TAKING SIN SERIOUSLY
In the past he was patient and overlooked people's sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. Rom. 3:25, T.E.V.
Members of a congregation were in anguish over their responsibilities toward a member who had fallen into overt sin. Caught in that usual perceived tension between justice and mercy, one finally spoke: "Well, it's nice to be forgiving, but we have to take sin seriously." They took sin seriously, expelled the member, and lost touch with him.
The tragedy is that they felt they had to be unforgiving in order to take sin seriously. They felt that saying "We love you, we accept you; we will not let your failings create a barrier between us" would ignore sin. Sadly, they did not know just how seriously such a response does deal with sin!
In the Garden of Eden, Satan's lie to Adam and Eve was that sin isn't really all that bad. "You can sin and get by with it," he hissed. "You will not surely die." The truth, of course, is that sin (separation from the Life-giver) should indeed have caused death--the second death at that! THen God could have said, "See, I told you so. Sin really is all that bad." But Adam and Eve wouldn't have been around to hear the lesson.
So God risked holding off the consequences. For four thousand years Satan taunted, "See, sin doesn't really cause the second death." But when Jesus cried out, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46) and died the second death, the universe knew forever: sin really is all that bad. God does tell the truth; He is righteous.
Was God being unforgiving toward Adam and Eve? Had He withdrawn from the relationship as a form of punishment, protesting their affront to His authority? Hardly! The problem of sin is not that they had offended His dignity, but that, through deception, they had departed from Him and from reality. And such departing from reality would bring its own terrible consequences.
Sin does bring its own punishment. Its first consequence--eternal death through separation from the Life-giver--Jesus took seriously on the cross. But the secondary consequences, the broken friendships, the blasted self-respect, the sinking health--these must be taken seriously by the sinner. And they are so painful that neither God nor church members need to add to the pain by punitive rejection. Even though expelled from the garden, God held Adam and Eve close as they suffered those results.
In the past he was patient and overlooked people's sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. Rom. 3:25, T.E.V.
Members of a congregation were in anguish over their responsibilities toward a member who had fallen into overt sin. Caught in that usual perceived tension between justice and mercy, one finally spoke: "Well, it's nice to be forgiving, but we have to take sin seriously." They took sin seriously, expelled the member, and lost touch with him.
The tragedy is that they felt they had to be unforgiving in order to take sin seriously. They felt that saying "We love you, we accept you; we will not let your failings create a barrier between us" would ignore sin. Sadly, they did not know just how seriously such a response does deal with sin!
In the Garden of Eden, Satan's lie to Adam and Eve was that sin isn't really all that bad. "You can sin and get by with it," he hissed. "You will not surely die." The truth, of course, is that sin (separation from the Life-giver) should indeed have caused death--the second death at that! THen God could have said, "See, I told you so. Sin really is all that bad." But Adam and Eve wouldn't have been around to hear the lesson.
So God risked holding off the consequences. For four thousand years Satan taunted, "See, sin doesn't really cause the second death." But when Jesus cried out, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46) and died the second death, the universe knew forever: sin really is all that bad. God does tell the truth; He is righteous.
Was God being unforgiving toward Adam and Eve? Had He withdrawn from the relationship as a form of punishment, protesting their affront to His authority? Hardly! The problem of sin is not that they had offended His dignity, but that, through deception, they had departed from Him and from reality. And such departing from reality would bring its own terrible consequences.
Sin does bring its own punishment. Its first consequence--eternal death through separation from the Life-giver--Jesus took seriously on the cross. But the secondary consequences, the broken friendships, the blasted self-respect, the sinking health--these must be taken seriously by the sinner. And they are so painful that neither God nor church members need to add to the pain by punitive rejection. Even though expelled from the garden, God held Adam and Eve close as they suffered those results.
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