Christianity From the Outside Looking In

David E. Brittain

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781098087463
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Chiesa cristiana

Throughout my life, I have heard, as well as used, many excuses to avoid going to church and serving the Lord. It seems as though it is much easier to live and enjoy the world when you are not constantly reminded that you are going against God's plan or His design for your life.

To some extent that may be true, but those feelings are amplified and extorted by the devil. We are made to feel undeserving or perhaps superior to God's love for us. The world will fill our minds and hearts full of doubt and disbelief to keep us from finding the peace we are meant to have, the peace that can only come through Christ. This book speaks of many topics that the world, the devil, and even ourselves use to rob us of our reward. They say misery loves company, and the devil doesn't want to burn alone.

I hope this writing entices its readers to continue searching for the Truth, the Light, and the Way.

Chapter 1

The Truth About Sin

Looking around the world in which we live today, there is no wonder so many people struggle with depression, anxiety, addiction, and more. It seems that in just the last few generations, society’s collective morality has just gone right out of the window. Some people blame social media and video games, as they say children do not learn social skills anymore. Others blame the “participation prize” mentality, arguing that this encourages laziness and lack of effort and motivation. We also have to consider the lack of discipline and understanding of consequences for our own actions. I believe all these are correct, and we could go even farther back to my parents’ generation, which is when divorce and broken families really started to become normal. Back up another generation beyond our parents, during World War II, when moms had to go to work to support their families during the war efforts while a vast majority of men were fighting and dying, and not just in the US, mind you, but all over the world. This is when it started to become normal for both parents to be out of the home, negatively impacting our children’s development.

Nothing New

Make no mistake; we could continue to go back one generation at a time and point out major issues that have helped lead us to where we are at today. The reason that is true is because the devil has been tempting us with sin literally since he enticed Eve with the forbidden fruit. It is because of that first sin that we are all born into a sinful nature. It is because of that sin, we each now owe a penalty for sin, which is death. The devil has continued to creep into our lives and slowly chip away at our morals and family values and over time tearing apart God’s blueprint for marriage and family. Slowly, he began replacing respect with resentment and selflessness with selfishness, love with hate. There is no one generation to blame, no one group of people; in fact, we can’t even blame the devil really. It is our own weakness, our sin nature that is to blame. Collectively, we created the mess we are living in, and that includes the church.

If you are familiar with the Bible at all, you will know that the condition of the world we live in today is nothing new. In fact, there have been multiple times throughout the Old Testament where mankind had become enamored for living in sin. Stories of fornication, homosexuality, adultery, and worse have stained our existence from the very beginning. If you are not familiar with the Bible, just let me tell you that in the past, when men were living as sinfully as we are now, they never failed to receive God’s wrath. You see, the Bible tells us specifically that God loves us to no end, but He also hates sin. He will only tolerate it for so long before His wrath is once again laid out upon the world.

Sodom and Gomorrah were two notorious cities, among a group of four along the Jordan River Valley, that suffered God’s wrath. Their sin had become ravenous; and their morality was void, much like ours is today. Evil is celebrated as good and the gospel accused of being hate speech, so it was back then also. The book of Genesis, as well as other parts of the Bible, tell us that God destroyed these cities and all of the inhabitants with fire and brimstone as punishment for their sin. Jesus warns the church as well, saying Sodom and Gomorrah’s fate will pale in comparison for those of us that do not come to Him and repent of our sins.

Another example of God punishing the world for sin is the flood he created when he instructed Noah to build the ark. At that time, Noah was the only man God deemed righteous, the Bible tells us. The world had become violent and wicked, so God instructed Noah to build the ark and then fill it with his family and a mate pair of all the animals of that time. Once the ark was sealed by God, He then covered the world with water, destroying nearly all of mankind. After the waters receded, it was up to Noah and his family to start over. There are other events throughout history describing God’s punishment for sin, but the one that should concern us the most is the next one! We do not know when that punishment is coming, but we do know it will, and we need to seek atonement through Christ while we still can.

Recognizing Sin

For a Christian, recognizing and ultimately avoiding sin should always be a priority in our daily walk. Repentance, which basically means turning away from sin, is in fact expected from us by our Lord once we are saved. It is important that we understand that the blood of Christ covers all of our sins up until we were saved; but once we received the gift, moving forward, we are to recognize, confess, ask for forgiveness, and repent of our sins as we grow in Christ. We will never be sin-free, but that is the goal we should strive for regardless. I say it is our responsibility to recognize sin because it is not always cut and dry. Sometimes sin is very difficult to see, and we will defend that sin passionately as being good.

