Guest post-Pastor Jeff. Does Sin Separate Us from God?

Does sin separate us from God?   Do you believe that your actions as a believer can move you closer or further from God?  Do you believe, that as a believer, you can lose your relationship with the Gracious almighty?  I believe these questions are a genuine concern for most Christ followers. This last Sunday I set out to answer these questions.  I started by overcoming some of the more obvious misnomers.   1. Satan is not the powerful one. He can not make you do things against   your will.  2. Jesus is not afraid of evil.  3. Jesus achieved clear and total victory on the cross. 4. We are made up of three parts.          Flesh -- A temporary container for the soul.        
Soul  -- Our individual identity. There is no other like it anywhere in  all of creation.        
Spirit -- The root system for the soul.

Until we are in relationship with God our spiritual nutrition comes from the world.   Once we are in relationship with the Creator, because of our faith in His gracious sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ, our souls are eternally forgiven and we are no longer under the law of condemnation.  Romans 8:1 is not a conditional statement.  It does not say "there is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who can up hold the law -- or at least some of it."

It clearly states: " There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.   WOW!  I could stop here if it weren't for verses like Galatians 5:19-21(esv) 19Now 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.”    And especially notice that last phrase-- "those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."  In this verse and others like it "works of the flesh", "committing sin", and "to practice sin" all have something in common.  Agreement with sin. These are actions that require our devotion, attention, and wanted participation, that is, when we work, commit, or practice something it is with intention and agreement.  

What if we, as believers, do not agree and sin.  What if the baggage from yesterday (addiction) is inner-woven with our new self?  What if the old self is hanging on for dear life, in spite of our commitment to God, acceptance of Christ and, devotion to His word.  What if we have the proverbial thorn in our side?  Life can seemingly feel hopeless, while all the while we yearn for God and we seek God and His freedom in grace?

Robertson, in my favorite commentary Word Pictures of the New Testament, differentiates between the word used here in Galatians: Prassō (practice) - a verb for habitual practice,  opposed to the word (poieō) - for occasional doing.  In other words, the one who is practicing, working at, or committed (intention and agreement) to such things will be found guilty and will not enter the Kingdom of God.  While at the same time another with the same proclivity toward, or propensity for, such things accepts God’s grace through Jesus Christ and is found innocent and free to enter into Gods presence.   Does this graciousness of God mean we can just keep on sinning, NO!!! says Paul in Romans.  It does however mean that we are free from the worry of the condemnation that our sin deserves.  This freedom from worry allows our focus to be on God.  With our focus on God, instead of our sins, healing and maturity begin to take place.  

Look at it this way.  When a toddler begins to walk, what happens? She falls.  What do we do? Beat them and tell them not to try again until they can walk without falling?  Ridiculous!  No.  We are there waiting with baited breath for the moment she walks without  falling.  We run to their aide and assist her ever so gently and encourage her next step.  The same goes when she is learning to run, and then jump, and then gymnastics, and so on and so on.

 Too many God-loving, Jesus-saved people spend their entire lives crawling, because they are beaten down by the times they have supposedly failed God, when all the while, God is crying out, ”come boldly to My throne!  I, your God, your Creator, your Savior has paid it all!” If they only could understand that when they are in relationship with God, He is there, waiting patiently in love and eager for us to walk, run, and even do spiritual back flips.  No matter how many times we fall, He is there picking us up and encouraging us to take the next step.  How often we sin is not the issue.  What is in our hearts is the issue.   Romans 8:38-39 (esv) 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.   God's speed Jeff