1) A Sunday school teacher asked her class who the most important woman in the Bible is. A boy said Eve because Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are named after her. 2) The document discusses how the first word babies usually learn is "no" and how parents tried to avoid using that word but ultimately had to for safety reasons. 3) It argues that while it's important to teach people what to say "no" to, the church focuses too much on that and not enough on what to say "yes" to, like helping others. It claims Jesus focused more on helping people than condemning sins.

1. Oops...An Omission James 4:17Adapted from a Tim Bond sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/oopsan-omission-tim-bond-sermon-on-sin-general-50065.asp

2. One week a Sunday school teacher had just finished telling her class the Christmas story, how Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem and how Jesus was born there. So the teacher asked, “Who do you think the most important woman in the Bible is?”

3. Naturally the teacher was expecting some to say, “Mary.” But instead, a little boy raised his hand and said, “Eve.” So the teacher asked him why he thought Eve was the most important. And the little boy said, “Well, they named two days in the year after Eve. You know, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.”

4. What is the first word a little baby learns to recognize? It would be so nice if it were “momma” or “daddy” but it seems that’s not the what it usually is. The first word a child learns to recognize, it is an easy one to say, is usually “No.” Don’t you wish it wasn’t so? It seems like such a negative way to start them out with their first word being “no.”

5. A couple had their first child and they didn’t want their little baby to grow up being negative. The way they decided they would accomplish that was to not use the word “no” with their baby. That theory worked so well for the first few of months while their infant “cooed” and gurgled in the baby blanket.

6. How long do you think that theory lasted once the little guy started crawling around? After a broken lamp and a few near catastrophic mishaps, those parents and that baby learned just how important the word “no” really is.

7. No matter how much we hate it, the word “no” is a critical part of our learning how to get along in the world. Through it we learn the limits, we have defined for us the difference between right and wrong, between good and evil, between what is best for us and what is harmful to us. And quite honestly, a big part of preaching is helping people know what to say “no” to.

8. But unfortunately, sometimes we preachers never get past the word no. It’s a whole lot easier to teach people to “Just say no” than it is to help them understand what they need to say “yes” to. Consequently, over the years much of preaching, and a whole lot of what the Church is known for in our culture, has been what we are against rather than what we are for.

9. You know what happens. So much of the church’s words start sounding like the old adage you remember from years ago. “To be a good Christian you don’t drink, you don’t smoke, you don’t chew, and you don’t go with girls who do!” That’s an exaggeration, but you understand what I mean. Too much of our message can wind up only teaching people what to say no to.

10. Don’t misunderstand, learning to say no is very important, but it can be overemphasized.The church, and we preachers, have often been guilty of being so concerned about moral purity that we have ignored the command of Christ to get our hands dirty helping others. Avoiding sin doesn’t just mean learning how to say no, it also means learning when to say yes.

11. That is what James is speaking about as he pens the 17th verse of the 4th chapter of His letter. “So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.” Sin is not just avoiding evil. It is coming face to face with evil in hand to hand combat. If you look at the passage, you see that this sentence comes at the end of the paragraph about planning what you will do tomorrow.

12. James 4:13 NET Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit." 14 You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. 15 You ought to say instead, "If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that."

13. 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.As James highlights the need to turn every day over to God, he reminds us that God has a positive agenda for our lives. God has not simply told us what to avoid, He has told us and modeled for us what we should be doing. The reality of the Bible is that God has placed a big emphasis on what we should avoid.

14. There are a lot of “Thou shalt not’s” in the Bible. We have been told You shall have no other gods, notmake for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything…in heaven above…on the earth beneath…in the water below, take the name of the LORD your God in vain, murder, commit adultery, steal, give false testimony, covet (Exodus 20:3-17) or do any of those other big sins that God has restricted us from.

15. But it is interesting that when God came to earth, He spent very little time preaching and teaching against the sins of the flesh. It’s not that He took sin lightly. You can turn to the Sermon on the Mount and see that His definition of sin was very strict.

16. Matthew 5:27 NET "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' (Exo_20:14; Deu_5:18) 28But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.Nobody took sin as seriously as Jesus did. But you didn’t just know what Jesus was against. You knew what He was for because Jesus spent more of His life involved in a ministry of grace and mercy toward sinners.

