Life without Sin

Is it possible to live a life without sin? In a world where there is little to no moral standard who is able to remain unexposed from what the world offers? Are we to shelter ourselves, lock ourselves up in a fortress in the middle of nowhere? Does God’s word tell us that a sinless life is possible and if it does why exactly did God send His son as a sacrificial atonement for our sins?

Paul writes in Romans 7: 14-24 (NIV)
14) We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15) I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16) And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17) As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18) I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19) For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20) Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21) So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22) For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23) but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25) Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

What did Paul mean here? I think Paul is making a very clear and valid point. Because of fallen man the sinful nature is always present and always lurking in the shadows. By nature we want to gratify ourselves, we want to take credit for our accomplishments, we want a new possession, a new toy and we want it now. If any fleshly human says that they live without sin or it is possible to live without sin they have just sinned, they are lying, that is a sin isn’t it?

The very statement, “You can live a sinless life,” sends up a myriad of red flags in my spirit. I only know of one person who could live a sinless life, one person who could make that statement anything close to the truth. That one person is who we are called to seek after, to be like.

When we tell ourselves and the people around us that we can live a sin free life we set ourselves up and also the people around us for a fall. When we place that thought pattern in our minds we achieve one of two things. We either operate in constant unworthiness. Constantly beating ourselves up for not being good enough or we figure what’s the use. I will never be able to attain that so why should I even try. These are two very dangerous areas to operate in. Both these ways of thinking lead us back to self and away from God.

This way of thinking is very evident. You can see it and feel it. You see it in churches where only 50% of the seats are filled on any given Sunday and 90% of the congregation are 40 years of age or older. You feel it when we are singing a praise song that talks about “lifting up holy hands” and everyone is afraid to, for fear people will think they are to happy about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Instead we are expected to operate in fear of what will happen instead of the joy of what has happened.

Don’t think that I am trying to justify sin, that I don’t follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that I allow sin to have a strong hold in my life. I simply state and I stand on this certainty, that God is a God of love, compassion, forgiveness and truth. When we make people believe that we can live a totally sinless life, what exactly are we saying? Are we saying that Jesus’ life and ministry on this earth weren’t needed? Are we saying that His atonement on the cross was for a select few, only for those who are truly ungodly? Are we saying that everything written in the Bible is false?

I think when we make a statement like, “We can live sinless lives” we place ourselves on a pedestal; we say that because of the doctrine we stand firm on we have a better grasp on godliness and holiness. This, in my opinion is so far from the truth and such an unsteady piece of ground to stand on, that we are setting ourselves up for a great fall; we are building a foundation on quicksand and not on the Rock.

We make ourselves as gods and we make the sacrifice of Christ worthless and meaningless. We say that we are beyond rebuke. We have to operate in a constant state of fear and we have to constantly be mindful that one wrong move could cause God to strike us dead where we are standing. That doesn’t quite fit the model of love that Christ displayed in His three years of ministry work. It more demonstrates how the Pharisees and the Sadducees used their position and power to keep the Israelite people in bondage and poverty.

Why does it seem that our religious leaders of today, in most cases, bare a resemblance to the “religious” leaders of old? The same people Jesus gave a strong scourging to for their actions and their attitudes. As Paul Harvey would say,”We now know the rest of the story.” In case you don’t, let me elaborate. The religious leaders of the time were scared that their power, position, authority and--most important--their money would be stripped away. So they rejected the truth for a lie and manipulated every angle to better serve their agendas. The one thing they could not accept and the one thing that they over looked is that with God all things are possible, that God can take a bad situation and turn it around for His glory. They crucified Jesus thinking that the problem was solved. What they didn’t know was that the victory was won.

I guess they had overlooked the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the parting of the Jordan and the walls of Jericho tumbling down, these are just a few examples. This was because it wouldn’t fit into their grand scheme, it would tear down the walls of “Religion” and it would allow people to freely walk and commune with God, it would take away the unworthiness of the law and allow people to find the truth of forgiveness.

Salvation is a precious gift, a free gift given by God. Some people come to God with very little that needs to be forgiven, some come with much that needs to be forgiven but we all are forgiven. The only way I am not condemned and the only way I can sin less is because I am covered by the blood of Jesus. I have been stripped of my filthy rages and have been clothed in righteousness. I strive for perfection but I don’t beat myself up when I fall short. I seek to live a life worthy of my call but I don’t give up trying because I’m not worthy. I know and acknowledge that in and of myself I am, (Paul put it best) “The worst of sinners.” I accept who I am and accept who I am becoming. I know where I am going because I know where I’ve been.

I am a sinner. I have faults. I fall short. I fall down at times. If I concentrated constantly on my unworthiness I would become ineffective in ministry, ineffective in my relationship with God and others and ineffective in life. I hope I never get to the point where I have to affirm myself in God’s eyes because at that point, I have totally missed it altogether. I will never be sinless but I can sin less.

Thank you, Everyone of you,

Scott Sydness
Desperation Papers

A Special Thanks to Chelsea Stanton for doing my proof reading.
You're Awesome Chelsea!!!