than
the other." While it is undoubtedly true that any sin no matter the variety is
enough to condemn someone justly to eternal misery, the Bible will not support
the thought that all sin is the same. Should that thought be true that all sin
is the same. When investigating
the thought of degrees of sin, we need to examine several factors. The first
factor is the avenue of the sin. Is the sin outwardly or inwardly? Truly, the
Lord plainly declares that thoughts of the mind are sinful. Adultery and murder
can be engaged in by simple heart and thought processes. (Matthew 5) Yet,
consider the nature of inward versus outward sins. Which is worse? Are they
the same? One might say that in God's eyes they are, but while God see inward
heart and thought processes as sinful, one cannot conclude that God looks at
inward sins the same as outward sins. To see this, let us open the next factor
of consideration: consequences. When someone commits
an outward sin - of whatever type - that sin is known and perceived by others.
When someone has wicked thoughts processes, that sin is known and seen by only
that person and the Lord. What is consequence of outward sin? If someone
murders someone, they incur the punishment of courts of law (ordained by God),
the loss of church membership (if they are a member), and even perhaps the loss
of their own life. Coupled with that, there are consequences to others. The
murderer's family is humiliated and embarrassed, while the victim's family is
never the same. Should the man, on the other hand, simply be guilty of hating
his brother without a cause, the inward heart processes affect that man, but do
not go down the path of civil or church punishment, and certainly not the
consequences inflicted on others. Continuing the
thought of consequences, we can see that certain sins - when committed outwardly
- bring down different levels of consequence. For example the law had different
punishments for murder or theft. A murderer answered with his own life, while a
thief restored multi-fold to those he stole from. (Numbers 35:31, Exodus 22:1)
What do these different types of punishment manifest? They manifest the same
thought that Gilbert and Sullivan put to song in the last century - "Let the
Punishment Fit the Crime." It is fitting that a man who unlawfully took
another's life should give up his own existence. Likewise, it is fitting that a
thief make whole and above those he robbed. Sometimes the
consequences differ in length of time not just in variety. For example, certain
men could not escape long-term punishment for their sins. Moses, the leader of
God's people and deliverer out of Egypt, failed on one occasion never to recover
from it. (Numbers 20) Was this punishment fitting the crime? Certainly it was
since God did it, but consider how a man thinketh. Well, Moses had been
faithful for so long, we might be inclined to give him a slap on the wrist with
the stern warning not to ever do it again. God plainly told Moses that he
failed to sanctify God in the eyes of the people. What God is effectively
telling Moses is that "you put yourself on my level in their sight." Moses was
guilty of personal exaltation to the point of idolatry (of himself), which sin
is great in the sight of the Lord. Therefore, God pronounced a consequence upon
him that lasted the rest of his days. To show another
example of lifelong punishment, we see God's distaste for love of money in the
lesson of Gehazi. (II Kings 5:26-27) Not only did Gehazi's sin affect him for
the rest of his life, he incurred punishment on his posterity as well. Since
the Scriptures record for us that the love of money is the root of all evil (I
Timothy 6:10), we can only surmise what else may have been brewing and simmering
down in the thinking of Gehazi. As the root of his problem sprung out in an
ugly way, God condemned the root forever by lifelong leprosy. One final avenue of
consideration into the degrees of sin is how God terms them. Should God term
every sin the same, then a case could be made that even though consequences
differ, they are still equal in God's sight. Yet, God reserves some words for
certain transgressions. For example, the word "abomination" is only used a
handful of times in this regard to God's thinking on sin. God considers such
things as idolatry (Deuteronomy 7:25), homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22), and
improper worship (Isaiah 1:13) to be abominations in His sight. The word itself
refers to the highest order of repugnance and disgust. Solomon even records for
us six things that the Lord hates, with all seven being an abomination unto
Him. (Proverbs 6:16) Considering that one particular sin appears twice in
Solomon's list (lying or falsehood), it should be clear how disgusted God is at
false witnesses. It is so high that two were struck down dead immediately by
it. (Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5) While God does not
delight in any sin, we see from the Scriptural examination that certain things
go higher in both disgust and condemning consequences than others. Having
examined these factors, what is the course for us today? The course today
should be - on the one hand - to never fall victim and prey to the world's
thinking that attempts to whitewash sin in its various forms. Sin has not
changed in the sense that God never changes His mind about it. If Christ
condemns it, rest assured it is still condemned in His sight. On the other
hand, we should never get the idea that all sins are a "one size fits all" in
how they are viewed or what their consequences are. 
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