The Sin Poison

Pastor Edgar Mayer; Living Grace Community Lutheran Church; Message on Healing; Date: 16 November 2008

For more sermons and other writings check out pastor’s homepage: http://www.geocities.com/mayeredgar

The Sin Poison

“Is any one of us sick?” “Is any one of us desperate?” Then listen to three precise verses in the Bible – James 5:14-16 – I read them to you from God’s book: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

From these verses any sick person can learn what to do. One: Exercise faith. God works by faith. “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.” Two: Pursue righteousness. God works healing power through righteousness. “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Three: Honour leadership. God works through the authority of the appointed leadership. The reading said: “Call the elders of the church.” Four: As a church, set apart some anointing oil and follow the simple instruction: “Anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.” Five: Get ready to glorify God because the Bible promise is definite: “The prayer … will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.”

These principles and ingredients of treating sickness according to the Bible are becoming more familiar to us by now. Perhaps we are not immediately clear about the role of the elders or anointing oil but what is quite clear is this: We pray for the sick with faith – and (to make a brief comment) the anointing oil (representing the Holy Spirit) fits here because the anointing with oil is a faith action – we pray for the sick with faith and we pray for the sick with the power that comes from being close to God in righteousness – and (to make another brief comment) the elders fit here because they are meant to lead the church in righteousness.[1]

Yet, there is more. On the positive side – righteousness – loving God without sin – releases healing but – on the negative side – the reverse is also true: unrighteousness – lukewarm love and sin – takes away healing and even causes sickness. This is at the core of the Christian faith. Righteousness matters because sin separates us from God and for that reason sin can cause sickness. Are we agreed on this? Sin is poisoning our relationship with God. Sin is drawing the judgement of God upon ourselves and therefore sin is cursing us with possible sickness – even Christians.

The three Bible verses from before – James 5:14-16 – leave us in no doubt. Hear some of the words again: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him … If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed … ”

“ … confess your sins … so that you may be healed … “ That is: remove the root cause of your sickness – the sin that makes you live under judgement – and you may be healed.

I know that this is not a popular teaching. Speaking for myself – on a certain level I am keen on God to be as corrupted as I am – excusing sin, not worrying about sin, downplaying the seriousness of sin, comfortable and relaxed in sin. But he is not like me. He is not like you. He is holy! According to the Bible – Hebrews 12:29: “ … God is a consuming fire … “ and – 1 Timothy 6:16: “ … lives in unapproachable light … “

1 John 3:5-6: “ … in him is no sin … “ which has consequences for us. The last Bible reading continues with a shock to the system for those that have been weaned on cheap grace – 1 John 3:5-8 – hear some more: “ … in him is no sin. [Therefore] no one who lives in him keeps on sinning [at least not willfully]. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning … “ These words may be too radical for some – unpopular – but – if you are looking for healing – don’t shy away from them. Sin is a serious problem before a holy God and may be at the root of your sickness.

However – before anyone misunderstands – let me make this very clear. Sin may be the root cause of your sickness but at the same time not every sickness is caused by a particular sin. We must not jump to conclusions. The Bible reading from before said – James 5:14-16: “ … If he has sinned, he will be forgiven … “ “ … If he has sinned … “ Sin is a possible root cause of sickness but not so in every instance. At one time Jesus himself corrected the assumptions of his disciples – John 9:1-3: “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus said, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.’”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” We don’t jump to conclusions and we don’t add to the misery of the sick by burdening them with wrong accusations. There may not be a specific sin that caused the cancer – that caused the deafness – that caused the sleep apnea. If you are on a mission to find sin in a sick person, you will always find some – you will always find some in yourself – because – this side of eternity – none of us is perfect – and the Bible knows, saying – 1 John 1:8: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us … “ – so if you are looking for sin in a sick person, you will always find some – but be careful because Jesus may correct you with the same words – “neither this man nor his parents sinned” in the sense that a specific sin caused this particular sickness.

Furthermore – and more about this later – sin is not an insurmountable problem for a Christian. Don’t keep bringing up past sin when God has dealt with the past. God is faithful and therefore the previous Bible reading winds up with some of the best moments of grace – 1 John 1:8-9: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [But] if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.“

God is faithful and grants healing from sin. However, back to the problem. There are times when sins do cause sickness and – as uncomfortable as that may be – we need to know because there is no cure without the right diagnosis. At the pool of Bethesda Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years and when he met him later in the temple, he said to him – John 5:14: “ … See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you … “ Stop sinning or something worse – more sickness – may happen to you. Stop sinning.

