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The “Independent Christian Church Ministers” question of the week is about sin, specifically sins we don’t talk about as a church – if I understood correctly the question. And this is a great question because too often Christians act like they’ve “got it all together” and have no problems or sin and everything is hunkeydorey.

But from the beginning this has not been the truth. The truth is that Christians too commit sins. We also need God’s continuing forgiveness and grace and mercy. The Apostle John wrote If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (I John 1:8-10) And the Apostle Paul wrote Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:5-10) Both John and Paul recognized that as Christians we have a lot of growing to do and part of that is in facing our earthly nature and “putting it to death”. Both of these passages were written to CHRISTIANS, folks who were already in the church, had already received forgiveness for their sins – and yet needed to be cleansed from their earthly nature. In fact, “the disciple Jesus loved” (John) included himself in the issue by using first person plural.

So, what can we as a church do about sin in our midst? In the past (and present in many cases) the custom was to throw out anyone who didn’t “toe the line” and who was thought to have “kicked over the traces”. And indeed it is important to not wink at sin and we SHOULD practice church discipline when folks refuse to repent and insist on continuing in sin when confronted biblically with the issue.

But I believe that we must start with ourselves. Each and every christian must learn to look critically AT HIS OWN LIFE and to seek out the earthly nature which leads us down to perdition and eradicate it systematically from our own life. Each and every aspect of our person and character must be held up before the powerful light of God’s word and examined critically – do I indeed measure up to Him or must I continue eradicate the sin that holds me back? Paul wrote to the Romans “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)

It is easy to “conform to this world” because we see how this world works all around us. It is easy to imitate that which we see all the time. But God is calling us to a new vision – one that is only possible when we learn to renew our minds according to God’s Will and His Word.

Traditionally the church has been quite hard on visible sins. The drunk, the homosexual, the adulterer or fornicator has been an easy target because their way of life is obvious to all. It is the subtle sins that cause most problems in the church however. Wrath, malice, envy, hatred, gossip, lying, deceit, pride – these are the ugly secrets that cause divisions amongst us. The greatest common denominator amongst them is the issue of egotism. When “I” am the center of the universe then nothing works as it should. When Christ becomes the center then I can fulfill my proper place and I can learn to allow others their proper place as well. When Christ reigns supreme in my life I can submit to Him and renew my mind in all ways – giving up those sins that so easily entangled me when I was still seeking earthly things and learning to run the race He has set before Me.

The “worship wars” and other recent issues are sins which we as a Church have allowed to break the unity that Christ seeks amongst His people. When each side insists on doing things their own way without seeking a common ground for agreement then we have open warfare amongst us and the winner is the enemy. When we learn to love each other and to seek ways to work together than reasons to separate we can gain victory over the enemy of our souls.

There is no panacea for the sin that besets us because it is an individual issue that we as a congregation must help each other to face and over come. The closest we can come to a “one size fits all” answer is to learn to love each other as the Word teaches us to do and to help and edify each other in love so that Christ is exalted over all and all are submitted to Him in love and obedience.