Written by Dawn Rutan
As I was starting to write this post, I found that Alistair Begg, John Piper, and Tim Keller have been thinking along the same lines. So I’ve included several of their quotes here.
Recently I heard a passing comment (I think it was from Alistair) about the incident in Genesis 25 of Esau “despising his birthright” in order to get a bowl of stew. It’s easy to read that story and think, “Well, that was dumb! I’d never do something like that!” I had the sudden realization that in fact we do that every time we sin.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ESV), and “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God… The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:14, 16). If we have been born again we have a new life in Christ, so any choice that is not in line with that new life is sin and is “despising our birthright.” All sin is first and foremost against our Father, God. Joseph said, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9b). David wrote, “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight…” (Psalm 51:4a).
In his recent sermon on self-control, Alistair Begg said,
- “The fact is that when we sin like that, whatever was the object of our mistaken pleasure, we loved that more than we loved God… What we’re declaring is that God is not enough for us.”
- “True freedom is not a license to do as you please, but the liberty to do what you ought…”
- “Religion says ‘become by self-effort what you’re not.’ Christianity… says, ‘Become by grace what you are… because you have been set free… in order that you might live for Him.”
Tim Keller wrote,
- “And when we began to worship and serve created things, paradoxically, the created things came to rule over us… We will either worship the uncreated God, or we will worship some created thing (an idol). There is no possibility of our worshiping nothing.”
Since that is the case, the best weapon we have against sin is to pursue greater intimacy with God. The more we know and love Him, the less likely we are to desire any lesser pleasure. Moses chose “to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25).
John Piper puts it this way,
- “Walking by faith means defeating sin’s pleasures with the promise of a superior pleasure in God.” http://www.desiringgod.org/labs/the-fleeting-pleasures-of-sin
- “The more satisfied you are in Jesus, the more free you are. The more you see Him, the more free you are. The more you savor Him, the more free you are. The more you trust Him, the more free you are.” http://www.desiringgod.org/one-day-you-will-not-struggle-to-obey
My desire is to be so satisfied in Christ that sin has absolutely no appeal. And one day that dream will become a reality when Christ returns and sin is finally defeated for eternity.
“We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:9-11).
© 2017 Dawn Rutan. The views stated may or may not reflect the beliefs of the pastor or leadership of Dulin’s Grove Church.
