Run away from the sin and to the Cross

“Let the sorrows of your Saviour on the cross move you. Imagine his cries and groans on your behalf, till your heart breaks. Daydream about how much love he showed you as he hung naked in your place. And see if the baits and lures of the flesh don’t grow ugly and repulsive. Will you give your hours to fantasizing about and dwelling on and longing for the vile things that nailed the Lover your soul to the cursed tree? . . . Fill your affections with the cross of Christ, and there will be no room for sin. Then, when the flesh fishes for your affections, you’ll spit on its pretty lures.”

Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within, P&R, 1998, p. 97

No one! No one!

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning;
no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil,
for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning,
for God's seed abides in him,
and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

(1 John 3:6,8-9, ESV)

Lord, deliver me from doughnut

Parable of the Doughnuts
The story of a man whose weakness is eating doughnut
(adapted from Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle)

“No more doughnuts”, his doctor says.
He vows to God, “No more doughnuts”.
He promises his family, “No more doughnuts”.
He calls the church - gets it on the prayer line.
He even goes to a doughnut deliverance ministry to have the demon of donut desire cast out of him
He means business!

But then, what does he do?
He goes right on reading about doughnuts,
listening to doughnut music,
watching TV about making doughnuts.
He spends time with other doughnut lovers,
talking about doughnuts,
joking about them at the office -
where he glances at doughnut calendars on the wall.
He looks through the newspaper for doughnut coupons
and subscribes to Doughnuts Desires, with its glossy, color photos.

Well, it’s not long before he’s driving to work and “just happens” to go by a doughnuts shop.
He rolls down his window and inhales.
Pretty soon, he’s buying his morning paper from the rack just outside the doughnuts shop.
He’s lingering just long enough to glance at the doughnuts through the window.
Then he remembers that he has to check some emails
And hey, this donut shop has an internet connection.
And while I’m there anyway, “Why not have a cup of coffee?”
Guess what, they have have a special on today, coffee and doughnut! for just $2.99

Now remember, this man has no intention of breaking his vow and eating doughnuts!.
But the totally predictable and inevitable result is ...
He’ll give in and eat doughnuts!.

And can't you just hear his sad lament?
"What went wrong? I prayed! I asked others to pray. I asked God for deliverance. But look what happens!"

"Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." James 1:13-15)

Powlison on Three Core Sins

I thank Tony Reinke for posting this insight from his interview with David Powlison, the person I learn from tremendously on counseling:

What is the core sin of the human heart? Is it pride? Is it the sin of unbelief? Theologians have debated this topic for centuries. But According to Dr. David Powlison, the sins of pride and unbelief are really “two doors into the same room.” And he adds a third door—the fear of man.

These three core sins are interrelated, and it’s not difficult to see how. Pride is the act of installing myself as the king of my own autonomous kingdom. Unbelief is the act of erasing God from my kingdom (functionally, if not deliberately). Fear of man is the act of installing other sinners as big players in my kingdom (When People are Big and God is Small).

And it’s no surprise that all of the lies and lusts of our hearts are to be found rooted in these three core sins. These lies and lusts are expressions of the three core sins.

Confessing Your Sins to Others

I always believe that vulnerability is a great asset that leaders can have. Leaders who are willing to be vulnerable garner a level of trust that followers would otherwise never develop towards their leaders. The reason is simple. When the leaders are willing to be vulnerable (admitting mistakes, limitations, and weaknesses, or simply sincerely saying "I am sorry. That's completely my fault"), followers can associate themselves with their leaders in a far more profound way.

