Sin is Sin

I'm still putting the final touches on next Monday's study of John 7:1-24. I want to point people to what Jesus is saying in these verses. In verses 19-24, Jesus was calling out the leaders of Israel. He reveals that the Jewish leaders were completely inconsistent and hypocritical. After all, they had allowed circumcision as a necessity to be done on the Sabbath, but they would not allow healing.
So, according to this logic, it was right to make one part of the body right before God, but not the entire body.Their logic was falling apart. Justice is to be based on substance, not appearance. They needed to get their values straight. The values of the Jewish leaders had been shallow and only on the outward appearance. They had completely missed the spirit of the law, and thus, God’s point of view.

We aren't too far removed from this same mindset in some of our churches. We live in a world that believes that “truth is what you make it.” We live in a culture that really lives that. When describing things that are ugly and sinful, we reword them to make them acceptable.

For example, if a man comes home from work and is mean and grouchy with his family, we call it “executive tension.” If a person is rich and snobby, it is reworded as classy and elegant. If a person is committing adultery, we dare to call it a “love affair.” The trouble is that sin is sin. It is not a weakness, shortcoming or a mistake; it’s SIN.

You know, if we change the label on the bottle of poison, it doesn’t mean that the power of the poison has been taken away. It is still poison.

This is the way Jesus saw it and that's how we as His people should see it.