We all have a destination in life. Maybe you go on your GPS to find your favorite coffee shop, maybe you go to work, or maybe you head to school. Now, there have been moments in my life where I would miss the turn which caused a delay on the expected time that I would make it to my destination. Of course, I would be mad at myself and start going astray. The only way for us to head back to the right track is to redirect ourselves back to our destination.

Sin takes a similar effect on the individual’s efforts to remain in Christ or an unbeliever who will keep avoiding the truth of the Gospel. The cause of sin is the compromise of choosing yourself over Christ and what He expects us to do.

We will go through a few a scriptures that will help us paint the picture of what it means to be going astray.

Biblical Support:

Isaiah 53:6

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,^(A)
each of us has turned to our own way;^(B)
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity^(C) of us all

The verse in Isaiah specifically mentions we have turned to our own way. We have “gone astray.”

Ezekiel 34:6

⁶ My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

The verse of Ezekiel demonstrates the examples of “scattered” and the consequences of that are not being reachable and experiencing loneliness.

Psalms 119:176

¹⁷⁶ I have strayed like a lost sheep.^(A)
Seek your servant,
for I have not forgotten^(B) your commands.

In Psalms, we see the word strayed and lost. And the answer to redirect is not forgetting commands.

Matthew 18:12-14

¹² “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³ And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴ In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

The most common verse of the lost sheep demonstrates being “wandered off” and this is speaking about the effect of sin. This is talking about looking for the sheep who are lost in sin, who went their way, away from Jesus Christ Himself.

1 Peter 2:25

²⁵ For “you were like sheep going astray,”^[a](A)but now you have returned to the Shepherd^(B)and Overseer of your souls.^(C)

Peter states that Jesus is the Overseer of our souls. The goal for those who have strayed away is to return to the Shepherd.

Conclusion:

We must remember that straying away happens in our lives because we make choices of our own. We are in a destination to become more like Jesus daily in our lives and by following His directions. If we do sin, stray away and go on our own way, we must return back to Christ Himself to be back on track towards our destination to glorify Him and to become like Him.

The Importance of this Study

I remember one of the many implications that I have learned regarding sin is the meaning of missing the mark. Which for an introductory of the terminology, it makes logical sense when it comes to us missing the mark of God’s holy standard. Sin seems to be a subject that due to the lack of in-depth study people are simply going to just understand it based on actions performed. That explanation isn’t a bad one but to truly understand the terminology of sin it goes way deeper than just “missing the mark”, Which is why I will be doing these Educational Journals to record the insights that I am receiving. Most of the information will be taken by the Course “Man and Sin” by Simon Chan.

Causes:

It is important to note the importance of what sin causes in the life of an individual. This includes that sin is not just an action but an effect. It makes an impact on an individuals core and how they function as those who are made in the Image of God. Knowing these types of causes can help us see the scope of the individuals and their struggle with sin and how it hinders their acceptance and relationship with God.

1.) Ignorance

Learning to interpret the bible it is suggested to not only look into modern dictionaries but also the context on which the term is being used. Ignorance in the modern sense means uninformed. You tend to be uninformed of a situation or issue when it comes to conflict resolution, you could put up a flag of ignorance to state your reasoning for not knowing.

He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.

Hebrews 5:2

Paul in His encounter with the Athenians that God overlooked some ignorance as they worshipped the “Unknown God”.

“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”

Acts 17:10

Peter gives us a command to not live out our old sinful desires due to our ignorance, but to live as obedient children.

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

1 Peter 1:14

Paul acted in Ignorance but God showed him mercy.

Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

1 Timothy 1:13

While this is the modern usage of the term of Ignorance let’s go ahead and look at the biblical usage when it comes to the point of sinfulness.

When it comes to the context of biblical usage it provides a different
meaning which is a hardness of heart. While the modern usage isn’t sinful due to just not knowing because of unawareness. The biblical usage states that it is sinful due to the hardness of the heart of denying the truth.

“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their darkness of heart.”

Ephesians 4:18

We can see the word ignorance within the context connects with understanding and being apart from the Life of God. The darkness of the heart stems towards that they are in denial with their understanding of the truth. This concludes that this is the type of ignorance that is caused by an individual’s lack of belief and acceptance of God. The following verse states that outcome of remaining in this and something that should be avoided.

Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

Ephesians 4:19

While the individual is purposely denying the truth it ends up with a loss of all sensitivity. This is a scary place to be due to the forceful numbness that can happen with the individual. This encourages and motivates them to pursue sinful actions because they are not allowing the truth to convict them of their need to acknowledge the truth of the Gospel.

While Paul was writing to the church of Corinth, He was explaining a few things about prophets or those who claimed to be Spirit-Filled that they should believe Paul’s credibility due to God’s command. While the Scripture doesn’t state “Ignorance” It does state that in some manuscripts.

If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. ³⁸ But if anyone ignores (ignorant) this, they will themselves be ignored (ignorant).

1 Corinthians 14:37-38

In conclusion, it is important to understand that sin causes Ignorance towards individuals who are in denial of the Gospel which cultivates harden hearts to lose sensitivity. We must be praying for those who are struggling in this cause of sin that we were able to examine and discuss about.

The Ministry Call:

            The Calling that comes from God has been demonstrated in the biblical accounts of both the Old and New Testaments. There are different variety of different callings that we can see the evidences in these accounts. There is the call of the salvation that God has called us to him to become a believer because of Jesus’s work on the cross that gave forgiveness of our sins for fellowship and reconciliation to God. (Romans 3:23–24) There is also the call for service which Is active when believers gather together and active gifts of the Holy Spirit is expressed and edifies the Body. (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11) Lastly, there are the offices as the call for ministry, which is for those who are set apart to build up the rest of the body of Christ for the ministry. (Ephesians 4:7–16)

The Call of The Believer:

Because of our sinful state, we are enemies to God and won’t be able to notice our need for a savior unless a messenger comes with the gospel and explains to us the ways of Salvation. God calls people and gives the opportunity for people to know Jesus and to receive the salvation given to us by the sacrifice Jesus provided at the cross. We see two examples throughout the Book of Acts where people got called by God to share the good news of Jesus. First, We see in the book of Acts that Philip had an opportunity to present the good news to the eunuch. (Acts 8:35) Because of his obedience to the Holy Spirit regarding this opportunity, there was a messenger that brought the good news to an individual which brought salvation. Second, we can see in the Book of Acts regarding Paul’s being put in prison and encounters the Philippian Jailer. There was a shift within the jail cell that God was letting Paul escape from prison causing earthquakes to the point that even scared the jailer. He was about the kill himself but Paul intervene and the Jailer asked Paul how He can be saved. (Acts 16:30) God planed this out due to Paul being the messenger to represent the good news caused even the jailer’s family to be saved. This is a call that awakens us our need for the good news and knowing what Jesus has done. Without this call, we won’t be able to go through the additional calls that God may use His people.

The Call of the Service:

We as individuals who gather together for the purpose to worship God have an active role. Each of us has been given a gift from God to be able to express His Glory in our lives through those abilities and talents. (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11) There are both administrative gifts and spiritual gifts that each believer can express when it comes to gatherings and services. (Romans 12:3–8, 1  Corinthians 12:28) We must have this mindset that God has called us each to do a function, Timothy had struggles with His own gift that He received from ordination. (2 Timothy 1:6) I believe what Paul is saying to Timothy could benefit us as well when it comes to our gifts and talents when it comes to the call of service. Paul tells Timothy to fan the flame which means to actually use His gift. We service each other when we function together as a Body, which is important why God designed us with gifts.

The Call of the Offices:

The next calling that God offers is those who are chosen for this specific task. These are people who are called to equip those who are gathered for ministry. Certain movements call them offices or the terminology called “Five-Fold Ministry” when I come to these specific tasks. (Ephesians 4:7–16) They are found in the Book of Ephesians and emphasizes on the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher. People vary on the interpretations regarding these callings as some believe that Apostles and Prophets are obsolete. While some of the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements recognize those offices are valid for today. We see Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher to be the main focus when it comes to those who do not believe the following others have positions like pastor, professor, or someone who preaches at different churches. While the other side of the belief of Apostle and Prophets are those who are overseers of different churches and Prophets who are the messenger that God speaks regarding the future. Whatever belief you tend to follow about the ceasing of the Apostolic Gifts or if you believe in all the function: They all need to know the Counsel of God, Following the biblical standards of the overseers and deacon and set an example for others to follow.(2 Timothy 2:15, 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-9) This is why I believe in Ordination as a universal function for whichever office the person is trying to pursue because they have gone through testing and examination regarding theology, doctrine, and practice.