1 John 3:5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
Have you ever wondered how a bar of soap works? I mean, it’s a white blob of chemicals that we use to wash our hands and bodies. But how does it not get dirty? Now, this illustration will quickly break down, but at the idea level, it may be helpful because it is not unlike what Christmas is about. Jesus, the perfect son of God, came to earth to take away the sin of the world. This is the core of the Gospel. Jesus came to take our sins away, to give us His righteousness and reunite us with God in a perfect relationship. Though He took our sins and paid for them, He is still the perfect son of God. This is the heart of Christian belief, it is the reason for our hope. This is the act of love that should be changing us, giving us the confidence to hope in Christ’s coming as we live according to His pattern.
This verse also states what life in Christ is like. “In Him there is no sin.” This leads to one of the big questions of 1 John 3. If in Christ there is no sin, and we are in Christ, why do we still struggle with sin? Remember our discussion of purity in verse 3? I said then that it is a process. We hope in Christ’s work of complete purification as we ourselves strive to follow His example. This struggle with sin is part of that process. We hope in a perfect, sinless savior to come in glory to make us like Him, perfect and sinless. As we think about Christmas and what we are celebrating, What do we see Christ doing? Do we just see a special day to take a break from our normal activities with some notion of a good thing happening way back when? Or do we see this verse acted out? We thought about our sin yesterday and asked what sins we are holding on to. Now, let me ask, how is Christ taking away my sin? Am I working with Him to flee sin?
Link to Video
Comments
Post a Comment