Text: 1 John 1:1-2:2
Focus: Forgiveness
Function: To see the universal nature of forgiveness
1:1We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3what we have seen and heard we also declare to you so that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
5This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
2:1My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, 2and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Good morning and Happy Easter celebration. I have been focusing on the power, the meaning and the witness of the resurrection during my morning meditation.
Easter gives us hope and calms our fears in the midst of death and darkness. God is the light and now we also, are the light of the world and God is shining through us.
This passage, the confession, or the acknowledgment of sin in our lives is part of the foundation of our Christian life.
John, the author, tells us that if we deny that we have ever sinned and are not willing to confess our sins, then we make God out to be a liar since God said that we are in need of restoration.
I fear that in preaching about sin, people will get the wrong idea and will be filled with shame and lose the hope that the resurrection provides for us.
Early in my ministry, I realized that uncovering sin was meaty material for preaching and I was constantly making people aware of how much they need a savior.
And it is important, I believe, to God, that we acknowledge our need for restoration, or a savior.
I have often said that the church is made up of those who are humble enough to admit that they are not completely self-sufficient and they they are willing to depend on God for help and strength.
He tells us to confess our sins. The word for confess literally means “to say the same thing.” I believe that it means to admit something is not right.
Sin is probably best understood as brokenness. And Salvation from Jesus is healing for our brokenness. John is telling us in these early verses to humble ourselves and admit our need for God. We then see that God has indeed provided a way for us to life a meaningful life in a broken world.
When I say that I am saved, I am saying that I am in the process of restoration from God. God is healing me. God is restoring me. And I need a lot of restoring.
As I mentioned, I used to preach a sin focus and our need to overcome sin in order to live lives pleasing to God.
And then early on, God started showing me that instead of focusing on the fact that we are indeed sinners, I needed to focus my preaching on the power of God to live the life of love and sacrifice that serving Christ is all about.
We have been blessed to be a blessing to others.
And God has forgiven us. God is restoring us to spiritual wholeness. And that has also has consequences to our emotional and physical well being.
He starts out chapter 2 with the acknowledgment that we have not yet achieved the love for others and wholeness that God wants for us. So he tells us that when we are feeling this brokenness and it is affecting our well being, don’t lose hope but look up, or outward to God by admitting again, that we need God’s help.
I read that to say, “Don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake.”
I love my therapists words that mistakes are actually learning opportunities and chances for us to grow. And well reasoned adults do learn from their mistakes and move on.
And Christ is here with us to give us the strength and hope to move on.
We are indeed born from above with God’s power when we give the Spirit of God the control in our lives.
It is God’s promise to us to be with us and to help us grow more and more into the image of the Christ, the light of the world.
And I emphasize that because it is also God’s job, the success of this is not in our hands anymore, but it relies on the promise of God for us.
And again, the promise is for the Spirit of God to dwell in us to give us the power to love like Jesus loved.
Some theologies will say that if you believe the right thing then you are saved and if you don’t believe those things, you are not saved. I love verse 2 of Chapter 2. Jesus died to save the sins of the world entire.
When I forgive someone who has hurt me, I am just doing what Jesus did for me already. He forgave me before I trusted in him.
We have taught that Jesus forgave the sins of the world entire from the cross. The author of the hymn “When He Was on the Cross….” has us imagining Jesus, in his divine power, looking through time, present, past and future, at the birth of every human soul and saying that he has forgiven them. He has forgiven me.
It is a beautiful image the God forgives each and every one of us.
For some reason, this Kairos, I have been more aware of the kind of people we are serving in the prison. I think of the young man who killed the man I did the funeral for and I realized that some day I may very well be sitting at a table with him, not knowing who he is and will be offering him unconditional love and forgiveness. When I look at the incarcerated men when I am doing a Kairos weekend I don’t see “offenders.” I see forgiven men. Men for whom Jesus’ forgiveness counts because he died on the cross for them as well as me.
God’s love and forgiveness are indeed universal. God, through the Spirit of Christ is restoring the world entire to him.
And again, the fact of the resurrection proves it.
So let us celebrate Easter by allowing ourselves the hope the disciples had when they realized Jesus actually rose from the dead and conquered their fears. That hope causes us to be born from above because we look to God for direction in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment