Our Sin Issue

25“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’27“Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28‘for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’29“Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’30“And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’31“But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”
Luke 16: 25 - 31 NKJV

I had a discussion the other day with a good friend who staked the claim that we should not look forward to a hell to pay for our sins.  Now, this might sound like herecy to more than a few institutional church stalwarts but, believe it or not, there is some backing for this idea.  First off, Paul assures us in the book of Romans that Christ has already dealt with our sin issue.  Therefore, we should consider ourselves to be "dead to sin." {Romans 6:11}  Furthermore, it is common knowledge in christian circles that Jesus Himself became sin that we would not face its penalty {2 Corinthians 5:21}.  Still, everyday I hear well meaning christians talk about seeking our Lords forgiveness for any sins they may have commited.  Really?  Did Jesus somehow miss a few of our sins as He was dying on the cross?  If you believe that line of thought, then His sacrafice was in vain.  The crucifiction and death of Christ was never meant to be a tempoary solution to our sin issue.  No, the sacrafice of Christ was intended to be the final death of sin as we know it.  We are now free of the bondage which held us for so long.  We are...dead to sin.  Yet, the gnawing guilt and shame we often face remains.  So, what is the source of these feelings of accusation?  Our accuser, of course.  That one who resents every fiber of Christ Jesus and all He has accomplished for us.  Indeed, satan used to hold a commanding control of our lives with His constant reminders that we are somehow not good enough, will never be good enough and not worthy of our heavenly Fathers love.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  For if God truly felt for us the way we sometimes feel He does, He would not have provided for our eternity with Him.  Yet we continue to see ourselves as having a sin issue.

6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV

One of the most common urges we get when we feel we are still burdened by our former sins is that God can never be in the presence of sin.  Knowing this, we reel in fear because we know that scripture tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of our Lords glory {Romans 3:23}.  I don't dispute this scripture, only its aftermath.  Yes, all have sinned, but that is exactly why God has provided for the saving grace of Christ Jesus.  As Paul tells us in Romans, our "old man" sin nature was put to death with Him long ago, that we might live in unity with our Lord.  That has been acomplished.  Don't think so?  We are also assured that the Spirit of Christ dwells within us {Galations 2:20}.  Now, if you continue to hold fast to the teachings of the church that our sins are keeping us from our Lords presence, how then would you explain Galations 2:20?  Yes, we DID dwell in sin at one time.  However, that man has been crucifed with Christ Jesus that our sins would no longer define us.  But what about our bad behaviors?  What about them?  Are they sins?  How can they be sins if we have died to sin?  Do not make the mistake of calling the behaviors of our own flesh sin.  Indeed, our flesh will continue to be influenced by our environment.  There will be times when we will be led by our flesh into wrong behaviors, but that's not sin.  Our flesh has never been the evil part of our being, just a part which is easily influenced.  Remember, we have been lovingly created by our heavenly Father in His image.  That image includes our flesh.  There is simply nothing about our being which God considers evil in His eyes.  On the contrary, we are the crowning glory of His creation.  The sin issue, as we once knew it, is dead.

“I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it.”
~William P. Young, The Shack~

~Scott~