This message is a continuation of the series answering the question, Who Is Jesus? I am planning one more in the series to help us get a better picture of who Jesus is and what he is doing for us.
I John 2:1-2
Artists have varied opinions about the work of “Weird” Al
Yankovic. Some are outraged at what he
does to their musical masterpieces.
Others feel it’s a sign they have finally made it when one of their
songs is parodied by Weird Al. Coolio
seems to have originally been in the first group then changed his mind. Yankovic parodied Coolio’s “Gangsta’s
Paradise” to become “Amish Paradise.” Here are some of the words from the song.
Hitchin’ up the buggy,
churnin’ lots of butter
Raised a barn on Monday,
soon I’ll raise another
Think you’re really
righteous? Think you’re pure in heat?
Well, I know I’m a million
times as humble as thou art
I’m the pious guy the little
Amlettes wanna be like
On my knees day and night
scorin’ points for the afterlife…
You get the
point. Yankovic expresses a view that
many have about Christians--Christians are perceived as thinking they’re a cut above the rest. Lots of people feel Christians are
self-righteous, hypocrites even. As
evidence they point to the Christians they know who sometimes fail to live like
Christ.
To complicate the matter, there are some Christians who feel
their lives are beyond the reach of ordinary folks. They see themselves as models of virtue and
piety.
The heresy John faced in the church may have included some
who believed they were without sin. John
tells us, that like such people we know today, they fooled no one. In fact, these people who are so convinced
their lives honor God actually insult God by making him out to be a liar. This, since God’s Word says all have sinned
while they say they haven’t. It may not
be fair to call these people “hypocrites” or mere play-actors; they really
believe their claim, more is the pity.
Of course, John isn’t giving license to Christians to
sin. Strangely, there were those in the
early church who believed grace allowed them to sin with impunity.[1]
Both Paul and John saw that as a
travesty that cheapened grace.
Christians are to strive to live holy lives, lives that aspire to please
God.
We Christians have generally avoided the crassness of those
who live in indifference to the law and the naiveté of those who believed they
have achieved sinlessness.
Some who believe in the possibility of Christian perfection
stress they are talking about its possibility without necessarily insisting it
is a reality in their lives. Others are
able to defend the doctrine by narrowly defining what is meant by sin but even
then they hesitate to claim such perfection as their own. I would never deny the sincerity of these
people; I think are trying hard to honor Christ in every aspect of their
lives. By far, the majority of
Christians see perfection as a goal that may be pursued in the here and now but
only to be reached when our salvation is completed and we are made like
Christ—an experience that awaits the world to come.
In the meantime, we live imperfectly. We should neither be content with our
imperfection nor crippled by it. As we look at a further answer to the
question, Who Is Jesus?, we find him playing a role that ought to encourage us
when we fall.
John says Jesus is our Advocate. The words translate, paraclete, which literally means “one called alongside to help.” On
the night before the crucifixion, John had heard Jesus use the term to describe
the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ use of the term
implied the Spirit would help us in our day-to-day living for Christ.
Here John uses the term as it might be used in the
courtroom. There it describes a
“….representative or friend at court who could intercede on one's behalf with
the judge.” Such an advocate might argue
for the accused being innocent of the charges or the victim of extenuating
circumstances. The Advocate John
describes will do neither. There is no
doubt the accused is guilty. This Advocate
has another strategy.
Instead, this Advocate argues that, though the accused may be
guilty and due the full penalty the law demands, the accused should be set free
because the penalty has already been paid.
The Advocate can point to an “atoning sacrifice” that makes possible an
acquittal.
Let me clarify something.
I’ve sometimes heard this passage presented as if Jesus were a kind of
heavenly defense attorney who rushes into the courtroom to plead our case
before God the Father whenever we’ve blown it.
The theological problems with that scenario are enormous. To begin with, the imagery suggests that God
the Father is loath to forgive and can only be persuaded to do so when
presented with the evidence of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Then, too, it implies that the state of our
salvation is always tenuous, shaky and fragile.
At one time that seemed to be a common view of
salvation. Some in the fourth century
church believed post-baptismal sins could not be forgiven. As a consequence, converts sometimes
postponed their baptism. Emperor Constantine
who became the first Christian emperor, waited until he was near death before
he was baptized. In fairness,
Constantine seems to have made a genuine effort to live as a Christian but he
knew his weaknesses. So, he was
reluctant to be baptized much before the end of his life since he knew he might
succumb to temptation and put his salvation in jeopardy.
It’s in response to this kind of thinking that Luther issued
his famous advice to Melanchthon: “Sin
boldly.” Now, Luther cared about the
quality of the lives of believers, he was no antinomian—someone who believed we
are under no moral obligation and can sin to our hearts delight. At the same time he knew the danger of trying
to live as if we were perfect or only sin in minor ways—as if there were minor
sins. He knew, as John knew, that we
have a tendency to try to deceive ourselves regarding our own sinfulness. We try to explain our sinfulness away as
personality quirks. The gossip is just
interested in people. The glutton enjoys
life. The materialist is remembering
that you get what you pay for.