17. -It was Jesus who was criticized for eating and drinking with the tax collectors. -It was Jesus who was ostracized for hanging out with the lepers and outcasts.-It was Jesus who would sit down with the women who had a bad reputation and show them that somebody cared about them as more than a piece of meat.-It was Jesus who was caring for the insane, the diseased and the desperate of His society.

18. As a matter of fact, when Jesus did preach a “hellfire and damnation” sermon, it was usually directed at the most religious people in His society. When Jesus preached to the Pharisees, He usually nailed them to the wall. The Pharisees were the most respectable religious people of their time. Everything they did was religious.

19. They went through the Old Testament with a fine toothed comb, and boiled down the Law of Moses to 613 direct commands. If you want to be godly, they thought, you must obey all the commands. Keep your hands clean by ritual hand washing. They prayed, fasted and tithed everything.

20. As a matter of fact, when they went out into their garden and picked some dill weed, they broke off 10% and put it in a collection bag to give to God. You can’t beat that for devotion to God, can you? Jesus said you can. Listen to an incident recorded in Luke 11:37 NET As he spoke, a Pharisee invited Jesus to have a meal with him, so he went in and took his place at the table.

21. 38The Pharisee was astonished when he saw that Jesus did not first wash his hands before the meal. 39 But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Didn't the one who made the outside make the inside as well? 41 But give from your heart to those in need, and then everything will be clean for you.

22. 42 “But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, rue, and every herb, yet you neglect justice and love for God! But you should have done these things without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the synagogues and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces! 44 Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it!"

23. 45One of the experts in religious law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things you insult us too." 46But Jesus replied, "Woe to you experts in religious law as well! You load people down with burdens difficult to bear, yet you yourselves refuse to touch the burdens with even one of your fingers!

24. Do you see why Jesus came down so hard on the most religious people in His time? The Pharisees were so caught up in religion they forgot about God’s will to help the poor, to promote justice, and they even forgot about loving God. When our perfect performance on the outside becomes more important than our love on the inside, then we have become more like the Pharisees than Jesus.

25. So if God’s time on earth was marked by helping others, doing good, and taking care of people’s needs, why is it so rare in our churches today?- It’s easy to be against homosexuality. But it is tough to find ways to effectively reach out to help someone trapped in a self-destructive lifestyle.

26. - It is not difficult to be against alcohol and drug abuse. However, it is tough to help those who turn to those substances to escape from the horrible realities of their life. It takes courage and patience to find ways to give them hope.- It’s much easier to be against gambling and welfare abuse than it is to find ways to help those who live lives of poverty.

27. - It’s not too hard to be against abortion, but being really “Pro-life” is tough. Let me ask you, if no abortion had been performed in the last 20+ years, would you be standing at the front of the line to adopt one or two of those 50 million unwanted children, many of them with severe birth defects.

28. Would you relish the thought of bringing them into your home, feeding and clothing them for years just like they were yours? If you really want to take James seriously, you can’t just be against something. The Christian model calls us to not only know what is right, but to live it out by doing the good things that result from a Christ-like character.

29. Jesus told a story about a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was robbed and beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. Before long a priest came along and saw him lying there. It is said that not less than 12,000 priests and Levites dwelt at Jericho; and as their business was at Jerusalem, of course there would be many of them constantly traveling on that road. (Barnes) With this in mind we don’t know whether this priest was going to his work at the temple or headed home.

30. Perhaps there was temple worship to be done, and the priest had an appointment to meet. Or he had just put in long hours at the temple, and he was ready to get home & relax. Besides, he could walk past and not break any of the 613 laws, and the guy looked dead so he would become ritually unclean if he stopped to see. So, he walked on by.

31. A Levite was the next to pass. He could have been in a hurry to get to worship also, and if he helped, he might not make it in time. If the guy was dead, he would become ritually unclean. Or he was in a hurry to get home, in either case he moved over to the other side of the road.

32. The third to come by was a Samaritan. To the Jews that Jesus was speaking to, a Samaritan was a nobody, somebody to be avoided. But to the injured man that Samaritan was a savior. He cleaned the crime victim up, took him to a Holiday Inn, paid for his room and came back to check on him.

33. The point that Jesus was making when He told that story was that the person who was being obedient to God wasn’t those guys who were in such a hurry to get back home in Jericho. The one who was obedient to God was the one who understood the second greatest commandment, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'Matthew 22:39b NET This is a quote from Leviticus 19:18 which is included in the list of 613 laws. Did the priest & Levite forget or ignore it?

