Title: Don’t! But if you do…
Text: I John 1:1-2:2
Thesis: Our aim is to live a Christ-like life in which we are being conformed to his image daily... but if we fail we are assured of God's continuing grace in Jesus.
Introduction
This is the Second Sunday of Easter. We recently reflected on Philippians 2:5-11 where we found that Jesus, though equal with God, did not consider being God something to be grasped. Rather he humbled himself and became human, taking upon himself the role of a servant and then humbled himself even more by dying the death of a criminal. In the Philippians text we readily see the contrast between Deity and humanity – immortality and mortality.
In his best-selling book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey contrasts the humility that characterized Jesus’ visit to planet earth with the prestigious image associated with world rulers today:
In London, looking toward the auditorium’s royal box where the queen and her family sat, I caught glimpses of the way rulers stride through the world: with bodyguards, and a trumpet fanfare and a flourish of bright clothes and flashing jewelry.
Queen Elizabeth II had recently visited the United States, and reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved: her four thousand pounds of luggage included two outfits for every occasion, a mourning outfit in case someone died, forty pints of plasma, and white kid-leather toilet seat covers. She brought along her own hairdresser, two valets, and a host of other attendants. A brief visit of royalty to a foreign country can easily cost twenty million dollars.
In contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough. Indeed, the event that divided history, and even our calendars, into two parts may have had more animal than human witnesses. A mule could have stepped on him. (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Zondervan, 1995)
In Philip Yancey’s story we see the contrast between the accommodations of royalty and the accommodations of commoners.
Jesus spoke of himself once saying, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. In his comments about himself Jesus spoke of the contrast between having a home and homelessness.
Our text today begins with a contrast between living in the light and living in darkness.
I. Living in the Light, (God is light…)
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. I John 1:5-7
I had a conversation with a man years ago in which he described an experience in which God appeared to him in the form of a dark and shadowy character. After I heard his story I was pretty sure it wasn’t God whom he encountered. Nowhere in scripture is God ever described as dark or shadowy. God is always resplendent in light.
In this context the allusion to light is not necessarily about God being something of a lightbulb. In this context we understand God to be pure and holy. We understand God to be faithful and true. We understand God to be the epitome of love and grace and mercy.
Our text speaks of two ways to live our lives:
A. Life in the Darkness
…in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. I John 1:6
The opposite of life in the light is life in the darkness. To live in darkness is to not be in relationship with God and to not live out in practice a Christ-like life consistent with God’s Word.
Paul wrote of this darkness in Ephesians 5:6-9, Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins for the anger of God will fall on those who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have the light of the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
Dallas Willard writes about a 2-and-a-half-year-old girl in her backyard who one day discovered the secret to making mud (which she called "warm chocolate"). Her grandmother had been reading and was facing away from the action, but after cleaning up what was to her a mess, she told little Larissa not to make any more chocolate and turned her chair around so as to be facing her granddaughter.
The little girl soon resumed her "warm chocolate" routine, with one request posed as sweetly as a 2-and-a-half-year-old can make it: "Don't look at me, Nana. Okay?" Nana (being a little co-dependent) of course agreed.
Larissa continued to manufacture warm chocolate. Three times she said, as she continued her work, "Don't look at me, Nana. Okay?"
Then Willard writes: "Thus the tender soul of a little child shows us how necessary it is to us that we be unobserved in our wrong."
To live life in the light is to live in contrast to life in darkness.
B. Life in the Light
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. I John 1: 7
When we live in the light we have nothing to hide from Nana or God.
Life in the light is characterized by fellowship with God and each other and in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ who cleanses us from all our sin. Life in the light is to live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. Ephesians 5:1-2
So we see that right living is associated with living in the light and wrong living is associated with living in the darkness.
Understanding light as truth becomes more evident in verses 8-10.
II. Living in the Truth
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. I John 1:8-10
On April 15, 1912 the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic. 1,517 people died that night. It continues to capture our imaginations… the enormous scale of the disaster is likely part of it. It has been romanticized by the Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet love affair in the 1977 portrayal of the disaster.
But the thing that is most captivating was the hype. The Belfast Morning News reported the ship was practically unsinkable… had the water-tight compartments been higher and had they not sped full-speed headlong into a 78 mile long iceberg zone. Had the captain of the Californian, which was in the area, not mistaken the disaster flares for a fireworks celebration and had there been sufficient lifeboats for all the passengers… many more might have been rescued.
Someone said that if the Titanic teaches us anything, it is that we are all seriously sinkable.
That is the truth expressed in I John 1:8-10. The truth is… we are all seriously sinkable.
A. The Truth about Sin
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and are not living in the truth. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. I John 1:8 and 10
We may indeed in our pride we believe we are unsinkable but in fact in our sinfulness we are seriously sinkable.
Interestingly, our sins need not sink us because in the grace of God we are seriously savable.
B. The Truth about Forgiveness
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. I John 1:9
I John 1:9 speaks to two truths about forgiveness.