In the context of Christian community, that may mean leaders who are willing to confess their sins to a (few of) Christian brothers and sisters in their accountability circles. The practice of confessing sins is without question very hard to do in cultures that uphold face-saving. Confessing sin is a big way to lose face, one runs the risk of losing his/her reputation for good. Sure the risk is minimized or even absent in the context of a Christian accountability group. But the risk is still there on the part of the confessor. But what is interesting is that this tendency is not exclusive to those cultures. Because of the prevalent presence of pride in every person, no one likes to confess sins. The following quote from Bonhoeffer's Life Together says it best:

“Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, andthe more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation… This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the Gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin must be brought into the light. The unexpressed must be openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted. But God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron (Ps. 107:16)…”

“The root of all sin is pride… I want to be my own law, I have a right to my self, my hatred and my desires, my life and my death. The mind and flesh of man are set on fire by pride; for it is precisely in his wickedness that man wants to be as God … In the confession of concrete sins the old man dies a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother. Because this humiliation is so hard we continually scheme to evade confessing to a brother. Our eyes are so blinded that they no longer see the promise and the glory in such abasement.”

“Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of a Christian brother, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders; he gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God, and he finds the forgiveness of all his sin in the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother… Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God in the Cross of Jesus Christ.”

Kedaulatan Allah dan Dosa

Beberapa waktu lalu saya berdiskusi dengan seseorang di sebuah milis Kristen tentang kedaulatan Allah dan penderitaan manusia, sebuah topik klasik yang tidak akan pernah usang dan kuno. Fatal, saya kira, orang Kristen yang tidak menerima kedaulatan Allah untuk hidup dalam realita dunia yang keras dan berdosa ini:

SC: Tetapi sebenarnya Tuhan tidaklah berdaulat penuh atas setiap hal yang terjadi di dunia ini. Tuhan tidak pernah menentukan seseorang untuk diperkosa, Tuhan tidak pernah menentukan terjadinya pembunuhan, Tuhan tidak pernah menentukan terjadinya perceraian.

Sen: Kalau begitu, hal-hal yg terjadi tersebut (pemerkosaan, pembunuhan, perceraian) di luar kontrol Allah? Kalau ya, berarti Allah tidak maha kuasa, karena ada kejadian yg terjadi secara random atau digerakkan sebuah kuasa lain, di luar sepengetahuan dan kuasa Tuhan?

SC: Menurut saya perkosaan, pembunuhan, perceraian dan semua hal yang diluar kehendak Allah terjadi karena dunia ini sudah jatuh ke dalam kuasa Iblis sejak manusia memutuskan untuk jatuh ke dalam dosa. Dari semula Tuhan tidak pernah menentukan kejahatan terjadi di bumi ini tetapi manusia yang memutuskan untuk jatuh ke dalam dosa sehingga Iblis mengambil otoritas yang Tuhan berikan kepada manusia untuk berkuasa di bumi ini.

Sen: Kalau gitu, Allah tidak punya otoritas (mutlak) dong di dunia ini. Implikasi kedua, Iblis lebih berkuasa ketimbang Allah ya?

Ketika ada Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Soeharto dan tiran lain muncul, itu berarti Allah tidak bisa berbuat apa-apa atas ulah Iblis. Kalau begitu, pengharapan macam apakah yg kita bisa miliki dalam Allah kita? Sungguhkah kita mau menyembah Allah yang selalu dipecundangi oleh Iblis? Saat peristiwa Mei 98 terjadi, dimana Allah? Apakah Allah mengasihi tapi tidak kuasa menghentikan peristiwa tsb karena Iblis menghendaki demikian?

Dua contoh diatas ekstrim. Tapi melukiskan betapa menyedihkan hidup kita (NO Hope!) kalau ternyata Iblis lebih tinggi otoritasnya dibanding Allah. Bgmana lalu kita dapat menjelaskan ayat Alkitab berikut dari Matius 10:29-30: "Bukankah burung pipit dijual dua ekor seduit? Namun seekorpun dari padanya tidak akan jatuh ke bumi di luar kehendak Bapamu. Dan kamu, rambut kepalamupun terhitung semuanya."

Kalau sesuatu yg remeh, spt burung pipit, saja hidupnya ada dalam kehendak Allah, apalagi puluhan juta korban para tiran dunia diatas? Kalau rambut kita terhitung oleh Allah (yg berarti tiap kali kita keramas, dan ada bbrp helai rambut rontok, itupun Allah tahu dan ada dalam kehendak Allah - sebuah penghiburan bagi orang botak !), apalagi ratusan wanita yang menjadi korban tragedi Mei 98?

