Lesson Five: What is Sin?
For 2019, our theme is “Take it Home”. The last Wednesday of every month we cancel service and encourage every family to have a Family Bible Study night. Here’s the Bible study we provide for each family.
FOCUS VERSE
1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
HISTORICAL SETTING
1 John chapter 3 starts with an inquiry about this mysterious love of God that would call imperfect people His children (verse 1). What a privilege it is to be called the children of God! John continued to explain that if children of God today, we can only imagine our relationship with God when He comes back for us (verse 2). “We will be like Him” John says in verse 2. We believe (it is our hope/expectation) that Jesus will return, and we will spend eternity with Him.
In verse 3, John then recognizes that this hope is the greatest motivator for a sinless life. The hope of being a child of God leads us to purify ourselves, because God is pure. The hope of one day becoming as God is leads us to purify ourselves, because God is pure.
Living without sin should not only be about following a guideline in order to avoid hell. Hell may be a repercussion of sin, but that is only because sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). If we are to be close to God and share a relationship with Him, then we must seek to remove the things in our lives that God dislikes. According to verse 4, sin is breaking God’s law or commandment.
Consider the story of Adam and Eve. Why was it considered sin when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit? Is it a sin to eat fruit? No. So then why was it a sin for Eve to eat that particular fruit? There’s an easy answer to that question: God said not to.
A certain action may seem innocent and not inherently evil. Perhaps it’s victimless and appears justified. But sin isn’t described as something evil, nor is it described as something harmful to other people. Sin is simply doing something that is opposite of God’s will. We find His will in the Bible.
Any relationship would be strained, and possibly fail completely, if one party constantly did the opposite of what the other party requested. In every relationship there are expectations of faithfulness. As Jesus was faithful toward us in suffering a horrible death so that we don’t have to, we should also be faithful to Him in living a life separated from sin.
VERSES TO CONSIDER
If we have sinned, we know that God is able to forgive us if we turn from sin and return to God (Isaiah 55:7). This is accomplished through repentance.
Repentance includes acknowledgement that I have sinned and confessing my sin to God (1 John 1:8-9). It also includes “fruit”, or the outward act of removing the cause of sin, or the very sin itself, from our lives (Matthew 3:8).
CONCLUSION
Sin is an ugly thing. It has destroyed a relationship with God for many Christians. To be called the children of God is a great privilege and only offered to those that are faithful in their relationship with Him (verse 10).