May 12, 2012
So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord ." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die." -- 2Samuel 12: 13-14 (NKJV)
Sin is one of the central concepts in the Bible yet one of the least preached about in modern churches. Sin means to miss the mark that God has set up for us in terms of how we are to live our lives. Realize without sin and a consequence for sin, we would have no need for a Savior. Jesus' work on the cross would become irrelevant. Sin separates us from God -- it drives a wedge between us and the Lord. That wedge remains until we repent; which means to turn from the sin and back to God. Since the Bible teaches us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that he who says he does not sin calls God a liar, it is important that we understand the nature of sin and the consequences we will face.
One of the most infamous sins in the Bible is David and Bathsheba. David coveted Bathsheba and lusted after her. He then sent for her and even though he discovered she was married to someone fighting for David in the army, he still proceeded to commit adultery with her anyway. Sin does not care about anything but itself. Thoughts themselves are not sinful. David had time to avoid sin but with each passing moment he falls deeper and deeper into the web of sin. Bathsheba conceives and David now tries to cover his sin up by having her husband sleep with her so he will be fooled into thinking the child is his. He refuses out of righteousness so David sends him to the front lines of action so that he will be struck down in battle. He then takes Bathsheba to be his wife but he is now a murderer. God sends the Prophet Nathan to confront him and that is when we come to the key verses above. There are three important considerations when it comes to the nature of sin and consequence.
First of all, we need to repent to God. David, once he realizes the depth of his sin genuinely repents to the Lord. He understands how serious his actions were before the Lord. If you want to see the depth of his sorrow, read Psalm 51, which he penned shortly after the key verses. The sin is against the Lord. David lusted, committed adultery and committed murder. Yet how forgiving is the Lord? Nathan assures David that the Lord has "put away" his sin. The Lord is just as forgiving with us when we genuinely repent. The first consequence from sin is the wedge we spoke about between us and the Lord. But God is faithful to forgive us and the first thing we must do is recognize the sin and repent.
Secondly however, there are consequences that we may never see in relation to other people in the world. The key verse exclaims that David's sin has given the enemies of the Lord great occasion to blaspheme. Now, realize that not all sin may result in such public knowledge. David was king of course. But nonetheless, there will be people around us who may look to us as Christians and expect a different behavior than the world. When they see us steal at work, curse at our kids in the supermarket, or even commit more egregious sins what message does that send them about who we are and who we serve? It does give them occasion to blaspheme. It does give them occasion to think less of the God we claim to serve. There is a world out there looking for a reason to believe or a reason to not believe and WE might be the only representation of Christ they ever get to see. What are they seeing? Are we giving them great occasion to wonder who this great God is? Or are we giving them great occasion to blaspheme the Lord God Almighty?
So sin will have consequences with the Lord and the world but lastly, there will also be consequences within our own lives. God will forgive us but that does not mean that we will not reap what we sow. As a result of the sin of David, five people would die. David would lose his kingdom and his son would rebel against him. There were dire consequences for his sin that took years for him to recover from. God restored him and he went on to serve the Lord and have prosperity but he paid a price for his sin. Likewise, whenever we engage in sinful behavior we can expect that there will be repercussions.
And that is the painful reminder today. Sin always has
consequences on multiple layers. First it divides us against the God that we
serve. Unconfessed sin can drive us away from God. Unrepentant sin will always
keep God at a distance from us. It is not that God has moved away -- we have.
But God is faithful and once we come back to the Father like the prodigal son
and confess our sin and repent, He will forgive us. But there are also
consequences within our own lives. God will forgive us but we will have to pay
for whatever our actions require. Sin has a cost associated with it that we
rarely consider. Lastly, there are consequences for the world at large that may
be watching us as Christians. The world revels in the fallen Christian because
it confirms their feelings that Christians are hypocrites. We cannot put a fish
on the back of our car and then cut people off in traffic! We cannot say
"hallelujah, praise the Lord" with every other sentence but then treat people
without the love of Christ. We do not want to give people great occasion to
blaspheme the Lord. We all sin beloved. We all miss the mark because of the
flesh we live in. Hopefully we can start to measure the cost a little bit more
before entering into what we know we should have no part in.
Rev. Anthony
