Sermon Tone Analysis

The Normalisation of Sin

Corinth and Perrytown CoC

1/27/19

We have been created in God’s image.

We are His image bearers.

Christ is God in the flesh,

Christ is our example for how to live,

By following the example of Christ we more fully reflect God’s image in His creation.

One of the examples scripture gives us of who Jesus is that, He is the light.

, This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

, Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

The problem, however, is that, people have loved the darkness rather than the light.

Jesus explained it this way.

, And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Sin is darkness.

Those that disbelieve, live in darkness.

Jesus is the light that drives out darkness.

People don’t like their darkness/sin exposed by the light.

But those who believe or “does what is true comes to the light” and their works are clearly seen in the light and that they are “carried out in God.”

When we come into the light, that is Jesus, our lives demonstrate that we walk in the light, which is Jesus.

, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

It is through this process of conforming to the image of Jesus, walking in the light, that we, through our lives, shine a light into the darkness of the world.

We become the lighthouse in the harbor.

We become the flashlight for the lost camper trying to find his way in the night.

We become the street light that is on lighting the way home.

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But we still have a problem.

Even though we walk in the light, we still sin.

, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Often times, when we read this verse, we use it as a crutch, an excuse for sin.

Which, at that point, sin becomes premeditated.

But John is describing the person who is walking in the light, yet sinning.

Let’s back up and pick up verse 7.

, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Here, John is showing us what a person walking in the light looks like.

A person walking in the light is striving to be like Jesus, and when they sin, they confess it, and Jesus is faithful to forgive us.

We tend to skip right to the end.

We sin, then jump right to the part where Jesus is “faithful and just” to forgive us.

We ignore confessing our sin.

If we are to walk in the light, part of that “walk” is acknowledging our sin, confessing it so that we are forgiven.

This sets a righteous example for others in the light to follow, for those in the darkness as well, which makes us, even though we have sinned more and more the light!

Amazing isn’t it?

How we react to our sin can be light!

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But, sin is still a problem.

Even though there is a righteous way to deal with it, we are still called to put it away.

We are to strive to be more and more like Jesus.

But when we do fail as we are maturing, we can receive forgiveness of those sins.

Not using that forgiveness as a crutch for sin but growing beyond it and moving to maturity.

However, moving past sin, maturing, putting sin away, and becoming more like Jesus is not necessarily an easy task.

Perhaps in an effort to move beyond sin, we should identify it, or define it.

Throughout the Old Testament and New there are multiple Hebrew and Greek words used to describe sin and define it.

It is defined mostly in the New Testament as a “missing of the mark.”

Like a marksman, aiming at the bullseye, yet not quite hitting it.

So, in this instance, it would be as one trying to do God’s will, but falling short.

Sin is also defined as rebellion against God.

One knows what God desires and makes a conscious decision to do otherwise.

In this case, one chooses to leave the light, to walk in the darkness.

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This morning, I want to discuss a particular way that sin works itself into our lives.

It is especially scary to me.

Let’s begin by looking at the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were the conservative branch of the sanhedrin, the Jewish high court.

Here is a brief rundown of the Pharisees and their perception of obedience to God’s law in the 1st century.

· God’s original commands were the 613 laws of Moses (called “Torah”) that guided the ancient nation of Israel.

· The Mishnah was an oral tradition of commentary on the Mosaic Law that introduced additional, man-made rules that “built a fence” around the Mosaic Law so people wouldn’t even come close to breaking God’s commandments.

· The Pharisees were concerned with keeping these additional commandments and especially with having the outward appearance of keeping them.

· Jesus’s critique of the Pharisees was that they were legalistic – only concerned with the external appearance of keeping the Law rather than the inward spirit of the Law.

, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.

28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

The Pharisees accepted the oral law along with the Torah,

It was believed to be equally inspired and authoritative, and all of the explanatory and supplementary material produced by and contained within were the oral tradition.

This material began to emerge during the Babylonian Captivity that was brought upon the Jewish people.

The Captivity was explained as divine punishment for the neglect of the law, and many during this period earnestly turned to the law.

During the Captivity or Exile, detailed commentaries on the law appeared in the form of innumerable and highly specific restrictions that were designed to "build a hedge" around the written Torah and thus guard against any possible violation of the Torah by ignorance or accident.

The situation that the Jews were in (Post-Exilic Period), and how they were to deal with it exactly, was not clearly written in the Torah, according to some Jewish authorities.

You see, they didn’t thing the law applied very well in this new situation.

A new legislation had to be produced from that which already existed.

It was like an evolution of traditions that would continue to grow, and would finally achieve written form as the "Mishnah" in 200 A.D.

During the time of Jesus the oral law came to be revered so highly that it was said to go back to Moses himself and to have been transmitted over the centuries orally, paralleling the written law that also derived from him.

This is exactly what the Pharisees believed, and also it was these "traditions" that Jesus condemned.

Jesus continually referred to the oral law as the "tradition of the elders" or the "tradition of men" (; ; also see Josephus, Antiq.

XIII.

xvi.

2).

A famous passage that demonstrates the conflict between the oral tradition and God’s law is:

, Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’

So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites!

Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

9 in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

The Pharisees had allowed their hedge laws to take preeminence over God’s law.