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Sermon - Sin and your Health - 4th February 2007
Saint Aidan’s West Epping 8:30am
Readings: Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11
Next Thursday I have been asked to give a lunchtime talk to a group of Christians and Jews. The subject I have been given is “Is Religion Good for Your Health?” Apparently four years as a hospital chaplain qualifies me to give an expert answer to that question!
As I was thinking about the subject I was reminded that health has many sides. Does faith make us physically more healthy? Not necessarily. A lifestyle that steers clear of excesses of alcohol or illegal drugs or even overeating may reflect Christian values, and make us less prone to certain health problems, but even that is no guarantee that we shall be free from disease or injury. Does prayer bring immediate healing of our sickness?
Only sometimes, and those who go in for surveys and statistics will argue till kingdom come about whether any healing is actually achieved by prayer.
I suspect that a genuine faith will put us in a better position to handle the problems of ill-health, and to open up to God’s healing power. But it won’t necessarily protect us against accident or disease or many other problems of life.
But health has its personal, its relational, and its psychological side too, doesn’t it? And I would argue that a healthy Christian faith will often make a difference in these areas. And of course, I believe that genuine faith has wonderful spiritual benefits.
One of the issues that I expect will be raised in the questions, even if I don’t raise it myself in my talk, is the question of sin. Every now and again I am told that Christianity is hung up on sin and guilt, that Christians are obsessed with sin, that you would have to have a very low self-esteem to be a Christian in the traditional sense.
And as I was reflecting on our readings for today, the thing which struck me was that the central characters are all overwhelmed by their sense of sin. They are surely prime examples of this apparent Christian obsession, this negative attitude to sin and guilt. It seems that to become a Christian you have to regard yourself as hopeless and worthless. How healthy can that be for anyone?
Isaiah in the temple has this awesome vision of the Lord in all his glory in the temple. And what is his reaction? “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” He is devastated, terrified in the presence of the Lord because of his sin.
Or Paul the apostle in 1 Corinthians. “I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” Wouldn’t you think he could let go of that guilt after all his years of service?
Or Peter the fisherman. After a useless night trying to get at least some fish, Peter is directed by Jesus the carpenter to the wrong part of the Sea of Galilee, at the wrong time of day, and he gets what can only be described as a miraculous haul of fish. Peter concludes that he is surely in the presence of God. “Go away from me, Lord,” he says, “for I am a sinful man.” Peter’s sense of sin makes him feel unfit to be in God’s presence, even expressed in the humanity of Jesus.
It is pretty heavy, isn’t it? Sin makes us unworthy of God, unworthy to be in his presence, unworthy to be known as his servant. That seems to be the message of these readings.
Of course, I have only pointed out part of the picture. We need to also take notice of what follows from this recognition of sin and unworthiness. Isaiah is assured of forgiveness and cleansing, and accepts God’s call to be his messenger. Paul of course has already spent years in his apostolic ministry. And Peter is reassured that he is accepted in Christ’s presence, and commissioned also to be a fisher of men - and women too, no doubt!
None of these people were told that they actually weren’t sinners, or that their sin didn’t matter. What did happen was that they were assured of God’s forgiveness and acceptance, and they were called as forgiven people to serve God in their different but responsible ways.
And that is the how it works for us too. If a sense of sin dominates our life, and we believe that nothing can be done about it, we will certainly be in an unhealthy place. But if we know that we have God’s forgiveness, and that God is actually calling us to serve him in a positive way, that is a very different thing. In fact, I believe it is a healthy outlook on life!
As a Christian, I believe it is healthy for us to take sin seriously. We take it seriously as a reality in our lives, and as a challenge to work against in our lives. But we don’t need to become obsessed with it, because we know that forgiveness is available through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we know that his Spirit is with us as we seek to live godly lives.
And why do I think that it is actually healthy to take sin seriously?
Because we are being real. We are guilty of sin, aren’t we? When we come to the confession, I won’t say that it is only relevant for a few of us who have been particularly naughty this week! We mightn’t have committed a crime or attacked someone, but we know that our actions, our words, our attitudes have not been all that they could or should have been. We fall short before God.
Of course, the idea of sin as “falling short of the glory of God” comes from the apostle Paul in his Letter to the Romans. But it is a helpful image. One of the concepts that I sometimes point out to people is that we are not worthy before God. We fall short. We don’t measure up. And that’s true. But our sin does not make us worthless. Sadly, that is a common misunderstanding of Christianity teaches. But we are anything but worthless. We are made by God in his very image. Yes, the image is distorted, but it is still there. God values us. He loves us utterly. As sinners, we fall short, we are unworthy of God’s acceptance. But we are not worthless, and we must never treat any human being as worthless. Be real about sin in a healthy way.
Being serious about sin also helps us to be humble. Humble before God, so that we don’t take him for granted. But also humble in our relationships and attitudes to others. I said last Sunday that one of the traps of trying to live a godly life is that we can compare ourselves with others, and become arrogant or judgemental. That was the Pharisees’ problem. By taking our sin seriously, we remind ourselves that all humans are essentially in the same boat. Perhaps some fall short by a bit less than others, but so what? We all need God’s grace and forgiveness. We have no grounds for feeling superior to others whose sins may be different to ours. Recognizing our sin should keep us humble.
Being serious about sin also opens us up to forgiveness. There are a couple of people I know at the hospital who are at loggerheads with each other, and it is all so unnecessary. A misunderstanding has grown into a stand-off. They both feel hurt by the other, but neither seems able to take the step to sort out the problem. Openness and forgiveness is all they need. What a loss for both of them.
God in Christ has made the move to deal with our guilt and sin, our failure to serve and obey him as we ought. The problem has been solved, but in simple faith we must accept his gracious forgiveness. God has put out his hand to us, but we need to take his hand. Otherwise the relationship cannot be restored. A refusal to acknowledge our sin before God prevents us opening up to forgiveness, to getting the problem solved in our lives. We don’t need to be obsessed, because we are forgiven through Christ.
Being serious about sin also gives us a challenge in life. Living God’s way is not always easy: a life of genuine love to all is not easy. Sin points us another way - to the path of ungodliness and self-centredness. But Jesus calls us to follow him through life. He gives us purpose and direction. If we pretend it will always be easy, we will fall time and again. But if we recognize that we will continue to meet temptation, and that sin will continue to try to trip us up, then we will see the need to stay close to Jesus, and seek to grow in our faith and love. A life of purpose and significance will always have its challenges: taking sin seriously will help us to be better equipped to face many of those moral and spiritual challenges.
So we can take sin very seriously without being unhealthily obsessed with it, or putting ourselves or others down. Let us be real about its presence in our lives. Let us be humble, both before the God who is perfect, and in the attitude we take to others, who fall short just like us. Let us accept God’s forgiveness, knowing that Jesus died for us, and we do not have to hang on to our guilt. And let us accept the challenge of following Christ in obedience and loving service - imperfect of course, but genuine and accepted. He has brought us forgiveness, and he will show us the way to live. Amen.