Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we dive into what our Church is up to, what's happening in society, go deeper into topics from Sunday mornings, and hear leadership talks from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha, NE. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
S1Ep2 - Sin — Not Just a Bad Habit
In this episode of Coffee Break Theology, Pastor Greg Griffith and Marcus Nathan pour into the reality of sin—not just bad habits, but the condition of every heart. Utilizing Scripture, they uncover why sin runs so deep and why only Christ can redeem us.
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Thanks for listening!
You're listening to Coffee Break Theology a King of Kings podcast.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to Coffee Break Theology, where we stir up some deep doctrine with a double shot of espresso.
Speaker 3:He's Greg, I'm Marcus, and we're here to help make theology as warm and approachable as your favorite mug of medium roast. Today's topic sin Not exactly light roast.
Speaker 2:It's absolutely not, and warm and approachable sin probably isn't either. But we got to talk about it, and not just because it's all over the Bible, but honestly sin's all over us, yep, and from a Lutheran's perspective, sin is not just doing bad stuff.
Speaker 3:It's deeper than that. It's more like a disease than it is a mistake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so let's start here. First, martin Luther wrote in his small catechism the law shows us our sin, whether it's a curb ruler or mirror, it shows us that we're sinning. The first commandment just gets at it. There's no just softly entering. This is not a zero entry pool. You will have no other gods. And so Luther continues on saying we should fear and love and trust in God above all things.
Speaker 3:So right off the bat. We don't do that. We just don't Not all the time. And most of the time we trust ourselves. We trust our money, we trust our status, we trust what we have or what we can do, and that's the root of it. Sin isn't just breaking the rules or doing something wrong, it's misplacing trust.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love what Paul continues to write in Romans 3.23. And it's that reminder especially. I think this is a reminder not even for more non-Christians, I think this is a reminder for deep Christians that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And so it pulls, as Jesus says, it pulls the plank out of our own eye as we're looking at the specs of others. And so Luther says that sin isn't only what we do, but this is also the condition we're born with we are natural sinners.
Speaker 3:Right, and speaking of light topics, I did some light reading the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518. I don't know if you guys have read that, but I haven't either. Here's a quote, though, from Luther, who writes writes this in this Heidelberg disputation he says the law says do this, and it's never done. Grace says believe in this, everything is already done.
Speaker 2:Wow, and that's so great. Yeah, and what we call that is original sin, right, so this is not like a new trend. This is just the oldest problem that happens. This is why there's not a parent out there that has to teach their kid how to be bad.
Speaker 2:We have to teach them how to be good. They know what they're doing. Yeah, they know what they're doing. Article 2 of the Augsburg Confession actually says since the fall of Adam, all men, or all human beings, are born with sin, that is, without the fear of God and a fear of like oh, you're sovereign, you're holy, I better, and even the fear of you're amazing. I respect, I love you, I honor you.
Speaker 3:And so, without that, and then without trusting God and without concupiscence, Greg, I made up a word last week and I'm pretty sure this is your turn. What are we saying here? What is this? Yeah?
Speaker 2:it's not a made-up word, it's a real word that I have used now for the first time since seminary. But what it means is this sinful desire, so like a bend inward towards ourselves. St Augustine actually called it this way. He called it humanity curved in on itself. I won't use the Latin to sound smarter than I am, because I'm not that smart.
Speaker 3:Well, thanks Cause I wouldn't understand it. So sin is a serious problem, then it's not just a thing that we should work on. You might say something like I did the best I could, but the answer you get from Scripture is no, you didn't. Actually, you can't and you won't. Cs Lewis put it this way. He said he never discovered the depth of sin in himself until he tried to be more moral, until he tried to do better and found out he couldn't. It's why we don't need a second chance. We need a new heart. The problem is deeper than that. We have the old Adam in us, and the problem is that that sin kills. Romans 6.23 says the wages of sin is death. So if it's a condition of the heart, we need surgery deeper than we even imagine. And Jesus said in Mark 2.17, the well, the physically well, are in no need of a physician. The problem with that is we're inclined to think that we are well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So sin is really powerful. Matter of fact, it's a tyrant and it will just continue to demand more and more and more out of you. Luther talked about it as like being stuck in a pit that you can't climb out of. As a golfer, I think of this as like the Scottish bunkers Like once you're in, golfer. I think of this as like the Scottish bunkers Like once you're in, you're out. And I'm a bad golfer, so I don't golf in Scotland because I'll be in the pits all the time. But the worst thing is, when you're caught in sin, you don't even realize that you're in the pit.
