A youth pastor avoids telling his teenagers that they’re sinners because he doesn’t want to leave the impression that they “suck” (that they’re bad or worthless). A popular author denies that infants are born with a sin nature because that would mean that “babies suck.” And a friend who confessed to an especially offensive sin said, “I guess this means I suck.”
Despite their juvenile descriptions of sin, notice that each person confuses sin with self-worth. They assume that sin means they no longer matter, when in fact their sin matters only if they do. Sin is rebellion, and rebellion is a problem only when the rebel carries some weight. If we really were worthless, our sin wouldn’t count for much.
When King David was fleeing Jerusalem, he met Shimei, an enraged loner from Saul’s dethroned family who hurled stones and insults at the king’s entourage (2 Samuel 16:9). David’s men wanted to crush Shimei, but David told them to leave him alone, in part because he was not a threat (2 Samuel 16:10). Far different was David’s response to Absalom’s army. He knew that those men could destroy him and his kingdom, and so David threw all of his weapons at them in the fight of his life (2 Samuel 18:1-2).
God isn’t threatened by our rebellion, but the cross informs us that He takes us and our sin seriously. If we had no value, would God have given His life to save us? The cost of our salvation reminds us that we and our sin matter to God. If we minimize our sin, we also minimize ourselves and the salvation which rescues us.
The surest way to tell someone they’re worthless is to ignore their sin. Treat them like a Shimei whose rebellion is of no account. If you want them to know they matter, you’re going to have to talk about sin.
More:
Compare Philippians 3:3-6 and 1 Timothy 1:15-17 to learn how Paul balanced a positive self-image with an equal appreciation of his own sin.
Next:
Which is the best version of the hymn “At the Cross?” The original line that Jesus died “for such a worm as I” or the revised “for sinners such as I”?
AManofGod on January 20, 2011 at 2:05 am
WOW! I had never thought of sin and how it relates to our self worth. This makes perfect sense, If we were worthless sinners would God have sent His only Son to die for us!? We are sinners true enough but we are far from worthless.
The next time I am depressed because of the sins of my past I am going to remind myself that Jesus died for me. He gave His life so I could have life.
Maybe I am worth a lot more than I thought. Maybe we all are.
AManofGod
R R Kelkar on January 20, 2011 at 3:18 am
Mike, good argument and a good post.
kadoshkudus on January 20, 2011 at 8:12 am
Yes, sin is very serious because “the wages of sin is death” Roman 6:23. And we, human beings, are worthy because God is mindful of us (Psalm 8:4). Thank you God for considering us worthy, even at the cost of Your only Son.
mike wittmer on January 20, 2011 at 8:36 am
AManofGod:
You’ve got it. Whenever Luther felt Satan harrassing him about his sin, he would tell him, “that’s right, and I’m even worse than you say. But Jesus died for me, so you should really go take it up with Him.” Luther also told Satan to go defecate on himself–but he said so in the earthy words of a medieval German–so I’ll omit that part.
eppistle on January 20, 2011 at 9:00 am
In his book, Death in the City, Francis Schaeffer wrote, “People often say to me, “What would you do if you met a really modern man on a train and you had just an hour to talk to him about the gospel?” And I’ve said over and over, I would spend forty-five or fifty minutes on the negative, to really show him his dilemma—to show him that he is more dead than even he thinks he is; that he is not just dead in the twentieth-century meaning of dead (not having significance in this life) but that he is morally dead because he is separated from the God who exists. Then I’d take ten or fifteen minutes to preach the gospel. And I believe this usually is the right way for the truly modern man, for often it takes a long time to bring a man to the place where he understands the negative. And unless he understands what’s wrong, he will not be ready to listen to and understand the positive. I believe that much of our evangelistic and personal work today is not clear simply because we are too anxious to get to the answer without having a man realize the real cause of his sickness, which is true moral guilt (and not just psychological guilt feelings) in the presence of God.”
I don’t think I would spend 45 minutes of the hour talking about sin, because it will take more than 15 minutes for the modern man (or the post-modern man) to understand the rest of the gospel. But I think that most people today don’t really understand how unworthy they are of God’s grace. God loves non-Christians in spite of who they are, not because of who they are. That’s what so amazing about God’s grace – there’s nothing we can do to earn or deserve it.
mike wittmer on January 20, 2011 at 9:29 am
eppistle:
This is right on the money–and a good reminder that our self-worth does not come from ourselves–we are so valuable that God can’t stop Himself from loving us–but that our value comes from God. We are valuable because God loves us, not God loves us because we are valuable. Amen!
pjp on January 20, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Mike
tnx very much for this post. We need much of this nowadays, sin is a word that is about to disappear in some Churches today. One preacher said, He does want to batter people by saying all of us sinned, for they know it already. But Adam & Eve points their fingers to others when God confronts them with love.
Pjp.
daisymarygoldr on January 20, 2011 at 4:13 pm
I agree we have to talk about sin if we want others to know they matter. Without knowledge of our sinfulness we will not see the need for a savior. In “God in the Dock”, C.S. Lewis observed:
“The greatest barrier I have met is the almost total absence from the minds of my audience of any sense of sin. The early Christian preachers could assume in their hearers, whether Jews…or Pagans, a sense of guilt…. Thus the Christian message was in those days unmistakably the Evangelium, the Good News. It promised healing to those who knew they were sick. We have to convince our hearers of the unwelcome diagnosis before we can expect them to welcome the news of a remedy…”
It is also true, apart from God, we have no value. We are as valueless as a lump of clay. It is because God created us in His image for “His purposes”, our souls are priceless to Him. And that is why He gave His life to save us. He saves us for His own name’s sake (Ps 106:8 NIV).
God loves us not for who we are but for who He is and—He is love. He shows us grace and forgives our sins not because we deserved it but for His own sake (Isa 43:25). I am unworthy yet He loves me and that compels me to obey and not rebel to sin against Him.
Tyla808 on January 24, 2011 at 4:47 am
Thank you for such a great word. Most Christians today don’t like to be “confrontational” when it comes to sin. And when I say confrontational, I’m not meaning being abrasive and aggressive but I mean…people just plain don’t wanna talk about it. Well, they don’t wanna talk about it when its pertaining to themselves but are free to judge and talk about it when its someone else.
But for teaching and training and encouraging…it’s a rarely spoken of as a topic. I believe you are right, people do equate self-worth to sin.
For women, self-worth is so complicated and sick and sad. It’s sad how women and with whom they receive their self-worth from…we need to raise up our daughters in the Truth…sorry I’m digressing.
As for sin and self-worth…you opened my eyes to a few key areas where I still believe that my “works” or my sins can either make me feel good about myself or make me feel “sucky” but thanks for putting to remembrance the gift of grace God has given…and my worth to Him differs from what I believe my worth to be because of sin.
I am worth it.
compy68 on February 1, 2011 at 8:50 pm
I alway was fixed on Victory, Victory, Victory!! Then I’d fail in some measure and be so down about the failure in my walk….Then a friend said,”Just strive for obedience. If you fail, confess and move on.”
I was so focussed on victory coming “from me” rather than, just being obedient and letting Jesus be my victory. I tell ya, Romans 8:1 finally made sense to me.
I’m also thankful that God cannot lie so if He promises something, why should I doubt? Ever?