S. O. S.

Galatians 5:19-21
(… _ _ _ …)

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The distress signal “S.O.S.” in the Morse Code is three dots, three dashes and then three dots (… _ _ _ …) I use it here to mean “Save Our Souls” even though this meaning along with the meaning “Save Our Ship” have no historical confirmation.

My purpose in this article is to show that too often that which God calls “Sin” is downgraded or re-evaluated according to our relationship with the world around us and so is considered less sinful in our thinking than the Lord has declared it to be in His Word. If this is true, then we could be in a peck of trouble with our everyday lifestyle and so an S.O.S. is issued to bring us back to the Bible and let God determine what is right and wrong. And this is particularly true when it comes to the current generation who, according to all accounts are people open to experimentation and who are opposed to conformity. They are more willing to “live and let live” than Christians in previous generations, even when that “Living” does not conform to the image that Christ would expect from believers.  

Let me say it another way; ALL of the works of the flesh listed in our text interfere with our inheritance in the Kingdom of God. But some of them have been relegated to the “less serious” or “ordinary” category simply because they are so common among us. Hence, S.O.S. here may also mean “Some Ordinary Sins” Our text above in Galatians is written to Christians. The heathen are not affected by these sins.

Everyone would agree that Murder is not good. That is one of the “serious” sins. From there, it goes downhill. Sure, almost everyone would agree that Drunkenness is bad. Among God-fearing people, such things as Adultery and Fornication are to be avoided. But many would start to get a little less critical when it comes to something as obscure as Idolatry. By this I do not mean that these people would think it is o.k. to bow down to a totem pole or wear a tiki doll around their necks. What I do mean however is that idolatry as defined among us is not necessarily the way it is presented in Biblical terms. The average person may find it difficult to describe just what idolatry is. How many really want to believe that “Anything that comes ahead of God is idolatry?”

Going further down the list we find things that few of us ever challenge as “sinful”. When is the last time someone in the Church was confronted, corrected or rebuked for harboring Hatred, Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, Envying or Reveling? Not very often.

And notice I left Heresies out of the “Ordinary Sins”. That is because many times folks who do not clearly grasp Bible teaching and data see heresies as anything different than what they believe. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong. Heresy however is not defined as “holding a different position from ours”, but holding a position Contrary to the Bible.

So let us consider further this idea of Some Ordinary Sins (S.O.S.) vs. Some Serious Sins. Two so-called sins that have been taken seriously by the Church are Smoking and Movies. I would not want to argue that the former is good for your health or that the latter is a worthy source for your moral compass. But the fact is that neither is mentioned in the Bible. Smoking per se has been going on for millennia, and has only recently been found to be deadly if continued over a long period [when the subject is cigarettes and chewing tobacco]. The case against pipes and cigars is not as clear at this time. Never the less if you smoke or chew … cut it out!

Tobacco is a filthy weed
That you and I should never need
It picks our pockets and burns our clothes
And makes a smoke stack out of our nose

Concerning movies, let me tell you from experience that some of the most vociferous rebukes I ever heard were against going to the theaters in Atlantic City. I was born again at Grace Assembly of God at 105 Atlantic Ave. In 1960, going to the movie was almost as bad as wearing lipstick! Our people back then would cross the street and walk on the other side from a movie house to avoid having one of the “Supersaints” accuse them of being inside when they were merely passing by. The argument then was based on the conviction that we should not give our money to those in Hollywood who were depraved. A reasonable argument I suppose, but one which makes more sense today than it did in 1960. Remember the 1939 Academy Award winning picture “Gone With The Wind” was almost banned because Clark Gable as Rett Butler said “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”. We’ve come a long way baby! As a pastor I can tell you that I have serious concerns because too many progressive thinking Christians have no problem viewing objectionable material because it represents to them the real world. 

Two more so-called sins that are mentioned in the Bible but which are not specifically condemned are moderate drinking and certain forms of dancing. Once again, God’s thoughts and our thoughts are not necessarily in harmony. But because of the many ruined lives and heartbreak that we have seen as a direct result of alcoholism, I would not want to minimize the danger in which any drinking of alcohol can and often does result. Nevertheless, we must also be very careful not to call “sin” that which God has not called sin. There is clearly a difference in the Bible between the act of drinking in moderation and drunkenness.

The Dancing issue has come home to roost. Again, in my early days as a Christian dancing was portrayed as demonic to the max. And perhaps secular dancing was. Certainly we must be honest and confess that close proximity of young bodies often brings improper sensations with it. Fast forward to 2005 and look at some of the dancing going on in Churches across American. Let me say that I have seen some dancing in Churches in my own neighborhood that made me wonder how they justified it. With Art and Drama being pushed as evangelical tools, there is no way to know just how far this thing will go.

Back to my main point. Our verses are a list of actions that are called the “Works of the Flesh”. They are in contrast to the “Fruit of the Spirit”. (Galatians 5:22,23) Many of these actions and attitudes are not taken seriously in our day. And yet Paul says that people who do these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God ! He also lets us know that the list is not exhaustive when he says “such like” and “such things”. Are They Serious? Are They Important ? Hello !

If we are going to be light and salt in this present darkness, we must strike a balance between God’s forgiveness of those who transgress these “Ordinary” sins and then repent - such as all of us have experienced - and the necessity of realizing the  dangerous and gross nature of all sin properly so called. It is not a matter of what we think but of what God has declared. We do not want to be more righteous than God as some have been through self righteousness, but we also do not want to seem to justify that which He has clearly condemned.

A recent survey for example showed that somewhere around 40 percent of our young people still in school did not consider oral sex as “real sex”. Oral what? Shades of our shameful former president Clinton, who perpetrated this lie upon our society. Pre-marital sex and the resulting unwed motherhood are often accepted in the Church as if God had never spoken against it. The fathers in such cases are hardly even mentioned, much less brought to the marriage chapel in front of a shotgun. We receive every child born into our midst with great joy and give encouragement to unwed mothers as they bring forth children. This is proper and as it should be once the damage is done.  But we must also remember that these children were conceived in SIN and those involved must faced their sin and confess it if forgiveness is to follow. (Where both parties are single and eligible, marriage will correct the problem to the satisfaction of God’s Word in Exodus 22:16; And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.)

How much TV programming can we justify in our homes? How much from filthy radio programs? How much “semi-porn” can we tolerate? How much Hate, Envy, Strife etc. can we wink at in the Church? Are we trying to see how close to the edge of the road we can go without crashing or are we determined to stay close to the center of the straight and narrow way? The answer to every moral question is found in keeping the two Great Commandments: Love God with all you have and your Neighbor as yourself. If you follow these two commandments, you will never be tempted to do or approve those “Ordinary Sins”.

Matthew 22:37-40  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.