Why is sin reprehensible to God?

The other day I tweeted something that was ambiguous and challenging and I’m happy to say a few people called me on it.

The tweet was:

God hates sin not because it’s reprehensible to Him. Sin is reprehensible to Him because it hurts you and others He loves.

Now that statement doesn’t make a whole lot of sense without the context where it came from… and even with the context I will reword it in the future.

This thought came to me in a middle of a sermon I was preaching on “How to Know Whose You Are And Who You Are.” We had just spent some time listening to the Father’s voice, watching the Father’s Love Letter, and extemporaneously the thought began to form.  I’ve actually have a recording of it in context. The tweet is not exactly what I said, but I’ve learned when I have an extemporaneous thought, I need to flesh it out and see if it makes sense in Scripture and life. That’s how I got the tweet.

Listen to the video and then I’ll  try to explain more:

What do I mean by explaining why sin is reprehensible to God? Isn’t the fact He’s Holy by nature enough to explain why He abhors sin?

I don’t think it does.

• God isn’t shocked, flabbergasted, insulted or even offended by our sin. Sin separates us from Him, but while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He loved us so much that he humbled Himself and took on flesh and humbled Himself further and died on the cross at the hands of sinful man. He isn’t afraid of to get His hands messy. He’s not afraid of sin.

• God isn’t a prude with a “holier-than-thou” attitude. Even if He’s about the only one who can justifiably get away with it. He is Holy and requires us to be holy and He tells us to worship Him with all reverence and awe because He is a consuming fire. The writer of the Book of Hebrews reveals the effect of sin in the life of a Believer (Hebrews 6:4-6) and says, “to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” However, it’s not His holiness that makes Him angry at sin. It’s not His public disgrace that motivates him to see us become more like him. How could sin have that much effect on our omnipotent creator? He’s bigger than that.

• When we see God as innocent as a new born and as offend-able as a schoolmarm we give ourselves the right to poo-poo all the evil on our society and excuse ourselves from the ministry of reconciliation.

I know I’ll get comments like “Didn’t God turn His back on Jesus on the cross because He He couldn’t look upon the sins of the world?” This teaching comes from one of the seven things Jesus said on the cross:

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Could God really not stand to look on sin so He had to abandon His son on the cross? Take a quick look of the Psalm Jesus was quoting and fullfilling:

Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 “He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.
19 But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you  will I fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
for he has done it.

Any of us who have been on the Way for any length of time will attest that at some point in our journey, the most difficult place to be is directly in the will of the Father. Jesus’ cry on the cross is something we will all feel – in a lesser degree – in our lives. And the Father’s response is in verse 24:

he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

God is with you even when you sin. How’s that for warping your applied theology? Maybe it will help you to stop.

Sin separates us from Him in that He cannot violate His holy and loving nature and excuse the sin in our lives. Sin directly hurts us and affects those we’re connected with in direct and indirect ways.

I’m going to be posting more about how to overcome sin, you can be free from it. But freedom from sin doesn’t come by thinking the Father is angry at me or shocked at my behavior or flabbergasted at my sin. Because He really is not. Sin doesn’t scar Him and it moves Him to action because of His passion for you.

I think next time I’ll tweet:

God hates sin not because He’s a prude and easily offended. It’s because He’s passionate for you

Wonder if that’s 140 characters or less…

Love to have your comments to start a discussion. I know this isn’t agreeable to everyone.