Andy Stanley’s New Sermon Offers Up a Curious Definition of Sin
As North Point Community Church and pastor Andy Stanley continue to be embroiled in a series of controversies featuring the revelation of widespread LGBTQ-affirming pastors, church leaders, and sentiment within their churches (see endnotes), Stanley is going through his The Fundamental List sermon series, where he outlines the fundamentals of the faith that must be believed to be saved.
In sermon three, Stanley says that one fundamental is that people “must acknowledge and embrace Jesus’s characterization/ definition of sin.” Throughout the sermon, Stanley takes pains to purposefully delineate the scriptural definition of sin from Jesus’s definition of sin, almost pitting them against each other. Notably, he offers a Temple Model vs. Jesus’ Model of sin.
“The message of the Temple Model was this: when you sin, you break God’s law. The Jesus Model sounded like this: ‘When you sin you break yourself and others, which breaks God’s heart.’ So we shouldn’t be surprised that God is anti-sin, because God knows what all of us who are 25 years or older and even younger than that, but let’s just be fair- anybody who’s 25 years older. Here’s what we already know from our own experience, right? Every sin, every sin comes with a prepackaged consequence. They all come with a prepackaged consequence, right?
..I wanted them to be cute, wanted them to be memorable. These are just my words. Number one. This is what it looks like, if it’s not good for him, it’s a sin. It’s that simple. If it’s not good for him, it’s sin. If it’s going to harm him or set him up for harm, it’s a sin. Is it in the bible? Doesn’t matter. If it harms him, it’s a sin.If it’s not good for her; defer. Same thing as this but it just rhymes. Okay? If it’s not good for her; defer.
…Number three. If it’s not good for you, no can do. It’s that simple. You know why? Because your heavenly father loves you, and if it’s bad for you, it’s a sin. You’re sinning against yourself, and God isn’t just concerned about how you treat others, God is concerned about how you treat yourself. Your body, you know, your future. Anything that has anything to do with you. Your character, your reputation, because God loves you. It’s a sin.
And number four, if it’s not good for them, it should be condemned. If there’s a group of people in our culture, or in our society in the world, and they’re being mistreated because of injustice or unfairness or just some societal thing, it is okay for Christians to speak out in objection to those things because they are being sinned against by another group of people, or by a government or who knows.
He concludes:
This is part of it. Because what God values most is not his rules, what God values most are people. And behind the rules is his love for justice-we’re going to talk that- and his love for mercy and kindness and forgiveness and what elevates the status and well-being of people. Do you know why Jesus characterized and defined sin this way? It’s because, as I said before, this is how his Father in heaven does.
And you know why your heavenly Father is against sin? Do you know why your heavenly Father is against sin? Because he’s for you and the you’s around you.
.. Of course God is anti-sin because he is for you. And at the epicenter of how Jesus defines sin and how your heavenly father to find sin, it’s how your behavior in mind impacts other people. So this is essential. It’s fundamental that we view sin the way our savior view sin.
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“If you love me, you will keep my commandments” seems a bit lawish. Of course love for God and others is part of that, but His commandments define what that looks like.
“Is it in the Bible? Doesn’t matter.” Unhitched! Also, it’s interesting that his entire definition of (or categorizing something as) sin is only how it relates to others. Sin is first and foremost against God, and that should be the focus. Yes, we can certainly sin against others, and that itself involves sin against God, but “against You only have I sinned” is the ultimate sense of it.
Another great one from Andy Stanley, DTS grad, antinomian, dispensationalist. So, God hates sin because He hates my poor choices since they will bring negative consequences on me. In other words, God doesn’t want me to sin because it will make my life less pleasant, and probably make life less pleasant for those around me too. Gotcha. My sin is nothing more than me acting foolishly, working against my own best interest. And when I choose to not sin, it’s me acting wisely in my own self-interest.
@ian that’s a strawman. Andy Stanley has as much to do with dispensationalism as lesbian clergy have to do with Presbyterians. Andy Stanley is an apostate because he rejects Scripture, and every committed dispensationalist I’ve known loves and submits to Scripture.
What he is basically saying is that God’s standards are harmful and are not what’s best for us. That he knows better than God knows. That God doesn’t decide what’s good and bad. And therefore that he and his congregation don’t need a savior at all.
I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a preacher say anything that flat-out satanic, in all my born days.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” – 1 John 5:3
” And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. …
… But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral [pornos] , sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.’ ”
Rev. 21: 5-8
“Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral [pornos] and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. ‘I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’ ”
Rev 22:15-16
“and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city”
Rev 22:19
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