Rivals

John 16:8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment

November 15, 1997. We were in Athens, Ga. celebrating a huge upset win by our Tigers in the South's oldest rivalry game, Auburn vs. Georgia. We found ourselves hungry and standing in a Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakery, waiting for our food to be ready when it happened. A combination of loose tongues, pride and adult beverages fueled the entire absolutely stupid scene that hit its climax as the eight of us found ourselves in a position where about 70 Georgia fans furiously wanted to expel us from their midst. I am still unsure exactly how it got started, and it does not really matter, but it is safe to say that it is a minor miracle that their was not a large brawl that night. The battle lines were clear: happy gloaters pridefully wearing orange and blue and disgustingly infuriated folks wearing red and black. Tensions and emotions were high on both sides. At that moment, there was no neutral ground, and no way for us all to peacefully exist in the same restaurant. Rivals in the heat of the battle can not intermingle, so we got our pizza and left ......

In the above passage, John is detailing the Holy Spirit's role in the life of a believer. His Holiness convicts of Sin, Righteousness and Judgement. Simply put, He highlights and instructs us about the horror of sin,the Exclusive righteousness of Christ and the war between the two and He makes sure we all see that judgement is real. Sin and Holiness are more than just football rivals, they are cosmic forces that are diametrically opposed to one another. Holiness is a term used to describe the uniqueness of God. Sin in a broad sense means all things against opposed to God.

If we are unable to see that Jesus came to make war against sin and that the Holy spirit rallies us against it as well, we have missed a basic point. God and sin can not commune with one another. Like a Klu Klux Klan member showing up at a black panther rally in downtown Detroit - there will be an extremely large clash when the two forces encounter one another.

I am at a loss when I hear of churches having leaders that are openly living in a lifestyle of sin. Instead of these leaders allowing God to deal with their sin they start to rewrite what is sin. They want to make something that is anti-God, pro-God. No wonder the church confuses people. We all have sin, but if there is no conviction of continuous sin and that is the role of the spirit, we should question if the spirit is in us. If the Holy spirit is not in us - we are not saved. I don't see any where in the bible where the Holy bride of Christ is accepting of continuous sin that flies in the face of God. I definitely do not see any place where people get away with telling God what are the new "acceptable actions" that He just needs to get over and understand. We have lost our fear of a Holy God.

If you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, sin will be a rival that you will wage war against, not make excuses for. No matter the sin, the Holiness of God has nailed it to the cross victoriously. He did not come so that we could be comfortable in our sin, but that we would be thankful from being delivered from it.