Acceptable Sins?
In the morning services we are beginning our summer series of sermons on Acceptable Sins. What are “acceptable” sins, you ask? The idea comes from a book by Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins. Bridges explains: “We who are believers tend to evaluate our character and conduct relative to the moral culture in which we live. Since we usually live at a higher moral standard than society at large, it is easy for us to feel good about ourselves and fail to reckon with the reality of sin still dwelling within us. The acceptable sins deceive us into thinking they are not so bad, or not thinking of them as sins, or even worse, not even thinking about them at all! Yes, some of our refined sins are so subtle that we commit them without even thinking about them, either at the time or afterwards. We often live in unconscious denial of our “acceptable” sins.” (pp. 24-25)
We know, of course, that no sin is acceptable in God’s eyes. The Bible describes sin as rebellion against God (Hebrews 3:15), lawlessness (1 John 3:4), adultery against God (Jeremiah 3:6), I could go on. Our sin grieves God our heavenly Father (Ephesians 4:30) and so we want to root it out wherever we find it.
We will be looking at a handful of these sins that go under our radar, not because we ought to be feeling bad about ourselves and wallowing in despair, but because we want to be growing more and more like Jesus. Can I encourage you all to pray that God will show each of us what sins we allow to live unchallenged in our hearts and then help us each to confess those sins to him and begin to tackle them with the help of his Holy Spirit.