By Pastor Greg
A five-year-old boy squealed with delight when he opened his birthday present from his grandmother. It was a water pistol. He promptly ran to the sink to fill it. "Mom," exclaimed the boy’s mother. "I'm surprised at you. Don't you remember how we used to drive you crazy with water pistols?" The grandmother smiled and said, "Yes, I remember."
Kids, I’ve got a bit of shocking news for you. Your parents were not perfect little angels. They got into trouble as well. Actually, come to think of it, even your grandparents were not absolutely perfect when they were children. And I know this is surprising news. It surprised me as I learned of my own father’s childish pranks, like putting a bag full of skunks on someone’s front porch. And in shock I exclaim “DAD! How could you?”, but in reality wishing I’d thought of it first. We are shocked because we just assume that everyone else was born good; we are the only ones who are bad. But that simply is not true.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:23). And yes, that applies to both young and old. When Paul says “all”, he means “everyone”; mother, son, and grandma. But when Paul says “all have sinned”, doesn’t it make you wonder just which sins have separated us from God? In what ways have we fallen short of God’s glorious standard? Was it the lies we told as a child, or greed, lust and idolatry that stand between us and God? I mean, it would sure help if we knew which sins have caused us to be separated from God. Well, here’s the deal. I can give you the short list, but I don’t think you’re going to like the answer.
In Paul’s letter to the Colossian Christians he has continued to elevate Christ; he has presented a Messiah bigger than they had imagined. Jesus IS God. He is God contained in flesh and blood. And what all of this means is that because Jesus is God, He is able to do what no mere man could ever do; reconcile lost sinners to a Holy God. “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (Colossians 1:19-20).
Please don’t miss this. Paul says we need to be reconciled, not just forgiven. But forgiven is what we are so often taught. We are often given a long list of sins that separate us from God. Now, I will admit that God has called us to live a life which reflects His holiness, but cleaning up our act will not free us from bondage. We could be the nicest, most pleasant person on the block yet still live un-reconciled to God. Being good does not save us, does it? Knowing we are bad doesn’t save us either. That’s because it is not our deeds that have driven a wedge between us and God; it is simply who we are.
I know we like to make a list of things (sins) that keep us apart from God, but in reality it is not a long list at all. Here’s the short list: the reason “all have sinned” is because we “all have been born”. We have all been born into slavery; separated from God because of our fallen human nature.
We are not free people. We are slaves to our human nature. And sadly, many people think that to be Christian is to either stop doing bad things and start doing good things, or at least get Jesus to forgive the bad things we do. Many people picture Jesus as the Man with the huge bank account who pays the traffic cop every time they get caught speeding. Of course, those who hardly ever speed don’t need Jesus as much as those with a heavy foot. But when we start thinking this way, we end up like Simon the Pharisee; comparing our goodness with another person’s sinfulness, and thinking we are so much better because we only sin a little (Read Luke 7:40-47).
Simon had been forgiven little because he wrongly assumed his debt was small, especially when compared to the sinful woman in the room. What did not occur to Simon was that no matter how good he might be he was still held captive by sin. His life was still under the curse of sin. And it is this same curse that everyone has inherited; every person who has lived, every person who is living now, and every person who is yet to be born. We are born cursed by sin, and if you want proof that we are under sin’s curse, just visit a cemetery some time.
“Once you were separated from God. The evil things you did showed your hostile attitude. But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his physical body. He did this so that you could come into God’s presence without sin, fault, or blame”. (Colossians 1:21-22). Notice what Paul says. He says the evil things we did showed our hostility to God. The sins we commit are a demonstration of our sinfulness. That’s why Jesus isn’t looking for people who keep a long list of “do’s” and “don’ts”. He is looking for sinful people who know they are in bondage. Keeping a long list of good commands will not save anyone. Growing up in church does nothing to set a person free. A person can attend church all their life yet still live in bondage. The only way to find freedom is to realize you are held captive by sin (which is a reality for all of us because of death), and to realize that freedom is found in Christ alone. Salvation comes by faith in the Man God sent to be our ransom; the only Man who could take the charges against us and nail them on the cross.
No one is born into freedom. All are born into slavery. We are born into sinfulness. It’s not what we have done that makes us slaves, but who we are. Actually those lies, the greed, lust, and every other sin we commit are signs of our sinfulness. And by committing these things we testify that we are fallen creatures; men and women and children held captive by the great deceiver who wants us to believe that we are free. But Paul insists that we are not. He implies that the relationship between God and humanity has been broken, and Christ came to offer His life as the ransom for many. It was Jesus who “erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them [through the cross]” (Colossians 2:14-15). This is why there is nothing I can possibly do to free myself from the bonds of sin. I can be a really good slave, but I’m still a slave. I need forgiven for my wicked sins, but I also need to be freed from the sinfulness that holds me captive. This is why I need a Savior, why we all need a Savior to redeem us from captivity. We need someone whose life is of infinite value, and is able to pay the debt and make us free.
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