Speaker 2:Exactly you don't realize how bad it is, it is bad.
Speaker 3:Okay, so if sin is that deep, if it's that total, where's the hope, yeah.
Speaker 2:So again, I love martin. Luther just nailed this on the head and, and for a reminder, like luther was, was mired in a church that was focused on sin. So much in that time. And so he wrote and said Jesus is our redeemer. Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person?
Speaker 3:And he continues. He says, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, the power of the devil. That's powerful. I've heard a college professor I mean way back when, when I was in college. He said a superficial view of sin leads to a superficial view of the cross and what.
Speaker 3:Jesus did for us. If we can climb out of our own sinful state, out of that bunker, by ourselves, and we don't need Christ on the cross, he doesn't need to die for us. But Paul writing in Galatians, he knew we couldn't climb out of it alone. So in Galatians 2, he writes I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, if I could get myself out of this pit, then Christ died for no purpose. But the Bible over and over says Christ died for your sins, he died for my sins. His righteousness was given to us so that our shortcomings, our sin, won't keep us from him in heaven.
Speaker 2:Sin won't keep us from him in heaven. Yeah, so the answer to sin is in denial, and I'll? I'll be the first to say I generally am a person that's like, if I ignore this, this doesn't really happen and that's just not the answer. It's normal, is it self-help? I can't like pull up my bootstraps when I don't wear boots and the ones I do have don't have straps, so I don't have that but but I can't do that. Nor is it like a behavior modification, like just stop doing this. It's Jesus, crucified, risen and given to us in what we as Lutherans and I believe this is so great in the word of God, which leads us to see the grace of God and the sacraments of God baptism and communion which give us the full grace of God and meets us where we're at and pulls us out of the pit we're in, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3:So I'm reminded when we were getting ready for these podcasts. I'm reminded from a sermon way back when that Pastor Mark said. But he said the problem of sin is not solved by becoming good. Sin is bad, yes, and changing behavior. We should try to do that. But merely changing behavior or trying really hard to change doesn't work, it can't work and it won't work. And he goes on to say my effort will never ultimately cure my sin. It can't, I can't beat it, but enter Christ. He does not merely change our behavior, he changes our hearts. Right, he didn't come to make us good from bad, he came to make us alive because our sinful nature makes us dead and through baptism. You mentioned the sacraments. Romans 6 says we die to sin and rise to new life. That isn't symbolic, that's real, that's happening. That's spiritual surgery that we need so desperately.
Speaker 2:Man, we need Mark Zender to do some more preaching.
Speaker 3:I agree.
Speaker 2:That guy's good. He's so good. Hey, listen, if you're listening and you're thinking right now like I've missed the mark, first of all I'd say you did more than miss the mark. Second of all, I'd say welcome to the club. There's not one of us that hasn't so. I want you to hear this from Paul, where sin increased, grace abounded even more, from Romans 5.
Speaker 3:You're not your sin. You're not defined by what you've done or haven't done, but by what Christ has done for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, luther said it this way. And he said Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.
Speaker 3:That's a good quote and it's not an invitation to sin more. He's not saying sin because you can do it. He's saying it's a call. He's calling you. God is calling us to trust him more, because grace covers your sin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, paul even writes about that and just says like should we go on sinning all the more so that more grace can come? And then he says certainly not. So it doesn't mean we just like run around and go, let me do all the sins I can do, like this is not Mardi Gras right.
Speaker 2:And that's a bad theology, Mardi Gras. So that's all we got for today on this coffee break theology, but I want everyone to remember sin is serious, but grace is greater, so join us next time when we talk about grace and why water and words change everything. Until then, stay rooted in truth and grounded in grace. Maybe get a refill while you're at it.
Speaker 1:Amen. Thanks for listening to Coffee Break Theology. Be sure to tune in next time and remember to check out our other podcast series available on every major podcast listening service.
