I don't get to watch a great deal of television, a few minutes of the
late news and an episode of Mash (my all time favorite program) and
I'm ready for bed. But one night last week I got to channel surfing
when I came across something that looked rather interesting. It was
the story of a successful banker who was wrongly charged with
murdering his wife and was sentenced to jail for life. On the inside
he became both an advocate for prisoner rights and a pawn in the
hands of the warden who forced him to launder huge amounts of money
for him. As the story unfolds you see just how shrewd a banker he
must have been has he creates a fictitious character and makes him a
wealthy man at the same time that he sets the warden up for his own
arrest. Over a period of many years this man, who is the leading
character in The Shawshank Redemption, also digs a tunnel through the
wall of his prison cell that eventually leads him to freedom. But
what is so interesting about this movie, which is based on a true
story, is how the man escapes. His narrow tunnel gives him access to
the prison's sewer system. During a thunderstorm he hammers a hole
in the huge sewage pipe with a stone from his prison wall timing each
strike of the stone with the crash of the thunder. It was not a good
time to be eating popcorn when he finally broke though the pipe and
created a hole large enough to crawl down into. What a price his
freedom cost him! Years of digging with just a tiny pick hidden in
the warden's favorite book, a bible and used only at night. Using a
poster to hide the gaping hole by day he would carry away the excess
soil and stones in his pockets and dump them in the yard. Now
finally his access to freedom, a river of human excrement through
which he would crawl the length of five football fields to a tiny
creek where the sewer line would empty its grotesque cargo. As I
watched with mixed emotions of horror and admiration. I just knew
there was a life lesson lurking somewhere in the background. It was
in my early morning meditation one day that God brought me back to
that scene and gave me a burden to preach this sermon. It will be a
simple sermon. You'll probably not learn anything you don't already
know. But as I reflected on I Cor. 5 God brought that image of the
prisoner in the sewer line back to me in a way that I will never
forget. I can only pray that you are as moved as I was as I
reflected on what God was saying to me about my own sin and that your
response is one of personal application and conviction. I want only
to talk about three very simple things today: How we look at sin; how
God looks at us in our sin; and what God wants us to do about our
sin.
.
HOW WE LOOK AT SIN
The Christian perspective on sin ought to be very obvious, we should
recognize it readily and part with it without reluctance. Yet, you
and I both know that this is not always the way we react. The
Corinthians had come to Christ from the cesspool of paganism yet they
not only had a man in their congregation who was living with his
father's wife but the church was actually proud of it. Instead of
the church cleansing the sewer it became more contaminated than the
world of paganism itself for even the pagans had a taboo on incest.
How absolutely horrendous, you say. How could the church even
tolerate much less brag about condoning such a sin? Now wait a
minute. I think I have a pretty good idea about what Paul is saying
here and I'd be happy to do a bible study on the details of the
passage sometime but for now let me call your attention to what I see
as Paul's major concern here. I'm sure Paul is deeply concerned
about the individual who is involved in this heinous sin and he
outlines a rather radical approach to his redemption. But it is
obvious that Paul's greater concern here is the attitude of the
church toward this man and more importantly, their attitude toward
sin within the church itself. What must be done to the sinner is
obvious to him, what to do about the church's attitude toward sin is
a far greater concern. I see Paul walking the floor of his cell in
Peterborough jail for hours trying to figure out how to address that
same issue in our churches. Now, you say, that's pretty radical,
Major, Christians are not being persecuted in our society, we are
civilized, why would Paul be in jail? Because he is not willing to
compromise the gospel by accommodating any man's sin. You see, we
may think we are a tolerant society, but the truth is we can tolerate
anything but intolerance and the church has learned that it can have
an easy ride as long as it softens its position on some issues and
becomes more tolerant. Paul was not so inclined. Make no mistake
about it Paul would know the inside of our jails. He would likely be
sued for defamation of character as he drew attention to the sins of
our political leaders. He would probably be branded as homophobic and
forced to apologize to gay rights groups and stop being so militant
or face extenuating circumstances. He probably would not be welcomed
by many of our churches because they would consider him far too
radical. Whereas we look at the individual and conclude that he is
too valuable to lose, Paul would look at the holiness of God and
conclude that it demands vindication. We would argue, but she's a
valuable musician, he's a good supporter, she's a strong leader, Paul
would reply, "he's a sinner, see the sin? Then deal with it. Pray
for his redemption but stop the contamination by putting him out in
the world in hopes that the consequence of his sin will lead him to
repentance. Given the tolerance of his sin within the church, there
is not much hope of conviction or subsequent repentance in that
context. What a sad indictment when the world is seen as more
conducive to repentance than the church, but such is the impact of
our tolerance of sin in the camp. The underlying difference is one of
attitude. We do not take sin seriously, if anything we are flippant
about it, at times amused by it, at times entertained by it. Like
the Corinthians we have brought the pagan mindset into the church
with us, as the world is entertained by sin, so also is the church.
Allow me paint you another perspective, would you?
