Has anyone ever called you a "sell out?" It is a modern day insult that means you have compromised yourself for something momentary or counterfeit. "Sell outs" settle for less than the best. "Sell outs" can live with cheap copies and artificial versions. "Sell outs" are people who give in to experiences that are cheapened by the culture around them. They have lost their purity and have lowered themselves to standards that only the commoner would hold. "Sell outs" allow the culture to dictate what is of value.
"Sell outs" are people who have to do what everyone else does. When we "sell out," we become followers who simply get in line and copy those who are in front of us. For years, I resisted the idea of sending text messages. I felt like personal conversation was something real and pure and that communicating in 5 word bursts somehow cheapened the level of discourse. I didn't Tweet because 64 characters wasn't enough for me to express my thoughts. I said I would never Facebook because it was meaningless sharing and was superficial. Well, the other day, a friend called me a "sell out" because I had caved to the cultural pressure and created a Facebook page and Twitter account. I also got the newest i-phone.
So now, I tweet, book and instant message. I have even learned how to text on my new phone. I was once a technological "hold out" who resisted new forms of communication. Now, I am a technological "sell-out" who my friend says has "bagged the personal in favor of the impersonal."
I have lost my relational purity and my arrogant need to feel superior to the sheep around me. Now I am just another electronic fish in a sea of smart phones. I am stained by the sin of surrendering to what is fast, easy and cheap.
I am not the first "sell out." The idea of "selling out" goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We all know the story. Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent into giving in to their own selfish desire to eat the forbidden fruit. God had set a standard for how He wanted them to live. All they had to do was do it God's way. But they couldn't do it. The temptation to give in to momentary pleasures and selfish desires was to great to bear. Their desire to be equal to God and to know all the answers was too much. They just couldn't "hold out" instead, they became the first cultural "sell outs."
Christian theologians refer to this original "sell out" as the original or first sin. The use of the word "original" is a little deceiving. The only thing original about Adam and Eve's sin was that they were the first ones to do it. What isn't "original" about it is that everyone of us since has repeated the very same behavior. So the "original sin" is really "the sin we inherited from Adam and Eve" because we engage in it every day. No one has been able to avoid being tainted by the allure to give in to our own desires and will. We are all "sell outs" to sin.
Theologians claim that this original sin was unnecessary. God had created human beings to live in perfect relationship. As long as Adam and Eve followed the rules, they could live in the perfection of God's presence. But they failed to do so and got kicked out of the garden. Because of their sell out we have been infected with their fallen will and have been forced to live in a broken world. We are "sell outs" who no longer live in the perfect presence of God. The sin has separated us from the God who loves us. On our own we are powerless to get back into His good graces. There is no way for us to repair this broken relationship. We are stuck!
Many question why a loving God would separate himself from the people He created because of one mistake made thousands of years ago. The reason is that God is Holy. And Holy means that God is set apart. In other words, God cannot allow sin into His presence because He is incapable of being associated with imperfection. He is perfect and that is that. So, there is a separation.
Some theologians argue that when Adam and Eve gave in to the serpent, Adam and Eve sold themselves into his slavery and service. Satan now owns our world and has access to our immortal souls. It is a bargain God has allowed. He has given Satan first dibs on us and our world which is why Satan is often referred to in scripture as "The prince of the air," or "the prince of this world." How God and Satan worked out this deal is something we will never know or understand. But God made a deal and because He is who He is, He will not break the deal. So Satan gets a shot at all of us. He even got a shot at Jesus in the desert for 40 days.
But this is not the end of the story. In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul writes, "He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins."
Because God wanted us to freely choose Him, He gave us the freedom to choose badly. Because of God's bargain with Satan, Satan has free reign to try to lie to us and lead us astray from God. But God has a lot more going on than Satan. God may have allowed us to sell ourselves to Satan through sin, but God has a plan to bring us back to Him through Jesus Christ.
In the 1st Century a theologian named Origen came up with the idea of that God has bought back those who have sold out to sin. Origen argues that God tricked Satan into accepting Christ's death as a ransom to pay for the souls of fallen humanity. You see, the devil did not realize that Christ could not be held in death. Satan was a bad guy, but he didn't know everything. He may have been a fallen angel, but he could not see the things of eternity or into the future God had planned.
So he took the deal and traded sinful humanity for the death of Jesus. It seemed like a great deal for Satan. By letting God sacrifice His Son, He thought he was really sticking it to God. It was great payback. It would be something he could mock God about for eternity. He could laugh, snicker and snarl for eternity over the death of God's Son Jesus Christ.
But God tricked the devil into believing that death was the end for humanity. Satan did not see and could not comprehend God's plan for eternity. He thought Christ would be dead forever. He didn't know about the resurrection plan. Once the devil accepted God's deal to buy back humanity, Justice was served and God was able to win us back from the clucthes of the devil.
This satisfied God's judgement on sin and allowed us back into relationship with Him. Jesus' death and resurrection was the act of God that brings us forgiveness. God is pure and cannot live in the presence of sin. But through blood of Christ our sinfulness is covered by the Blood shed by Jesus on the cross. When God sees us, He sees the blood and when He sees the blood, He sees His Son. He is moved to compassion and forgives us our sin and welcomes us back into His presence.
Now, I need to be clear. Many Christians do not believe in the "ransom" idea of how our sins were forgiven. They either deny the existence of Satan or they think God would never lower Himself to bargain with Him. The idea that God would "trick" Satan is also for some to accept. They believe God wouldn't use deception at any level.
But whether you like it or not, it is scripture-based. We were once "sell outs" to sin. But through Jesus Christ we have been "bought back" from the devil.
Now that seems like a pretty good baragain to me.
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