Soft Sins
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 - 3/14/2004
Today I want to talk about sin. Your sins, and my sins. Sin is something we don’t talk about much in the church, it seems. Oh, we are generous is saying, “We are all sinners,” but we always see other people as sinning more than those who attend church each Sunday. Look around you. Can you imagine that, according to statistics, there are probably at least 3 people among us who are addicted to pornography? And I would not be a bit surprised if there are at least two of us who have committed adultery. Ohhhhh, now here are two of those really BAD sins!
Unfortunately, any discussion about temptation and addiction and sin goes right past most of us, because most of us — not all — do not have to deal with hard-core addictions and sins. We don’t abuse alcohol and aren’t tempted to do so. We quit smoking a long time ago, if indeed we ever started. We’re faithful to our spouse and always have been. We’re not into porn and don’t stay up late surfing Internet porn sites. We have no interest in giving gambling casinos any of our money.
But the apostle Paul has another approach in today’s scripture lesson from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 about sin and temptation. There might be someone sitting here today who steals—just a little—from their employer. Someone who might use illegal drugs. One or two who use legal drugs, such as tobacco or an addiction to pain pills.
Or how about TV? I bet there are at least a half dozen people here who not only spend too much time watching TV, but they use TV to numb themselves, get away from the stress of the day. Do you watch an hour of TV a day and ignore your Bible reading?
Some would call those “soft sins,” because they aren’t as harmful as collecting and looking at pornography, or adultery, are they? Today’s scripture lesson from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 was written to the Corinthian congregation but it could just as well have been directed to our churches today. I’m reading this from Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase, “The Message.” (READ)
Paul reminds the Corinthians—and us—that our ancestors, the Israelites, had some serious addictive behaviors—sins--to deal with. They “set their minds on evil things” — idolatry, sexual immorality, grumbling and complaining—a lot of grumbling and complaining. For the Hebrew children, these were some of the “deadly sins” which left “their (dead) bodies … scattered over the desert.”
Paul goes on to warn us that the punishments God gave to the wilderness generation as a result of their sinfulness could just as well be given to our own present sinful behaviors. Paul is trying to shake us out of our complacency about sinful behaviors. And note that Paul makes sure that the members of the community are aware of the similarities between themselves and the wilderness generation (10:1-4).
Paul explains that the experiences of the Israelites in the wilderness “occurred as examples for us so that we might not desire evil as they did” (10:6).
But soft addictions and temptations are another matter. Like — TV watching, or perhaps working too much, spending too much on things we don’t really need), chocolate, neglecting the family, spreading gossip, undermining a coworker, complaining, neglecting your daily prayer life, chocolate, preferring to read anything but the word of God, complaining, a hankering for the latest and most fashionable clothes, complaining, spending too much time at farm shows or fairs, and did we mention chocolate and complaining?
Or that need, that deep, probing need to get the newest gadget for whatever your passion is. Yes!
Things like that. Could. Be. Soft. Sins.
We’re talking about behaviors that in and of themselves are neither moral nor immoral, good nor bad, right nor wrong. The goodness or badness, the rightness or wrongness of these things are determined entirely by our motivation, intention and attachment. When you’re watching television as a means to escape, looking for a way to zone out from the people and activities going on around you, and find yourself doing that a lot, then you’ve got a problem.
The big problem, however, is not what sins do to us or to others, but what they do in our relationships with God. When we’re tempted to give even soft sins priority in our lives, God tends to get shoved aside. And that leads to a spiritual desert of parched earth, barren soil and a fruitless life.
Paul reassures us that the temptations we face are “common to everyone” (v. 13). Neither we nor the temptations we face are unique, but they do impact our relationship with God — and that’s a problem we can’t, or we shouldn’t ignore. We know that big sins come between us and God, but do we even recognize how the little ones creep in and take us over?
Now some of you are probably ready to zone me out because you may be thinking, “I don’t have any major sins in my life. This message is for my neighbor—too bad she’s not here to hear it.” Or maybe you just don’t recognize a soft sin when you see one. Or hopefully, I DO have your attention and you are wondering if maybe you DO sin without realizing it, or you brush it off as not a sin because “everybody else does it.”
Well, I want to give you some questions to think about, to help you figure out where your temptations are that lead to those sins that may be small, but are still sin, they rest in our hearts, and they come between our relationship with Christ.
#1. Is this behavior compulsive? A soft sin is usually something that an irresistible urge drives you to do. You feel helpless and powerless when doing this activity, and you probably feel guilty about it when it’s over. Whether it’s eating too much, watching questionable TV programs or movies, surfing the underbelly of the Internet or even impulse shopping, the compulsive nature of temptation drives us into a very isolated corner of our souls. You swear you’ll never do it again, but though you try to stop, you can’t. It’s a vicious cycle.