Another point to consider about sin is it is not always constant. Here is what I mean by that; murder is always a sin, no matter the situation, but what about drinking? Is drinking always a sin? Well, if you ask a Baptist, yes, but think about it. Is drinking alcohol really a sin? Jesus drank wine, and He was sin-free. So that means there has to be something else to it besides just the alcohol that makes drinking sinful. That has always been an argument. So let’s look at something a little less confusing perhaps. Watching football or going fishing, are either of these sins? How about loving your beautiful new baby? Is that a sin? Of course, none of these things are sins; however, every single one of them can be a sin. Going to work, writing this book, or even spending the evening with my wife can in fact be sinful.

I would assume at least a few eyebrows are raised up by now trying to understand what I am saying. Well, it really is simple. If you put any of these things before God or allow any of them to distract you or pull you away from God, then yes, it is a sin. Now don’t throw the book in the trash because I said it was a sin to watch football on Sunday. The point is that everyone is different, and their circumstances are different. It is not up to me or anyone else to tell you if you are sinning. That is judgment, and judgment belongs to the Lord. What we do need to do is listen to the Spirit inside of us and our own hearts. Once you are saved, you will know when you are doing something you shouldn’t or if you are making something in your life a higher priority than God. And there will be plenty of times you miss church to go on vacation or to a ball game, etc., and that is okay as long as you do not let it keep you from spending time with God.

Now I’m not going to lie. One of the things I love more than anything is to hear a good, old-school Baptist preacher bringing the Word in a Spirit-filled church on Sunday morning. It will get you moving, and sometimes fidgeting in your seat. Every now and then you might even shout out an “Amen” or a “Yes. Lord!” But sometimes, it will feel like that preacher is talking straight to you. There were times I and my wife joked that our pastor was riding in the truck with us the night before because he would preach about exactly what we had discussed or done the next Sunday morning. Make no mistake, when it feels like the preacher is talking directly to you, he isn’t—God is! That is how the Spirit works and gets you on the right path. There may be ten people guilty of ten completely different sins, all listening to that same message and each one convinced the preacher is talking to them!

Now I said I love to hear a Baptist preacher bring the Word, but typically they are going to step on every toe in the room when they do because they don’t mind pointing out sin. And if you leave the Baptist Church meeting and go to lunch with the beautiful Church of Christ folks, don’t worry, they will point out any sin the Baptists missed. Although I am making jokes about decades-old stereotypes you have to remember most old tales have at least a little truth to them. That truth is, in my opinion, that no one denomination is any worse than the other about calling out sin, although I am equally sure that every denomination has plenty of people guilty of this, and that is a sin as well in some cases!

Love People Not Sin

Unsurprisingly, the subject of sin, mostly what is and what isn’t sin, is always going to be in dispute and one of the most predominate reasons that churches split like I mentioned before. One example would be homosexuality, although it is nothing new. Some churches are becoming accepting of this because of the pressure being put on the leaders to be more inclusive or more politically correct. Social groups accuse Christians of hate because they will not accept different types of sin. Sometimes a timid church or pastor will just preach around these types of issues or avoid them completely, so they do not have to deal with the blow back. It doesn’t help that the devil encourages division between us by twisting and misusing the Word and distorting the context. It is our responsibility to know the Word and pray continually for proper understanding from the Lord.

Always remember, it is not our place to reject anyone. It is not our place to judge or condemn anyone. It is our place to love everyone, welcome them, and support them in any way we can. How is a sinner or lost soul going to be convicted to change and repent if we turn our nose up to them or ridicule them for their choices? That does not mean, however, that we accept or condone these sins. Our job is to tell people about Christ and help lead them to Him. He provides the healing and forgiveness. The Bible is the same today as it was a thousand years ago. It will be the same in a thousand more years. Sin will always be sin, that doesn’t change, and God’s Word doesn’t change because we get offended or our feelings get hurt. This is a very important fact, so important that out of all of the instructions we are given in the Bible, the last instructions given to us are not to add anything to or take anything away from God’s Word.

If you are lost and curious or a newly saved soul and you are wanting to go to church, do not be concerned about your sin or your worthiness. The devil will use this on you to keep you from going. There are no perfect churches. Churches are plumb full of sinners. You can think of a church kind of like a hospital. You do not go to the ER unless you are hurt, The same is true for church. Church is where we are to come together to learn and hear God’s Word as anointed by God. It is a place of worship and praise for the Lord and fellowship for us. All these help us increase our faith and improve our walk in Christ, which includes avoiding and turning away from sin.

As I mentioned earlier, we will never be sin-free, no matter how much we go to church or study God’s Word. We will always struggle with sin, and God knew this from the beginning. He created us to fellowship with Him, but we cannot approach Him marred in sin. Before Adam bit into the apple, he would walk through the garden and talk with God just as you and I would with our father. It was after Adam sinned he was kicked out of the garden, forced to work to live, and no longer able to see God. Despite all of this, God still desires a relationship with us. More accurately, He wants us to choose to have a relationship with Him. Because of this reason and in His wonderful mercy, He created a way for us to still come to Him. But this way could not be anything of our own doing because we would simply mess it up. It h...