I'm neither a preacher nor a priest so I have no way of knowing, but my guess is that sermons dealing with sin seldom rank at the top of the congregation's My Favorite Message list.
Sin is never a pleasant or entertaining subject (unless we're talking about the other guy). Sin is something we'd like to pretend our spiritual lives have grown past, as if sin is what separates that other guy from
our holiness and
our righteousness.
Like mixing castor oil with orange juice to disguise the taste, church doesn't seem so tedious when the worship hour is watered down to meet our tastes. Similarly, the sermon can be made easier to swallow when it's mixed with humor and self-deprecating anecdotes. But it's hard to sugar-coat sin and then believe we pulled one over on the Creator.
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Scripture is often described as out-dated, restrictive, dull and boring. Dead, in other words.
Why is it that sin can be described as exciting, liberating, satisfying and interesting? Alive, in other words.
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Remember the skip in your heart when you walked into the dealer's showroom and saw that new car? Remember the morning you looked inside your closet and decided you "deserved" that new outfit? (Just a month ago my TV broke, which I excitedly told myself was "proof" I "needed" a new one.)
I don't believe scripture teaches us it's a sin to have material possessions. But I do believe that beyond our appearance and the role we play on Sunday mornings that it's our goals, our ambitions and our priorities that combine to reveal what's at the center of our hearts.
We should take notice soon as we become more excited and more thrilled about achieving our goals and securing the things we want than we are about surrendering and listening to our Creator.
