The Original Sin of Blaming our Sins on the Sins of Others

Ben Reaoch from Genesis 3.11-12:

We are so desperate to justify ourselves that we become irrational. Here are 12 examples. 

1) Anger

I wouldn’t lose my temper if my co-workers were easier to get along with, or if my kids behaved better, or if my spouse were more considerate. 

2) Impatience

I would be a very patient person if it weren’t for traffic jams and long lines in the grocery store. If I didn’t have so many things to do, and if the people around me weren’t so slow, I would never become impatient! 

3) Lust

I would have a pure mind if there weren’t so many sensual images in our culture. 

4) Anxiety

I wouldn’t worry about the future if my life were just a little more secure—if I had more money, and no health problems.

5) Spiritual Apathy 

My spiritual life would be so much more vibrant and I would struggle with sin less if my small group were more encouraging, or if Sunday school were more engaging, or if the music in the worship service were more lively, or if the sermons were better.

6) Insubordination

If my parents/bosses/elders were godly leaders, then I would joyfully follow them.
  


7) A Critical Spirit

It’s not my fault that the people around me are ignorant and inexperienced. 

8) Bitterness

If you knew what that person did to me, you would understand my bitterness. How could I forgive something like that?

9) Gluttony

My wife/husband/roommate/friend is a wonderful cook! The things they make are impossible to resist.

10) Gossip

It’s the people around me who start the conversations. There’s no way to avoid hearing what others happen to say. And when others ask me questions, I can’t avoid sharing what I know. 

11) Self-Pity

I’ll never be happy, because my marriage/family/job/ministry is so difficult.

12) Selfishness

I would be more generous if we had more money.

Making excuses like this is arrogant and foolish.  It’s a proud way of trying to justify our actions and pacify our guilty consciences.  And it keeps us from humbling ourselves before God to repent of our sins and seek his forgiveness.

The Marketing Model Empties the Truth of the Gospel

I am loving my former professor's book, The Courage to Be Protestant.  If you want to understand today's "evangelical" landscape, Dr. Wells is a trusty tour guide.  Here are some of his thoughts as to the fraud and failure of the "marketing" - "seeker" philosophy of the church:

First, the needs consumers have are needs they identify for themselves.  The needs sinners have are needs God identifies for us, and the way we see our needs is rather different from the way he sees them.  We suppress the truth about God, holding it down in "unrighteousness" (Rom. 1.18).  We are not subject to his moral law and in our fallenness are incapable of being obedient to it (Rom. 8.7), so how likely is it, outside of the intervention of God through the Holy Sprit, that we will identifiy our needs as those arising from our rebellion against God? No, the product we will seek naturally will not be the gospel.  It will be a therapy of some kind, a technique for life, perhaps a way of connecting more deeply with our own spiritual selves on our own terms, terms that require no repentance and no redemption.  It will not be the gospel.  The gospel cannot be a product that the church sells because there are no consumers for it. When we find consumers, we will find that what they are interested in buying, on their own terms, is not the gospel.

Furthermore, when we buy a product, we buy it for our use.  When we accept Christ, he is not there for our use but we are there for his service.   We commit ourselves to him in a way that we do not commit ourselves to any product.  There is a world of difference between the Lord of Glory, the incarnate second person of the Godhead, and a Lexus, a vacation home, or a trip to the Bahamas.  The marketing analogy blurs all of this, reducing Christ simply to a product we buy to satisfy all our needs.

Beating Addiction

I can't say that I know experientially how to beat an addiction. I don't have any chemical addictions (excepting perhaps caffeine - and I have no plans at this point to fight that one).

However, I do have some experience with something that looks very much like addiction. In fact, it may be the ultimate addiction: I have been addicted to sin.

I am continually bombarded with lusts and desires. I know they are wicked and terrible and bring nothing but death and destruction, but nonetheless I desire them and many times act upon those desires. My friends, this is part of the Christian experience (1 Peter 2.9-12, Romans 7.7-25).

"Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly (Proverbs 26.11)." Such is the experience of the sinner and the addict. In fact, it is an addiction to sin that brings addiction to chemicals, sex, gambling, or whatever else. So how is it beaten?

1. Core desires are changed.

This is what happens at conversion - I am freed from sin and freed to be satisfied in something greater than anything else: Jesus Christ. He is glory, and He is joy (2 Cor. 4.3-6, Psalm 16.11). It is here that the ultimate power of the addiction to sin is broken.

I am told by my friend, a past addict, that something like this happened for him in regard to drugs. The temptation still came around, but by the grace of God, the powerful hold broke, and his core desires were changed.

It is key to realize that a desire like this needs to be replaced with something else. And Jesus is the ultimate replacement. In the light of His glory, all others fade.

2. Practical steps are taken to ensure, as much as possible, that incoming temptations are defeated. This includes:

A. Removal from tempting circumstances and people.

The recovering alcoholic should never be at the corner bar with his drinking buddies. This is part of the reason rehab programs take people out of their normal surroundings. The addict isn't prepared to handle it.

B. Strong accountability from trusted sources.

Those fighting sin and addiction need to be known and confess their sins and habits to those who will confront them, support them, and help them reach a higher standard. We cannot do this alone.

C. Serious prayer and word. Our lives are transformed by the mercy of God through the renewal of our minds (Romans 12.1-2). We are in desperate need of the Spirit of God changing us through His Word. He can and will do it for His people.

Pray for core desire change. Pray for a renewed mind. And take practical steps to make it happen. I don't mean to pretend this is quick, simple, and easy. It isn't. But by God's grace, it is possible.