I have a friend who told me about a conversation she had about the sin in her life. My friend used to be in charge of a large children’s ministry program at a mega-church and in one instance she mentioned that she was sinning by supervising the children’s ministry program. What!? She was doing something "good". How can this be sin?

We all have our ideas of what sin is. We tend to place values on sin according to our relative outlook of society’s standards. For instance, we may view murder as a more diabolical sin than lying or having an abortion as more deleterious than speaking unkind words to another human being. According to our own ideas and the relative way we look at life most times, this would make sense. However, in taking an overall view of what sin is, this kind of outlook can sometimes be incorrect in a biblical sense.

When the first people, Adam and Eve, ate the fruit, sin entered into the world and because of the holiness of God, sin nullified mankind’s entrance into heaven. From that moment on, all sins required shed blood for the atonement of them.

Certainly by Old Testament standards, some sins required harsher punishments than others. And it could be argued that hell will deliver differing levels of punishment. However, after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, those who believe in Him and have accepted Him in their lives as their Savior no longer live under that law, but under grace. Therefore, though sin is still sin and the law still exists to show us of our sin, only those who have not accepted Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross for their own sins will be the only ones who die by the law. Those who have accepted Jesus no longer have need of sacrificial blood atonements because Jesus became for us the substitutionary sacrifice for our own sins. In other words, Jesus took our place by dying for us so that we could live.

So, how should we view sin in this dispensation of time? Well, first of all, let me say God’s definition of sin has not changed with the passing of time. But let’s look at sin from a couple of different perspectives. First, there are certainly areas in the Word of God that are black and white in regards to sin. There are some things that God tells us to do and some things that God tells us not to do and by going in the opposite direction of what He’s said, then we are definitely sinning. In these certain instances, you can argue till you’re blue (and many do), but you can’t get around the fact that what God says is what God says and you will be judged according to what God says. That alone is something to consider when thinking about eternity.

Here are some black and white examples. Adultery–any sex with someone outside of your own marriage is strictly prohibited in the Bible. Fornication–having sex outside of wedlock–is also spoken against in the Word of God. Lying is a big NO-NO and murdering as well. (Killing in an act of war does not fall into this category.) Coveting your neighbor’s things and dishonoring your father and mother are examples too. The list could go on, but if you simply take the Ten Commandments and look at them closely, you can see just where God draws the lines exactly.

In the New Testament, Jesus elaborated on these black and white commandments even further. He holds us to a higher standard today. For example, not just murdering someone, but even getting angry with another is a grave sin. The act of adultery begins simply with a look of lust. And idols are not merely blocks of wood and stone fashioned into an image, but anything that we put first before God. Further study will reveal just what God says about these black and white areas of do’s and don’ts in the Bible. If you disagree, therein is the challenge for you to prove it otherwise according to the Word.

But what about the second perspective of all the gray areas in God’s Word? What do you do with those? This is where many do not comprehend sin correctly. Just because you are doing something good doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not sinning. Good and bad are, in essence, relative terms. Who is to say your relative outlook on any particular sin is more correct than mine? So how are we supposed to know?

A professor in college challenged his class with this idea. Three people are carrying a very heavy log. Two are on one side and one is on the other. To which side do you go to help? The answer is: Wherever God calls you! Perhaps the question is misleading, but the point is very clear. Do what God tells you to do. If He told you to go to the side with the one person, it would seem fair and right to us, and we’d do it. But what if He told you to go to the side of the two people? Wouldn’t it seem a little off-balance and a little unfair for the one? And yet, in obedience we should go because we do not see the whole picture always as God does. If we don’t obey, we are sinning. In this example, maybe they are getting ready to carry that log up a high hill and three manpower muscles are needed to push while only one is needed to balance. Oftentimes, God works in this manner, where we can’t always see the whole picture.

So, let’s take it a step further. What if He told you not to go to either side? As people who want to help, this would be hard for us to do, but by interfering in this manner, even though it "seems good", we may be interfering with the bigger picture that God is working on in the lives of those carrying the log, and this would be sin. Sometimes we need to just stay out of the way of the Holy Spirit’s work in the lives of others.

So, it boils down to this If God tells you to go into a bar full of drunken people and witness to them, then you’d better go. If He tells you to stay away from that same bar, then you’d better stay away. If He tells you to "rescue" your child from a trouble he or she has gotten into, then you do it, but if He tells you to let them sink in the ocean of life for a time so that they will learn a lesson or two, you’d better do so as well. These gray areas can sometimes be hard if we are not listening to God’s voice lead us and guide us. And that is the key. My friend who thought she was in sin for helping out with children’s ministry felt she heard God’s voice leading her away from that and to her, she would be sinning if she stayed.

Let’s clarify it further. Sin is merely this: being out of the will of God. Jesus was perfectly in the will of God 100% because He was sinless and also because He was God. We will never be able to achieve this perfection because we are NOT God and because of the fall of the first man, Adam. We are not to use this reasoning as an excuse for our sinning, though. We simply need to realize that we cannot view sin as something that is good or bad in relative terms. Rather it is simply not following God’s will which can be found first and foremost in His Word, and secondly in that still small voice in our hearts and minds. Anything we do which is out of the will of God, however benevolent or pernicious it may seem, separates us from entrance into God’s heavenly realm. Only in understanding this can we hope to gain a greater appreciation for Jesus’ work on the cross.

That work on the cross is what saves us from the eternal fires of hell. After all, no man is perfect. Romans 3:23 states, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It seems rather hopeless that we would ever be able to gain entrance into heaven, then, since even our tiniest of sins will not allow us that positional place. That is a correct assumption, and to think that we could ever achieve or earn a place in heaven by doing "good" things is a mistake of immense proportions. Trying to earn or achieve a place in heaven will NEVER get you there because our good deeds don’t outweigh our bad in God’s eyes. If you go to church more times than not or if you serve the needy more times than not or if you give to the poor more times than not, doesn’t mean you’ll get into heaven. In fact, God has made it clear that if you have broken one sin, it’s as if you’ve broken them all. You have to pay for each sin you make and that’s an impossibility because we don’t have a perfect unblemished sacrifice we can give. Yet there is a way–only ONE way and it is through no work of our own. Jesus died for you and He died for me, and because He took our place when He, being sinless, didn’t deserve it but we did, then by His finished work on the cross He became that perfect unblemished sacrifice.

Consider sin. You walk into the courtroom as the guilty defendant. You know your sins are many and you have no hope to get off from the punishment you deserve and must serve–a lifetime of eternal hell. You know the Judge cannot allow you to go free because He is a just and righteous Judge and does not allow wrongs to go unpunished. Because of who He is, you know this is true. But as you stand before that Judge, and the sins of your life are read off from a list, someone comes in and steps before you saying, "The fines for this person’s sins have been paid in full." You can’t believe it. Who is this person that has just given you a free ride to heaven-ward? It is Jesus and as He stands there before you the Righteous Judge asks Jesus, "Who has paid the price?" Jesus responds, "I did when I took them all upon myself when I died on the cross, and this man has accepted my payment for his sins." The Judge bangs down His gavel and emphatically declares, "DISMISSED! You are free to go."

If that person were you, would the God of the Bible let you go free because of the blood of Jesus?