#2. Stinking Thinking: “Stinking thinking” is a way of rationalizing that comes with all sin. Excuses and explanations are the grease that keeps the wheels of sin turning. If we feel a need to justify our activities to ourselves or others, then we’re probably hooked. The distorted thinking that got us into the addiction in the first place makes it easier to justify the indulgence. Some examples of “stinking thinking”:
· “This new car is really an investment.”
· “This doughnut has no calories if I eat it standing up.”
· “I can’t exercise this afternoon because I already showered this morning.”
· “Wide-screen TVs are easier on your eyes.”
· “All of this shopping is good for the economy.”
· “I’m not hurting anyone, so what’s the big deal?”
#3. Do you attempt to hide the behavior? A habit becomes a sin when it must be done in secret in order to be enjoyed. Lying, backtracking and covering up the evidence should make us stop immediately and question if what we’re doing is sinful. Someone once said, :Lying is like alcoholism—you’re always in recovery.” In other words, you feel ashamed of what you’re doing and that’s why you want to hide it from others.
#4. Are we looking to avoid feelings? Many of us spend our lives avoiding deeper issues and feelings, whether positive or negative. Why is this a sin? Sometimes we would rather not think about the pain and emotions of past hurts. It’s much easier to bury those feelings deep inside us, covering them over with a drug or alcohol addiction, or something less serious, such as shopping or eating to excess. Those addictions numb us to the pain, just like a great couple of aspirin. But it also tempts us to exclude people from our lives because they might hurt us or they might not like us and we can’t bear any more hurt. We wallow in unsettled feelings and it becomes a way of coping with both the good and the bad of life. It’s a fact that leads many of us to be more engaged in watching and experiencing the feelings and emotions of a TV family than we are in our own.
The bottom line is that all of these soft sins are symptoms of deeper needs in our lives — needs for relationships, intimacy and meaning — and they can keep us from living an abundant life, the life that God wants to give us.
Paul reminds the Corinthians that “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” (10:13) God is so good, isn’t He!? He won’t let the devil test us beyond what we can stand and He will even provide a way out!
Of course, the simple answer to changing our behavior is to just stop it — but addictions by definition require more than sheer personal willpower to get over. After a lifetime of burying my own shame, anger and pain for the absolutely horrible childhood I had, I have recently begun work with a therapist to heal. All my life I have been very successful at hiding all the physical, sexual and emotional abuse I suffered at the hands of people who were supposed to protect me. I’ve just put on my happy face and stuffed those feelings so deep inside me, seldom did they rear their ugly heads. And when they did try to surface on occasion, I would numb myself with food or drugs or relationships that I called “love.”
The depression I suffered through most of last year was the end product of all that denial. Although I have seen therapists and counselors through the years, when they suggested I “work on my feelings,” I always said, “No,” because feelings hurt me.
Now, God has provided me with a way out. It’s not an easy process to expose all those feelings and emotions and pain and anger. Some days I realize that I have spent the day finding things to keep me busy so I don’t have to do the work of healing, because it’s easier in the short haul.
Do you know why I finally decided I was ready to work at healing? I saw that these seeds of shame, anger, unforgiveness, fear and self-pity were building a wall between God and Deb that was getting taller and thicker with the years. I realized that my relationship with Jesus Christ is the most valuable thing I have and I hated being far away from Him! I have discovered that by adding real, life-enhancing, nourishing activities to my life I am naturally eliminating the need for my soft sin of isolating myself, of substituting my true need of intimacy with my Lord and Savior. And the new habits are literally pushing the sin out of the way.
In review, lock 1 Corinthians 10:13 in your memory and in your hearts because that verse shows us how much God has added to our lives so that we can live addiction-free, and thus, free of soft sins.
1. Temptations are a common experience to everyone.
2. God is faithful.
3. God will not let us be tested beyond our ability to withstand it.
4. God will provide a way out.
5. This will allow us to endure it.
That is more than enough! This formula encourages us to add behaviors and activities that give us the rush we need in a wholesome and positive way. WE CANNOT COMMIT SINS WITH OUR BODIES WITHOUT DAMAGING OUR SOULS. How is it with your soul? It’s a great Lenten question. And in Jesus Christ, we have found the great Lenten answer. The truth is that we can learn new behaviors and feed the real spiritual hunger in our lives. Enough with the temptations of instant gratification and superficial spirituality. Let’s take care of our souls!
BENEDICTION: God sets the table, but we have to pull up the chair. Let go of the bad, grab hold of the good. Renew your relationship with God. Don’t wait another day!
Sources:
“Addicted? Who, Me?” Beliefnet.com. Retrieved October 6, 2003.
“Are You a Slave to Soft Addictions?” July 22, 2003 ABCNews.com. Retrieved September 25, 2003.
Wright, Judith. “What are soft addictions?” Readers Read Web Site. Readersread.com. Retrieved October 17, 2003.
