Sin? What Sin?

Galatians 1:4 KJV)  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

Why did Jesus come to earth?  Modern Americans seem to have a hard time dealing with this.  He did not come to help us reach our potential, make us feel good about ourselves or build our self esteem.  He did not come to make us happy or to build strong families.  He “gave” (1325) Himself for our “sins” (266).  Only in verse 4 and already we must face the dreadful “S” word.

In our Post-modern world we find many people who believe they are following Jesus who are uncomfortable with this.  It is not a new discomfort.  Remember what Paul said about being a stumbling block.

1CO 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,

If you do a word search on the phrase “stumbling block” you will see it is linked with iniquity in the OT.  People have always wanted to deny that they are sinners.  Today in addition to that many in the churches have adopted the idea that the cross was not the cure.  I remember reading in one of the emergent church authors that Jesus did not come to die for our sins but to help us find the good in us.  That is a warm, happy thought but it does not come from the Bible.

So?  If you want to be part of the solution, you need to know the problem.  The problem is not evil capitalists, the problem is evil.  That evil is in the hearts of all those not washed in the blood and filled with the spirit.  If you are still part of the problem, call on God for forgiveness and the grace to grow.