I teach a class at my home church that we call the Jesus Journey. It is for people who want to know what it looks like to follow Jesus, how to start that journey, how to come back to that journey, and how to stay on that journey.

We have a lot of ex-offenders, addicts, and recovering sin addicts in the class. Lots of new followers and lots of thinking about following Jesus.

So we talk about sin. Not just being forgiven, but being serious about living that forgiveness.  

We recently studied the story of when Jesus overturned the money changers’ tables in the Temple court. We tell lots of stories to help us learn how we live out our Jesus journey today. That story has great applications about greed or using religion to make money. Some even think that story should be used as a call to go off on churches that build lavish buildings for large professional staff.

But those are not the points we needed to make.

We needed to talk about what, I think, is really the point. So here is the main point we talked about with this story. I hope it helped the class as much as it helped me.  

Jesus does not mess around with sin.

He is the same Jesus who told us it is better to put out our eye rather than let it cause us to sin. The same Jesus who told a woman caught in adultery to stop sinning or something worse would happen. The Jesus who said to cease fellowship with believers who will not repent of their sin. The Jesus who said refraining from physical adultery was not enough—you can't even lust in your heart.

So what is the point for us?

Quit playing around with your sin.

Stop it. Cut it off at the source. Be radical in stopping your addictions. Stop rationalizing and making excuses. Just stop sinning.

Hard to do? Yes.

Necessary? Yes.

Jesus was hard on sin because forgiving our sins cost him his life.  

Don't mess around with sin.