1.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our
heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While the world celebrates Easter on only one
day, here in the Church today we continue our celebration with the triumphant
cry, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! One day isn’t enough to
celebrate the joy of the life and salvation we have through our risen
Savior. In the message from God’s Word
today we’ll continue to see what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for us
as Christians. 1 John 3:1-7 reminds us
that Jesus has appeared and has risen from the dead, taking away our sins. By baptism, we’re children of God right now,
and our minds are opened and filled with His Holy Word looking toward His
appearing again. The message is
entitled, “Toward the Light,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Do
you remember when you were in grade school and you had to do a science
experiment that involved growing a lima bean?
Did you ever notice that as the plant began to sprout it always wanted
to grow toward the sun. Somehow the life
of the bean is drawn toward the light.
You could turn the plant around, lay it on its side and no matter what
you did, the sprout would orient itself toward the sun. That’s what John was saying about us when he
wrote in 1 John 3:6, “6No one
who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen
him or known him.” The Apostle John
doesn’t say that a Christian never sins.
What he’s saying is that believers won’t “keep on sinning.” John says
that the reason is that God’s life within us grows us in the direction of
godliness. Our lives are oriented toward
purity. If God’s life is in us, then
there will be a definite tilt toward what’s right and away from sin. It’s true that we will all sin at times and
in all likelihood will. But, you can
still tell the DIRECTION in which a person is growing. And so can everyone else.
3.
Let’s
look at what the Apostle John is writing here in 1 John 3:1-7, “1See
what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children
of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did
not know him. 2Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will
be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him,
because we shall see him as he is. 3And everyone who thus hopes in
him purifies himself as he is pure. 4Everyone who
makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5You
know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6No
one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either
seen him or known him. 7Little children let no one deceive you.
Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.”
4.
By
now we have all seen a pattern in the Apostle John’s writings. John hates the concept of “cheap grace.” The idea that we can just call on God for
forgiveness, bask in it, and then live any way we please. But the truth of the matter is, even though
God’s grace is free in Jesus Christ our LORD, it’s extremely expensive. It claimed Jesus’ life to give it, and it
demands ours as we receive it. After
comforting us with the message that we’re God’s children forgiven of our sins
through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for us, John now challenges us
to act like God’s children. There’s a
connection between our justification (God’s “not guilty” verdict for us in
forgiving us our sins to give us eternal life) and sanctification (the way in
which we live our lives for God). With
regard to justification, we say, “we
can’t.” We can’t save ourselves from
sin, only Jesus can do that for us. With regard to sanctification, we say, “Yes, we can.” Now that we are in Christ Jesus through
the faith we received in our baptisms we can follow Him and lead holy and God
pleasing lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
5.
God
has transformed our identity from death-row criminals into His beloved
children. He’s given us the Holy Spirit
in order to give us saving faith in Jesus and also in order to change our
attitudes and lives. This doesn’t mean
that we’ll achieve moral perfection or total purity on this earth. That’s why John says in 1 John 1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves.” Obviously our obedience
to God’s will is always less than perfect.
What John means is that Jesus came to destroy sin. He came to destroy sin’s guilt hanging over
our heads and sin’s power gripping our minds and hearts. Jesus came to declare war on sin, which is
lawlessness against the holy will of God.
That’s why we who are redeemed by Jesus through His death on the cross
now hate sin too. As John tells us, we
refuse to get comfortable with it and declare war on it too.
6.
What
John is trying to say to us is that as we grow in our Christian faith, we grow
also in our determination to let go of behaviors that insult and infuriate God. An
automatic outcome of “I love God” is “I hate sin.” Proverbs 8:13 says, “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.”
The Apostle John is blunt, people
who have stopped their struggle against sin are spiritually dead. They neither see nor know the true God. True believers may fall into sin, but they
never surrender. True believers may fall
into sin, but they repent, welcome Christ’s forgiveness and state their desire
to change.
7.
The
Apostle John doesn’t want anyone to deceive us.
Remember that he was writing this letter to the Early Church of his day,
as I told you last week, because there were many people who were leading people
astray from the Christian faith. False
teachers working for the devil were seducing Christians into abandoning their
struggle against sin as pointless. You
must admit that there is a certain diabolical logic to that that view. If we have forgiveness in Jesus, if our
bodies are going to die anyway and our true destiny is to live in heaven, what
does it matter if we indulge ourselves now?
Why struggle so hard for chastity, sobriety, and gentleness when
adultery, heavy drinking and violence are so much fun?
8.
These
things only seem like fun. But, actually
they are part of Satan’s rebellion against the Lord of the universe. Satan isn’t the jolly king of hell, as
cartoons and bad jokes often portray. The Devil is the evil mind behind all sin
and his fate is already announced. He
will soon be plunging head first into the lake of burning sulfur. Whoever is driven by his evil will share his
fate. Who would want that? Paul says in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” We’ve been born of God says John and being His children
we’ve been given a new life to live in such a way that we live according to His
will given to us in His Word.
9.
In
order to live out what John is telling us, it will be necessary for us as
Christians to learn how to take correction from others. A prideful spirit listens
to no one. When we’re caught in a sin, God wants us
to use other Christians to bring us back, but that can’t happen if we’re too
full of ourselves to listen and repent. Proverbs
15:32 says, “He who ignores discipline
despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.” If someone you know is caught up in a
habitual sin, will you speak up to restore that person? And will you let other people give you that
word of correction when you are sinning?
10.
Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ. Thanks
be to God that we are now living in the light of Christ! We are children of God and as children of God
we want to direct our lives toward the light of Christ and the truth that’s
found in Him through His Word and Sacraments.
Just as a plant directs itself toward the light in order to grow, become
strong and live, may we also continue to live and grow in Christ Jesus our Lord. May we continue in our struggle and fight
against sin through the power of the Holy Spirit, as He directs us through His
Word so that in everything we do we give glory to Jesus Christ our crucified
and risen Savior. To Him be the glory. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment