Our Chief Entangling Sin, part 1

(The substance of the articles under this title is drawn from a sermon preached on July 6, 2008. Anyone wishing to hear the sermon online only needs to click the following link: http://www.box.net/signup/collablink/d_15226419/3cf71fc57826f Access is completely FREE.)

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-3 NASB)

The writer uses the imagery of an Olympic athlete running in the ancient marathon: for the Christian the observing audience is that company of believers who have already finished their course in the victory of faith (Chapter 11): they are the “great cloud of witnesses.” As Christians running the race of life, we are told to “lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us.” Obviously, no runner who wants to win the race will carry unnecessary weight—every weight, every hindrance that can be laid aside will be laid aside. The laws of physics guarantee that the more weight one carries, the slower will he advance. Weights are set aside.

So the runner has laid aside every possible microgram of weight to make his speed and endurance more efficient, but he must also be sure that he wears no garments that might cause him to trip or that might interfere with the rhythmic, coordinated action of his legs and arms and the rest of the body. In addition to removing unnecessary weights—customary jewelry, bracelets or rings or anything else—an Olympian must also lay aside anything and everything that might entangle him or trip him.

This image is used by the writer of Hebrews to urge Christians to “lay aside” every weight that might slow their progress. Some of you have already done this many times; and some of us know that we need to ‘give up’ some things that are now part of our lives so that we might make better progress in the life God has called us to.

Then the writer urges his readers and hearers to “lay aside” “the sin which does so easily beset us” (KJV), to purposefully stop whatever they recognize as sin—and why? Because known sin is bound to entangle their feet and trip them up in their race. If they don’t lay it aside, they will sooner or later find themselves on their faces, bloodied and bruised and banged up because their feet became tangled by the dangling cords of known sin.

“The sin which so easily entangles us”—
How easily known sin entangles us! Granted, we all have sometime been tripped up because of some sin that we had not fully recognized for what it was at the time. But mostly what trips us up and causes us to become entangled and fall on our faces is known sin. That is what the writer of Hebrews is urging the Christians to beware and to “lay aside”…the sin they recognize to be sin and the sin they know, that if they continue to tolerate it, will eventually hurl them down, making their life a tangled, mangled mess, full of sorrow and heartbreak and shame. We have seen it happen to others, yet delude ourselves, thinking it won’t happen to us…thinking we can manage it and keep our sin under control.

Entangling sins are just that, sins–missing the mark, breaching the standard. We know “the mark;” the standard was written upon Adam’s conscience and, although now in a marred condition, it is still inscribed upon ours. Paul tells the first-century Roman church (2:19) that the Gentiles “which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.” The standard of God’s righteousness was made clear when He issued the Ten Commandments by an audible voice at Mt. Sinai, amid thunder and lightning, inscribing them upon tablets of stone—the same law that had been inscribed upon man’s conscience at the creation! Indeed, we know the “mark” that we are missing.

Further, and so powerfully, our Lord Jesus made it perfectly clear that obedience to God and keeping His Word was a matter of the heart—guilt for murder is not avoided if we have hatred in our hearts and guilt for adultery is not avoided as long as we have lust in our hearts. The standard is not unclear; we have received much light. The peril addressed by the writer of Hebrews is dangerous toleration; dabbling with known sin.