I was listening to a radio counseling program this evening when a caller was trying to reconcile the fact that he is completely forgiven of his sins even though he still sins. He, like many Christians, felt that he needs to continually ask God to forgive him when he sins. There was no peace in his voice or in his Christian experience as he was brought to tears trying to detail his struggle. In 2 Corinthians 5:7 we read, "for we walk by faith, not by sight--". This fellow believer's struggle is an example of walking by sight rather than by faith. And, unfortunately, his dilemma is a byproduct of what passes for standard Christian teaching. All you hear Christians talk about is sins and the need to stop committing them. And there is no shortage of fear that goes along with it. There are the threats of being "out of fellowship" with God if you don't stop sinning. Even worse are those that say you can "lose your salvation" if you don't behave like a "good" Christian. And in order to try to do the impossible, stop sinning, you have the preverbial buffet of do's and don'ts to subject yourself to for the rest of your life.
"For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:8)." May I be so bold as to say that Christians who focus on cleaning up the flesh are guilty of sowing to their flesh? Aside from Jesus Christ, there is not one example of an individual in the Bible who cleaned up their flesh. Besides, God doesn't expect it from us anyway. If He did there would not be a single individual in heaven. Furthermore, what kind of witness would we be if we acted perfectly every moment of the day, without sin? It is our struggles with our flesh that give us that common bond with the lost world. It allows us a starting point to show them that there is something better out there than trying to endulge the flesh or engage in the futile attempt to clean it up. Yes, as I have said before, this is not to say we should not pay attention to our behavior. It is to say that when we feel we are to stop sinning, the only result is more sin in our lives. The Bible says that the "power of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56)." And when are living a life attempting to avoid sin we have to put ourselves under law in order to accomplish it. All the law does is reveal more sin to us which is exactly the purpose of it. The law is not there to make us sinless, but to show us our sinfulness so that we would turn to Christ and be cleansed.
If trying to stop sinning was the goal of the Christian life what makes being a Christian any different than being involved in any other religion? Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and so forth all have there rules for living that are supposed to get a person cleaned up and living right in order to please whatever deity they believe in. That is exactly why so many people could take or leave Christianity. They see Christians acting just like people of other faiths and say it's all the same so I can just pick any one of them or none at all and I will be fine. Not to mention how Christians look like complete and total hypocrites because we put up a false front of perfection when those looking at us can see right through it. Not only is our testimony ruined, but our God is "is blasphemed among the Gentiles (unbelievers) because of you (Romans 12:24)." Our entire Christian life is focused around what we are doing and what we aren't doing and then we call that faith. Faith in ourselves, not the indwelling Holy Spirit. We seem to think that as long as we go to church, read the Bible and subject ourselves to laws designed to modify our behavior then we're right in God's eyes. We forget that God is already pleased with us because of our faith in Jesus Christ, not our faith in ourselves. It is this type of lifestyle that leads to callers, like I mentioned earlier, who have been chewed up and spit out by performance based Christianity.
Like the host of the show said, you won't find too many churches teaching that Christians are already forgiven of all their sins and that their standing before God is not effected when they sin. "You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace (Galatians 5:4)." If you are living a life of trying to stop sinning you must have a system of right and wrong in which to live by. That is life under the law. If you are under the law you will be alienated from Christ because you will believe your behavior effects God's acceptance of you. Therefore, you will be under a curse of living from sin to sin never resting in God's total forgiveness and acceptance of you. There will always be one more sin to get forgiven. Thus, you will never feel accepted by God and then there is only one alternative. You will turn to the world to find the acceptance you feel you don't have from God. And the only thing available to you is more sin. When you sin the correct response is to thank God for the forgiveness He provided in Christ. You then approach God, because your sins no longer separate you from Him, to find out why you weren't trusting Him when you sinned. Christians live by faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. Focusing on your ability to perform is not faith. Trust God to complete the work He began in you and He will conform you to the image of Christ as you become who you already are in His sight.
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