The ABCs of Sinless Christian Living

I recall when I was a child that I expected because our flatware was made of stainless steel (i.e., knives, forks, and spoons), this meant they would never rust or become tarnished. However, when we first acquired an automatic dishwasher (yes, that dates me!), some flatware came out of a wash cycle stained. This caused me to re-evaluate my understanding of the term “stainless,” which has become synonymous with never staining. However, in reality, it meant that it “stained-less” than ordinary steel but was not “stain-free.”

Similarly, the world has expected Christians to live “sin-free” lives when in reality, there has only been one human that has accomplished that feat – Jesus the God-Man (1 John 3:5. 1 John 1:8.  Ecclesiastes 7:20. Romans 3:23). Nevertheless, those that are genuinely born again (1) AND have chosen to become disciples of Christ will live “sinless” lives. They will see a decreasing frequency of sin in their lives as they mature in Christ.

Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. (1 John 3:6 NET)

Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God's seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. (1 John 3:9 NET)

We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him. (1 John 5:18 NET)

The phrase “does not sin” in these verses (above) could be translated as “does not habitually sin” due to the present participle in Greek. Those who are truly born again may sin (1 John 1:8), but they do not live a lifestyle of sin (1 John 3:9).

If a person is living a lifestyle of sin and their conscience does NOT bother them, then likely they NEED to be born again (1). However, if you are NOT experiencing a reduction in the amount of sin in your life (1) and your conscience IS bothering you – but perhaps less and less over time (Hebrews 3:12,13. 1 Timothy 4:1,2) – it may be that you are born again but need to learn and practice the following ABC’s of Sinless Christian Living!

The following is an overview of the strategies from The ABCs of Sinless Christian Living series, which will be the subject of these articles:

Avert Your Senses (1)

Avert your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin from enticing people or things – immediately!

Completely effective against the visual sexual attraction to those you do not have to interact with like strangers (e.g., joggers, lingerie ads, magazine covers, billboards, movies, etc.).

Using your senses lustfully is only a bad habit that you developed from poor choices.

You are fighting hormones and habits.

Habits can be completely eliminated in six weeks.

Battle Lustful Thoughts (1)

Meditate on the Word of God.

Put on the whole armor of God (dress for spiritual success!).

Worship God privately and corporately.

Change the environment where you live and work.

Change how you spend your spare time.

Be accountable to others.

Change with whom you associate.

Have a firm personal commitment to being pure.

Starve the attractions by continually averting your senses from people or things that foster sinful thoughts.

Play the rest of the tape (i.e., the long-term consequence of the sin if I commit it).

Pray for your pastor when you are tempted!

Prepare a strategy for the “temptation period.” That is, do not wait to be tempted to figure out what to do – have a plan for avoidance and escape.

Cling to Christ (1)

Cultivate a deep, intimate, personal relationship with our Father God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Hate (i.e., completely separate from) sin, realizing you have no rights to it!

We must “reckon” ourselves dead to sin.

We must live our Christian life understanding the power of sinful nature was broken for us by Jesus at Calvary.

Consequently, we are under no obligation to obey its orders.

We have been set free from sin, and the proper response is to read God’s emancipation proclamation to the insistent demands of the flesh.

We must realize we are responsible for all sins we commit after salvation.

The believer must know that before salvation, we cannot help but sin.

After salvation, we sin as a free choice (like Adam in the Garden of Eden).

We must count on the fact of our possession of the divine nature.

This will free us from depending upon our own strength to live Sin-free.

We will then recognize the necessity of being moment by moment filled (controlled) by the Holy Spirit.

Spirit of Holiness Led Living (1)

There are just two things that the believer must do to be moment-by-moment led by the Holy Spirit:

1. Sincerely desire His leading.
2. Trust the Lord Jesus for that leading.

The Holy Spirit will then do two things for us:

1. He will suppress the activities of the evil nature.
2. He will produce in the believer a Christlike life.

This has been an overview of The ABCs of Sinless Christian Living. A more thorough understanding of each will be presented in subsequent blogs.

ABCs of Overcoming Temptation series:

• The ABCs of Sinless Christian Living
• ABCs Part I: Avert Your Senses!
• ABCs Part II: Battle Lustful Thoughts
• ABCs Part III: Cling to Christ
• ABCs Part IV: S.W.A.T

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Shalom
(Security, Wholeness, Success)
Peace

Dear friend, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. 
(3 John 1:2 NET)

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