1. Our part is to confess
2. God’s part is to forgive
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. I John 1:9
As we move to I John 2:1-2 we see just how it is that we may live as people of light whose sins have been and are being forgiven.
III. Living [in Jesus] the Problem Solver – Jesus is our problem solver
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. I John 2:1-2
I like the sarcastic sounding, tongue in cheek question and its answer found in Romans 6:1-2: Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more and more of his grace? Of course not!
We get it. We know that becoming a follower of Jesus means we stop living the way we used to live and start living like Jesus. In Ephesians 5:6-9 we are reminded that once we were full of darkness, but now we have light from the Lord. So [we] live as people of the light!
The Apostle John wrote in our text, I am writing this to you so you will not sin. But if anyone does…
That’s the good news in this text. Yes, we get it. We know we are not to live in sin but what if we do?
I saw a poster recently of Will Ferrell… I don’t know if he was in his Ron Burgundy persona but his head is bowed and his hands are folded… a freshly baked pan of sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza is on the table before him. Before he digs in he prays, “Dear Jesus, I need to un-eat all this pizza.”
When we blow it, it is kind of like un-eating a pizza. What do you do when the deed is done? You can’t un-do any deed.
Verses 1 says that if and when we blow it and fall into sin, we have an advocate.
A. Jesus as Our Advocate
But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
An advocate is like an attorney or a lawyer who represents a client. I John 2:1
I am kind of fascinated by personal injury lawyers. They are anxious for you to know that you don’t pay them until you get paid. It’s kind of like trying to win a pie after which you decide how to divvy it up.
There is Backus and Shanker, the Sawaya Law Firm, Frank Azar and many more. Among them is the colorful Bryan “Bulldog” Moore. He is an ex-judge and he has practiced law for a long time. He hates insurance companies and is known as the lawyer lawyers love to hate. When he comes to the end of his spiel he says something like, “I’ve been fighting insurance companies for 43 years and they don’t scare me!”
Jesus is something of an attorney only he represents the guilty party. There is none of this not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity. There is none of this “the devil made me do it” stuff. He knows and we know... we are guilty and yet Jesus takes our case and he argues (so to speak) our case before God the righteous judge. Jesus stands beside us and intercedes for us.
The biblical image of a priest who stands between the people who have sinned and God and offers sacrifices in behalf of the guilty. See Hebrews 4:14-16 to see how it is a High Priest represents his people.
Jesus not only intercedes in our behalf… he does so on the basis of his own sacrifice for our sins.
B. Jesus as Our Atoning Sacrifice
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. I John 2:2 (To atone for something is to make things right…)
Jesus stands before God as our advocate and pleads our case by saying, “Father, I gave my life for the sins of not only this person but every person in the world. Therefore I ask that you see my client as made righteous through my saving work.” He might continue, “Father, I am the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. I have through my death and resurrection made right what was wrong.”
Conclusion
An Ideal World is a Chinese tale about a young man who is very unhappy with the way things are in his world...
A You is a troubled 19-year-old who dislikes his life; he feels that his entire life is unlucky, yet he avoids hard work and prefers to be lazy. He is encouraged by the people around him to work harder and told that he can change his life if he takes control of it, but A You refuses to accept these notions. One day, he accidentally takes the wrong bus and finds himself in the suburbs of his city. A You enjoys his time away and takes shelter inside of a large, hollow tree when it begins to rain. After taking a nap and waking up, he wanders until he comes across a small, green old man referred to as Grandpa Beard. Grandpa Beard decides to help A You with his problems and transports him to a "utopia" called Abi Port in an alternate world.
Abi Port is home to several humans, anthropomorphic beings, and other creatures, some of which look similar to people A You knows in his world. A You is found by members of a circus, who invite him to join them in their act. Although he lacks experience, he finds that he can perform well and begins to develop feelings for a young performer named Anan. He meets others who give him advice on enjoying work and life, particularly the "Master of Universal Love", an anthropomorphic zebra who toiled to earn his position and helps others free of charge.
After A You spends time in this world, Grandpa Beard decides that his problems are solved and returns to take him away from the imaginary world. A You protests, not wanting to return to the cold reality, but Grandpa Beard captures him and tells him that he must change that reality if he dislikes it. Returned to his own world, A You awakens in the tree he had taken shelter in and heads back to his house, where he finds his worried friends and family waiting for him. A You's experiences at Abi Port inspire him to work harder, and he eventually gets married to his co-worker and friend Su Fei. The two are shown years later at the grand opening of Grandpa Beard's Fun House, a restaurant themed after Grandpa Beard, where A You sees he will accomplish his dream and spread happiness. (An Ideal World, Wikipedia)
The moral of the story could be, if you don’t like your present reality, change it.
If our real world reality is not being lived out in Christ-like living then change it. If our real world is tainted by the consequences of our sinfulness, bad habits and poor decisions, then change it.
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do… If we confess your sins to God, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of our unrighteousness.
