Dear BPCWA worshipper, We live in a world filled with much pain, suffering, and sorrow. Theologically, we know that this is because of the spiritual disease called sin that has cast its net far into every human heart. Many of us dread and fear physical sicknesses because they are something we can see. However, even believers often have a low view of the spiritual sickness that continues to plague our lives. Our fear of physical maladies far outstrips that of the spiritual problems.

Sin is serious. Because of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, every baby born today of a man and woman is “shapen in iniquity” (Psa 51:5). Sin is not 2^nd nature to us; sinfulness is our very nature. Simply because we see only the outward, which may have semblances of morality and beauty, we may be misled into thinking that something is actually “not too bad”. This is the prevalent view of man today. But God, who is perfect in righteousness and holiness, tells us about the state of unbelievers, “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa 64:6). Despite being told this by God, we probably only have a mental assent to it, without feeling the repugnance to sin that we ought to. Man today revolts against the death penalty. However, what we may not have realised is that death is the penalty for sin. This was warned to Adam and Eve, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17). The sentence of death is upon all mankind from their fall till today, “for the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). In our society, the thinking is that the death penalty, if necessary, is only for very grievous sins, and eating what was forbidden is inconsequential since it didn’t hurt a fellow human. This shows our low view of sin. This “little” sin changed the perfect paradise in the Garden of Eden to today’s war-torn and deteriorating world. The perfect love that existed between Adam and Eve is replaced by divorce, selfishness, and strife in many broken families today. Sin damaged the relationship between Adam and Eve, but more importantly, it broke the most blessed of all relationships: fellowship between God and man. Even the man who is thought of by the world as moral and even “good” is struck by diseases and sicknesses because every man is a sinner. No good thing comes out of sin. Every evil thing arises because of sin. Sin is a malady that has no remedy except through the finished work of Christ.

We think sin is no big deal. There are many sins that we often overlook, not thinking that they’re sins or that they even need to be repented of. 1) Because there are no physical or immediate consequences. Man is very immediate and sight-focused. We are probably way more careful to avoid “bad things” that affect our physical health than sinful things that affect our spiritual life. In many cases, the “bad things” that we avoid because they affect our health are also often sinful. We control our consumption of deep-fried foods because we know they can cause various sicknesses. But we overlook the fact that gluttony is sin (Php 3:19), regardless of what it is that we indiscriminately put into our bellies. Few parents have experienced what Adam and Eve did when they had a son murder another, a ripple effect of their first sin. Because we do not necessarily reap the effects of sin immediately, and by God’s grace, He may withhold the effects, we tend to be lax about avoiding sin even when we know it is sinful. 2) Because it doesn’t affect other people. An example of this is the sin of slothfulness (Pro 19:15). We think laziness is not a big deal because, in our minds, “After all, no one really enjoys hard work.” We often judge sin by how prevalent or socially acceptable it is to people, instead of by God’s standards. Moreover, we very often either give excuses to indulge in these or even expect others to agree to our sin, simply because it is so common. Another instance is when it comes to our choices, where we fear offending men and choose to please them at God’s expense. 3) Because we don’t consider that all sin necessitates the suffering of Christ on the cross. We say when evangelising that what seems like a “small” sin to us, such as a lie, justifies the punishment of eternal hell. We go on to add that even what man views as a “small” sin, like lying, must be paid for by the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. That is certainly true. However, despite knowing what sin is in God’s eyes, we probably sin many such “small” sins with little thought or remorse, since we know the doctrine of once saved always saved, and it will not affect our eternal destination. We may even justify our sins by saying that “We have our right to do this or that”, with scant regard that we really had no right to even have Christ pay for the penalty for our sins on our behalf. And so, because these sins are “no big deal”, they remain and grow in our lives.

Why we must see sin as a big deal. Firstly, if you know that God says such and such is sin, but it doesn’t trouble you to continue in it without care, then check your salvation. The Pharisees were such who rejected God’s definition of sin, and “Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (Joh 9:41). The Apostle John warns, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1Jo 1:8). But Christians must know that simply because when we don’t see sin as something heinous and to be despised, we won’t stop doing it. These “little” sins are really adding up to be the big sins that affect our communion and closeness with God.

Have you been finding that you are just walking in a humdrum existence, though outwardly doing the religious things? Perhaps it is time to “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes” (Son 2:15). Foxes often “destroy or injure the vineyards; because, by their holes and passages which they form in the ground, loosening the soil, so that the growth and prosperity of the vine suffers injury”. Let us consider if there is perhaps an abundance of things hidden from the normal view that affect the tenderness of our walk with God. Let us call sin, sin. Without this, there cannot be repentance, since we will continue to hold on to them. When the change of mind that accompanies repentance is absent, we are not of the same mind as God, and there cannot be the closeness of fellowship with God nor the sweetness of forgiveness that comes with genuine repentance and confession. God certainly does not think that small sins are inconsequential, for He says,

“Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1Co 5:6-7)

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor