1 John 1:5-2:2
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7But 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, purifies us from all sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus Is More than Your Imaginary Friend
Have you heard of the movie IF? It’s a kids’ movie. It’s an acronym for Imaginary Friend. I haven’t seen it myself, just trailers. But I think the concept and even just the title is clever. The word “if” is what makes imagination possible. It allows you to dream up all kinds of crazy and creative scenarios. We make games out of it, e.g. “If you were stranded on a desert island…” “If you won the lottery…” If can be fun.
But if can activate your imagination to do something else too. John uses that word 6 times in the portion of his first letter that we read earlier today. And while each one of those ifs did activate our imagination, the scenarios they posed were far from hypothetical; they were far too real. While each one of those ifs did prompt us to picture something in our minds, the pictures they painted were not all wildest dream scenarios; some of them contained nightmare fuel.
I want to walk through those ifs with you today. They come in three pairs:
If we claim to have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 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, purifies us from all sin.[1]
That’s the first pair. Here’s the second:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.[2]
And finally, we read:
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us… But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.[3]
Let’s start with the first part of the first pair – claiming to have fellowship with God but walking in darkness. You know what that looks like, don’t you? When somebody pretends to be one thing in public, but in private he acts completely differently. What do you typically call that kind of person? A hypocrite! A fraud. A phony. A liar. A pretender.
But this isn’t just some somebody, is it? This is we. This is you. It’s me. We’re not talking about anybody else, we’re talking about ourselves. And, as I said before, this if isn’t some hypothetical; it’s real life.
When do you claim to have fellowship with God, yet walk in the darkness? Well, you’re all here. It certainly looks like you have fellowship with God. But would a stranger, or even your friends, immediately recognize you as a Christian by the way you talk or act? Do you watch your language around certain people, but less loose with the profanities and vulgarities with your close friends? If we had St. Peter bumper stickers, would you put one on the back of your car, or would you be too afraid of the poor impression people would have of your church based on the way that you drive?
And those are just the little things, the petty things. What other things do you do under the cover in darkness that would make your mother blush or your heavenly Father sigh in disappointment? What about the unloving way you treat your family behind closed doors? The uncharitable comments you make about people who aren’t in the room? The promises you break to do or be something good at the first chance you get of scratching that old itch for the bottle or the digital brothel.
If we claim to have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.[4]
We’re hypocrites, frauds, pretenders – every one of us. This is not some imaginary scenario. This is real life. We’re walking in darkness. We’re hiding from the light of God. We’re like cockroaches, skittering from one dark corner to the next trying to escape his light but everywhere we go, it exposes us.
There are times when a caring family member or friend calls us out on our hypocrisy. And sometimes, we’re thankful for it. Sometimes that’s all it takes to turn us around. And that’s great… when it works. But it doesn’t always work, because we’re not always willing to listen to criticism no matter how compassionate and constructive it may be.
Sometimes we claim to be without sin. We downplay what we do, as if other people doing the same thing somehow makes it OK for us to do it too. We deny any kind of wrongdoing, and turn it on the other person, e.g. “Who are you to judge me? You don’t know me.” We manufacture and then hide behind our made-up excuses, e.g. “If you only knew what that other person did or what I’m going through, then you wouldn’t be so harsh.”
But what does John say?
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.[5]
If you take a comprehensive look at your life and you don’t feel even the slightest bit of guilt, then you’re lying to yourself. You’re delusional. The truth is not in you.
Again, sometimes we’re blessed with people in our lives to call us on our lies and to open our eyes to see the truth – to see the way that we’ve hurt other people, that we’re hurting our own souls. And if you’re privileged to have a friend like that, it’s possible for you to confess your sins and start the road to recovery. But that doesn’t always work either, because sometimes our hearts are so stubborn and so proud that no amount of talking would ever convince us that what we did was wrong to begin with. That’s why John goes on:
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.[6]
I could argue with my friends and family until I’m blue in the face. They’re just people and theirs are just opinions. They don’t get to decide what’s right or wrong for me.
But that’s just the thing, isn’t it? God is the one who gets to decide what’s right and what’s wrong for everyone. And if I defend my sinful decisions even to the degree that I disagree with God, then I’m in trouble. And we’re so good at that. We ask the same questions of ourselves that the devil asked in the Garden of Eden, “Did God really say…?”
Is it really so bad to let your mind wander when you see an attractive person? Is homosexuality, transsexuality, pansexuality so sinful and wrong? I have friends in the community. They’re not hurting anybody. They’re nicer, kinder than some Christians I know. God isn’t going to audit my taxes, is he? He doesn’t mind if I fudge a few numbers to get a better return. After all, the government does the same thing to me every time I stop at the pump or pick up groceries. I’m just playing their game.
We are so skilled at imagining that we are so innocent. But when God shines his light on our hearts, we’re more like cockroaches running to find the next dark corner to hide in. And each pair of ifs that John writes here just shows us how bad our hearts can get. Each one is worse than the next.
But the beautiful thing about John’s imagination-activating scenarios is that while the light does show the downward spiral of our sin, it also shines on the exponential expansion of God’s grace.
What was the solution to the first problem, i.e. claiming to have fellowship with God but walking in the darkness? It’d be tempting to say that the solution is to walk in the light! But that’s not technically a solution, is it? It’s a reform. It’s a way to do something better in the future. But it doesn’t undo the deeds of darkness you’ve done in the past.
The solution to our sin is not reform. The solution is the blood of Jesus that purifies us from all sin.
What was the solution to the second problem, i.e. claiming to be without sin? It’d be tempting to say that the solution would be to confess your sin – to stop deceiving yourself and be honest for once. But, again, that’s not the solution; it’s the reform. You should confess your sin – to yourself and to God – but that’s not going to make up for the sins you’re confessing.
The solution is the faithfulness and forgiveness of God, who promises to purify us from all unrighteousness.
What was the solution to the final problem, i.e. claiming to have not sinned? This time there’s not even a temptation to resolve that ourselves. The solution can only come from Jesus. John calls him our advocate – our defense attorney, if you will. And I can tell you the legal strategy he’ll use in God’s court of law. He will certainly not try to convince the Judge that you are innocent. That would never work, because you’re not innocent. But you have been forgiven. Your own defense attorney has already paid the price for your sin. He gave his life as the sacrifice of atonement for your sins and the sins of the whole world.
No matter where you fall on the spectrum – no matter what lies you’ve deceived yourself into believing or deeds of darkness you have tried your hardest to cover up because you know how bad they are – no matter what your sin is, the solution is Jesus, i.e. the perfect life he lived in your place, the innocent death he died on your behalf, the promise of purification and forgiveness and atonement through his blood. It’s all yours through him.
And this is no dream. Jesus is not your imaginary friend. He is your real Redeemer risen from the dead to give you life – both forever in heaven and here on earth until you get there.
So walk in the light. Stop slinking into dark corners to do dark things. But when you invariably do, confess your sin. Don’t deceive yourself or make God out to be a liar. Be honest and humble, but above all, believe – put your trust and confidence in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and for the strength to live in the light. He is light. Live in him. Amen.
[1] 1 John 1:6,7
[2] 1 John 1:8,9
[3] 1 John 1:10, 2:1,2
[4] 1 John 1:6
[5] 1 John 1:8
[6] 1 John 1:10