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and warned them – 1 Corinthians 11:17: “ … your meetings do more harm than good … “ These Christians at Corinth were like many Christians today. They did not know their sin (they were deceived) and therefore they did not understand – never even questioned – why their members were becoming sick and even died. But Paul wrote to them about church divisions, drunkenness at Holy Communion, disregard for the poor, and so on. Then he said – 1 Corinthians 11:30: “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.” Sin was the surprising cause of sickness in many church people and a number of them died. Not an easy truth.

How would we respond to anyone writing to us: “ … your meetings do more harm than good … “? We might want to defend ourselves and point out the strong points of Living Grace (the Jubilee ministry, the trips to Hopevale, vibrant small groups) but the church in Corinth was likewise not without blessings. Paul commended them, saying – 1 Corinthians 1:7: “ … you do not lack any spiritual gift … “ And yet, sin made them sick. Sin caused their meetings to do more harm than good because – take note of the principle – the closer we get to the holiness of God in worship and life, the more intolerant he becomes about sin. (As you get close to God, take off your shoes!) Therefore, the strong points – the moments of intimacy with God – the multitude of spiritual gifts – must not blind us to the sin that remains but make us even more vigilant.

The apostle Paul concluded with timely advice – also for us – 1 Corinthians 11:30-32: “That is why … you are … sick … But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgement. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.” If we judged ourselves – in other words: if we took a long and hard and honest look at ourselves and then turned away from the wrong that we are doing – then we would not come under judgement. We would not be judged with sickness.

However, when we are judged by the Lord with sickness, then not everything is lost either. It is just that – in love – we are being disciplined. Being sick is a humbling experience. Suffering the end of our own strength we have nowhere else to go but reach out again to God – the one unfailing source of all strength – which is what he intends with his discipline – in the words of the apostle Paul – “so that we will not be condemned with the world”. Better some sobering sickness now than eternal sickness in the hands of eternal darkness.

The Bible wants us to learn from history. God is the same today as he was yesterday – 1 Corinthians 10:1-13: “Remember . history, friends. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptims like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank … meals provided daily by God … But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much – most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert and God was not pleased. The same thing could happen to us. We must be on our guard … “ (The Message, vv1-6) “ … Do not be worship false gods … We should not commit sexual immorality as some of them did – and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord as some of them did – and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us … “ Remember history! Sin has consequences – at times solid consequences – and may be at the root of our sickness.

Now what would be one of the most common sickness causing sins? The Bible reading mentioned the worship of false gods, then touched on sexual immorality but concluded with grumbling which includes complaining, unhelpful gossip, holding grudges, taking offense and unforgiveness. Now most Christians would concede that the worship of false gods and sexual immorality are sins of a serious nature – we would not condone kneeling before Buddha or adultery – but grumbling seems to be a rather normal everyday occurrence. Everyone grumbles and yet – according to the Bible history from before – people are being killed for grumbling. The Bible warns in another place – James 5:9: “Don’t grumble against each other . or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door.” And then, Jesus was careful to instruct his disciples with these words – (the only pointed reference to human behaviour in the Lord’s Prayer) – Luke 11:2-4: “When you pray, say: … Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us … “ “ … for we also forgive everyone who sins against us … “ and do not grumble against them – let go of the grudge.

A pastor writes: “When I was first ordained a priest, I believed that over fifty percent of all problems were at least in part due to unforgiveness. After ten years in ministry, I revised my estimate and maintained seventy-five to eighty percent of all health, marital, family, and financial problems came from unforgiveness. Now, after more than twenty years in ministry, I have concluded that over ninety percent of all problems are rooted in unforgiveness.”[2]

This is a stark assessment but a helpful one and a common one (shared by many other pastors and counselors)[3] and – therefore – we need to unpack this further. If unforgiveness causes over ninety percent of all sin-related sickness and other troubles, then most of us are affected. This is becoming practical now and personal. Are we sick – are you sick – because you grumble, take offense and do not forgive?

Who do you need to forgive? It may be your brother or sister. Or is it your father or mother? A stranger? People inflict great wounds on each other and then the hurt penetrates deep.[4] Who do you need to forgive? Be honest: It may be God.[5]

First of all, he is the one that is speaking such uncompromising words. I quote from the Bible – 1 John 1:9-11: “Anyone who … hates his brother is still in the darkness … “ Matthew 6:14-15: “If you forgive people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive people their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”[6]

“If you do not forgive, then God will not forgive.” Does this sound reasonable? A part of me doesn’t want this to sound reasonable. This is too hard. This doesn’t seem fair. God should not impose his standard on us. And what is his standard anyway? He doesn’t always seem to be so consistent himself. This is another talk on what God can do – his supernatural power – but why is not everyone healed? Why does not everyone receive visions of angels? Every so often we may feel like saying: “What about me, God? Others speak in tongues. Others receive prophetic pictures. Others get filled with the Holy Spirit. Others are so happy in you but what about me? Why does it seem to be so much harder for me?”

