Respectable Sin

So we have found a really great church home and in all honesty have become more involved there than we were at Parkway. I guess thats good since we prayed that God would use us while we dont have children and therefore have less responsibility. Anyways, our preacher is Calvanist and preaches strong biblical truths....like I have never heard before. The first Sunday that we were there he spoke about Christ as our witness. He summed up the sermon with putting up a picture from the Holocaust. The picture was black and white except for the jacket of a small girl that was red. Its a very famous picture and you may have seen it. Anyways he went on to say that during the Holocaust the Nazi's had this one method of killing the different families in groups..so children would see thier parents die right in front of thier faces. This in itself is horrible...but then you think How can anyone shoot a mother right in front of thier childs face? Our preacher pointed out that the Nazi's knew that there wouldn't be any witnesses because right after killing the parents they would move on to the children and eventually the entire jewish race. The Nazis believed that in the end there would be no one to stand up to testify on the behalf of the jews. Then he reminded us of how Christ came and was put to death and 3 days later rose again...to be our witness. How awesome is that...we have someone who is willing to testify for us, against our sin and give an account on our behalf. It gives us a whole new look into the many titles that our Lord occupies. He will be there at the judgement and the good news is that He is on our side...they couldn't kill Him, they couldn't get rid of our witness. ( I am picturing myself , along with Mark Murphy, yelling Amen and Hallelujah about now). That gets me excited......now on to respectable sin.
I have to preface this with some current news in Johnson City. There is a park, about 5 mins from where we live that has frisbee golf courses, soccer fields and a baseball park. A couple of weeks ago a undercover cop was there and was approached by a man who invited him to come to the mancave. The Mancave turns out to be a meeting spot in the woods of this park where over 40 local men have been meeting and participating in homosexual activity. Obviously, there were other things going on b/c all 40 men were taken to jail. Whats worse is that the next Sunday, the Johnson City Press put pictures of all 40 men on the front page of the paper...exposing thier sin. Two of these men were pastors and one was a deacon from various churches around here. Our preacher was deeply affected about this article and knew some of the men. That Sunday morning he was quick to respond and told our congregation that the only difference between them and us was the fact that our sin just hadn't been exposed to the world. Our church decided to reach out to these men by writing letters and offereing them a church family that would take them in and love them through this time and despite their sin. One man however committed suicide the very next day. Another one called our church and weeped to our pastor about how his wife had died 6 years earlier and now everyone that he knew had turned against him...he will be attending our church after all of his court hearings are over. Another man has called and asked us to take in his 18 year old son who has just announced his homosexuality. I believe that our church is really acting like the church in these situations and taken in the people that society is marking as sinners and the unloveable. Todays sermon was called Respectable Sin and our pastor quoted several men on this topic. One is by Jerry Bridges who wrote a book on sin and he says " We have become so preoccupied with the well-known sins of society that we have lost sight of the need to deal with our own more "refined" or subtle sins". Another quote is by sociologist Martha Witten "the concept of sin has been accommodated to fit secular sensibilities...the language frequently cushions the listeners from their impact...". Our pastor went on to say that in the church we tag our sins as "undesirable habits" or "problem areas" in our life. Isn't that true?....I know that I myself have trouble calling my sin, SIN. I instead ask for prayer about my small problems and then remind myself that I am human...like that is an excuse. He urged us to start our judging on ourselves and remind ourselves that admitting we were a sinner is how we received salvation. I was really hit strong by this sermon, not because I have so much sin in my life...and i do, but because of the way I play it down, not realizing how much I water down the crucifixtion when doing so. So to tie up all of this deep stuff...well deep for me that is, our pastor introduced me to a new verse today...one that i will cling to when enveloped in my own sin and looking for God's righteousness to restore me. Psalm 85: 9-10 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed.
I took this verse to mean that those who renounce their sinful nature and put trust in Christ will receive salvation and participate in the future kingdom, and there mercy, truth, righteousness and peace will all be in perfect harmony in an intimate setting....I can't wait!!!