Podcast: 1 John: A Bunch of Sinners Are We

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If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
-1 John 1:8-10

Welcome to the Christian Pilgrimage Podcast; I’m your host, Paul Lytle. Today, we’re going to finish up the first chapter of 1 John in “A Bunch of Sinners are We.”

When I read these verses, I immediately thought of an episode of the Waltons that I recently watched. Now, I mention this at the risk of exposing exactly how completely irrelevant and unhip I really am. I mean, my grandmother is probably thrilled that I mentioned the Waltons, but the rest of you are wondering what in the world that is. Well, if you don’t know, it was a family show in the 70s about a family in Virginia during the Depression.

In this one particular episode, an evangelist comes to town, and the mother of the family takes everyone to the church to try to get them all saved. The evangelist tells everyone that they are sinners and are going to hell. This brings up the real conflict in the show, because the members of the family who are not Christian are rather offended. “We’re not sinners!” they say, and the mother agrees with them. “You’re not a sinner,” she says, “but you need to make Jesus your Savior.”

Which didn’t make much sense to me. A Savior? A Savior from what?

Most people do not see themselves as sinners. Most people think they are doing okay. A lot of churches have catered to this. Some of them won’t mention sin at all. Others reserve that word for an abstract group of people. Racist are sinners, or imperialists are sinners. But they don’t ever apply it to anyone specifically.

John wants us to apply it. He wants us to understand it. He wants us to know that we are in that category. If you deny it, he says, then you are lying to ourselves. Lying, by the way, is a sin.

Furthermore, he says, God says you are a sinner, so if you deny that you are one, then you are saying that God is lying, which He cannot do.

So, as I’m reading our passage for today, I thought I might do a little test. I’m going to find some sins from the Bible and see how I measure up to them. 2 Corinthians 12:20 lists some for me. Let’s just go through the list here. Quarreling? Check. Jealousy? Yes. Anger? Uh-huh. Hostility? Yeah. Slander? Goodness, aren’t there any big ones here so I can say no to one of them? Gossip? Oh, yes. Conceit? Duh. Disorder? Wait a minute, what is this list? Let me take a look here. Oh. This is the stuff Paul is finding in the church itself.

Okay, forget that one. Let’s get to the big stuff. Murder and adultery. You always see in the Bible that murder and adultery is wrong, and I at least haven’t done those! Oh, wait. Jesus says in Matthew 5 that if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, that you’ve committed adultery; and if you insult someone else, you’ll be held accountable to the same judgment.

Well, these are minor things, right? I mean, a little lust, a little anger, no big deal. Let me turn to Matthew 22, because it is here that Jesus summarizes the entire Law into two points. So if we can get these two points, we’ll be okay. Let me read here: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Love God with your whole being and love others as yourself? I can’t do that! I mean, even if I tried, I can’t live up to that. And I’m a Christian! I’m a Christian, and I can’t live up to this standard.

I’ve sort of had some fun with this, but we should consider this a minute. It is our instinct just to dismiss this because it’s impossible. We look around and think, Well, I’m doing okay compared to everyone else. We look at the news and see stories about murderers and rapists and swindlers, and we think, Maybe I’m better than the average.

I think we have it in our head that God is going to grade on a curve. He’s going to say, “Okay, no one passed the test, so I’m going to add twenty points to everyone’s grade.”

But here’s the truth, as Paul says in Romans 3: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We were made to love God with all our hearts, and instead we chase after sex, money, power, and toys. We were made to love one another as ourselves, but we spend our time seeking our own good. We have insulted our Creator, the just and righteous God, with our thoughts, words, and deeds. None of us are worthy of Heaven, and to just blow it off and decide that God is going to grade on a curve is further insult to a Holy God. He created you, you have rejected Him, and so you decide that He has to accept you, as though you were the creator rather than He?

Imagine if a child had this attitude toward his parents? What if this child said to his parents, “No, I didn’t do what you wanted me to do. But what are you going to do about it? You really should be giving me presents rather than scolding me.” The only right way to deal with such a kid is to get a belt and punish him!

Why do we think of God as somehow less just than that? Why do we think we should be rewarded for our rebellion with Heaven? The truth is, we have all earned Hell.

But let’s turn back to John’s words here. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Let me explain this. We owe a debt because of the sins we have committed against God. We deserve a punishment of death. All of us deserve this. But God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to earth. He lived a perfect life, but was killed upon a Cross, even though he didn’t deserve it. In that death, He took the punishment we deserve upon Himself. He also clothes us in His righteousness so that we may be able to stand before the Father blameless.

Now, we can either continue our rebellion against God and turn away from this sacrifice, or we can repent of our sins, believe in Him, and be granted forgiveness.

We cannot earn this sacrifice. But in love, God offers it freely to us. So it is true that none of us are without sin, but if we are in Christ, we will be judged blameless on the Day of Judgment.

The mother in that Waltons episode was wrong in one point. She had a family full of sinners. But she was right in the other, and that is that they needed Jesus to save them. Because I have a Savior, I am not ashamed to confess that I am a sinner. I am a terrible sinner who deserves death. But by the Blood of Jesus, I will have life. Let’s pray.