When God Calls It Sin – Part 1 – #2 The Disappearance of Sin

About this Series: “When God Calls It Sin” was originally a 5-week study I had lead in 2019 for an adult Sunday School class at my old church.

The outlines and lessons were based on Jerry Bridges’ book “Respectable Sins,” which I highly recommended for anyone serious about confronting the sins in their own hearts that are often overlooked.

For the blog, I am adapting my own notes and slides from the class and posting them almost verbatim. Since each class was an hour long, however, I will be dividing segments of each lesson into separate posts for easier reading.

Jump To:

• Part 1 (Introduction)
• Part 2 (Ungodliness || Unthankfulness || Anxiety || Frustration || Discontentment)
• Part 3 (Pride || Selfishness || Judgmentalism)
• Part 4 (Anger || Impatience & Irritability || Envy, Jealousy, & Related Sins)
• Part 5 (Sins of the Tongue || Wordliness)

Part 1 Segments:

1. Ordinary Saints
2. > The Disappearance of Sin
3. The Malignancy of Sin
4. The Remedy of Sin
5. The Power of the Holy Spirit / Conclusion

The Disappearance of Sin

Now, most people have heard the word “sin,” but very few would actually consider themselves to be “sinners.” At least not big sinners.

If you were to go out on the street and ask a random person “Do you consider yourself to be a good person?” the chances are very good that you would receive a very enthusiastic “Yes, I am a pretty good person” in reply. Almost everyone on Earth is a “good person” in their own eyes, especially when compared with the rest of the world.

And I believe that a big part of the reason for that is because our culture has been working overtime to remove the strong Biblical language for sin from our vocabulary, and they have done so in very subtle ways. For example:

• Corporate executives no longer steal, they commit fraud.
• No one commits adultery anymore; they have an affair.
• Little white lies are not that bad because they don’t hurt anyone.

We now have countless “rehab” centers dedicated to a multitude of sins that have been reclassified as “illnesses,” “syndromes,” and “addictions.” By doing so, the culture is removing the accountability aspect of our sins:

• Alcoholics are not sinful, they have a disease.
• The sex addict is not wicked, he is just sick and needs help.
• The man that watches porn is not doing what is evil, he is just a man doing what men do.

Do not be deceived; Christians are not immune to this mentality either!

We are very quick to condemn the “obvious” sins of abortion, homosexuality, and murder, but we tend to ignore or downplay our own sins of gossip, pride, bitterness, and lust.

Side Note: Speaking of lust, there was a survey conducted in 2014 in which 388 self-professing Christian men were asked about their porn-viewing habits (the actual survey results from ProvenMen.org has since been locked behind a registration wall):

• 54% of them admitted to looking at pornography at least once per month
• 44% had viewed pornography, at work, within the prior 90 days
• 31% had a sexual affair while married

Side note aside, as Christians, we tend to ignore our own lack of spiritual fruit as well. I read on a bumper sticker one time that “patience is a virtue that you appreciate win the driver behind you, but scorn in a driver ahead of you.”

And that kind of hypocrisy is something with which I can identify, if I am being honest. But I tend to take it a step further and view my own hyper-critical nature, for example, to be a benefit to others. I am often very quick to point out the error of someone else’s ways, a shame to which my wife could certainly attest.

Have you ever said (or even thought) something like this: “I can’t come to bed yet, honey; someone is wrong on the internet!” If you have, then we share a common, sinful bent.

While we may be justified in becoming frustrated or angry with those pushing for abortion and same-sex marriage, how often do we fail to remember that, as Paul told the Corinthians “such were some of [us]” prior to being “washed, sanctified, and justified.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)

Instead, we ought to pray like the tax calculator in Luke 18:13:

‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’

Luke 18:13b LSB (emphasis added)

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