Two weeks ago, we looked at the solutions for dealing with our own sin. This morning, we will look at the opposite of our sin against God, which is our obedience to God. If we have tried to be obedient to God, and we are honest, we would agree that obedience is not easy. In fact, some of us would claim that obedience to God is near impossible because God has such high standards. Yet, John wants to assure us that obedience to God is not only a possible response, but obedience to God is a relational response.
FIRST, we need to know that obedience to God is a possible response. We see this in the first part of verses 1 and also in verse 6, "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.... Whoever claims to live in him [God] must walk as Jesus did."
Many Christians have practical and theological problems with this truth, that obedience to God is a possible response. In some cases, they have tried and tried and tried to be obedient, but have experienced very little or no progress. The God who created us calls us to worship Him alone, but we have often worshipped money, other gods and ourselves.
The God who made our tongue calls us to speak the truth in love, but we have often lied in order to have our advantage. The God who gave us our mind calls us to fill it with His truth, but we have often filled it with the trash from television and our popular culture. We know what God expects, but we’ve fallen so many times that up looks like down.
Some people don’t believe we are able not to sin, so why obey? Since God gave us solutions for dealing with our sin, He obviously expects us to sin. Right? Wrong!
That is a theological lie. God expects us not to sin, but He knows we will sometimes choose to sin. Christians are like Jesus Christ, able to sin and able not to sin. While Christ chose the latter, not to sin, we often choose the former, to sin.
We often think God is unreasonable to expect obedience from us, because we don’t realize we are able not to sin. We need to have the same expectation of us that God has for us. Obedience to God is possible.
I still remember when our daughter was two months old. I used to say that she was like a clump of rice, unable to move until we move her. What if she understood what I said? Worse still, what if she believed what I said? She would not have tried to roll over. She would not have tried to crawl. She would not have tried to walk.
God is so wise, to order the process of development in children so that they are slow to understand the verbal comments of adults but quick to imitate what they see. Esther didn’t know what I was saying about her. All she knew was that everyone else around her could move and could walk. So she expected to move as well. That expectation kept her going and growing, from rolling to crawling to walking.
God is reminding us this morning that we are to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ and to know that if Jesus Christ was obedient to God, we can be obedient to God also. "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:6)." This expectation will keep us going and growing in our obedience to God.
FIRST, we need to know that obedience to God is a possible response. SECOND, we need to know that obedience to God is a relational response. We read this in the second part of verse 1 through first part of verse 5.
Before I continue with the second point, I want to define the word, " atone," and clarify a common misinterpretation from verse 2. Verse 2 reads, "He (that is Jesus Christ on the cross) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
First, the word "atone" came from William Tyndale in 1562, before the English word "reconciliation" existed. In translating the New Testament into English, Tyndale used the word "atone" or "at-one" to express the concept of being restored to a right relationship with God.
Second, I want to clarify the misinterpretation of the Universalist, who says that Jesus Christ’s death automatically enables everyone in the world to be restored to a right relationship with God and that everyone will end up in Heaven. That’s what a Universalist believes. If that were true, the Bible would not call us to send missionaries or to persuade our family and friends to choose Jesus Christ as the only way to God.
What John is saying in verse 2 is that Jesus Christ’s death as the atoning sacrifice is not exclusively for those who have trusted in Christ during the writing of John’s letter, but for every person who chooses to trust in Christ after that time as well. In the Gospel of John, Chapter 17, verse 20, Jesus said, "My prayer is not for them [the believers of his day] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one...."
Unless you and I trust Jesus Christ’s death on the cross to be effective in bringing us back to a right relationship with God, the atoning sacrifice is not effective for us. Furthermore, you and I and everybody in the world today don’t need another atoning sacrifice to bring us to God. Jesus Christ is all we need. The Apostle Peter affirmed this truth with these words, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God."
With the definition for the word "atone" and the clarification that we need to trust in Jesus Christ alone for a right relationship with God, we are able to understand that obedience to God is about relationship and not performance.
Verses 1 and 2 tells us that the corrective measure for sin is not doing everything right from now on, but the corrective measure for sin is restoration of relationship with God. Verses 3 and 4 tell us that obedience is not about doing everything right, but obedience is the evidence of our right relationship with God. Verse 5 tells us that obedience is the result of God’s love made complete in us. Again and again, John reminds us obedience is about keeping a right relationship with God, not about keeping track of what we were doing right.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we could do everything right. Jesus died on the cross so that we could have a right relationship with God. When we focus on what we do right, we focus on ourselves. When we focus on a right relationship with God, we focus on God.
Work on improving our love relationship with God and we will improve our obedience to God. You ask, "How do I improve my love relationship with God?" You do what we did last week. Discern God’s grace and you will fall in love with God. Take the time to know how God cares for you. And then, love God back in words and in deeds.
We need to realize that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was not God the Father punishing an innocent separate individual, the Son, for the sins of the world. The Son, Jesus Christ, was God coming in human form and taking on all the punishment that justice demands of sinful humanity. The next time you wonder how much God loves you, look to the cross. He stretched out His hand as far as He could, to show us the extent of His love.
Someone tells about the boy who destroyed his family’s furniture with a buck knife. His parents were so frustrated that they brought him to a psychologist. The psychologist decided to bring a carving set into the session and praise the boy for his artistic carving talents.
After a few encouraging and friendly sessions with the psychologist, the boy not only stopped destroying the family furniture, the boy started making his bed and cleaning up his room. When the psychologist asked why he did that, the boy replied, "I thought you would be pleased if I did that."
When love is present in the relationship, obedience is not a matter of doing what is right but a matter of fulfilling the expectation of the One who loves us. John said, "If anyone obeys God’s word, God’s love is truly made complete in him (verse 5)."
Why do we obey God? Because obedience to God is a possible response for those who have trusted in Jesus Christ. Why do we obey God? Because we seek to please the One who loved us so greatly - that’s a relational response.
I believe Jill Briscoe told of the time in her youth when someone dared her to stay out after her curfew. When she refused, the person teased her by saying, "Are you afraid your father will hurt you?" Jill replied, "No, my father loves me. If I break my father’s curfew for me, I’m afraid I would hurt my father." Not wanting to hurt the God who loves us is a relational response.
When we are tempted by Satan, by the world or by our own selfishness to rebel against God, realize obedience to God is a possible response, and the One we are choosing to obey loves us dearly, enough to descend from Heaven to earth to die on the cross for our sins.