One evangelist was in the midst of a healing revival in the US when his mum died in Canada – of a stroke. Just the day before he was in a meeting when two or three people, crippled and paralyzed from stroke, were instantly healed and all their symptoms disappeared. Why not his mum? “Why not my mum, God?”[7]

We may think that those who are seeing miracles every week are free from resentment but not so. Another pastor – in great demand across the world – he counsels others from experience: “Feed yourself on what God has done and is doing rather than what he has not yet done because that gives room for an offense against God and is faith destroying” (Bill Johnson). The Bible shares the wisdom with us – Philippians 4:6 – I read: “ … with thanksgiving [feeding yourself on what God has done and is doing] present your requests to God.”

Even the very first sin by the very first humans was in that same league of taking offense at God. The first man and the first woman were placed in a garden with many many fruit-bearing trees (so they should have been satisfied with the abundance of God’s grace – so many trees were at their disposal) but they looked at the one which was forbidden and then they took offense. Instead of rejoicing in what God was doing for them, they came to the conclusion that God was mean – I paraphrase from the Bible – Genesis 3:4-6: “He doesn’t want us to eat from the tree because it would make us like him.”

The sad irony is that we get offended at the goodness of God. Healings and miracles are meant to be God’s way of loving us and with compassion leading us to repentance but we pick at them (why not more God and then we tend to forget easily) and therefore may end up rejecting the move of God among us. Jesus said to another community – Luke 10:13: “Woe to you … if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in other cities [original: Tyre and Sidon], they would have repented long ago, sitting in sack-cloth and ashes.”

Are you offended at God? A nurse wrote this letter: “ … Two weeks before … I had a miscarriage at three months and developed phlebitis in my left leg. During the Friday night session in the Chapel, I was able to ‘forgive’ God for this miscarriage, allowing his healing love to replace the anger and resentment I felt toward him. What a tremendous relief it was for me! Early Saturday morning, about 3.30 a.m., I awoke with the feeling I should be praying. Soon … I got up and walked on my leg which was no longer painful. In fact, I jumped up and down to see if it would hurt and it didn’t … Now it has been seven months and I have not had a twinge of discomfort in my leg.”[8]

The nurse “forgave” God which subsequently allowed God’s healing to flow into her leg. And even before the healing of her leg she experienced tremendous relief when healing love replaced her anger and resentment. Can we “forgive” God?

A girl of seventeen remembered the brutal treatment which she had received from men. She was not comfortable talking to the pastor in front of her and was downright skeptical when he told her that Jesus was Lord, that he was the master of all things, that he was Almighty and that he would help her. She scoffed at the pastor and with bitterness in her voice demanded to know: “Tell me then. Where was your Master when these men were doing this to me”.

The pastor said that he didn’t know what God was doing but that he would ask Jesus to tell her. The contempt in the eyes of the girl told him what she thought of this – what a load of rubbish.

However, he began to pray and when he couldn’t think of anything else to pray, he switched to this language of tongues (words given by the Holy Spirit which the speaker does not understand). The young woman was alert and listening – in much the same manner that a dog cocks its ears when it senses something. The pastor saw that reaction and impulsively held his hands in front of her, in the manner of a book, and continued to use this prayer language. As she focused on his hands, her eyes almost popped out of her head. She stared, and stared, with such intensity, as though she was watching a video clip.

The pastor stopped praying. She looked at him. He asked: “What was Jesus showing you?” “When … they were doing that to me … they were doing it to him too.” The pastor simply nodded. She asked: “But why did both of us have to suffer like that?” The pastor said the first thing that came into his head, and from that day to now, he has been certain that what he said was true: “So that when you were ready to face this, and deal with it, you would know you could leave it with him!” The girl nodded, able to accept what was said (Fred Veerhuis: Shit Happens. Grace Surprises, Mount Colah: Ferryhouse Publishing, 2006, p115).

Whatever is done to us, is done to him. We don’t know why God doesn’t intervene more often and protect the innocent. We don’t know why evil must run its course for now but we do know that God himself shares our suffering to the maximum of our own pain and anguish. When horrible persecution came on the first Christians – beatings and torture – Jesus appeared to the chief persecuter and asked him this question – Acts 9:4: “ … Why do you persecute me?” Jesus felt the pain that was happening to his people. He asked: “Why do you persecute me?”