Luther is saying, echoing John: admit you’re a real sinner. Then remember the competence of our Savior to
deal with real sinners.
Far from pointing to God’s reluctance, John’s picture of
Jesus as our Advocate is a reminder that even as we sin, God is on our
side. He wants us to feel the pain of
conviction so we will repent; he wants us to repent so the joy of our
fellowship may be restored. That joy is
rooted, in part, in the knowledge that Christ is our Advocate.
As John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, neared death his memory began to fade. Someone asked him, “John, what do you
know?” From his deathbed, Newton
replied, “I know I am a great sinner but Christ is a great Savior.”
Don’t forget how John describes our Advocate. He is, “Jesus Christ, the Righteous.” This brings us back to a point we made a
couple months ago about Jesus. In
describing him as “the Righteous One” John was underscoring his sinlessness. For any other human to say, “I have no sin”
would be self-deception and only the most gullible would believe it. Not so with Jesus Christ. He challenged his most rabid enemies to find
so sin in his life and they couldn’t.
Neither could his closest friends.
Later in this same later, John will say, “You know that he appeared to
take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”
In light of his unparalleled righteousness, Jesus was able to
be ‘…the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
By bringing us from the world of the courtroom into the world of the
temple, John reminds us that Jesus’ death made possible our life. The word translated as “atoning sacrifice” implies
cleansing, as John mentioned in 1:9.
There John tells his readers that when we confess our sins God “forgives
us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.” That cleansing is possible because of Jesus’
death on our behalf. As John says, “the
blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
At the same time, the word translated “atoning sacrifice” can
also refer to that which turns away divine wrath. Whether John has that in mind here is not
clear. If so, it reminds us that Jesus’
death was rightfully ours and that God himself took the penalty our sins
deserved. It also would mean that Jesus’
death was sufficient to deal not only with our past sins but those sins we
commit now.
So effective is the Advocate’s work that John can say that
this atoning sacrifice is satisfactory “…not only for our sins but also for the
whole world.” The world is full of sin
because every man, woman, and child is a sinner. Jesus provided a cure for that sin, one that
is effective for everyone. No one need
remain estranged from God. Craig Keener
points out a significant note to what John is saying. The “atoning sacrifice” offered in the Temple
was effective only for the Jews; the atoning sacrifice made on the cross is
effective for everyone.
Sometimes you hear Christians talking as if once you blow it
you’re on your own, you’re abandoned. In
describing Jesus as our Advocate, he is saying that God knew you would
sometimes fail and prepared beforehand to deal with it.
Karl Barth was probably the most influential theologian of
the twentieth century. He was no
evangelical but many evangelicals were fascinated by his “neo-orthodoxy” that
rediscovered sin and our need for God to act on our behalf. During a tour of the US in 1962, Barth was
asked if he could pinpoint the moment he was saved. Immediately he answered, “It happened one
afternoon in A.D. 34 when Jesus died on the cross.”
When we blow it, when we fail to live up to God’s ideal for
our lives, when we sin, we might wonder if we might be forgiven. The truth is we were forgiven one Friday in
AD 34 at about 3:00 in the afternoon. John
shows us the way that forgiveness becomes a reality.
Conclusion
John states it simply, “If we confess our sins, he who is
faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.”[2]
The process begins when we give up any notion of denying our
sins. The root meaning of the word “confess”
is to acknowledge or agree with. When we
confess, we acknowledge our guilt and our need for forgiveness. We join those countless Christians who have
said
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in
thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone….
We make this confession with confidence because we know
something of the character of the one who hears our confession. He is “faithful and just.” Being faithful, he keeps his word which
includes the promise to forgive the contrite and repentant. As Peterson puts it, “he won’t let us down;
he’ll be true to himself” to forgive us when we confess our sins.
That forgiveness involves a new start. We are cleansed “from all unrighteousness.” That doesn’t mean our capacity to sin has been
eradicated. It means the forgiveness of
that sin we confess is as complete as it can be.
So, here’s the amazing thing.
That sin which reveals our weakness doesn’t stop God from desiring a
fellowship with us. He doesn’t give up
on us. He invites us to return. He becomes our Advocate. While
the rest of the world would point the finger to accuse us, God will not abandon
us.
When we sin and think we’re finished; our Advocate says, “You’re
wrong; more important, I’m not finished. I’m
ready to do more in your life.”
Who is Jesus? He is
our Advocate. He defends us when what we
have done is indefensible. He befriends
us when others would walk away.
[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version.
1989 (1 Jn 1:9). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
