Respectable Sins: Ungodliness

I wish I could capture, in this blog, the spirit of the dialog last night at Bible study. Lots of great conversation, sharing thoughts and feelings honestly, and freedom expressing differing opinions.

We started off asking the question, "before reading this chapter, what would you have said was the root of all sin?" Most of us said the root of all sin is pride. The author of our study suggests an even more basic, more widespread, and more apt to be the root cause of our other sins - the sin of ungodliness. And that started off our evening of great discussion.

Some of us said we looked at this chapter and thought this doesn't pertain to us - after all, we're Christians, we're not ungodly. Some of us said of course we're ungodly - we're so far from being Christ-like, we don't think of ourselves as nearly godly enough.

If we define ungodliness as living one's everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God' will, or of God's glory, or of one's dependence on God, we can see how one can lead a respectable life and still be ungodly in the sense that God is essentially irrelevant in one's life. We may pray for a few minutes at the beginning of the day, we may even read our Bibles for awhile, then check ✔,
that's one thing off our list for the day.

It's not that we're living obviously sinful lives - we just don't think about the will of God throughout the activities of the day. We're content to avoid obvious sins but we don't seek the full knowledge of God's will.

"We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

Colossians 1:9-10

Now that's a God-centered prayer! How do we balance a God-centered prayer, totaling seeking His will and expressing our deepest longings, without our prayer becoming a "to-do" or a "want" list from us to God? If we rush to say "not my will, but Yours be done" without first expressing our hearts, we withhold our desires and stop being ourselves....we stop being real with God. If we ask God for health, financial, and other temporal needs, we may feel we're being selfish or asking too much so we don't ask.....or we may ask with the wrong motivations. 

So, how do we get our prayers right? The answer is we don't have to get prayer "right".  We just need to talk with God, tell Him where we are, where we're messy, weary, worried - give Him the opportunity to be a part of our daily life; don't leave Him out - don't try to act on our own without God. We have to begin with what is real - Jesus didn't come for the righteous - He came for sinners and we all qualify.

Jesus was real when He prayed to His Father in Luke 22:42, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" and in Matthew 27:46 "... My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus was anguished because He was separated from His Father as He bore our sin.  Jesus expressed that anguish to His Father but yet accepted that His will be done. Jesus neither suppressed His feelings nor let feelings master Him. 

James 4:2 "....ye have not, because ye ask not." Our failure to ask, whether it's because we think God already knows what's on our mind, or because of pride, or because of self-reliance, keeps us distant from God.  Our next problem is when we ask selfishly. James 4:3 "When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Avoid asking selfishly by surrendering completely - yet not what I will, but what you will. Be real about our feelings - but don't let feelings control you.

1 Corinthians 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." The "all" in this verse includes every activity of our days; eating, drinking, shopping, driving, social relationships, work, school, our appearance - how we dress - everything! Do we consciously and prayerfully seek His glory in all we say and do in our most ordinary activities of the day? Or do we go about those activities with little or no thought of God. Where are we in the spectrum - is God relevant or irrelevant as we go about our day. 

1 Timothy 4:7 " Train yourself for godliness." An athlete must train to compete. Training involves commitment, consistency, and discipline. We must be just as intentional about training ourselves in godliness as a runner would be for a marathon.

Let's commit to pray for each other this week -  for a greater consciousness of God, of God's will, of God's glory, of our dependence on God in our daily routine and in our thoughts, words, and actions.

Looks like I promised a blog post that I didn't deliver on over a week ago.  I left off saying we would look at the second part of the good news of the gospel - the fact that we are cleansed from sin's power. Do you ever wonder if you'll see progress especially in those subtle sins that so easily show up and keep us in a constant struggle against them? How can we have power over those subtle sins?

Romans 6:2 & 8 tell us we have died to sin's guilt and its power in our lives through our union with Christ.  Romans 6:12 encourages us to "let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies....." How can sin reign in us if we've died to sin?  The answer is found in Galatians 5:17, "For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." And Galatians 5:16 tells to "walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

The bottom line is that while on this earth, we will experience a daily struggle between the desires of our sinful nature (the flesh) and the desires of the Spirit. We do not have the ability to "will" ourselves to walk by the Spirit but on the other hand, we can't just sit back and watch God do all the work. We have a "dependent responsibility."

Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God will not abandon the work He has begun in us. Here's some ways God works:

• convicts and makes us aware of sin - He may bring to memory a particular act that causes us to see a pattern of sin.
• enables and empowers us to deal with sin - Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
• works in ways of which we are not aware - He may use a certain sin to humble us and to exercise us to cry out to Him with greater dependency.
• uses circumstances to exercise us in the activity of dealing with our sin - He may bring into our lives situations that are designed to cause us to grow spiritually. For example, if we're prone to be a worrier, He may give ample opportunities to exercise faith. If we're prone to be impatient, He may give plenty of occasions to use patience. Just like our physical muscles need exercise to grow strong, so our spiritual life needs circumstances to challenge and strengthen us.

As we move forward with our study of Respectable Sins, here's some directions to help us play an active role in dealing with sin

• Apply the gospel.
• Depend on the Holy Spirit.
• Recognize your responsibility.
• Identify specific respectable sins.
• Memorize and apply appropriate Scriptures.
• Cultivate the practice of prayer.
• Involve one or a few other believers with you.

Two very similar statements written over 1700 years apart:

Paul, an apostle of Jesus - "....Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners -                          of who I AM the worst." 1 Timothy 1:15       

John Newton, former slave trader - "I AM a great sinner and 
Christ is a great Savior."

Do you notice the common word in both statements? Both of these men spoke of themselves as sinners in the present tense. Just like the Apostle Paul and John Newton, we are sinners in the present tense and to make progress in our spiritual life, we must realize we are practicing sinners. So now what do we do with that realization?

We need to take a good look at the gospel. The gospel is for sinners so that means it's for everyone. So what does the gospel do?

"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

2 Timothy 3:16-17

The gospel

• opens our hearts so we can see our sin.
• frees us to face our sin. We can't deal with a particular sin until we first openly acknowledge its presence in our lives. To openly acknowledge sin, we must have the assurance that our sin is forgiven. The gospel gives us that assurance. 
• motivates and energizes us to deal with our sin. We can know God is FOR us, not against us. We are not alone in the struggle against sin. We are cleansed, forgiven, and secure. These facts should bring about such extreme gratitude that we desire to deal with sin.
• provides instruction in righteousness. Personalize the gospel - apply specific Scriptures to our individual circumstances and specific Scriptures that assure us of God's forgiveness.

The only basis for God's forgiveness is the blood of Christ shed on the cross for us. This is the first part of the good news of the gospel. God has forgiven us all our sins through the death of His Son on the cross - we are cleansed of sin's guilt. Next week, we'll look at the second part of the good news of the gospel - cleansed from sin's power.