The Bible talks about Jesus becoming one with his church in perfect love – not unlike husband and wife are becoming one in marriage. The Bible touches on this reality in Ephesians 5:31-32 – I quote: “ … a man will … be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church.” There is a deep mystery of oneness – union – between Jesus and us which again means that when we suffer, he suffers.

Love makes him share every human heartache and then there is his heartache over the masses of people who are lost and heading to eternal judgement. Sometimes in prayer Jesus shares his burden for people with those that pray and it can be an overwhelming sensation of loving anguish for the salvation of sinners. Like most parents cannot bear the suffering of their children, so Jesus cannot bear our suffering – your suffering – and it tears him apart.

What was done to you, was also done to him. And more! What should have been done to you according to God’s holy law – what should be done to every sinner – was not not done to you but to him. The Bible says – Romans 5:9: “ . we have been justified by his blood … saved from God’s wrath through him … “ Again, how can we remain resentful toward Jesus? We are all sinners and sinners deserve eternal punishment. God does not owe them anything but Jesus came and he shed his blood on a cross – for us. He saved us from God’s wrath.

Hear another Bible passage – 1 Peter 2:21-25: “ … Jesus Christ suffered for you … He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats … He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree [on the cross] … by his wounds you have been healed … “

“By his wounds you have been healed” which includes the whole package of healing your sin, healing the memories of the abuse which you suffered and healing your disease.

Who wants to be healed? In closing we go back to the Bible reading which began this message – James 5:14-16 – I read from God’s book: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

We simply do what the Bible says: call the elders, anoint with oil, pray in faith, pray with righteous power and – finally – after what we have considered at length in this talk – we deal with the possible connection of sin and sickness – according to the instruction: “ … confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed … “

As one last objection we may ask why we are to confess our sins to each other. Would it not be less embarrassing to keep the worst sins private? Who is keen to share their shame with anyone else? Yet – God knows what he is doing. Jesus – on purpose – authorized us to apply healing in his name to each other – commissioning us with these words – John 20:22-23: “ … Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven … “ (cf. Matthew 16:19; 18:18).

Jesus knew that sin thrives in secrecy – there is bondage in being islated with secret shame (it keeps accusing you) – but bring it out into the open, come clean, break through pride by humbling yourself before another person, be accountable, and the sin – the shame – loses its foothold. What we may have thought can never be forgiven, will be forgiven. God makes us hear the precious truth from another mouth: “In the name of Jesus Christ, God is forgiving you.” We get help from each other: “What was done to you, was done to him. Trust him. Exercise faith. He is forgiving you.”

Is any one of you sick? Then do what the Bible says: call the elders, anoint with oil, pray in faith, pray with righteous power and “ … confess your sins to each other … so that you may be healed … “ Why not trust the promise: “ … the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up … “ This minute – confess what you need to confess and pray and be healed. Amen.

If it is true that over ninety percent of all our problems in health, marriage, family and finances are due to the root problem of unforgiveness, then we may do well taking the following steps together.

1 Ask for God’s help:

“Lord Jesus Christ, please strengthen my will. I do not feel like forgiving those that hurt me. I am in pain but I put my trust in you. Help me.”

2 Acknowledge what was done to you:

“Lord Jesus Christ, you know what happened to me and you agree that it was wicked. You hate sin and you hate what was done to me. I can be honest in my grief and cry out to you about my pain. This is what I am feeling … “

3 Ask God to comfort you:

Father God, you said that nothing will ever separate me from your love. Please, love me now. Heal my hurt in your loving arms. Dry my tears with your compassion.”

4 Confess your own faults:

“I renounce all my pride and admit that I am not perfect either. Jesus, I have no claim on Your mercy except that You died in my place.”

5 Make a commitment to forgive others:

“By a decision of my will, I freely forgive all who have ever harmed or wronged me. I lay down all bitterness, all resentment and all hatred. Specifically, I forgive … and I ‘forgive’ you, Jesus. What was done to me, was done to you. I commit myself to loving you and praising you. “

6 Pray blessings on others:

“By a decision of my will, I pray blessings on all who have ever harmed or wronged me. Bless them, Jesus. Specifically, I pray that you pour out your favour on … ”

7 Pray for renewed relationships:

“Lord Jesus Christ, you offered friendship to me. Therefore, by a decision of my will, I ask that you heal the rift between me and those who have harmed or wronged me. I want to offer friendship to them.“

8 Receive forgiveness and healing:

“Lord Jesus Christ, according to your word I receive your forgiveness now and I receive my healing by faith. You make me well and raise me up. I praise you for what I am receiving at this moment and later. Your healing is coming into my body. Amen.”