When it comes to sin and what we consider sin, we are never completely honest with ourselves. We project our issues onto others and we blame our issues things, rather than looking at our hearts and changing how we think. We create levels of sin, so that we can justify our sin as “lesser sins” than another sin to try and make ourselves more righteous than another fellow “bigger sinner”. We are quick to chastise a homosexual, while we ourselves are gluttons, filled with pride and self-righteousness.
I know for some of us that hit home. We don’t want our “lesser sins” to be on the same level as murders or somebody who is gay; if we did that, it would put us on the same level as they.
What does the Bible say about sin?
1 John 5:17
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
While its true God may see certain sins differently and hate some sins over others, in the end, it is all still sin and without Jesus, we are lost. We are saved not of our own doing, but by His gift to us to forgive us for our sins, no matter what our sins are. There is only 1 cross for ALL sins and all one has to do is believe, repent and receive this gift from God. God’s grace is the big equalizer because no matter how “big” of a sinner we are or the level of our sins, we are saved through Jesus. This is an amazing gift because a murder is seen as no different than a person who is a liar and a glutton.
Wait, didn’t I just say that God see’s certain sins differently than others? Yes, He does. Lets think of it this way.
I don’t like black licorice, I hate liver even more, and absolutely can’t stand chocolate and coconut candy. While I dislike some of these things more than others, all of these things I dislike and will not eat any of them. In the end, the level of how much I dislike certain food over others make no difference because all of these food I will not eat.
This is the same with sin; all sin separates us from God and we are all sinners. We have our go to sins that we like to bash on such as homosexuality. I believe we do this to distract from our own sins, so we paint homosexuality out to be much worse than our “lesser sins” to justify ourselves and set ourselves apart from the “bigger sins”.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
I had a discussion recently with some folks who had trouble accepting that gluttony was no different than homosexuality because both give into the desires of the flesh. As Americans, we love to over indulge, we love to eat (hey I am a foodie), and the last thing we want is for somebody to take away our favorite American past time. Let’s look at what the Bible says about gluttony and how God see’s it.
Revelation 21:8
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death
In Philippians we find that gluttons walked as enemies of the cross because their god was their belly.
Philippians 3:18-19
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
The Bible says that we should not gratify the desires of the flesh and included in the list of self-gratification are sexual immorality and gluttony because our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit.
Gluttony is also listed with unbelievers, murders and cowards. Lets read a bit more about this in the Bible.
Galatians 5:16-21
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
God hates gluttony just as much as other sins of the flesh. We tend to cherry pick sins from those passages. I am not trying to pick on people who over eat, but I am trying to make the point that using a sin we often don’t consider to be a “bigger sin”, that we should not to think that we are more justified because our sin is a “lesser sin” than somebody else’s sin; in the end, we are all sinners and none among us are greater than another
We are all sinners, we are all messed up and all sin separates us from God. We are only justified by Jesus, and not because we have “lesser sins”, but because we have a great God who loves us in spite of our issues. When we can start seeing this, and put aside our self-righteousness, then maybe we can start reaching people with love and humility.
A pound of feathers is the same as a pound of bricks.