Crucifying Consumerism | Handling of Sin
It seems our culture wrestles between two extremes of handling sin. Each side of the issue presents what they feel is the best way to care for other people amidst the issue of continued struggle with humanity. Yet, each side carries with it profound blindspots ignoring the counsel of the entirety of scripture. Then, shrouded and wrap in pride and arrogance, they continue to bicker with one another that their way is far superior than the others. Whatever moderate positions people hold, rather than being a source of connection and a bridge between the two points, have the unfortunate consequence of being ostracized by both ends for not holding their specific view points in totality. As this continues, the rift between the two continually divides. Yet, this philosophical rift only negatively impacts our Christian witness and the faith of those recently dedicated to Jesus Christ. Through our mishandling of sin according to our consumeristic preferences, we injure the faith of those who would seek to know Jesus Christ.
On the one side, progressive Christianity looks to relabel the very notion of sin. Things that God has declared outside of the stated will and design of God have become okay for the sake of not offending those who struggle with the sin. Through their acceptance, they allow others to indulge in the sins of the flesh and continue in the life they lived before any purported relationship with Jesus Christ. Conversely, in conservative Christianity, the vitriol against those who wrestle with sin has become so defining that any person who wrestles with sin can find no solace or forgiveness within the walls of the church. They cast dispersion and judgment on any who would wrestle with sin forgetting that grace brought them to Christ and grace sustains them. My sincerest fear is that progressive Christians will pied piper people out of the church through permissively allowing an unredeemed life to persist and that conservative Christians will hold the door open for them to walk out. For the sake of Gospel, the church must stand against the consumerism that strives to claim everyone can hold to their previous way of living and
God’s Love For All Mankind
Conservative Christianity’s war against sin, while rooted in the righteousness of God, cannot persist with humanity as the collateral damage. Too many have felt, rightfully or wrongly, that the church is a place where a person must be perfect in order to even attend or grace with their presence. Any person who wrestles with an issue of sin cannot participate in the life of the church. Even greater of a problem is that anyone who wrestles with an issue of sin will only feel the wrath of condemnation and judgment. The message of the church, however, should be “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, ESV). Conservative Christianity will easily fall into the temptation to gate keep the faith that no one can truly enter by requiring standards of personal holiness apart from that of Jesus Christ in order to preserve holiness within the church. While rooted in a good place, this temptation finds its driving force of applying the standard of God’s righteous decrees to other but lacks the extending of grace to those who struggle and earnestly wrestle with sin.
The church should be a place where a person can feel comfortable to wrestle openly and honestly with their sin. We cannot permit our consumeristic mindset to dictate a church that exists only for those that insiders of the church consider to be worthy. In truth, none of us were worthy of the salvation we received. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10, ESV) In our treatment of others we cannot seek to preserve the neat and tidiness of the church for the sake of our own sensibilities and consumeristic tendencies. Rather, we treat others with the same grace that God first extended to us so that others may encounter a gracious God who rescues and redeems people for His glory in all the world. For the conservative Christian Church to crucify its consumerism means opening the doors to sinners and the messiness of the world so that they might encounter God and be changed from that encounter. No one can be treated as too far gone. The church should become a place where people can openly struggle with the desires of their flesh so that the desires of the Holy Spirit would become manifest in the lives of people as we draw closer to Him.
God’s Hatred of Sin
The polar opposite end of Christianity, progressive Christianity, seems to almost lack any distinctive indication of a life redeemed by faith. People have become accepted but alongside it comes a complete refusal to condemn the actions that required the need for salvation. For the sake of acceptance and under the guise of a man-defines “love” no sin is called out and no person is confronted with the reality of their sinful nature. Through the gradual redefinition of love, confrontation of any kind means that we reject that person’s identity. To do this, however, would tie a person’s identity to their actions. Furthermore, if we trust the word of God (as we should), we know that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23, ESV). Tying our identity to our sinful actions will only serve to leave a person in a state of condemnation. Furthermore, accepting the flaws of a person creates a faith that has no need to submit to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as it requires no one to abandon the old self with its fleshly desires. In doing so, the person is never truly surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through their ignorant refusal of dying to the self.
Progressive Christianity must be willing to call sin out as rebellion against God. It cannot placate a person’s wants and desires for the sake of not offending them. Christianity deals with the desires of the flesh by nailing them to a cross. We no longer identify with our old desires but with the desires that God has placed in us. “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:24-26, ESV) Following Jesus Christ means we submit to Him as Lord and Savior over every aspect of our life. At times, this will offend our sensibilities and cut to the core of our identity, but ultimately, we know that the ways of God are better than anything we could muster. We abdicate the right we have our identity and allow the master craftsman to form and shape us for as He sees fit. We cannot sit back and continue to say that “love wins” for any ideological victory we may feel but must view the victory of love to have occurred on the cross of Jesus Christ, dying on the cross for our sins, paying the consequences of our sins so that we could be free from the need to continually sin and free to pursue a relationship with Jesus Christ.
About The Author
Daniel Burton is the founder of The Gospel Outpost. He is passionate about discipleship and seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out more about him, check out his Author Page.
