Sin and Human Ability

Or ... if I only see my limitations, then I remember God's abilities. It can be a good thing then, as long as it's the kind of guilt that leads to repentance and life, and then even the conscience is washed clean. The sorrows of the world, on the other hand, are destructive.

We’re children of God capable of amazing things! It is good, though, to be able to recognize our limitations and shortcomings.

James_Lai said:

Hello.

I listen to so many Christian sermons. Similar ideas in many of them. So after a while it’s like listening to the same broken record if you know what I mean. I love some preacher personalities, women and men. There are truly remarkable people among them, so gifted speakers! I love it.

One common theme is pressing guilt upon you. Sin is bad, you’re sinful. We’re nothing but human…

Isn’t “you’re nothing but human” a very erroneous refrain? As we’re pushing a wrong understanding of who we are.

If you only see your limitations, then you forget about your abilities! And it’s a crime to limit yourself. God gave us so much and it’s an opportunity for real growth and change.

What do you think??

Click to expand...

This is a great error on the part of too many preachers. Those who are born again have already been convicted of sin. They need to be encouraged, exhorted, corrected, maybe rebuked and taught.

I like the book of Ephesians. It starts with a tremendous affirmation of all that Lord Jesus won for us on Calvary, through His death and resurrection. The practical outworking of that is covered in the last chapters. Paul also warns about the spiritual battle that the believer is up against and how to deal with it.

If individuals sin, have problems or are causing trouble in the fellowship, then they should be dealt with as individuals. But just telling Christians sin is bad and you have to stop is just hanging condemnation on them and doing nothing to help. It's no wonder a lot of Christians quit attending church. Very often they are more burdened when they leave than when they arrived. Who needs that? And so-called "worship" that is just Christian entertainment is no better. People are not condemned but neither are they fed. Too many Christians suffer spiritual malnutrition.

"Only human" is false. I am a partaker of the divine nature, I'm born again of the imperishable seed, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus and I am complete in Him.

James_Lai said:

Hello.

I listen to so many Christian sermons. Similar ideas in many of them. So after a while it’s like listening to the same broken record if you know what I mean. I love some preacher personalities, women and men. There are truly remarkable people among them, so gifted speakers! I love it.

One common theme is pressing guilt upon you. Sin is bad, you’re sinful. We’re nothing but human…

Isn’t “you’re nothing but human” a very erroneous refrain? As we’re pushing a wrong understanding of who we are.

If you only see your limitations, then you forget about your abilities! And it’s a crime to limit yourself. God gave us so much and it’s an opportunity for real growth and change.

What do you think??

Click to expand...

In my years of being a Christian and listening to Christian sermons, I haven't heard any that said anything like, "You're not smart enough to one day cure cancer," or "You're not athletic enough to go to the Olympics," because for all anybody knew, there might have been someone in the sanctuary or the arena or who would listen to a recording of the message elsewhere who is smart enough to cure cancer or athletic enough to compete in the Olympics. There have been many sermons I have heard that mentioned examples of people who took very make-able steps of obedience to God, which got built on through people they helped or otherwise met, which in turn got built on, and with one thing leading to another, a successful ministry came about for evangelizing or simply helping people in need. So if there are any trends of suppressing the human ability to do good in preaching, that's news to me.

What good preaching will be faithful to do however, is make the point that God is too holy for our own human efforts to pay off our sin debt to him (good thing we have Christ's work on the cross!), and that we're also not the exceptions to his NT rules for conduct. Humility before God will have a good grasp of these concepts. I think if we all possessed more humility, that would go a long way.

In the physical and soulical realm we are "only human" and are subject to many errors, temptations, and sin. However, our reborn spirit is not "only human," it is the nature and seed of God. We are new creatures. We are partakers of the divine nature, and if we walk according to the inclinations of our born-again spirit, we will never sin.

1 John 3
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

You have the seed of God in your spirit. You are born of God in your spirit. You cannot sin because there is no sin in God. Of course, you still have the flesh (unrenewed mind and uncrucified flesh) to deal with. If you walk according to the flesh you will sin.

So, while it is true that outwardly we are still "only human," if we learn to walk in the spirit, we will cease from sin.