WE SIN, HIS LOVE ENDURES
Posted on Oct 11, 2017 by Shera Payne No comments
So here we are.
We come to church, sing, pray, and listen to the Word. Somebody will stand here and talk about the Word.
We might go home and think about the service and it may affect how we behave, how we act, how we conduct ourselves as Christians, as God’s people.
I don’t know about you, but come Monday my mind is occupied by other, worldly things like playing Lego at 6am, going to work, coming home and being a parent. Although I am a Christian, most of my thinking time is taken up by what we call “life”. I am very busy!
But being a Christian means I should be walking with Jesus all the time which inevitably and obviously means living a sinless life. Doesn’t it?
Well, no. We are all sinners and will always be so, but what we need be reminded is that Jesus is in us and with us always and by accepting this, we are far less likely to be tempted or to contemplate doing anything sinful.
In the passage, John warns against sin. BUT he’s not coming at it with guns blazing guilt, hell & damnation. In fact John writes more about the love of God than he does about sin and its consequences.
Perhaps a basic code we might follow would include things like
1. Walking with Jesus at all times AND KNOWING IT!
2. Responding to worldly things in a Christian way
3. Realising our responsibility to God and creation
4. Remembering who paid the price for our sins.
There will be many more things if we were to think about a kind of “code” but it is this 4th point- about WHO PAID FOR OUR SINS (AND CARRIES ON PAYING) which is the focus of the beginning of 1 John 2.
John wrote this from Ephesus & was not aiming at any particular church but as a general letter to several Gentile congregations. He wrote it to confound doubters and assure the early believers that Jesus was the son of God and God Himself (a confusing concept in itself) and came to save us.
John’s words carry extra weight as were given by somebody with personal experience of Jesus; someone who had heard Him teach, seen Him heal and had walked and talked with Jesus.
Have you ever done wrong?
Well, yes of course you have
Have you ever done wrong intentionally?
Yes, of course
Have you always confessed/owned up?
Well…..
Just ponder that for a while……..
So, why is sinning such a big deal?
Chapter 3 v4 “ everyone who sins is guilty of lawlessness”, ie our refusal to submit to God’s law, our insubordination against God.
In our society, sin is kept hidden, encased in attractive containers of rationalisation and is not considered to be very serious. Why then is sin serious?
Think of this:
..(i) Sin insults the suffering of Christ who came into the world to destroy sin. He died to pay for our sins. We might say “OK Jesus I’m not bothered why you went through so much pain, I will sin anyway”.
Do we say this?
(ii) Sin suggests we have the nature of Satan not God, 1 John 3:8 says “When people keep on sinning it shows they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning”.
Would you describe yourself as “having the nature of Satan”?
These are just a couple of ideas. There’s much theologising to be had about threatening our salvation through sin, and if sinning can put us beyond the reach of hope.
Anyway…returning to our personal habits of sinning, what happens if we are found out, do we then confess, deny, say it was someone else or ask someone to help you?
The point here is that there have always been situations, and always will be, where we sin and (for whatever reason) our initial thought is to deny, hide, cover up, blame. We might even just own up. But why sin to start with?
WE NEEDN’T DO THIS.
God calls us to confess our sins and no matter how big or small WE consider them to be, that’s what we should do.
John writes this to remind people not to sin. This is what God wants from all believers. BUT nobody is sinless and John is concerned about the implications of our sinful actions on our relationship with God. He is also worried that they (then) and therefore us (now) do not rely enough on Jesus for victory over sin
So you sin. I didn’t pay the TV licence and THEN WHAT’S MORE, I defaulted on the fine, was hauled up in front of an intimidating magistrate in a small room and made to pay up plus an extra tenner for the trouble.
I was tried, confessed, found guilty and punished.
Now, I use this as an example to show the difference between God’s and the world’s way of addressing sin.
The world has found me guilty and I must now pay the penalty.
Supposing you stood as accused in a heavenly court before the ultimate judge, God. You have a lawyer, an advocate who stands up to answer the charges (whatever they may be) on your behalf. He says this person before you Lord (you) is completely guilty of everything laid before the court. You has committed more sins besides which you have tried to cover up and have produced a succession of lame excuses.
(LOUD) The accused makes a full confession before you Lord. I have many boxes of evidence. The judge asks what your punishment should be to which the advocate requests the maximum, most harsh sentence- you deserve the full wrath of this righteous court!
The prosecutor (the devil) smiles smugly, contemplating a dance of delight as he eagerly awaits the sentence.
However, the advocate approaches the bench and says to the judge- “Father this one belongs to me. I have already paid the penalty that he deserves” The judge raises His voice. “Guilty as charged. Penalty paid” The prosecutor’s wolfish grin disappears and is replaced by rage. He argues the point endlessly to no avail and you are released into the care of your lawyer, your advocate; Jesus.
You see, our advocate with God is Jesus. We might think that our sin will distance us from God, but His love is so great that nothing can drive a wedge between us. Through Jesus, God is on our side, even when we are guilty.
Now, a major difference between a human advocate and Jesus is that one (the human) argues for the innocence of the accused and hopes to convince the court that this is true (regardless of whether this IS true or not); whereas the other (Jesus) enters a guilty plea on our behalf- He has already paid the ultimate penalty, made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf .
Remember we are A PART OF THE WORLD, not APART FROM THE WORLD. We were not created to sin but as an inevitable consequence of being A PART OF THE WORLD we will fall.
We know when we sin, and must always plead guilty in the knowledge that our advocate Jesus Christ will intercede on our behalf with the ultimate and true judge-GOD and that payment for all the sins of the world has already been made in full.
Anyway, why should He do this for us?
The clue is in Psalm 136 which we have just heard:
HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER
His love manifests itself in kindness, faithfulness and mercy. We will never need to worry that He might run out of love. His love is a bottomless well which never runs dry.