Dgn demikian, satu-satunya opsi kita adalah menerima bahwa segala kejahatan dan dosa yg dilakukan manusia terjadi karena itu ada dalam rencana dan kehendak Allah. Dan bukankah ini diajarkan oleh Alkitab kita. Ada banyak contoh, tapi saya kira contoh yg paling ultimate adalah kisah penyaliban Tuhan kita yg dicatat oleh Lukas sbb: "Dia yang diserahkan Allah menurut MAKSUD DAN RENCANA-NYA, telah kamu salibkan dan kamu bunuh oleh tangan bangsa-bangsa durhaka" (Kis 2:23).

Jika kita tidak menerima opsi diatas, maka konsekuensinya
(1) kita menerima bahwa dosa terjadi diluar kehendak Allah.
(2) Dan kalau begitu besar tindakan dan keputusan manusia yg berdosa, berarti hanya sedikit sekali dong keputusan dan tindakan manusia yg ada dalam kehendak Allah.

Alkitab memberi tempat pada kedaulatan Allah dan kebebasan manusia sekaligus, tanpa berusaha untuk merekonsiliasi kedua kebenaran tsb. Dan itu sebab kita tidak perlu repot-repot melakukan itu (Ul 29:29). Yang jelas, Dia bukan the author of sin, karena manusia berdosa tetap diminta pertanggung jawaban kita nanti. Hal ini muncul jelas dalam kasus Yudas.

Sulit rasanya mengkalimatkan kebenaran lebih baik dari Charles Spurgeon:

Man, acting according to the device of his own heart, is nevertheless overruled by that sovereign and wise legislation ... How these two things are true I cannot tell. ... I am not sure that in heaven we shall be able to know where the free agency of man and the sovereignty of God meet, but both are great truths. God has predestinated everything yet man is responsible?

Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner?

For a long time I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life—namely myself. . . In fact, the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things.

~ C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

The Lure of Sin

According to tradition, this is how an Eskimo hunter kills a wolf. First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. He then adds layer after layer of blood until the blade is completely concealed by the frozen blood.

Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder, the wolf licks the blade in the cold Arctic night. His craving for blood becomes so great that the wolf does not notice the razorsharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue. Nor does he recognize the instant when his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His carnivorous appetite continues to crave more until in the morning light, the wolf is found dead on the snow!

Many kids begin using drugs, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, or engaging in unsafe sexual behavior for the same reasons that the wolf begins licking the knife blade. It seems safe and delicious at first, but it doesn't satisfy. More and more is desired, leading to a crisis-or death. Don't be fooled by the temptations of sin. Like the wolf, we can get away with it for a while. Eventually, however, its true character is revealed. Sin leads to death and destruction. "For the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).

Source: Wayne Rice, Hot Illustrations For Youth Talks, Zonderzan, pp. 87-88.

Sexual Addiction

Christianity Today (CT) in the past published three excellent articles on how Christian leaders battle their addiction to lust. The articles instantly became leadership classics - must-read readings on the subject!

I have read all three, which include very candid accounts of a Christian struggling with the sin of pornography. I have referred to them in my sermon and applied the truth in my own life. Now CT publish them as a bible study guide titled Confronting Sexual Addiction with the following intro:

Sex sells. At $57 billion per year, pornography generates more revenue in America than the combined income generated by pro football, baseball, and basketball, according to xxxchurch.com. But this is not an excuse - we must recognize that lust isolates, explores multiple lives, and fosters shame. This study affirms that sexuality comes under God’s kingdom rule. This is a call for greater resolve among followers of Christ to shed light on the problem, stop feeding it, and to be honest about where it will take us. Finally, it points us back to the cross to remind us how much God loves us, even in our failures.

But you can still get the three individual articles full-text on the web:
Article 1: The War Within - The Anatomy of Lust
Article 2: The War Within Continues
Article 3: Gutsy Guilt
...plus an Afterthought: Battle Strategy