Foolish Things

(Thomas Watson, “The Lord’s Prayer“)

If we would be kept from actual sins–let us be careful to avoid all the inlets and occasions of sin.

Do not run into evil company. He who would not catch the plague–must not go into an infected house.

Guard your senses, which may be the inlets to sin. Keep the two portals–the eye and the ear. Especially guard your eyes. Much sin comes in by the eye; the eye is often an inlet to sin; sin takes fire at the eye.

The first sin in the world, began at the eye. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye–she took some and ate it.” Genesis 3:6

Intemperance begins at the eye, “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup. In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper!” Pr. 23:31-32

Covetousness begins at the eye. “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold, I coveted them and took them.” Joshua 7:21

The fire of lust begins to kindle at the eye. David walking upon the roof of his house, saw a woman washing herself, and she was, says the text, “beautiful to look upon,” and he sent messengers and took her, and defiled himself with her. 2 Samuel 11:2. Looking begat lusting!

Therefore watch your eyes! Job made a covenant with his eyes. Job 31:1. If the eye is once inflamed, it will be hard to stand out long against sin. If the outworks are captured by the enemy, there is great danger of the whole castle being captured!

(Daily Devotional from Grace Gems)

The adage, “the eyes are the windows to the soul” is mostly true, although I would go so far as to call them the doorways to the soul. As Watson points out, sin often begins with what we see and, having seen, our minds take over and lead us into the sins of covetousness and lust. As James says, “¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15, ESV)

The more I become convicted of my own sins, the more I realize the importance of the exhortation to watch my eyes and the more I come to realize that, as Paul says, “¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” (1 Corinthians 10:13a, ESV). In other words, despite the best efforts of the accuser, it is becoming clearer to me that I am not alone in my struggles and that the battle generally is won or lost at the gates (eyes and ears). Once the enemy has advanced past the gates it is easy for spies to hide within the castle and attack when our inner defenses are at their weakest. It is easier to keep the enemy out in the first place than to wage guerrilla warfare within my own borders

So, once our outer defenses have been breached (or, as is more often the case, the gates left wide open and unguarded), is there no hope? Of course there is hope. As Paul goes on to say “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. ¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (1 Corinthians 10:13b-14, ESV). God will always be there to help us endure the temptation, but, and this is a very important “but”, we must flee the idols we have built. It does me no good to expect God to deliver me from a sin I am willfully committing. There have been times when I was ready to act in direct opposition to God’s will when He has intervened and saved me, but ,for the most part, once I have turned my back on Him I am on my own. However, if I feel the pull of temptation and turn to God rather than my idols, He is faithful to deliver me safely through.

I originally listened to the sermon that I told you to listen to about four months ago at a time when I was really struggling with sin and despairing over my fight against it. I was growing weary of the battle and ready to just give up. There were days when I would find myself in deep despair, condemning myself over my inability to just stop sinning; knowing all the while that this is really an impossibility. Thanks to Phil and his sermon, I remembered that the fight is not mine alone, neither is it ever really lost unless I just give up and give in to my sins.

A couple of points on the sermon itself that I found interesting/uplifting/informative:

• The whole “controversy” surrounding whether this is Paul’s view as a Christian or prior to his conversion I never knew that there was another way to interpret this passage. I always just assumed that it was Paul’s post-conversion experience. This certainly fits with my experience as a Christian; not that I am anywhere near Paul’s league (he’s Major League and I’m not even tee-ball yet).

• The “reasons” why Christians struggle with sin Very concise and easy to remember and so darned obvious:

  1. Our desires are conflicted
  2. Our will is dysfunctional
  3. Our flesh is corrupted

What’s a fella to do?

So, how do we overcome sin? There is no magic formula, but there are a few things that we should think on that will help:

• “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” [Philippians 4:8, ESV] Meditate on His Word rather than filling your mind with things that are not worthy of attention.

• “²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” [Matthew 5:29-30, ESV] Don’t put yourself into situations where you know that your are tempted to sin.

• Believe what God says; that includes both the promises of correction that He will give as well as the rewards.

• Acknowledge that God is your ultimate authority and that His will is supreme. You are not your own authority, neither is there any human authority higher than God.

• You can’t not sin.

• Don’t give up and give in.

The REAL Problem with Sin

Sin builds barriers. When we willfully continue in our sins, when we give up and give in, when we refuse to accept God’s authority in our lives barriers arise between us and God and between us and our loved ones. We withdraw into ourselves and descend into despair.

