Creekside Church Sermon of March 24, 2002 "Ordinary, Average Sinners" Matthew 26:14-26	Rev. David Bibbee
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"Daddy, I know a bad word, " my six year old daughter said. "Oh really?" I replied. "Do you want to know what it is?" she asked. "No," I said. "You don't need to tell me." "It's the 'S' word. Do you want to know what it is?" "I don't think so, honey. I'm sure I've heard it more times than you." "We're not supposed to say 'S' word are we?" she asked. "That's right." "Don't you want to know what the 'S' word is? I can tell you." I was getting the distinct impression Lisa wanted to say the word, not to educate me but to hear herself say it.

"Daddy. Are you SURE you don't want to know the 's' word?" she asked. "Yes, Lisa. I'm Sure, but I think you really want to tell me, so what is it?" "I won't get in trouble?" she asked. "No, you have permission just this time." We were in the house, but she wanted to maintain her secretive demeanor. She stood next to my chair, cupped her hands around my ear and whispered, "It's STUPID." "Stupid" is not the word I thought she would say.

Today we're going to talk about the 'S' word…not stupid, but the word, "Sin." What a simple word, but it's a reality capable of wrecking God's design for our lives. Just a simple word, but spoken slowly it sort of sounds like the hiss of a snake… "Ssssssin." People usually don't use it in daily discourse. Instead of "sin", we "lapse in judgment, an unfortunate mistake, a regrettable choice, failure to measure up, failure to do what we should." To some, sin is another word for a good time.

We know sin when we see it…in other people…people not like us. We link sin with excess. There is now a branch of sports called "extreme" sports. The X Games have become a part of television sports. The contestants ride on in-line skates, skateboards, mountain bikes, motorcycles, snowboards, and snowmobiles. It is sport with the intensity cranked up full -greater risk and greater danger.

The "extreme" emphasis is also associated with what we consume. There are extreme soft drinks which contain enough caffeine to keep you awake a week. There are breath mints strong enough to kill bad breath as well as melt a hole in your tongue. You can order Buffalo wings with atomic sauce so hot there is a warning in the menu.

When sin is the subject, we think of extreme sin…highly visible and grotesque sin. Sin that is synonymous with Hitler, Slobadon Milosovic, Timothy McVey, Osama Bin Laden, Jeffrey Dahlmer, or Ted Bundy. When we hear about their ghastly, grizzly acts, we create a mental picture of them. Their looks are certainly sinister and menacing. They have evil eyes capable of burning through your chest.

But when we see their pictures, or hear them speak, we are often disappointed. They don't look like we imagine. The mass murderer looks like your nice next-door neighbor. The swindler looks like the dear old saint who sits at the end of the second pew every Sunday. The child molester reminds you of your favorite Uncle Ed. These sin-riddled people look just like us. They look as common as can be. They appear to be ordinary, average people…like us.

Our passage from Matthew 26 chronicles the beginning of the end for Jesus and sin was the driving force behind it. The sin that puts Christ on the cross wasn't generic sin but the specific sin of Jesus' disciples Judas and Peter. The sin of Judas arouses deep scorn. He handed over Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Judas' sin was big-ticket sin. His betrayal of Jesus made him an object of scorn for the ages. How many parents do you know who named their baby boys Judas?

It is easy to disdain Judas. He is "not like us." We sin for sure. But ours can't hold a candle to his, or, as someone said, "Our sin against Jesus rarely rises to the level of the cross." It is easy to put distance between Judas and ourselves, but not so with Peter. We like Peter because we can identify with him.. When Jesus put the, "Who do people say I am," question to the disciples, Peter was the only one who got it right. Jesus changed Peter's name to, "Rock." He handed Peter the keys to the city of God. He told him that something called the church would be built on the rock of his life. Peter promised to stand by Jesus and follow him no matter what. But not long afterward a girl said to Peter, "You were with Jesus, weren't you?" And Peter folded like a pocketknife. "You're mistaking me for someone else," he said. "I never heard of Jesus."

Let's grab the remote control and push the pause button on this story for a moment. I think I know what you're thinking. "What is sin, anyway?" We were taught that drinking, dancing, smoking, gambling and hanging out with the people who so participate in these things is sin, but none of this is sin. These behaviors are the "result" of sin. Sin is putting ourselves in a place intended for God only. Imagine yourself standing at the center of a circle. With this picture in mind, closely listen to this quote.

