Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:1-7
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we
should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the
world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we
will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he
is pure.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is
lawlessness.
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our
sins. And in him is no sin.
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who
continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The
one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Here ends this reading of the Word of God, for the
people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray....
Sermon
See What Kind of Love
The Christian concept of Grace means that we
receive salvation and blessings from God freely and without merit. So, no
matter what we do, not matter how good we are or how many mistakes we make, God
loves us, blesses us and forgives us.
Paul wrote a lot about grace in his letters. He
believed that we do not do anything to earn God’s grace – we cannot do anything
to earn God’s grace. It is freely given to us, and we cannot do anything in
exchange for it – it is so wonderful, and God is so generous that humans are
not capable of earning it. No matter how many good works, no matter how many
altruistic actions we take, we cannot do enough to earn God’s grace. God freely
gives it to us.
The New Testament letter we are focusing on over
the next few weeks, the First Letter of John, was written by someone other than
Paul – the author is often referred to by scholars as “the Elder.” This author
was a knowledgeable encourager of the people of the growing Christian church –
he was wise and wanted to share his wisdom with the baby Christians who were
forming the first churches.
Although the Elder did not write about Grace as a
named concept, he wrote about grace. He wrote that God lavishes love on us –
that we are called children of God and are the recipients of God’s love. And,
as God children, Jesus came to take away our sins. So, we have everything
covered, because God loves us, forgives us, and calls us God’s children.
The Elder was worried about the corrosive nature of
sin. He wanted Christians to lead exemplary lives and to become sin-free once
we convert to Christianity.
As we consider our own lives as Christians and
consider the 2000 plus years of people throughout the world embracing
Christianity, we know that the idealism of the Elder, is unfortunately
impossible. As much as we work to be sinless and perfectly follow God, we still
fall short and make mistakes – we sin.
If only it was as simple as deciding to follow
Jesus and then sinning no more.
Jesus even addressed this. In the Gospel of John
chapter 8, it is recorded that a group of Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus
who had been caught committing adultery. We do not know the details.... what
exactly she had done, how they had caught her, where the other adulter was –
although different rules applied to men than women, so maybe he was not
considered a sinner like her. The Pharisees brought the woman to Jesus and said
the law of Moses commanded them to stone the woman. They asked Jesus what he
had to say about following the law?
Jesus responded by leaning down and writing on the
dirt of the ground with his finger. Then, he stood up, said, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a
stone at her.” After Jesus made his statement, he leaned forward and
continued writing on the ground without looking at the men. Gradually, the men
walked away. Again, these were Pharisees – faithful men, religious scholars who
had devoted their lives to following God. They were faithful, and yet they were
not sin-free. After all the men walked away, Jesus stood up and talked to the
terrified woman. He said that the men did not condemn her to death, he did not
condemn her to death, and that she should go and sin no more.
Jesus realized that no human being is
capable of being sinless. But, as followers of God and Jesus, we still must
strive to sin no more. We are constantly working on practicing our faith and
working to not make mistakes that harm ourselves and others. We are not
hardwired to be perfect – even little children struggle to avoid sinning – I
got mad and hit my brother; I got frustrated and threw my sandwich off the
table; I am tired and instead of going to sleep, I crawled out of bed and am
playing with legos....even little children struggle to do the right thing and
be obedient to parents and teachers and God.
As we grow older, the possibilities of
how to sin multiply. We must work on self-control, to be mature and thoughtful.
We must strive to not intentionally make mistakes and avoid doing things that
are harmful for ourselves, for others, and for the world.
Fortunately, we are the beneficiaries
of God’s love and God’s grace. God loves and forgives us even when we fail.
Jesus came to earth to help us – to welcome all people to follow God, to help
us understand how to be loving to each other, and to give of himself so that we
know we are forgiven for our transgressions. We will make mistakes, but it is
our challenge to work every day to be a little bit better.
We are will do so because of God’s love
and God’s grace. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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