I’M NOT SO BAD

 

Romans 3:23 (NIV)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

               In our world today, we have discounted sin. We have found multiple ways to get around the reality of sin. One of the most common ways is by comparing ourselves to others. We can always look around and find someone who is worse than we are. We look at them and think, I’m not so bad.

               For many people, sin is defined as overtly breaking the law. If a person has not obviously stolen, murdered, or cheated on their spouse, then they don’t feel that they have sinned. Sin is transactional. If I have lived a decent life and not intentionally hurt anyone, then I am not a sinner. This kind of self-righteous attitude makes it easy to excuse ourselves and find fault with others who are not doing as well as we are doing.

               Although breaking the law is included in sin, it is not the sum total of sin. In fact, sin is far more serious than we often imagine.

               There are two Greek words used in the Bible to describe sin. The first is hamartia. Hamartia comes from archery and means to miss the mark. If a person shoots an arrow and fails to hit the bullseye, then they have missed the mark. They have sinned. This is an important concept because it causes us to define what the bullseye is. For most people the bullseye is leading a decent life. As long as I don’t intentionally hurt anyone, then I am hitting the bullseye. Their understanding is a far cry from God’s definition of the bullseye. For God, the bullseye is perfection. Jesus clearly set that as the standard. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48 (NIV)

               William Barclay, in his commentary on Ephesians helps us to see the implications of hamartia. Are you the best husband or wife that you could be? Are you the best friend that you could be? Are you the best worker that you could be? If you have not been perfect in any of these, then you have missed the mark. As it says in Romans 3:23, we have all fallen short of God’s perfect standard.

               The other word that is used for sin is paraptoma. This means to slip or fall. It is often translated as trespass. It is related to getting off track and losing your way. We have all at some time taken a wrong turn and gotten off track.

               We were created to be image bearers of God. We were created in His image and expected to live lives that align with His image. But that has not been our reality. We have all gotten off the track and chosen to walk our own way. Paul puts it very graphically in Romans 1.

Romans 1:18-23 (NIV)
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

               When we compare ourselves to others, we can make a case that we are not doing so bad. But when we compare ourselves to the image of God, we all fail. We have all gotten off track and replaced the image of God with something of our own design.

               The bad news is that no matter how well we think we are doing, we still fall short of the goal. We have all missed the mark and gotten off track. What we deserve is God’s wrath. The good news is that Jesus came into the world to deal with our sin. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NIV)

               When we finally come to the reality that we have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory, then we are in the place to receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. As long as we think we are good enough, we will depend on ourselves. When we realize that we could never be good enough, we open the door for Jesus to step into the gap.

Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.