Regaining a Sense of Sin

One

Loss of a Sense of Sin

In 1946, Pope Pius XII made a startling statement. He said, “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin” and that hasn’t gotten any less true as time’s progressed. 

People don’t seem to have any shame whatsoever, in all kinds of areas. They don’t seem to feel remorse for their selfishness in any area, for being inconsiderate, lustful, resentful, or avaricious. They just say that’s who they are, that they know what they want, that they have a right to happiness.

So many cliché phrases to paper over these abysses of sinfulness. And yet, unless we can bring people back to a sense of their own sinfulness, Christianity will have nothing to offer. Jesus will have nothing to offer.

Two

Without sin, no one needs a Redeemer

You can’t have Christianity without an awareness of sin any more than you can have medicine without some awareness of a disease.

C. S. Lewis repeatedly said that it used to be that people were aware of their own lamentable depravity, and you could offer them the faith as the way out. But there’s no sense telling people about a savior when they don’t really think they have anything they need to be saved from.

So what does it take to bring people to an awareness of their sinfulness? How do we get them to recognize that they need a Savior?

Three

Story of Peter

There’s a fascinating psychological incident in the fifth chapter of Luke’s Gospel. Simon Peter, the fisherman, hasn’t been able to catch fish all night. He’s been trying and trying, but no luck. Jesus tells him to try one more time. “Put out into the deep, and lower your nets.” Peter says, “Okay, I’ve been trying all night, so I don’t think it’s happening right now, but if you say so I’ll try.” Then he puts his nets out and catches so many fish that the net starts to break.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. Simon doesn’t just say, “Wow, what a miracle! I’m convinced that you are truly the Messiah!” That’s a common response in the gospels, but it’s not Peter’s response. What Peter does is he falls to his knees at Jesus’ feet, and he says “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

What’s going on here? Why does a huge catch of fish make Peter confess his own sinfulness? How did Peter come to such a clear sense of sin?

Four

Generosity

Jesus was generous with Peter. Peter had wanted fish, had hoped for fish, and God granted Him fish, a superabundance of fish!

Now, when someone is generous with you and not only generous but generous beyond any reasonable expectation, something happens inside you. You think, “Why are you doing this?” And then you think, “There’s no reason why you should do this!” And then you think, “I’ve done nothing to deserve this.” And then, finally, you think, “On the contrary, I really don’t deserve this. I’ve done plenty of things that deserve the opposite kind of treatment.”

That’s what happened to Peter, the discrepancy between what God had given him and what he knew he deserved just became overwhelming. He had to acknowledge that discrepancy by saying, “I’m a sinner.”

Five

Be Generous

So how do we get people to acknowledge their own sinfulness? Probably the main way is by being generous to them. When the opportunity presents itself, give people what they know they have no right to expect. The discrepancy between what you give and what they deserve will make them repent of their sin.

In the meantime, let’s do the same thing with our own sins. Our sins should be unbearable, not just because they’re so awful, but because they’re so ungrateful, so incongruous with all God’s given us.

Dear God, please don’t leave us, even though we’re sinful. Please make us less unworthy of your gifts, less ungrateful. Please let us make some return to you, for all you’ve unaccountably done for us.