Thank God I Am Not Like Them: The Double Standard Of Sin (ours vs THEIRS)

If we were honest, most of us have two different scales we use to measure sin. There’s the one we use with our sins and the one we use with others. If we aren’t careful, the tendency is to make the sins of others out to be more disgusting than our sins. Others have to live under a microscope of judgment while we need…grace. This should not be so.

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18 about a Pharisee and a tax collector who had both gone to the temple to pray. The Pharisee begins his prayer not with humility and a heart of thankfulness but with a list of his spiritual accomplishments. In his mind, he wasn’t like “other” people. He fasted twice a week, gave a tenth of his income and never went anywhere near OnlyFans. That's my paraphrased version by the way and if you don't know what OnlyFans is you should count yourself blessed. Don't go look it up… I'll be writing another article on it soon. This hypothetical Pharisee wasn't like “cheaters, sinners, or adulterers” and was not in any way shape or form like this tax collector whom he identifies…out loud…like for all to hear.

In a non-pharisaical approach, the tax collector stands in the distance and doesn’t even “lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed.” The scriptures say that he stood there and “beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.” Jesus then goes on to say something so deeply impactful.

I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Not going to lie to you, I didn't see that coming and neither would his audience. We see in verse 9 that Jesus was telling this story to a crowd who had great confidence in their righteousness and scorned everyone else. Jesus doesn’t condemn the behaviour of the Pharisees as if fasting or tithing was immoral or something. But what He does do is reveal what must’ve been forgotten.

We are all infected and impure with sin.
    When we display our righteous deeds,
    they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
    and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

Isaiah 64:6

Quite often when we talk about sin, especially sexual sin, it is viewed through an “us & them” lens. What I mean by that is there is a socially acceptable sin practiced by the majority (us) and then there are the unacceptable sinful practices done by the minority (them). The “us” tend to see their sin as no big deal while making sure that the work knows just how bad the sins of the “them” are and how they shouldn’t be tolerated in any way.

This seems to be a good spot to take a minute to bring everyone up to speed. All sin put Jesus on the cross! Even your pet sin that you think is no big deal. There isn’t one human being outside of Jesus that can stand with clean hands and a pure heart. We all have gone astray and fallen short of the holy standard of God's glorious character.

In 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 it says, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,  nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

This is one of the most quoted scriptures on the topic of sexual immorality. Often it is a foundation for arguments on a biblical sexual ethic ie. Sexual practice is reserved for the realm of a man and woman who have made a marriage covenant between each other and God. The homosexual part of the verse tends to get a lot of air time which is not incorrect. Homosexual actions and desires are sinful in the same way that a heterosexual act or desire that would be outside of the context in which sex is reserved is. But did you notice any of the other sinful acts within that verse? Out of the nine sinful practices listed it's the four sexually related ones that get the most air time. For most of us, we didn't even know the other five were part of this scripture. I am joking obviously but you see my point. We’ve developed a slanted view of sin practices, rating them on a scale set by the culture. For example, we quite often call ambition and motivation what the bible calls greed. People are running their lives into the ground chasing financial and material gain. The fruit of which is what Paul states in 1 Timothy 6: 10, “some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” When was the last time we got fired up and took the righteous stand against people working too much? When was the last time an eldership board fasted and prayed about whether or not they should be affirming such lifestyles?

I don't ask these low-key sarcastic questions as a means to downgrade sexual immorality in any way. It's the contrary. I think we need to hold all of scripture, with all its warnings and instructions, with equal reverence. Not picking and choosing what is sinful for others but permissible for us because our sin is culturally normative. This is exactly the danger that the Pharisee in Luke 18 had allowed himself to slip into. He had lost awareness of his need for redemption and found a sense of righteousness in the fact that he wasn’t like others.

The question is who are you in this parable? You might be reading this and are walking out genuine holiness in trusting and obeying God's Word with humility, repenting of known sin. If this is the case, praise God! But, if you have allowed yourself to build a second scale of sin based upon your desires and the pattern of our current cultural moment, friend you need to repent. You must allow your perspective and definition of the sinful practice you are diminishing to be exchanged with God's perspective. Repentance is not just merely feeling bad about your sin but seeing God's way as best and Jesus as sufficient for all your inadequacy.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This saying is true, and it can be trusted. I was the worst sinner of all!  But since I was worse than anyone else, God had mercy on me and let me be an example of the endless patience of Christ Jesus. He did this so that others would put their faith in Christ and have eternal life.”  1 Timothy 1:15-16 ESV

We don’t know some of what Paul's specific struggles with sin were. We know that what he is talking about here is partly connected to his past of persecuting the church. No matter what else his wrestle with indwelling sin was, we read that he saw himself as the worst of sinners. He counted his sin as greater than anyone else’s. What would it look like if we all postured our hearts this way? I know there are consequences of sinful practices that are greater than others in this life but we cannot forget that all sin put Jesus on the cross.

I encourage you today to smash the second set of scales you have in the weighing out of sin and its severity. Adopt God's scale as your one and only for this is the way the leads to life.