Sin is Deadly

Modern day Christianity can be pretty much summed up in these words: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

It is deism because it says yes to a God or a higher power. But He is just on the outside looking in. He is just someone we go to when there is a problem.

It is moralistic because it says that God wants people to be good and that nice people get to go to heaven when they die.

And it is therapeutic because the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself (Michael Horton). 

Richard Niebhur says of such a liberal Christianity:

“A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” (emphasis added)

Herein lies one of the great problems of mainstream spirituality today - there is little to no repentance over sin.

In fact, Fred Furedi, commenting on Western culture writes,

"Once upon a time there were seven deadly sins. They were called deadly because they led to spiritual death and therefore to damnation. The seven sins were (and are): lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride. Now all of them, with the exception of pride, have become medical conditions. Pride has become a virtue."

We have medicalized sins and turned them into something that they are not - behavioural problems that need to be treated rather than sins that needs to be put to death.

However, the Bible warns us of the deadliness of sin in two ways.

(1) Sin is deadly because it brings down the wrath of God.

"Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming." - Colossians 3:5 

(2) Sin is deadly because it kills you. 

As John Owen once said, "Be killing sin, or it will be killing you."

"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."  - Romans 8:13 

It is natural for our hearts to be inclined to take sin lightly. But let us remind ourselves regularly of how  deadly sin really is. For unless we have an appropriate sense of dread toward sin, we cannot apprecaite the cross of Christ for what it truly is.