Foundations of Faith
SIN (III)
In the last issue we gave examples of sins of commission (doing what God doesn’t want us to do), that may involve our actions, attitudes, words, or thoughts, and sins of omission (not doing what God wants us to do). In this issue we shall bring these categories and examples closer to home by considering ways the people of the Bible sinned. We shall organize these examples by the types of circumstances that resulted in sin. This is because we have a tendency to excuse our sins because of the situation. For example, do you ever remember giving the excuse, “He hit me first!” in your younger days? As we read, let us check whether any of these people of the Bible reflect ourselves in their sin and failure.
1. Sin resulting from selfish desires. This is no doubt the most common source of sin. “The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16) all stem from selfish desires.
Jacob lived much of his life scheming to get his own way. He made Esau sell his birthright to him for a pot of soup (Gen. 25:23,30-34). Later, he tricked his father into giving him, rather than Esau, the blessing of the firstborn (27:1-40). This was not only sinful, it was stupid. The LORD had announced at Jacob’s birth, “the elder [Esau] shall serve the younger [Jacob]” (25:23). How much trouble we would avoid if we would just wait for the Lord to work out His perfect plan for our lives!
David already had at least seven wives (2 Sam. 3:2-5,13-16); but when “he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful” (11:2), he wanted her too. Before it was all over, David had committed several very serious sins.
Gideon also had selfish desires, but of quite a different kind-a more respectable kind-from those of Jacob and those of David. He had just gained a great victory over the Midianites through faith in God. The people wanted to make him king, but he modestly turned them down. Instead, he made a golden ephod out of the jewelry taken from the Midianite soldiers. The ephod was a part of the prescribed clothing of the high priest of Israel. It contained the mystical Urim and Thummim by which the priest determined the mind of God. With selfish pride, Gideon desired to have the golden ephod as a memorial of the fact that God had spoken directly to him (Judg. 6,7). While the desire to be honored and recognized and remembered by others may seem more respectable than the “lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes,” it is still sin. It is “the pride of life”-taking honor for ourselves that rightfully belongs to God alone. (See Assignment 9)
2. Sin resulting from zeal. Is it possible to be too zealous or too enthusiastic about a project or a cause? Saul of Tarsus was very prominent among the Jews as a persecutor of Christians (Phil. 3:6). He meant well, but in God’s eyes, he was dead wrong! Many years later, the Apostle Paul’s zealous desire for the salvation of the Jews got him into trouble. He did something that was contrary to his relationship with Christ and that confused the gospel message (Acts 21:23-27).
Peter was another disciple of Christ who was full of zeal. When Jesus forewarned him that Satan wanted to trip him up, Peter responded with great confidence, “I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to death” (Luke 22:31-34). You know the rest of the story.
Fifteen centuries earlier, Moses sinned in his zeal to defend God’s interests. When the children of Israel complained about lack of water, the LORD told Moses to speak to the rock and water would come from it. Moses thought the LORD was being too lenient with the people, so he angrily called the people “rebels” and struck the rock with his rod instead of speaking to it. God wanted to show His grace to the people, but Moses misrepresented Him as impatient and angry. For this Moses was deprived by God of the privilege of leading the people into the promised land.
Zeal is good, but it must be brought into submission to the Lord (Gal. 4:17,18). We want zeal so we will not lag behind God’s will. But in our zeal, we also must be careful not to go ahead of God.
3. Sin resulting from trying to add our own works to those of the Lord. Jephthah, a judge of the children of Israel, was a skillful, experienced military leader. When asked by his people to lead the army of Israel against the invading Ammonites, he responded by putting his dependence upon the LORD (Judg. 11:27-29). Then, with the Spirit of the LORD on him, ready to go to battle, Jephthah blew it! Not content to rest totally upon the gracious help of the LORD, he made a vow. If the LORD would help him win the battle, he would make a certain offering to the LORD (11:30,31). This was a disastrous mistake by Jephthah, for he unknowingly had promised to offer his own daughter as a sacrifice to the LORD. One of the most difficult things for man to learn is that God delights to be gracious-to give to those who don’t deserve it. Not wanting to be in debt to God, we despise God’s grace and try to add our own works to those of God’s. Many millions, perhaps billions, of people have tried to earn salvation by their own works or by adding their works to the work of Christ. The outcome of such attempts will end in disaster, as with Jephthah.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Three of our readers completed all of the assignments for 1995. Drew Johnson of Bedford, Pennsylvania led the way with a score of 98.1% for the year. Lisa and Carrie Keillor of Acton, California each had scores of 93.7% correct answers. Christopher Ochieng of Kenya, East Africa and Marisa Scheidecker of Clarksville, Iowa answered over half of the assignments. Kevin Bennett of Jessup, Maryland and Andrew Okezie of Nigeria, West Africa got late starts but both completed all of the assignments for 1994. Christopher Ochieng answered over half of the 1994 assignments and Andrew Okezie did the same for 1993.
Running the Race
Assignment 9: (a) Write out a verse or two in Matthew 20 that tell of a woman who desired glory for her loved ones. (b) Write out two verses in Matthew 6 that tell who should, and who should not, receive glory.