The power of sin is centrifugal when at work in a human life, it tends to push everything out toward the periphery. Bits and pieces go flying off until only the core is left. Eventually bits and pieces of the core itself go flying off until in the end nothing at all is left. "The wages of sin is death" is St. Paul's way of saying the same thing.

Sin is an attempt to put ourselves at the center of the circle of life. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge. They wanted to judge for themselves what was right and wrong. King David desired Bathsheba so much that he, the one called, "The man after God's own heart", pushed God out of the center, and arranged Bathsheba's husband's death so he could have her. Judas was so frustrated by Jesus' approach to change that he handed Jesus over to the authorities. He thought he could force Jesus to use his power the way "Judas" wanted him to do it. "The power of sin is centrifugal in human life. It pushes everything out to the periphery."

Jesus should have been more careful in picking people to do his work. The disciples were not bright. They weren't extraordinarily gifted. They had no credentials. Jesus chose 12 sinners to change the world. He chose sinners because sinners were the only people available. Non-exemplary men were chosen to serve an exemplary Lord.

I love the Bible because its characters are portrayed honestly. We see them at their best and worst. There is no attempt to alter or polish their image. This has not always been the case with American History. The textbooks we studied growing up sometimes cleaned up the unbecoming parts of key figures. We weren't told the whole story about our treatment of Native Americans slaves. Like other countries, ours is less than totally honest about the past. But truth comes into the light, sometimes inadvertently. Years ago during the debate over turning back control of the Panama Canal to Panama, Senator Hiakawa of California voiced his impassioned opposition, saying, "We cannot give it back to Panama. We stole it fair and square."

Let's be grateful for the Bible's honesty about our sin, our need of forgiveness and our need to change. We are relatives of Peter. We promise our loyalty to Jesus, but desert him when loyalty is inconvenient. We praise him on Sunday, but come Monday if called to take a stand for him, amnesia strikes and we no longer know Jesus. We are silent when we ought to speak. We see what shouldn't be, but we turn our heads, pretending not to see. The most destructive sin isn't always the extreme, front page variety. It is the accumulation of seldom seen sin…ordinary average sin.

A monk who lived alone in the desert long, long ago saw the problem clearly:

The heart itself is but a small vessel, yet dragons are there, and there are also lions; there are poisonous beasts and all the treasures of evil. But there too is God, the angels, the life and the kingdom, the light and the apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace-all things are there.

We are ordinary, average sinners - like Judas and Peter, like everyone else. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Sin is a part of who we are but it doesn't mean we let it have its way.

Some people say it's the problem or original sin or human nature. Some believe we are tainted from the beginning. Not according to Genesis. God created man and woman in his image. God blessed them. God never said, "I really fouled up on these two." No - Genesis says that God saw all that he had made, man and woman included, and God said, "Very good."

Kathleen Norris says the monks found the "corrupt human nature" view very foreign. She says, "The goal of the monks was to know themselves as they truly were, warts and all. And to be able to call it "good", not as an excuse for bas behavior, but accept themselves without delusion. The point is to know what you are working with in order to give a finer foundation to your hope for change."

On our hearts are dragons and God. As Christians, our challenge day by day is to move out of the center of our lives so God can be enthroned there. The day to day challenge is to allow God to slay the dragon.

Sin has us all in its grip. None of us, none are innocent. But we cannot leave it at this. There is something that is greater than all our sin. I want to leave you with a wonderful insight offered by Barry Johnson who said:

"Sin is nothing more that the self getting so caught up with itself that it refuses to acknowledge the immeasurable power of the grace of God.

Sin is what occurs when we think our actions, be they paltry or panoramic, can annul the love of the very One who formed our limbs, put breath in our lungs, and knows us every one by name and need."

Then he uses the "S" word Lisa whispered in my ear…"Stupid." He says:

"Sin is the stupid assumption that, in our wildest imagination, with any deed of either omission or commission, we can destroy the power of the lifted cross and conquered grave."

Sin is strong, but grace is greater. We are ordinary, average sinners. It is part of our nature. But it will always be Christ's nature to forgive those who seek it, and there is nothing ordinary or average about this!

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