Teen
Sin
Our Daily Bread
BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT . . .
Sin
S
in is a little word, but it seems to come up a lot in churches and youth groups. But what exactly is it? Things we want to do, but know we shouldn’t? Should
we secretly love it or only ever hate it? And is it possible to do stuff that God won’t ever forgive?
Here are a few big questions about sin, answered for you by readers in the Our Daily Bread Ministries family. So get stuck in! And if you want more, check out Can I be forgiven? at ourdailybread.org/lookingdeeper
What is Sin?
S
omeone once described sin to me as: “Shove off God, I’m in charge, No to your rules.”
Think of it like this: your teacher tells you to come into the classroom; but you walk off. He tells you to stop talking in class; but you chat even louder. He wants you to hand your homework in to him the next day; you give it to him two weeks later, with only half the work done . . . What happens next? It’s not hard to see where this is going. You’ll be in a lot of detentions, and your parents will be getting a letter from the school! And you’ll probably want to hide your end of term report! You see, in this example, you haven’t just done stuff wrong; you’ve totally broken your relationship with your teacher. He’s not likely to ever trust you again or want you anywhere near his classroom if he can help it. This is kind of what sin is like. Sin is all about putting ‘me’ first
and ignoring God. Which is something every single one of us has done. It’s not just doing ‘bad stuff’. It’s about not loving the God who made us. In fact, generally we totally
ignore him and his good ways. We’ve broken our relationship with God beyond anything we can sort out on our own. That’s why we need his help to fix the problem. On our own, we’re stuck with it and deserve his judgement.
Are some sins
worse than others? W
hat’s worse: robbing a bank or quietly slipping a chocolate bar into your pocket in the shops? After all, who’s going to notice one missing sweet? We all rank stuff like this. All of us can say, “Well at least I never . . .” or “At least I’m not like . . .” It seems pretty clear that some things are worse than others. And because some sins have a bigger impact, in our eyes we think of them as worse. Murdering someone we don’t like is much worse than just gossiping about them.
But Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgement” (MATTHEW 5:21-22). Jesus isn’t saying murder and anger are just as bad as each other. Clearly murder is worse. But he is explaining to us that sin is still sin in God’s eyes. It’s all a big problem that he will judge. Jesus doesn’t give us room to feel good about ourselves because we think we’re better than someone else. Just because we may not have murdered anyone, doesn’t mean we please God more than those who have. Jesus wants us to understand things in terms of how God views us.
All our sins lead to the same result: God’s judgement. All sins, no matter how ‘small’, deserve God’s penalty. But this also means that all sins, no matter how ‘big’, have been paid for in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
So, all of our sin will either be fully judged by God or completely forgiven by Jesus. It’s up to us which it will be. As soon as we choose to trust him and give him our lives, all our sin, big and small, is paid for in Jesus’ death on the cross.
Are some things
unforgiveable? O
nly one – refusing to trust and believe in Jesus.
During a confrontation with some religious leaders, Jesus told them: “Every kind of sin and [insult] can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against [Jesus] will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (MATTHEW 12:31-32). There are two main things to understand here:
Every kind of sin and insult can be forgiven: Jesus tells us plainly that all our mistakes, mess and wrongs can be forgiven. This is good news! There is nothing we can do (except “blasphemy against the Spirit”) that God can’t forgive. Blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven: So what is this? We need to know that when Jesus said this, he was speaking to religious leaders who were rejecting him and calling him evil. They were saying that the miracles Jesus performed were works of the devil, and not works of the Holy Spirit, even though they knew better. So the only thing that is unforgivable is rejecting Jesus, the one who can forgive us. The Bible tells us that if we don’t admit we’ve messed up and need Jesus’ forgiveness, we’re basically choosing hell rather than heaven. Christians are “sealed” by his Spirit, meaning they belong to God (EPHESIANS 1:13). But “blasphemy against the Spirit” is basically saying “no” to God’s offer of salvation. To blaspheme is to discredit who God is, meaning we are not interested in belonging to him or receiving his forgiveness. Only this decision is unforgiveable. For those of us who have given our lives to God, nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (ROMANS 8:39). Our salvation is secure in all that Jesus has already done for us!
