Asking For A Friend 2025 - Week 1

Is All Sin Equal In God’s Sight?

Sunday, May , 2025

Asking for a friend is a booklet series based on sermons preached at UBC. After Easter, our Elders thought it best to preach two sermons that aim to answer a hard to ask difficult question.  These messages then are revised into booklets and made available to our congregation and guests. This week, the sermon aimed to answer the question “Is all sin equal in God’s sight?”

LAUNCHING QUESTION

After gathering together on Sunday morning, in what ways were we edified “to help others become wholehearted followers of Jesus Christ who know Him and make Him known?”    

(Leaders: help your people explore how worshipping, fellowshipping, and hearing the Word preached relates to UBC’s mission statement)

Please Read & pray Psalm 119:105

THE QUESTION 

 IS ALL SIN EQUAL IN GOD’S SIGHT? How do you answer this question? 

The Catholics say, “all sin is NOT equal in God’s sight”. The Protestants/Evangelicals say, “all sin IS equal in God’s sight”. Who is right? Why do you think one religious group is right over the other?  

  1. The Bible says all sin is equal.

    1. Read James 2:10-11. How do you understand James 2:10-11?

    2. Illustration: like a glass with one crack or many cracks, the glass is broken. 

  2. The Bible says all sin is not equal

    1. Read Matt. 23:23; John 19:11. How do you understand these verses? 

    2. Read Ex. 21:22-25. What insights from this passage point in the direction of “all sin is not equal”? 

    3. Read Num. 15:27-30 & 1 Cor. 5:1-2,5

    4. Read Matt. 11:23. How does this passage tell us “all sin is not the same”?

    5. Read Rev. 20:12. What phrase in this verse seems to agree with “all sin is not the same?” 

THE ANSWER

What is the answer to the question “Is all sin equal in God’s sight?”    

Pastor Jason put before us two options.

 Option one: Is the answer yes? or no? 

 Option two: Or is the answer yes and no? 

  • What is the basic difference between the options? Why is it important to see the second option as the correct answer? How can both options be simultaneously true? 

  • What implications does this have for our daily walk of faith? (think daily repentance and fresh faith when noticing our “small” sins) How can understanding option two give assurance and joy to our lives? (think about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ as providing full and forever forgiveness and favor even when we are confronted with our “big” sins). 

Discuss the 3 applications to the sermon

  1. Be careful when saying “all sin is equal in God’s sight.”

    The statement in one sense is accurate but what are the dangers in thinking this way? 

  2. Don’t think of any sin as being no big deal.

    What attitude follows if we think that sin is something light and insignificant? What might be our  “small” sins? Examples might include fretting, gossipping, laziness, impatience, controlling, and the like.  

  3. All sins are forgiven in Christ. 

    How does this implication to the message stun you into fire-hearted worship? Into glad-hearted obedience?  When Jesus said, “It is finished” while hanging on the cross, how does that relate to both your “small sins” and your “big sins”? What does repentance look like? feel like? What does cordial trust look like? feel like?  


LANDING QUESTION

After our time together as a Growth Group, in what ways are we now edified “to help others become wholehearted followers of Jesus Christ who know Him and make Him known?”     

(Leaders: The landing question is designed to help our people  experience the joy of community conversations and notice their shaping influence on our lives. That is, when Christians - having the same mind as Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5) - come together to talk and listen to each other, there is a mysterious and lasting influence on how we view and do life.)