HOW GOD LOOKS AT US IN OUR SIN
We need to understand that God is repulsed when we engage in what he
has called sin even if the church has changed its mind on whether or
not it is actually sin. God is so repulsed by sin that he could not
look at his own beloved Son when he was dying on the cross, smeared
with the sin of the world. Our sin caused a separation in the
godhead, God forsaken of God, who can comprehend it, yet, who can
deny it, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Now if the
Father could not look upon his own Son because of our sin, which he
was wearing and bearing, what does our sin do to his relationship
with us? What we fail to see is that God sees sin as defilement, we
don't have a keen sense of sin as defilement in our society, it's
more a matter of individual rights. We've muddied the waters and
blurred the distinction between what is right and wrong by our
insistence that I have the right to define what is morally acceptable
for myself and to impose an external standard is to violate my
rights. So sin, if the word is ever used at all, is relative and
based on the situation. What we have failed to realize is that God's
law is not external, it is internal. God has placed a longing for
himself within each of us and that has created an insatiable thirst
within in us. We have not called it a thirst for God and for that
reason we have gone to other wells and drunk deeply of its
contaminated waters but what we are experiencing is a thirst for God
that we have sought to satisfy through unbelief and defilement. The
result is that our consciences are killing us. There are thousands
of people who could be released from institutions and dependence on
drugs if only they could find a way to deal with their guilt.
Further, we need to understand that every one of our sins is a sin
against God, against his holiness. Each time a Christian sins the
glory of God shining in this world is diminished. We are the light
of the world, the light of God's glory in the image of Jesus is to be
reflected in our lives, we are to be Christlike so the world can know
what Christ is like. Each time we sin we blur that image, like a
faded billboard, our effectiveness is diminished. The good news of
course is that in Jesus and his cross, our God is reconciled. There
need be no distance between our God and us, the broken relationship
caused by our sin has been healed. By coming to us in Jesus God has
provided a way for us to come back to him. Paul understood that when
he wrote urged the Corinthians in verse 7 to be who they really are.
God has forgiven our sins in Christ and made us holy, now he wants us
to live like forgiven, holy people. Jesus died for us not only that
we may go to heaven but that his own image might be recreated and
reflected in us. When this is done both personally and corporately,
as the church, we can express the character of God in the way we live
our lives in the community and as we worship on Sunday. What a shame
when the church looks more like the world than the Christ who died to
redeem it. There isn't a great deal you can do about the sin in the
world but the sin in here (our hearts) and the sin in here (the
church) is a different matter. God has already done something about
that sin and we need to allow him to apply that remedy to our hearts
and stop condoning and entertaining the sin that is so repulsive to
him. So God's repulsion, his anger against sin has been dealt with
for on the cross he pours out and absorbs that anger in himself. His
holiness is vindicated for he pays the wages of sin himself. What he
demands from us is a proper view of sin. How then should we look at
sin?
HOW WE SHOULD LOOK AT SIN
Paul gives us a helpful analogy that our friend, Marcello used in his
Jews for Jesus presentation last Sunday night. Leaven was actually
last week's dough, forget the notion of yeast that's not relevant
here. A little of the dough from the previous week's batch of bread
would be stored and allowed to ferment and then mixed in with the
following week's batch to make it rise. Once a year, at Passover
time, the house would be cleansed of all leaven. It was the father's
responsibility to make sure that his wife had gotten rid of every
piece of bread, or cookie that contained leaven. The practice was
based on a fear of infection. On that week the woman baked only
unleavened bread and stored a little to start the process all over
again. It is an indication of how evil can spread throughout the
whole community and how a little can infect the whole. The
Corinthian church was not taking this matter seriously and it was now
time to rid the house of all leaven. The church today stands in need
of a similar cleansing. Paul urges them and us to become what we
are, a new loaf, unleavened by the grace of God. The Jews were free
from Egypt by the grace of God and every year since then every Jewish
family was to celebrate that freedom. You and I have been set free
from the slavery of sin by God's grace and need to be celebrating an
ongoing feast of God's forgiveness by our holy living. It is a call
to holiness. Luther's vision of sin: Luther saw sin as the most
repulsive thing in the world. In a day before the advent of flush
toilets it is not difficult to imagine how he envisioned that. He
saw Satan having gone to the outhouse and returned covered in his own
faeces. In turning from God he gave himself over to sin and became
sin. Luther saw him as the grossest creature you could possibly
imagine. That's the picture that came back to my mind as I saw the
prisoner crawling through his pipeline of raw sewage. The enemy of
our soul can make himself and his sin seem so attractive, after all,
he was once an angel of light. We must remember who he is now and
what he brings into our lives and if Luther's imagery is helpful then
remember it and employ it. Whenever you are tempted remember who it
is that is tempting you and be repulsed by him and run from him and
his enticements. As the prisoner crawled out of the sewage pipe he
tore off his clothing and held his face into the falling rain and as
he did the filth rolled off him and was washed away. He then pulled
clean clothes from a plastic bag tied around his foot and he was
clean and free. What a beautiful picture flashed across my mind, the
sinner clad in the filthy garments of his own righteousness and
smeared with the stains of his own sin, is washed in the blood of the
Lamb, clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself, and he
is free. Why go back to the sewer and the prison? Yet this is
exactly what we do when we choose to sin and fail to repent of it!
APPLICATION
We need to get serious about sin. We need to mourn its presence in
our lives, then we need to repudiate it and repent of it rather than
rationalize or relativize it. Until we, the people of God get
serious about our own sin, the good blessing of God will be withheld
us, the revival for which we are praying will not happen, and God
will not be glorified in our living. We need to be broken by that
which breaks the heart of God, and that, first and foremost, is our
own sin. God has made full provision for our pardon and for our
holiness, we need only to commit ourselves to living the life of
holiness by his grace. Remember it is all of grace. Even the desire
to be holy is a response to the holiness of God and the moving of the
Spirit in our lives, even the ability to respond is a product of the
grace that goes before, the prevenient grace of God. We do not come
to God, he comes to us and in coming gives us all we need to respond
to his demands on our lives.