Tell Out My Soul

1 John 3:1-7

Our second reading comes from John’s first letter and in this letter he was speaking to the members of a certain Christian group, sometimes called the Johannine community. They followed the teachings of Jesus and John; they had an intense devotion to Jesus as the revelation of God’s saving will and they also had a strong connection to each other. They were guided by the Holy Spirit. But it looks as though things began to come apart. It’s thought that this letter was written in Ephesus, in ancient Greece, about 10 years after John wrote his Gospel. 

At this time, the community was splintering and being influenced by outside beliefs, they were losing touch with their original vision. Earlier on in this letter there was a hint that the fracturing of the community was based on the denial of Jesus as the son of God. John became a bit frantic about this. It upset him greatly. Jesus, his friend, and lord went to his death and rose for us and his message was in danger of being misunderstood. There was one simple commandment, love one another… abide in Christ. And to see his followers confusing the issue and following dead ends and useless, pointless pursuits was an emergency situation that John felt that he had to do something about. In John’s mind, being Christian is a simple matter, not always easy, but very simple.

He writes, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.” He realises that some of the brethren are being deceived, sent down the wrong track, and this wrong thinking is related, apparently, to sin and people’s attitudes to it. So while he begins by describing God’s grace and love that has been lavished on us, he then turns his attention to the thorny question of sin. 

There are countless definitions of what sin is, but here John defines it, in his own words, as “lawlessness,” not living by the law as handed down by God and agreed upon by God’s people. Refraining from sin is bound up with the idea of righteousness, that is, what God wants us to do, what God commands. It’s all about ethical conduct. And as well as the law that was handed down to us by Moses, Jesus gave us the new commandment “love one another as I have loved you.” He wasn’t getting rid of the old commandments, he just added a new one. 

Sin then, is when a person falls away from what God wants them to do, when they know what the law is, and what the nature of righteousness is, and what is required of them, but they go ahead and intentionally disobey these deep moral and ethical precepts. John’s letter talks a lot about ethical behaviour. Sin is something that cannot be swept under the carpet. Yes, it’s true that Easter is all about God’s love, grace and forgiveness but it’s also about sin, how we deal with it, and the fact that Jesus bore our sin on the cross in order to give us new life in him. Not just new life, as in the freedom to do what we want, but new life in him.

John makes a huge claim, no one who abides in Christ sins. This seems like such an absolute, he’s saying that people who in spirit and truth live in Jesus do not sin, it is just not in them anymore to transgress or be unethical. This relationship with Jesus, when it works the way it should, is a barrier to wrongdoing. You cannot love Jesus truly and sin because your life has been given over to righteousness as a child of God. Sinning cuts us away from Jesus, and sinning hurts us, because being separated from God is pain. 

John uses absolutes here and very strong language; abide in Jesus and you won’t sin. Now for sure there are people who are not Christian and who do not know the Lord but nonetheless refrain from sin, who act righteously and are pure of heart, undoubtedly. But there are people who call themselves Christian, who profess to follow Jesus, who knowingly sin and who have a very fluid notion of right and wrong, and they think that they can rely on grace and God’s forgiveness to make things okay. John says no way! So what does it mean to abide in Jesus?

“Abide,” it’s a small word that carries much weight. The dictionary meaning is to accept or act in accordance with something. Abiding in Christ means allowing His word to fill our minds, direct our wills and transform our affections.

Jesus said, “Abide in my love.” The believer rests his or her life on the love of Christ, the love of the one who lays down his life for his friends. It’s not something that happens overnight, it’s a transformative process, like a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. God shapes us and changes us, transforms us into his image, sometimes through great suffering, other times through joy and exultation, bringing us closer to this state of union and perfection. As John says, all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

It’s not easy sometimes to do what is right, to be “Christlike,” but once we abide in Jesus, when Jesus becomes part of our being, every breath we take and every little action we do… when we let his abundant love shape us, then it becomes so much easier. Jesus needs us to keep him in the forefront of our thinking, from the moment we greet him in the morning to our night time prayer when we fall asleep, with his name on our lips. Imitating Jesus is a sure way to avoid sin, keeping his word and following his teachings, in obedience, in submission and in love. 

We may know C.S. Lewis as the author of classic stories like the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. But he was also a theologian.

C.S. Lewis once wrote that too often we think that what sanctification is all about is sort of like taking a horse and training it to run a little faster than it used to run. But actually, what happens to us as believers (once we abide in Christ) is not like taking a regular old horse and teaching it to run faster, but more like taking a normal horse, and teaching it to fly!  The saved life in Christ is not just an ordinary life made a little bigger or brighter or some such thing.  It is to take a human life and transform it into a whole new mode of existence.

So, if someone keeps abusing people, or hating people, or keeps committing adultery or stealing or lying, or whatever, and doesn’t intend to stop, well then, that’s not a mistake, that’s intentional, done in full knowledge of the wrongful nature of the action. It’s a different world altogether that has nothing to do with being a child of God.

Abiding in Christ means that not sinning becomes our natural state of being. Stealing or other unlawful acts are unthinkable. Often doing the right thing doesn’t even involve making a conscious decision. Imagine finding a wallet in the street, with cash in it. Some people would seriously consider taking the money and tossing the wallet in the nearest bin. Some people would take the money and not think twice.

These people are not in Christ. But if one is transformed in Christ, the notion of keeping the money wouldn’t even enter one’s mind. It’s straight to the nearest police station to hand it in. Would they want a reward? No. One doesn’t get rewarded for not stealing. Doing what is right becomes natural, it’s Christlike… it’s just what you do. It’s what Jesus would do. Doing the right thing, or not sinning, becomes as normal as breathing. 

As Christians who truly abide in Jesus, you don’t lose the potential to sin, but sinning does not become part of your world. Just like the racehorse scenario, abiding in Jesus doesn’t make you run faster, it takes you to another level, it gives you wings. You keep the laws, but it’s not a struggle, it’s not a huge challenge. Shedding sin becomes who you are in Christ Jesus. God’s grace, his selfless giving, doesn’t mean that a person can go on sinning without a thought and say it’s all good. You can’t just call yourself a Christian, and sin and intentionally do wrong things and not be sorry, and expect that everything will be wiped clean. Maybe that’s the erroneous thinking that John was battling against in his letter.

Sure we make mistakes and fall down but John tells us “anyone who loves his brother is living in the light and need not be afraid of stumbling.” God is infinitely merciful.

John is so confident when he says, that no one who abides in Christ sins. It’s a statement of fact for him. He is so hopeful for us, he has so much faith in us as Christians and in the strength of our communion with Jesus. John is giving us a very high benchmark… to be pure like Jesus, to be righteous, just as Jesus is righteous.

Without doubt, Jesus is the only one who is without sin. But John makes it very clear that this perfect state of oneness and grace is available to us in the here and now. We need to open ourselves to the transformative power of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the hope he holds out for us, if we live in him. If we honour and obey his word, if we accept his infinite love and let it change us from the inside out, and if we truly abide in him, he will abide in us and live in our hearts forever and ever.

Amen