Be the Biggest Sinner in the Room
For Easter, SpoofsandProofs.com is happy to present a classic podcast (scroll down for the print version), entitled, “Be the Biggest Sinner in the Room,” which was originally published in Touchstone magazine. Naturally, this article draws from our vast experience in fulfilling the role of most egregious sinner. Surprisingly, we’ve never been formally recognized or awarded anything for this feat, but we’ll be working hard to get some recognition for it in 2023.
Text Version: “Be the Biggest Sinner”
Many of us have been graced by the presence of the “smartest person in the room,” the guy or gal who invariably is the one everyone else defers to because of his or her towering intellect, awe-inspiring wisdom, or extraordinary insight. Perhaps, like me, you’re just a bit envious of that person, and even aspire yourself to the lofty role of the “smartest person in the room.”
Instead, I propose we set our sights on being, “The Biggest Sinner in the Room.” While some of us are naturally gifted as sinners, and would jump at to compete for such a distinction, that’s not what I had in mind –although I’m all for setting attainable goals.
Rather, I am suggesting that in any room or situation we find ourselves in, whether murderer’s row at San Quentin, a crack house, a convention of abortion “doctors,” or even among a gathering of television evangelists, that we think of ourselves as the baddest of the bad.
Why? Well, for one thing, it would be true, since it is consistent with what we know about ourselves relative to what we know about those around us. And yes, this is even true when we find ourselves in a room of politicians or the most notorious of serial killers. Indeed, the two groups can be hard to distinguish.
How can that be? Because, even if we haven’t committed the physical act of murder, no doubt you and I have killed hundreds in our thoughts, making us as bad as a serial killer.
A fundamental principle of scripture is that any thought that leads up to or contributes to the breaking of a commandment is forbidden by that same commandment. This idea is underscored when Jesus admonishes, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) Similarly, Jesus equates the consequences for hatred with that of murder when he warns that anyone who is merely angry with his brother (or sister) is in danger of hell-fire. (Matthew 5:20-22).
As predecessors to evil acts, wicked thoughts earn God’s just disapprobation. Jesus’teaching on the dangers of sins of the mind isn’t a new covenant innovation –it appears explicitly in the Mosaic Law’s “top ten.” The tenth commandment—“thou shall not covet” – explicitly forbids sins of the mind,thereby signaling humankind’s tendency toward external legalism. Indeed, if God’s law hadn’t specified that even evil thoughts are offensive to God, it would be easy to conclude that our secret toying and nurturing of sin is fine –as long as we didn’t t act on it.
Yet even God’s explicit prohibition against the harboring of sinful thoughts and desires didn’t keep Israel from practicing a show religion that was utterly at odds with the meaning and spirit of the law. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Jesus exclaims, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Matthew 15:8)
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that all sins are equal in gravity or that we shouldn’t assign greater degrees to sinful acts as compared to the intentions preceding them. Of course we must. Such thinking might lead a Christian believer to improperly reason that there was nothing to lose by carrying out the evil deeds that he or she had been “merely” entertaining.
Given our propensity for the internal, hidden sins of the heart, by the time we reach adulthood, it’s a given that all of us have broken all of the ten commandments innumerable times. It stands to reason that our intimate knowledge of our own law-breaking certainly far outweighs what we know about the sins committed by even the most prolific of external sinners.
Nonetheless, we can’t possibly know that God’s displeasure with the many sins we’ve nursed and harbored in our minds are any less heinous than the few sinful actions we’re aware that others have carried out. At a minimum,“Judge not” means we must never assess the sins of any other person as greater than our own. And even if we are aware that a friend, colleague, or acquaintance has committed heinous crimes, we surely are unaware of the full extent of factors God may judge to be mitigating – such as a childhood of abuse or neglect.
Nor are we in a position to apprehend the spiritual knowledge and conscience of another, which God says is figured into divine justice. Jesus puts it this way:“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.” (Luke 12:47-48) The more we know, the more accountable we’ll be.
At bottom, we simply lack any frame of reference and moral ability to adjudge another sinner’s ultimate culpability and deserved punishment as any greater than our own. This seems to be the approach taken by the Apostle Paul after his conversion. Without any hint of false modesty or exaggeration, he refers to himself as the worst of sinners, despite the fact he zealously observed the Old Testament laws prior to his conversion. (1 Timothy 1:15) And, while by his own admission, he relentlessly pursued and prosecuted early believers in Jesus as heretics, Paul doesn’t excuse his actions, despite it being revealed to him that the mercy extended to him was at least in part due to his spiritual blindness. (1 Timothy 1:13)
Despite having the opportunity to minimize his offenses, Paul never disclaims his guiltiness, but rather owns the identity of “biggest sinner.” He in fact states that he is the “chief of sinners.” In his defense, he hadn’t met me – or you, for that matter.
If Paul, next to Christ, the greatest expositor and exponent of Christianity in history, saw himself this way, perhaps you and I should as well. Likely, the power of our witness and lives as Christ-followers can be measured by the extent to which we appropriate Paul’s way of thinking, since our gratitude to and efforts on behalf of Christ flow out of our awareness of the extent of forgiveness we’ve been granted.
In my view, the wisdom of being the biggest sinner in the room was most poignantly illustrated on the occasion of the anointing of Jesus’ feet by the sinful woman, likely a former prostitute, in the home of Simon, a Pharisee who was hosting Jesus and others for dinner.
Simon is appalled that Jesus isn’t appalled by this woman’s presence and attention. So, Jesus asks Simon to consider who is more grateful, a person who is forgiven a small debt, or someone forgiven a large one. Simon correctly judges that big debtor, i.e., sinner, has more reason to be thankful than little debtors or sinners. Jesus then pointedly explains why the sinful woman is so extravagant in her love toward Him: “I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Luke 7:47b So, the one deemed the biggest sinner in the room on this occasion is also the person upon whom Jesus heaps the greatest praise. Christianity isn’t often referred to as, “the upside down kingdom,” for nothing.
I don’t want to suggest that it is easy to attain the same spiritual posture as the “sinful woman.” We can stop breathing as readily as we can stop comparing our own moral and spiritual worthiness with those around us. But,perhaps the realistic assessment that, to the best of our knowledge, we are easily the biggest sinners in the room, can move us toward repentance and keep the pride monster at bay. And, like the sinful woman, it might even motivate us to greater love, worship, and service. Jesus gives us hope that big sinners like you and me can be transformed into great lovers.
In any event, if you happen to forget, I’ll do my best to remind you of your unrivaled position as the biggest sinner in the room. Oops.