How can I
forgive others?
J
esus was very clear that we should forgive others in the same way God has forgiven us. But what about the people who don’t deserve our forgiveness? Forgiving doesn’t mean you are pretending nothing happened; it doesn’t mean you’re letting anyone ‘off the hook’; and forgiving others doesn’t mean things go back to just as they were before.
It means we are dealing with the pain someone has caused us by giving it to God, rather than holding a grudge. It means we let go of our judgement, and say whatever
that person did to us is now something between them and God. So how do we do that? Remember what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross in our place. At the centre of our forgiveness of others is the forgiveness we have from God. Remember the price God paid for us in Jesus to forgive us and free us from our sin. Remember the mercy God has given to us by forgiving us for every single thing we’ve ever done wrong, no matter how big or bad. Face the pain. This may be hard and we may be unsure of what our own feelings will be when we face up to the pain. But if we just push our hurt deep down, it will grow into bitterness and hardness which can start harming our closeness to Jesus and others. God knows our thoughts and feelings even better than we do—so he knows how best to handle them. Be honest with God and ask for his help.
How can I
forgive others?
Make the decision to do things God’s way. Forgiving brings more freedom and relief to us than to the other person! Remember that forgiveness is not just a one-off decision. There will be times when all you’ll want is to get your own back—even way down the line after you’ve chosen to forgive. The memory will crop up and suddenly you’ll be as angry as you’ve ever felt. Talk to your youth leader or a Christian friend who can also pray with you and help you when you’re finding forgiveness hard. Pray for the person who hurt you. It is much harder to be angry at someone you’re praying for. And as you talk to God about this person, he will help you change the way you think about them. Even if they ‘deserve’ your hate, he’ll help you want to show them his love and mercy. God reminds us that we too deserve to be
hated by him for how we have lived. But, instead, he sent Jesus to die for us and offer us peace and new life.
As we forgive, and keep forgiving, we’ll find more peace and happiness in our own lives as we allow God to carry our pain with us.
No record Psalm 130
If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? (V.3).
A
t the end of each term, most schools send you home with your report. It includes things like attendance, grades, things to work on, the amount of detentions . . . for some, it doesn’t always make great reading. If God gave us a similar report, we’d be in big trouble. That’s what one of the psalm writers meant when he said: “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” (PSALM 130:3).
Thankfully, God forgives. He does not keep a record or report of how well we’ve lived, no matter how many things we’ve done wrong or how bad they are. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (ROMANS 8:1). God throws our records out of heaven! God’s forgiveness should lead us to be in awe of him (PSALM 130:4). But what happens if we keep messing up? What if there are things we just can’t stop doing? We are to turn to God, talk to him about it all and “wait for the Lord” (V.5). Let’s be patient while God works in us to make us more like Jesus. We are not hopeless cases. We can “hope” in the God who will change us in his timing. We have these two promises: God’s unfailing love—he will never leave us or give up on us (HEBREWS 13:5). And God’s completed work in us—in heaven he will completely change us and free us from all our problems (PSALM 130:8). He will bring us to himself without fault and in great happiness (JUDE 1:24). For now, he is working in us and we can be sure we will see changes in how we live our lives because of him— but in heaven we’ll be perfect! DR
WHEN WE TRUST JESUS, NO RECORD IS KEPT OF OUR MESS. This article is from the Our Daily Bread Teen Edition annuals. Fancy getting hold of them? You can ask for your copies and see all our other resources at ourdailybread.org/teen
Sin is all about putting ‘me’ first and ignoring God. It’s not just doing ‘bad stuff’. Scripture taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved. © 2019 by Our Daily Bread Ministries. All rights reserved.
WS876