By Brandon Taylor
The Christian’s Duty to Battle Sin:
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to live holy like the Holy One who called us to salvation. In our walk with Christ we should at all times be growing in obedience to God’s word and being transformed to greater measures of Christlikeness. Christ has set us free from sin and no longer are held captive to its power. We represent Jesus Christ to the unbelieving world around us and must live differently (see Romans 8:13, 1 Peter 1:13-16, Titus 2:11-14, Romans 6:1-14, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Hebrews 12:14, Ephesians 5:1).
Guidelines for Battling Sin:
- Cultivating a dependence upon God balanced with a diligent striving. In our battle against sin, we must understand our need for the Spirit of God to produce growth and yet at the same time we must maintain a diligent personal effort. This includes a fervent prayer life whereby we ask God to convict and reveal our sin to us, to give us clarity on our sin from His word, and to strengthen us to persevere in the battle. We must also cultivate an unwavering resolve to starve and mortify our sin at all costs. We must have and cultivate both a dependency upon God for the desired results and a robust pursuit of holy and righteous living (see Philippians 2:12-13, Psalm 19:12-13, John 16:8-13). If you are battling sin in the power of the Holy Spirit it will produce humility, compassion for others in their sin, and other manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If you are battling sin in your own strength, it will only produce self-righteousness and pride.
- Always trusting in the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement as the only antidote to our sin. Sin causes confusion. Our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), sin is deceitful (Hebrews 3:13), and the enemy who wages war against us is the deceiver and the father of all lies (John 8:44). When our sin is exposed, we must always go back to simple faith and trust in Christ’s work on our behalf. This is not merely a mental exercise of pondering the cross for emotional sentiment, it is believing what God’s word says was accomplished through the life, death and resurrection of Christ (i.e. Hebrews 10:11-18, Colossians 1:19-23, Titus 3:3-7 and a host of others).
Many Christians lose assurance as they confuse justification (a right standing with God through faith in Christ) and sanctification (growth to greater Christlikeness) when their sin is exposed. They think since their sin is exposed, they cannot truly be a believer. While we are called to examine the genuineness of our faith, tested against what the scriptures reveal as genuine faith, we must always believe Christ’s atoning death paid for all of our sin. Confession of sin cleanses us (1 John 1:9). Failure here will lead to self-atonement, self-pity, and an overall lack of clarity. Clarity about our sin comes as we repent of it.
- You need others in your life. We have areas of blindness. We have areas of unbelief. We have idols and patterns of sin in our lives we have cultivated. We need shepherds, disciplers, and close relationships with others in the body of Christ to help us see our sin rightly, help us gain clarity from the scriptures on our sin, to encourage us, admonish us, and keep us accountable. Our hearts are prone to taking the battle against sin less serious than it needs to be (see Ephesians 4:16, Proverbs 27:17).
The Practice of Battling Sin (Proverbs 28:13, Ephesians 4:17-32, Colossians 3:1-17)
- Confession – To confess sin is to call it what God calls it. Our hearts are prone to excusing, justifying, blame shifting and minimalizing sin. We often will go so far as to make ourselves the victim in our sin against God. This is not confession. True confession is to agree with God about our sin and say about it what He says about it.
Questions for reflection:
- Do I give excuses for my sin?
- Do I own my sin?
- Do I call my sin using the specific terms God’s word uses?
- Are you trying to protect an image of how you want to be perceived?
- Do I think my sins are not as bad as others’ sins?
- Do I think my sin is a result of circumstances and/or others actions rather than the conditions of my heart?
- When you are convicted of your sin, do you confess it to God and to those you have sinned against?
- Forsaking – To forsake sin is to change your ungodly behavior into Christ honoring fruit. 3 steps:
- Putting off – Starving your sin. Eradicating it from your life. In total abandonment and radical fashion, taking drastic and all necessary measures to alleviate the sin from your life. Closing all portals and exhausting all resources (see Matthew 5:29-30).
- Renewal of the Mind – God’s word, when believed by faith, produces growth and transformation. God’s word exposes our wrong thinking, corrects us, puts us back on the right path, trains us and equips us for righteous living. God’s word sanctifies us. God’s word purifies us of sin. The battle against sin is a battle for the mind (see Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 119:9-11, John 17:17, Romans 8:6-7).
- Putting on – If you do not put on godly attitudes and behavior you run the risk of trading one idol for another. Think about what it would look like to go in the opposite direction fleeing from your sin. For example, if you have a pattern of slander in your life, the opposite behavior would be truth telling and building up of others. The examples Paul gives in Ephesians 4:25-32 demonstrate the transformation. The liar now speaks truth (v25), the rage filled man exercises self-control (v26), the thief now gives (v28), the one who tears down builds up with graceful edifying words (v29), the angry unforgiving vengeance seeker is tender hearted and full of forgiveness (v30-31).
Repentance encompasses the entirety of this process as sin is confessed, forgiveness is sought, and the sinful behavior is turned from being replaced by godly behavior (see Psalm 51).
Examining Motives:
One of the most helpful exercises to help gain clarity in the root of our sin is examining our motives. The more you drill down into your motives the more you will see your sin rightly. Greater clarity on your heart’s desires will be tool for future growth in discerning areas of sin. If used properly this can be a catalyst in a robust battle against sin.
Some of our motives are godly motives, some of them are not inherently sinful (of course some of them are outright sinful), but our hearts take even the good desires God has given us and corrupt them into idols to serve our flesh. When we are willing to sin to get something, sin to keep it, or sin with discontentment when we don’t get what we want, that desire has risen to what the Bible would call a lust or craving, a sinful desire. We must constantly examine our motives for evidence of idolatry.
Questions to get at motives:
- What is it that I want?
- What is it that I think I deserve?
- What outcome am I fearing or trying to achieve by manipulation?
- What is the worst that could happen?
- What am I trying to control?
- Does what offend me offend God?
- What lie about God am I believing?
- Am I looking to serve myself or those around me? Am I looking to meet the desire of those around me, or looking for them to meet my desires?
Sinful anger is one of the clearest markers of idolatry. James 4:1-3, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
When our idols are not worshipped they clamor for the attention they crave.
Manifestations of sin are rooted in pride and selfishness and stem from unbelief in the character of God, lack of gratefulness for His provision and a lack of trust in His promises. As you drill down to your motives you can seek out the scriptures which contradict your unbelief.
Dangers and Warnings for Not Battling Sin
- Loss of assurance – John 15:1-11, Psalm 32:3
- Loss of clarity – Hebrews 3:13
- Susceptible to deception – Hebrews 5:11-14
- Discipline/ chastisement – Hebrews 12:3-11, Psalm 32:9
- Apostasy – Hebrews 3:12-19