August 7, 2005
This I Believe: Exploring the Apostle’s Creed
WHAT IS WRONG WITH US ANYWAY?
Today we will deviate some from our exploration of the Apostle’s Creed. We will consider, not so much the words, “was crucified, dead and buried” but the background to them. Let me explain. C.S. Lewis, my favorite Christian writer of all time, made the sagacious observation that Christianity--the message of the cross of Jesus--only begins to speak to us when we realize that we have a problem. The gospel only has something to say to people who are aware that they have done wrong. It is only at that moment, and not one moment sooner, that the gospel takes on any meaning at all.
For this reason, I want to take time this sermon to reflect on the human flaw – Original Sin – what is wrong with us anyway? Before we can understand Jesus’ death and resurrection in the creed, we need to place it within the context of human spiritual need. Because that is the sickness for which it claims to be the cure. Let’s face it: you and I have a sin problem along with the whole human race. The church has traditionally called this condition “Original Sin” which means not only that sin has an origin in time (our text), but that it influences and infects everything that follows.
From the outset, I need to justify my topic selection. Original Sin as a sermon topic may seem a little strange and almost perverse – like telling people they are really bad. What we all need is more self-esteem, not less, right? We have a natural aversion to such a topic as too personal or negative. But sometimes we need to hear the bad news before we know what to do with the good news. That is the logic of what Lewis was trying to say. George Bernard Shaw, the agnostic playwright, used to say that the only Christian doctrine he believed in was original sin – since you could prove it with a newspaper and didn’t need the Bible.
THE POWER OF NAMING
There is a power of naming – of proper diagnosis. Just by naming and diagnosing something, the process of healing is unleashed. So I place this whole sermon on Original Sin in that context. By our naming and identifying evil for what it is: we diagnose the darkness. We refuse to call it by a different, more pleasant name. When we have the courage to diagnose our own darkness, we are well on our way toward the cure.
Albert Outler, the most famous Methodist/Wesley Scholar of the 20th century, tells this story. He was teaching the doctrine of original sin at Perkins Theological Seminary. A big Texan comes into his office after class and said, “You make it sound as if sinning is something deeper and more mysterious than a simple moral lapse. People sin simply because they freely choose that which is wrong with their free will. We can choose right or wrong and we have to live with the consequences.”
Outler knew that this guy didn’t get it. He suggested that this student read up on a doctrine text book on the topic of Original Sin. The big Texan came back later and said: Well, if we really don’t have the power to decide not to sin, all I have to say is, God help us.” Without knowing it, this man backed into right thinking. He had the correct diagnosis. None of us can simply decide to not sin by making good choices. Christian life isn’t like waking up every morning and saying to yourself - DON’T SIN! DON’T SIN! DON’T SIN!
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ORIGINAL SIN?
Is it simply a way of saying, “Nobody’s perfect”? Garden of Eden -
The prohibition against eating of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil spells this out.
But the traditional Christian answer has been this. The death referred to here was spiritual death. This is the interpretive origin of the doctrine of original sin. Separation from God the goodness of that spiritual life is the origin of our present sinful state. Jesus spoke about being ‘born again’ for that reason - not literal death or birth. We are born into spiritual death, and in Christ we come to spiritual new life. Jesus is the new Adam, Paul claims, who undoes the sin of the first Adam.
This spiritual death is for us - original sin – the first sin that affects us all. From this point in Genesis - all goes downhill. The Bible is full of the tragic consequences of sin. Adam and Eve become afraid of God - lose original holiness and love. Original harmony is destroyed and Cain kills Abel, marriage relations are marked by domination rather than the original egalitarian marital relations. Harmony with creation is broken and the environment becomes polluted by more than sin. Spiritual death makes its entrance into human existence.
HOW DOES THIS CONDITION GET PASSED ON TO US?
There are several answers to this question. The first is the Genetic Connection. Adam and Eve did something that affected them right down to their genes. Their sin, through their genes, actually became like a moral/spiritual infection that was passed on to all their children. There is also a Social Connection. Because the tendency toward sin has infected all human life, we are surrounded by sin. Not only are we personally prone to sin but we are surrounded by temptations to sin. It is impossible for anyone to not sin. We cannot simply try harder.
