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There Are Two Sides of Sin

After 30 Years

Oct 7, 2012


by: Jack Lash Series: After 30 Years | Category: Things I've Learned | Scripture: Matthew 23:1–23:28

I. Introduction
A. Series: 30 years of ministry at GPC
B. Last week: Arrogance
C. My story: 1997 God began to convict me of sin: sin of a whole different nature than I was used to being convicted of.
1. Two cliffs: falling over the one out of avoidance of the other
D. The sins I was alert to
1. Worldliness
2. Immorality
3. Breaking the rules
4. Casting off the rules
5. Mocker/scoffer
6. Overacceptance of sin in others: It doesn’t matter! Whatever feels good, do it!
7. Rejoicing in evil
8. Laziness
9. Half-hearted
10. Questioning the word of God / Taking away from God’s word
11. Resenting the good/righteous/better, wanting to pull them down, rejoicing when they fall
E. But I was blind to the other side of sin. And things I once loved, I now hate.
II. Two kinds of sin
A. Outward, visible, conscious sins versus, inward, invisible, unconscious sins
B. Liberal sins versus conservative sins
C. Younger brother sins, older brother sins
D. The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
E. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2)
F. Neither to the right nor to the left — Prov.4:27
III. Read Matt.23:1-15, 23-28
IV. Stages of redemptive history
A. OT primarily confronts younger brother dangers and sins: worldiness, immorality, idolatry.
B. The NT primarily confronts older brother dangers and sins: self-righteousness, superiority, racism, authoritarianism.
C. But it’s more nuanced than that.
1. Pentateuch:
a. E.g. 10 commandments: mostly younger brother sins: no idols, no speaking God’s name in vain, no working on Sabbath day, honoring parents, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, no lying. And even the command to have no other gods before God is outward in the way they would have understood it, though we can see now that it was commanding the heart to be devoted to God above all.
b. Really the only one of the 10 commandments which clearly address the heart as opposed to the actions is the last commandment: Do not covet.
c. Now obviously we learn from Jesus that all of these commandments have deeper meanings than we realized. Adultery, for instance, includes lust. And murder includes anger.
2. Prophets: begin to point out
a. The next two weeks we’ll be looking at passages in the prophets in which God begins to address older brother kinds of sins.
3. Jesus: full assault on older brother sins, with acknowledgment of younger brother sins, but time and time again the emphasis is clearly placed upon older brother sins. Examine it for yourself!
a. They thought they were righteous. Boy, did they have a surprise coming!
4. Apostles: a more balanced emphasis
a. I.e. Which of the two brothers gets condemned by this list: “The works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:19-23)
V. Sins God began to show me
A. Lack of love / Thinking you're better than others
1. Overreaction to the sin of others: shock, outrage, disgust, no identification
2. Lacking real compassion and love toward others who I don’t identify with
3. Much quicker to notice others’ sins than my own
4. Noticing their faults, my strengths
5. Not seeing myself when I look at another
6. Negative/critical
7. Hard on others, but easy on myself (more intolerant of other’s sins than of my own)
B. Hypocrisy
1. Wanting the people around me to change more than I want myself to change
2. Caring more that others are gentle with me than I care about being gentle with others
3. Buffeting my body (1Cor.9): believing in it, preaching it, not actually doing it
C. Rules-oriented
1. Strain out the gnat and swallow the camel
2. “You tithe mint and dill and cumin, but neglect the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness”
3. Rules over people
D. Loving human admiration and recognition
1. Name-dropping
2. Guiding conversations to my praise instead of striving to love the other person
3. Pointing out the flaws of others so I look good
4. Caring more about what I look like than about what I am like
5. Love being thought of as godly
a. Wanting to be thought of as godly more than I want to actually be godly
6. Hating shame more than I hate sin (i.e. hating my sin being exposed more than I hate my sin)
E. Earthly-mindedness
1. Happiness based on things going well, not on Christ
2. Caring more about advancing my earthly position than my heavenly one
3. Basing my security in earthly things (health, job, finances, insurance, nation, church), not Christ
4. Heroism
F. Godlessness
1. Christlessness, prayerlessness
G. View of the lost
1. Fear-driven, joyless outlook on the world
a. More fear of the world than confidence in the gospel
2. Friend of sinners:
a. Do our rebels view us as waiting at the threshold, searching the horizon for them?
H. Abuse of power
1. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
2. I am the servant here, not the master.
3. Paul was very slow to play the authority card. You are quick to play it.
VI. Conclusion
A. I was trying to create my own world, where everything made sense, and everything was manageable, and everything was good.
B. The really big thing is not sin. And it's not pain or failure or even danger. The really big thing is grace! It's the love of God in Christ!