It is unfortunate that so few talk about sin today. We talk a lot about making “mistakes” or being victims of our upbringing or our society, but not nearly enough about our culpability in what we do. Sin separates. It separates us from others. It separates us from ourselves. And ultimately it separates us from God. You will find me talking a lot about sin and other topics that are related, such as authority. Why? Because it’s of eternal importance.

Everybody should listen to this sermon by Phil Johnson of Grace Community Church covering Romans 7:17-25 [ESV].

¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

I would never ask you to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself, so I have listened to it twice (soon to be three times). Go, listen, I’ll be back with my thoughts when you’re done.

I have been thinking a lot about sin lately. Specifically I have been thinking a lot about why I sin. I echo Paul’s thoughts in Romans 7:17-19 [ESV] where he laments:

“¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

The Question

Why do I sin? Why is it that I seem to struggle with the same sins over and over and over again? Why is it that, just when I think that I have gained mastery over one of my sins that it comes back and bites me in the tuchus?

The Answer (at least part of it)

¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. [Hebrews 3:11-13; ESV]

I live under the sin and curse of unbelief. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in God. I know He’s there and I know that He will do what He says He will do. I know that He is the creator and sustainer of all life and that He sent His son to die and rise so that those who place their trust in him will live forever in heaven. I know all of that and I believe it. In my head. Where I stumble and where the root of all my sin and struggle lies is in my lack of trust in Him.

I find myself sinning for a couple of reasons; one is that I do not believe that God will do as He says, so I try to take matters into my own hands and the other is that I am angry with Him for not doing what I want Him to do so I sin to get back at Him . . . to punish Him. How childish. That is something I would expect from my three-and-a-half year old son, while I should clearly know better. (It amazes me how often I see myself reflected in my son, but that’s a story for another day.)

I know that there are other “causes” for my sin, but I also see that my unbelief is the greatest single contributor to my sinning.

The Resolution

This entry was inspired, in part, by this post by Tim Bayly, Pastor of the church we attend and I think he says it best:

The first step in that battle is to recognize God’s command that we believe, and to pray asking Him to give us what He commands. Remember the father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus to be healed? When the father approached Jesus, he expressed some hesitancy concerning whether or not Jesus could or would heal his son. Jesus answered him, “All things are possible to him who believes.” The boy’s father then responded with honesty and humility, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

The temptation in unbelief is to continue in it; to despair in never truly trusting. The good news is that God is faithful to His promises and will reward “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man” [James 5:16b; NKJV]. I know I will continue to struggle with unbelief, along with a host of other sins, but knowing where the battle lies is the first step in fighting it.

⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths . . . . ²¹ And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. [Genesis 3:6-7, 21; ESV]

While reading through the early chapters of Genesis, I was struck by the fact of how consistent and purposeful God is. Don’t get me wrong, I already knew this, but it really struck me anew when reading the account of the fall of Adam and Eve (and, through them, all mankind). Three particular elements of the story of the fall really stood out to me and drove home, once again, the reality of justification by faith alone (Sola Fide).

The Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The first element that struck me is the fruit. Adam and Eve were naked before they ate the fruit, but only after they ate it did they realize that they were naked. Eating the fruit didn’t make them naked, it just revealed their nakedness to them. In the same way, we are all sinners. We may not realize that we’re sinners until we encounter the law, but we are all sinners nonetheless.

The Fig Leaves

The second element that struck me were the fig leaves. Now that Adam and Eve realize that they are naked, they feel they need to do something about it, so they get some fig leaves and make themselves clothes. In the same way, when we see through God’s law that we are sinners we feel the need to do something to “fix it.” We have a built-in spirit-level knowledge that our sin needs to be covered with something so we grab the fig leaves of self-righteousness and try to cover ourselves.

The Garments of Skins

The third element that struck me are the garments of skins that God made for Adam and Eve. Fig leaves are impractical clothing; they just aren’t going to last long without being attached to the tree they came from, not to mention the fact that, at this point, all animals are herbivores. It just wouldn’t do to have some animal eating your clothes while you slept. So, God made Adam and Eve “garments of skins and clothed them.” What a wonderful picture of things to come. God performed the first sacrifice in history and, though it doesn’t state for a fact what skins God used, I like to think that it was a lamb that He used. God knows that our attempts at covering ourselves pale in comparison to what is necessary so He condescends to offer the covering that we need

⁶ But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. [Isaiah 64:6; NKJV]