Faith.In.Life

Sinner Like Me

In times past I have pointed out that Genesis 26 has had biblical scholars wondering if the writer doesn’t repeat himself with Isaac offering up Rebekah as his sister just like Abraham previously did with Sarah.  The two narratives feel almost identical simply with changing our the generation’s names.  But, if it were the same event with different names why would the original author include it twice?  It seems to me that Isaac actually revisits the sins of his father, and generations really do not learn from their father’s mistakes.  

And for some reason that hits me differently in this season of Advent as we approach Christmas Eve and morning services here at Faith Church.  I was reminded of something that Paul said in 1st Timothy 1:15:

15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.

To which I am also reminded of a friend of mine in CO who said that he thought Paul was inspired in his writings, all except this one saying:  that my friend was actually the worst of all the sinners.  And when my friend said that I found myself thinking that we could all make that claim - that we are all the worst of all the sinners.  But then I think to myself that Isaac could have made that claim as well, or Abraham, or, well everyone could make the argument about themselves.  And this isn’t because any of our sin is worse than the next.  What I mean is this:  surely most of us should be able to say that we didn’t oversee and even call for the murder numerous Christians like Paul did as Saul.  And surely we haven’t found ourselves in a situation where out of fear for our own safety we would offer up our spouses as our brothers or sisters.  But, I equally think to myself, how many of us might say that we have not revisited the sins of our parents?  What generational sin affects us both corporately and individually just as they affected our parents?  We might consider whatever sin we are dealing with to be mundane, that maybe at some point we told a lie, or despised someone for something, or looked lustfully at another, or talked bout someone behind another’s back, or sought our own well being over and above someone else’s…the list goes on and on.  Chances are if you are breathing, you have sinned, and the Bible doesn’t quantify levels of sin as if one is more or less heinous then the other:  sin is sin.  So, if we are breathing, we all in reality are sinners and therefore the worst kind - for there is no such thing as a good or blessed sin.  And what is worse, we are born this way.

Thus we can all relate to Paul in terms of being the worst of all the sinners, and we all do the things we do not want to do instead of the good that we desire.  But, maybe, you like me were born into a broken family with their fair share of secrets and skeletons in the closet, and maybe you are even proud of being a better person than your parent.  That is a strange notion, though, in terms of when Jesus is called the good teacher when “the rich man” asks how to inherit eternal life.  Jesus response in Mark 10:18-19;

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” 

And maybe, just maybe, you are much like the rich man and have somehow kept these commandments and therefore feel yourself to be justified.  To which we continue to read in Mark 10:21-22;

21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 

22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Or maybe, just maybe, you are sinner just like Saul who became Paul.  You are a sinner like Isaac and like Abraham.  

Maybe, just maybe, you are a sinner like me.

And this is strange to say.  That is, we often lift up people like Paul, Isaac, and Abraham as the patriarchs of our faith and we say that don’t you want to be more like them?  Wouldn’t that be a good thing?  In the same way I have said it once and I will say it again that when people find out that I am a pastor its as if they see me to be someone who is somehow “holier than thou.”  To which I breathe, so therefore I am a sinner who will sin.  Just like Paul, Isaac, and Abraham who were called by God but consistently fail to follow Him in the way certainly God expects.  Let alone how we ourselves might hope for or even what others might expect of us.  What has been jumping out to me in this advent Season is that the Bible constantly focuses its narrative on sinners like me - who God calls and justifies.  He does this so that He himself will be glorified and because “God so loved the world.”  

And this is where we can connect Genesis 26 with Advent.  For you have most likely already finished the entirety of my thought found in John 3:16-17:  “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

In other words, if you are a sinner like Paul, Abraham, Isaac, or even me the pastor who is writing it you are the breathing person who will eventually perish.  The life you live will fade out into nothing to which only judgment remains.  However, at just the right time, God sent His one and only son in order to bring the light that shines into the darkness (and the darkness cannot overcome it) and life to Paul, Abraham, and Isaac (even if Abraham and Isaac did not know the object of their faith).  God sent His son to die for the worst of all the sinners: for you and for me.  

So, as we begin this last week of Advent, may we actually consider our sin.  May we dive deeply into the darkness.  But, let us not stay there, let us then consider this God-Man born to us this Christmas season that is the light shining into the world and who will show us how to gain our very lives.  May we then jump from the cradle to the cross to realize that it was this God-Man Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, who would die in our place in order that death would be put to death when equally was raised from the dead.  For there, when Christ comes back ot life, it doesn’t matter what sin we might encounter or even who our parents are - for in Christ Jesus we are a new creation, children of the most high, in which we find our rightful place - The chief of sinners redeemed by grace through faith like you and me.