We also know that there is no such thing as good breeding. Blue-blooded upper class people cannot say what the Duchess of Buckingham once said when she was told about Methodist’s teaching. “It is monstrous to be told that you have a heart equally as sinful as the common wretches that crawl the earth.” I’m sorry Duchess, but that is exactly what we are saying. Sin affects the well-breed and the well-read. The reaches of darkness cannot be easily escaped and the more we think we are above the reach of sin, the more dangerously prideful we become. Pride is the chief of all sins. You and I have a very dark side to us that we keep neatly hidden on Sunday mornings. Part of the reason I come to church is because I’m frightened by my own darker nature. I know the evil of which, apart from God’s grace, I am capable.
RESULTS OF ORIGINAL SIN
We are all prone to commit the sin of over-reach. We are discontented with living within the barriers of radical dependence upon God. We are created to live within the framework of God’s love and law, yet we desire to avoid and escape the boundaries of what we know, in our heart of hearts, to be the best way to live. We get bored with the hum-drum, same-old-same-old creaturely existence. We want the flash and bang of constant gratification. It is the sin of over-reach. TKGE symbolized God’s limitations on human existence. Yet we desire to extend ourselves beyond, to find freedom from God’s care and to become gods in our own right - to determine our own reality.
Original Sin makes us all prone to self-interest. We prefer our own way to God’s way. We prefer ourselves to others. Sin is selfishness. Original Sin makes us prone to pride. Remember the Duchess of Buckingham “It is monstrous to be told that you have a heart equally as sinful as the common wretches that crawl the earth.”
We are prideful about our humility. Pride prevents us from being honest about our sins. Pride prevents us from admitting our indebtedness to others and to God. We like to think we’ve done it all on our own. Pride is the perfectly anti-God condition of mind that makes us self-centered and self-absorbed.
Conversation between Chris and Randy
I remember a conversation between a Baptist preacher friend and a small-business owner. Randy was a hard-working self-made man.
Randy: I’m really a good person (and he was!).
Preacher Chris: but you must have done something, little things you want to ask
forgiveness from God for
Randy: Maybe some little things. Everyone has done little things. Nobody’s
perfect. But I’m still a good person.
Preacher Chris: But don’t you feel bad about those little things.
Randy: Not really. Jesus went through all that trouble to forgive me of what?
I’m really a good person basically.
I remember breaking in and saying, “Randy, you do not need to ask forgiveness for little things but big things. You are refusing to bend you knee and worship, serve, adore and follow the God who created you, blessed you and done you great good. God deserves your complete adoration and you were created to worship God only, rather than your business and even your family. Your refusal is a big deal – it is deep sin. This very aversion to trust God is original sin.”
This illustrates just how radically flawed we are. We are not born with the impulse to love God with our whole heart, and to love others as we love ourselves. Yet, while we refuse to trust God, we cannot understand our error. We know and understand right from wrong in a very limited fashion only – usually when it benefits us. This condition applies to all of us, it is both genetic and social, and it is that from which only the grace of God can deliver.
It is only when we name the beast: confess that we are indeed deeply flawed that the healing forces of divine grace can bring in the relief supplies. This is the road less traveled. The road to redemption is undertaken by confession and repentance.
CONCLUSIONS
The Gospel comes to us, not as people who needed a little help, a little forgiveness for a little sin. The gospel comes to us as people who are radically flawed – everyone single one of us. Without God’s grace, would all choose evil over goodness. God’s saving work in Christ is not just what fills in the gaps between our own efforts - as if we really can save ourselves, but we need a little help. We need an insurance policy just in case we slip up and need forgiveness.
No, we must all see that apart from God’s grace, none of us would choose God and God’s way. None of us would be willing to take up our cross and follow Christ. None of us would be willing to admit our need and our moral failings. Sin, Wesley said, is a sin unto death, which can only be cured by the Great Physician in the following way.
· repent of sin - confess the sinful state
· renounce the self-will
· have faith in Christ’s atonement, in the forgiveness he achieved
Have you named the Beast – so as to tame it? Are you properly diagnosed? Remember, only when you name the darkness, can you begin to tame it. Let us partake of the Lord’s Supper in this light – as the cure for what ails us. But before it can truly cure us, we must confess how deeply we stand in need of this grace and unmerited favor of God.