SOTM 18: Seriousness of Sin

27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'[a] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Matthew 5:27-30
(Part 2)

Many people reject Christianity because they think it is irrelevant. Whenever someone comes to believe something, it never happens in a vacuum. Usually, you come to believe something not only because you have found its tenets ring true but also because you identify socially and culturally with others who believe the same thing. This is why those who grew up on Metallica have such a problem identifying with a religion where people get together and sing with hymnals and an organ. So it's important for us to all assess what is central and unchanging to Christianity and what is merely a cultural expression of an unchanging truth. The call to worship God is unchanging--the use of hymnals and organs can come or go.
Mariners is going to start a Saturday service with the specific goal of reaching a different segment of our culture. So there will be elements of the service that will be different from other churches and even from our own Sunday morning services.
But this passage identifies something that simply doesn't change--the seriousness of sin. Come January, when we launch our new service, I might try to be as cool and hip as possible (which will take some work)--maybe I'll go to the mall and see what the mannequins at The Gap are wearing (I think The Gap is still cool, at least it was when "Friends" was popular). But what will not change is the message that Sin is serious business. This message will undoubtedly not be received well by some. We don't like being told that there is anything we shouldn't do. But to stand offended at the thought that our lifestyle habits should be guided by moral principles is as ridiculous as being offended that certain eating habits affect our health. Who gets mad at God for the fact that eating McDonalds makes you fat? Jesus is giving us a similar warning in this passage. An undisciplined thought life can rob you of the joy God intends for you and destroy relationships. I think one reason Jesus uses the example of lust to discuss the seriousness of sin is because its subtle deception can instantly blow up into devastating actions. If you eat McDonalds daily you will slowly but surely get fat. People will see it happen at every stage right before their eyes. If you allow your thought life to impinge upon your daily life it may go unnoticed until it blows up in adultery. No "small" sin can so quickly lead to actions of devastating proportion as can lust. So Jesus uses it to highlight the seriousness of sin. Just as keeping a body healthy physically requires disciplined daily attention, so does the soul require a constant awareness of how it is being exercised.