Sinners and Saints
Week one - We’re All Sinners
Romans 3:9-12, 21-27; and 6:1-2, 11-14
Bottom line: We’re all sinners - can’t get around it, but we aren’t left to live in it.
“Why would you choose to be a Christian or defend Christianity in light of its history, i.e. crusades, inquisitions, child abuse scandals, corruption, etc.?”
Christian history and Church history aren’t entirely pretty.
We’re all
Sinner = one who sins
Saint = someone who is set apart for God’s purposes
Some of history’s biggest “Christian” sinners - people who did terrible, awful, horrible things in the name of Jesus:
Peter the Hermit (1095-1099, First Crusade) - following Pope Urban’s call to assist the Byzantine emperor Alexius I to protect Constantinople and also win back Jerusalem from the Muslims who had made their way into the holy city, Peter collected about 30,000 soldiers from Germany and France and they made their way over the course of two years to Jerusalem. On the way, they slaughtered Jewish communities for their supposed responsibility in the death of Christ, and they forced conversions in some spectacularly violent ways. And then they joined forces with the other “pilgrims” who had made their way to Jerusalem to participate in what is considered one of the greatest atrocities in religious history that took place on July 15, 1099 with the brutal massacre of thousands and thousands of men, women, and children.
Cardinal Bernard Law (led the Archdiocese of Boston from 1984-2002) - covered up clergy sexual abuse of children, quietly settling claims against at least 70 priests
These people are awful. They’re the “sinners.” But what if we are too?
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” —Romans 3:9-12
I’m a sinner. You’re a sinner.
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. —Romans 3:21-27
There’s no win in comparing ‘SIN.’ —Andy Stanley
We’re all sinners, and we can’t/shouldn’t deny that, but we’re also not left to just live with that -
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? —Romans 6:1-2
Jesus came and changed the consequence of our sin - sin still leads to death, but death gives way to resurrection.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. —Romans 6:11-14
We’re all sinners, but that’s not the end of our story.
And it’s not the end of someone else’s story either.
“Going on a Bear Hunt” - at every obstacle, “can’t go over it, can’t go around it, have to go through it.”
What are your obstacles? How is sin getting in your way and mastering your life?
Name it. And then start reminding your sin who is really in charge.
We’re all sinners - we can’t get around it, but we aren’t left to live in it.
And being sinners puts us in the perfect position to come alongside other sinners, and walk in the path of saints.
Because we’re all sinners.
But we’re also saints. (We’ll talk about that next week.)