Exploring the Word | Spreaker

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Power in the Blood, 3.18


1 John 1:5-10
5This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
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            One of the cool things God does in scripture is give us different ways of looking at things. If you have trouble connecting with Paul’s writing, maybe John will help you see things in a different light.

            In this section John is making two basic points: we’re all sinners in need of God’s grace, and our faith calls us to live differently, to leave sin behind. These two truths are woven together because following Jesus pushes us to do better, but it also reminds us how far we still have to go. The other connection that brings our sin and our calling together is that Jesus’ blood cleanses us from sin, moving us from darkness to light.

            John talks about lying a lot in this passage. If we say we follow Jesus, if we say we’re walking in the light, but we keep walking in the darkness of sin, we’re lying. Following Jesus means leaving the darkness behind and seeking Christ’s light in everything we do.

            At the same time, we’re also lying if we say we’re not sinful. Even while we follow Jesus and try to do the right thing we keep falling short. That’s a fact of life; even though Jesus changes our life and makes us new, we won’t be perfect until Jesus returns. Hopefully, we learn from our mistakes and get better at following, but the more we learn from Jesus the more obvious it is that we are not all the way there yet. So we’re only fooling ourselves and even making Jesus look bad if we claim to be sin-free.

            We’re lying if we claim to be innocent, and we’re lying if we claim to be disciples while continuing in our sin. Instead of either of these dishonest traps Jesus calls us to confess our sins and to trust him to cleanse us. As we put our trust in Jesus and honestly confess, Christ’s blood washes us clean.

            It’s hard for us to understand blood making us clean. Many of us struggle with the whole idea of Christ’s cleansing blood. On the one hand we struggle with why Jesus had to die because it seems so unfair. And on the other hand we wonder how his blood can make us clean anyway. We think of blood as dirty, even dangerous.

For people of Jesus’ time animal sacrifice and the blood related to it was a natural part of religious ritual, like singing or prayer. That was the case for most religions in the Middle East and it was true for Israel’s faith as well.

            When the temple was dedicated thousands of animals were sacrificed to make the temple holy to God. Blood was splashed against the altar to clean it and make it ready to offer sacrifice on. The Law of Moses goes into great detail about how many of what kind of animals would be sacrificed for different purposes at different times. The whole idea seems strange, maybe disgusting, to us now, but for our ancient ancestors in the faith sacrifice was a basic part of faith and life. The Letter to the Hebrews is the most detailed explanation of the ancient way of thinking about sin and how blood cleanses from sin.

            When we studied Hebrews in seminary one of my teachers explained it like this: The Temple was a special place that connected heaven and earth. During the year sin built up on the temple because it was close to the people’s sin. We can picture that sin was like a sludge that built up on the temple. Each year the sin had to be cleaned off by rituals of confession and forgiveness including sacrifices of atonement with blood.

            The author of Hebrews talks about how the sanctuary on earth was a copy of the true sanctuary in heaven. The sanctuary on earth had to be purified with animal sacrifices, but the perfect temple in heaven had to be purified with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. The blood of animals could take away sin temporarily, but animal blood couldn’t deal with sin permanently; only the blood of Jesus could do that.


            Isaiah gives us a different way of looking at God’s forgiveness. The book we call Isaiah is actually made up of three parts. The Prophet Isaiah and his disciples wrote the first part beginning in the 8th century before Christ. The second part, from which our reading for today comes, was written in the sixth century BC while Israel and Judah were in exile, and the third piece was written after the return from exile.

            Second Isaiah wrestles with why God allowed the chosen people to be conquered and kicked out of the land God promised them. The answer is that Israel has broken their covenant with God and so God has abandoned them to the consequences of their sin.

Throughout the history of God’s people they have turned way from God and forgotten his calling. God calls them back through prophets and other leaders, but before long they are off the path again and finally their sin leads to exile. The exile isn’t going to last forever; God is not going to abandon them forever. Our passage addresses how God is going to deal with Israel’s sin.

God looks forward to a faithful servant who will speak for God and bring the people back to the right path. There are four passages known as the “Servant Songs” that describe the ministry of this faithful servant. Among other things, the servant will be gentle but persistent; he will bring even the gentiles into the light of relationship with God, and he will make the people righteous. Some scholars believe the servant Isaiah talks about is an individual, possibly the Messiah; others believe the servant is an embodiment of the nation of Israel itself. Paul Hanson, whose work helped me prepare this sermon, suggests both those ideas are true.

God hatches a plan with the Servant to disrupt the selfish ways of God’s people. The Servant, himself will be a sacrifice for sin. Instead of punishing the people for their sin, God will punish the Servant in their place. That means sin is punished, which is what justice demands. And sin is taken away by the sacrifice of this innocent person. Finally, the incredible love and devotion both to God and to the community shown by the Servant will inspire the community to renewed love and commitment.

These words were not written about Jesus, but we believe Jesus fulfilled them in his life and death. Jesus is the faithful servant. Jesus is the pure and innocent Lamb of God. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that takes away our sin. Listen to God’s word to us from Second Isaiah:

Isaiah 53:3-12
3He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. 4Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

            Here the speaker stands for the people of God looking at the Servant’s punishment. The irony is that when people saw the Servant suffering they assumed he was being punished for his own sin. They looked away from his misfortune and figured he was getting what he deserved. The speaker looks back on that feeling now that he knows that punishment was actually meant for him and for his community.

5But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. 9They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

            God’s solution to sin is so radical that the speaker calls what happens to the Servant a “perversion of justice.” It is not fair to put the sins of all people on the back of one man. It’s not fair to punish someone for the sins of someone else. It’s not fair, but the servant willingly accepts that burden, knowing that while he is suffering people will mock him for being a sinner.

            It’s even more amazing when we see this passage in the light of Jesus and his cross. Not only is the servant of God faithful in suffering, Jesus, the Suffering Servant of God, is God. He chose to take our burden of sin to the cross, to take our sin away and free us from our guilt. Even while our sin put Jesus on the cross and those he came to save mocked his suffering, he prayed for forgiveness for his persecutors. Jesus still prays for us today.

10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. 11Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

            The author assures us that even with the torture the Servant endures, his life will be renewed in union with God. Death won’t have the last word, but life will be victorious. Christ’s resurrection fulfills that prophecy, giving us forgiveness and eternal life. In Christ’s sacrifice for sin we find forgiveness for our sin and peace with God. We can accept that forgiveness or not; I pray you will open your heart to Jesus and accept his love and freedom.

            In the Presbyterian Church we use our brains a lot. We think about faith; we learn through questions and answers. I hope I’ve opened these passages to help us understand why Jesus died for us and how his blood cleanses and heals us. If you have questions, I’d love to discuss them after worship. At the same time, Christ’s redemption is beyond our understanding; we know it in our heart more than in our head. The intellectual aspect of redemption is one thing, and I’ve already spent too much time on it. Understanding God’s redemption is fine, but what really matters is how that redemption changes our lives.
            
Now, I invite you to relax your intellect, now that we’ve talked through the passage and listen to this passage again with your heart. Let the message of God’s servant suffering to take away your sin sink into your heart and set you free. Our Lord Jesus died for you and for us all. Listen, accept, and be healed:

            Isaiah 53:3-12
3He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. 4Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

5But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. 9They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. 11Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Thanks be to God.

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