34. We can classify all sin into 2 categories. There are the sins of commission. The things that we do that we aren’t supposed to do. When we commit a sin, when we do something that is wrong, it is a sin of commission. But from James 4:17 and others we find there are also sins of omission. These are the good things that we know we should do but we don’t do them.

35. Jesus spoke of the severity of punishment for the sins of omission in the parable about the master who came back early & found his servants not doing what they should have been. Luke 12:47 NET That servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or do what his master asked will receive a severe beating.

36. When we don’t do something that is right, we commit the sin of omission. This morning we have focused our attention of sins of omission, and I think you understand the general premise by now. But let me point out 4 specific sins of omission that we need to avoid.

37. To know of needs without helpingThe story of the good Samaritan that Jesus told is a challenge to us to help out when we recognize needs. Now I certainly realize that in a world filled with needs, we can’t help everyone all the time. But I also know that we could do more than we do.

38. Often we excuse ourselves from helping because it’s not easy, and frequently helping those with needs is time consuming and painful. But if we know of needs and are unwilling to help, we find ourselves in the shoes of the Priest and the Levite who walked past the crime victim without helping. Don’t commit the sin of omission by knowing of needs and then ignoring them.

39. Paul said in Ephesians 2:10 NET For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.When your eyes become fixed on a need you recognize, don’t hesitate, help. More than likely God has put you where you are and pointed you to that need for His purposes.

40. To be gifted without servingIn Paul’s 1st letter to the saints in Corinth he talks about the fact that we all have been given gifts, abilities to do things for the kingdom of God. As he discusses these abilities he makes a very important statement. 1 Corinthians 12:7 NET To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all.

41. That means that God did not give you your abilities, your gifts and talents simply to satisfy your own needs. God gave you those gifts for the good of everyone. If you have an ability to do something and you don’t do it, you are committing the sin of omission.Now let me get personal. Sometimes serving is a pain. Lets say the Congregation ask you to serve in some area.

42. Perhaps as elder, deacon, teacher, visiting shut-ins or prospective members, or whatever and you say, “I’ll do the work, but I hate meetings.” “I’m not a leader!” There are all kinds of excuses, but as you offer them you should listen to your words and ask yourself if you are avoiding using your giftedness for service. If so, you need to recognize in yourself the sin of omission. James 4:17 NET So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.

43. Earlier in that letter Paul feared disobedience to a direct command he received from Jesus.1 Corinthians 9:16c NET For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I am compelled to do this. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! Could this also be said by someone who is asked by a congregation to teach, preach, or serve in another area? Woe to me if I do not fulfill that need?

44. To know the truth without tellingDo you know someone who needs to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior but doesn’t? Are you aware of somebody who used to be active in church but now never darkens the door? Is there someone that you know you need to talk to about their relationship with Jesus, but you’ve been avoiding the subject?

45. Often the Holy Spirit nudges us to speak to people about our faith and we ignore Him because we don’t want to or we are afraid we don’t know how. Recognize that the principle of sins of omission means that when we don’t respond to those promptings to tell other people the message of Jesus, we are sinning.

46. Often our fear is there because we fail to recognize that God has been working in their life to prepare them for hearing what we are about to say. Don’t commit the sin of omission by knowing the truth and failing to tell it.

47. To hear the good news about Jesus without respondingAs I think about the truth that James points us to in 4:17, I am overwhelmed with my sin. Some people might think themselves so self-righteous that they can avoid sin, but when you come to recognize that sin includes knowing good things to do and not doing them, that is dreadful.

48. The weight of that guilt could destroy a person, or at least make one feel like it is impossible to ever be right with God. If sin separates us from God, and every time I don’t do the best thing possible is sin, then what hope is there?I’m glad you asked. The good news of Jesus Christ is that there is a hope. Jesus died to save us from the eternal consequences of our sin.

49. When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, it was for the purpose of saving us from every sin we’ve committed. Instead of paralyzing us to be afraid of moving, understanding the complete nature of sin helps us to love God all the more for freeing us from the burden of sin.However, once you’ve heard the good news about Jesus dying on the cross, you have a responsibility to respond.

50. The ultimate sin of omission is to know the good news about Jesus and to refuse to obey. As the author of Hebrews wrote how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?... Hebrews 2:3a NET The obvious answer to that question is “We can’t.” Don’t commit the ultimate sin of omission by refusing to respond to the grace of Jesus Christ.