Here’s a lingering question to consider this Lent: What’s the deal with sin?
Some Christians talk about sin all the time, while others avoid the topic like the plague. Some speak of “sin” in general terms with very little to say about specific “sins,” while others do just the opposite. Some understand sin primarily in terms of guilt and rule-breaking, while others see it more in terms of brokenness or corruption.
So what’s the deal? What is sin? What does it mean that God saves sinners? And how should we as Christians understand, talk about, and relate to our sinfulness and to our sins?
This Lent, we will take up these questions in our sermon series on “The Seven Deadly Sins” - a traditional list that Christians have used for more than fifteen centuries as a tool to help them discern their sins, discover God’s mercy, and develop soul-nourishing habits of repentance and faith. The Seven - pride, envy, wrath, greed, lust, gluttony, and sloth - affect us all in powerful and particular ways, some of which are obvious and some to which we are oblivious. And just as our healing from physical illness often begins with a diagnosis and a treatment plan, the same is true for our souls.
The theologian John Calvin famously said, “Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God.” Our hope at City Church this Lent is that, as we come to a deeper knowledge of ourselves as sinners, we would also come to know God more personally as the lover of our souls, the savior of sinners, and the one who leads us in the way of life everlasting.
If you’re interested in diving into some extra reading on the topic, here are two of the books we’ll be consulting along the way:
Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies, by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung
Sinning Like a Christian: A New Look at the 7 Deadly Sins, by William H. Willimon