STRIVING AGAINST SIN!

STRIVING AGAINST SIN!

Heb 12:1-4

12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

          The Greek word for “striving” in verse 4 will look familiar. It is the word antagonizomai and is the basis for the English word “antagonize” which means “to provoke.”  Here the word indicates a struggle. If you are planning to fight against sin in today’s casual moral climate you can expect a push back.         

I know of a young pastor up in New England who is currently striving against sin in his church. I don’t know all of the details, but it seems he has a teenager in his youth department who is actively, openly and shamelessly engaging in sex. This young pastor has confronted the teen and removed him from youth activities until he repents. That’s when the parents stepped in – to defend their son’s actions and to accuse the pastor of being too harsh. I can just imagine the shouting and finger-pointing. Yet, the pastor is duty bound to confront sin.

Isa 58:1

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

It’s just so much easier to “go along to get along.” This young pastor is still equipped with a keen sense of right and wrong. He still feels it is his job, as a spiritual leader, to confront sin and to promote wholesome morality. He doesn’t see himself only as an “event coordinator!” He is now paying for his idealism.

Most of us who are ministers could have much larger congregations if it weren’t that we were always and forever confronting sin! Most of us have engaging personalities and we are clever enough as coordinators of social events to draw significant crowds but we soon lose our influence when we point out sin.

A man is first startled by sin; then it becomes pleasing, then easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed. The man is impenitent, then obstinate, and then he is damned. Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667)

Dear Lord, though it be gently and with tears, let me faithfully confront sin today. AMEN