July 15, 2007 Sermon Synopsis

Forgive Us Our Sins – Scripture: 1 John 1:8 – 2:2

How is your relationship with God?

I told the children a story ….
When I was young I sneaked out and broke a cup from my mother’s favorite set of dishes. It was from a special set we used on holidays and formal dinners. I felt awful. I didn’t mean to do it. What should I do? I had a few options:
I could hide it and pretend that nothing happened. But surely it would eventually be found out. I would always think about it when I was around my Mom – not a good option.
I could try to fix it. But I wasn’t very good at fixing things and there were lots of little pieces. It would be noticed and It would always bother me when I was around my Mom – not a good option.
I could buy another one and cover up my misdeed. But where would a kid get enough $ for fine china, and it was an old piece that had been in the family for a long time. I wouldn’t have enough time or money to do this and my Mom would never trust me again – not a good option.
I could take the broken pieces to my mom and confess. This is probably the most difficult option; there would be consequences, but in the end I would feel better about it. At the end I could look my Mom in the face, hug her and feel her love for me – that’s the option for me.

How do we deal with things we do that we know God doesn’t like? We can go through the same list. The best way is to accept the responsibility, confess and accept the consequences. It’s the only way to have a good relationship with God.

1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he … will forgive us our sins.”

How do you think I felt when my Mother forgave me for breaking the cup? I was extremely relieved! I was glad it was over (including the punishment). And most of all my relationship with my Mom was restored.

That’s the way God wants us to feel all the time.
That’s why God sent Jesus.

The words “sins,” “trespasses,” or “debts” all come from the Old Testament system of making sacrifices. These offerings and sacrifices were made to cover a variety of sins in the OT penal code. These were performed on altars in high places and ultimately in front of the Temple in Jerusalem. Sin condemned a person to death. God allowed an animal or bird to die in place of the person.

The Jewish people in Jesus’ time believed that all sacrifices had to be made on the altar in front of the Temple. When John wrote the words of today’s scripture, the Temple and Altar had been destroyed. There was no altar, no sacrifice, no forgiveness – there was no hope for the Jews.

Some Jews and non-Jews in Jesus’ time began believing in a religious-philosophy called Gnosticism. The Gnostics believed that everything important and permanent existed in the spiritual realm, and that there was no connection between the two. They taught that our goal is to shed the physical to achieve the spiritual. Anything we do in the physical realm has no eternal consequence – a convenient belief. Their only hope was to escape the world we know.

What a hopeless world John lived in.

The Jews didn’t have a way to be forgiven and the Gnostics believed that anything we did wasn’t wrong.

Pop psychology today tries to pass the buck. It’s taught that the things we do are the fault of bad experiences as a child or mistreatment by parents, teachers or others. Many people claim, “It’s not my fault.”

John wrote:
(1:8) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(1:10) If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

It was always a bad situation in my home when the kids wouldn’t own up to their mistakes. We needed to hear “I’m sorry,” so we could move on. There can be no reconciliation or restoration with that first step.

John wrote:
(1:9) If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
(2:1) If anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

What’s the worst thing your children could do, that you wouldn’t forgive them? I hope you can’t think of anything.

We are God’s children. I confess, “I did it,” and I take the blame.

We have one speaks in our defense – more than that, he paid the price for our sins on the cross.

Long ago Jesus said, “Punish me for the bad things Steve does.”
He used your name too.

Jesus didn’t take the blame, but he took the punishment.

We need to take the mess we’ve made (our broken cup) to God. Maybe he won’t fix it or replace it, but we’ll be forgiven. We can count on that.

That’s the way God wants all of us to feel all the time.

How is your relationship with God?