Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! {He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!}
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[Don’t
Look at Me, God]
A little girl discovered the secret to making mud one day, which
she called “warm chocolate.”
After her grandmother cleaned up the mess, she told her
granddaughter not to make any more chocolate.
The little girl soon resumed making her chocolate, saying sweetly,
“Don’t look at me, Nana. Ok?”
Nana agreed.
So, she continued to work the mud, but three times she said,
“Don’t look at me, Nana. Ok?”
Thus the tender soul of a little child shows us how necessary it
is that we be unobserved in our wrong.
You see, anytime we choose to do wrong or to withhold doing right,
we choose hiding as well. It may be that our most common prayer is simply this:
Don’t look at me, God. Ok?
This was the very first prayer spoken after The Fall. God came to
walk in the Garden to be with Adam and Eve and said, “Where are you?”
Adam answered, “I heard you in the Garden, and I was afraid, so I
hid.”
Whenever we know we are doing something wrong, we do like to hide.
We don’t want to be seen. Yet, God always knows.
[Walking
in the Darkness]
In today’s epistle, John the Evangelist – with the help of the
Holy Spirit – wrote about walking in the darkness and walking in the light.
John wrote: “If we say we have fellowship with him while
we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John
1:6).
Now, we’ve all heard the sayings: Talk the talk, walk the walk,
and practice what you preach.
This is what John is writing about. You see, the “walk” reveals
the truthfulness of one’s claims and confession.
To walk in darkness is to live in sin and death. This is choosing
death rather than life.
So, are you walking in darkness?
We are living in a world full of darkness: Shootings, stabbings,
rape, stealing, and this list goes on. This is exactly what the Prince of
Darkness likes. He is in favor of conflict, doubt, fear and quick response. He
doesn’t want us to have rational thoughts. He doesn’t want us to think. All he
wants is a reaction that causes more conflict.
So, could we have fellowship with Jesus while we walk in darkness?
No! But, we see this all the time. This is a problem that most of
us have and it’s called hypocrisy. This is most easily seen in public life –
such as politicians, who claim to be Christians, yet they vote or speak against
Biblical truth.
So, if we say that we have fellowship with Jesus, yet walk in
darkness, we are the living-dead in this sin-sick world and the consequences of
this are dire indeed – eternal damnation in the darkness of hell.
And yes, Hell – is – real. If you aren’t aware of what I am
referring to – it was reported last week that Pope Francis said that hell “does
not exist.”[1]
Now, the Vatican quickly rebutted this. Frankly, I don’t care what the pope
says, but his words do have influence – even if he said it or not.
In fact, our Lord Jesus Christ is quite clear – hell exists for
those who have turned against God.
The world of darkness is focused today on catchphrases, such as
“Co-exist” and “being inclusive.” Sadly, this has even found inroads within many
Christian church bodies.
For thousands of years, the entire Christian Church was in full
agreement on morality – knowing right from wrong – but in the past 30 years,
there has been a shift toward the darkness. But, why? – To be liked by the
world – darkness, itself.
These denominations have changed morality without any evidence
from God’s Written Word found in the Scriptures. Many denominations have fallen
into the darkness of the world by saying that homosexual marriage is God
pleasing, changing one’s gender is God pleasing, saying that murdering a child
in the womb is God pleasing, assisted suicide is God pleasing, and cohabitation
is God pleasing.
The thing is – they never consulted God with these changes.
Instead, they are following the darkness of the world. They think they are
eliminating sin, but God is quite clear on what is sin and His Word never
changes, even if in our sinful minds we believe it has.
So they are saying: Don’t look at me, God. Ok?
[Walking
in the Light]
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Every time we confess the one true Christian faith in the Nicene
Creed, we confess that, “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten
Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of
Light, very God of very God…”
You see, God is light. In John’s day, light was associated with
excellence, purity, integrity, happiness, holiness, and wisdom. This is Jesus
Christ.
·
He is
excellent.
·
He is
pure.
·
He is
trustworthy.
·
He is
happiness.
·
He is
holiness.
·
He is
wisdom.
Within all the darkness of the world, Jesus is the light shining
in the darkness.
When we walk in the light, we live openly and honestly, without
covering up our behavior. Now, it is impossible to become perfectionists when
it comes to avoiding sin. We have a sinful condition –we are all by nature
sinful and unclean – so we confess our sins to God our Father and ask Him for
forgiveness.
You see, as children of the light, we live according to Jesus. We
know that in this dark world, there is light by grace through faith in Jesus
Christ – our Lord and Savior.
As Christians, we know that God is the only authentic and reliable
source of life, hope and blessing – and not just for a select few – but for all
people!
The promise of the gospel is for all people! Therefore, Christ
commanded preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His name to all
nations, because the Lord does not want any to perish but all to come to
repentance. Our Triune God is calling to all walking in darkness to repent and
walk in the light of Christ.
As walkers of the light, we have fellowship with one another and
we know that the blood of Jesus – shed on the cross – cleanses us from our sin,
because Christ is Risen! {He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!}
As sinners in need of a savior, Jesus suffered, died and rose to
grant us forgiveness. For it is only His blood,
only His offering of Himself on the cross,
only
His suffering and death that has the power to save –
·
the power
to cover
·
the power
to cleanse
·
the power
to blot out every sin.
To sustain faith, Jesus instituted “the new testament in His
blood,” given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. In the Sacrament of the
Altar, He grants us to drink His blood, which redeems, purchases, and wins from
all sins, from death, and from the power of the Prince of Darkness himself –
the devil. This Sacrament strengthens and preserves all believers in both body
and soul to life everlasting.
All of this was accomplished not with silver or gold, but with His
holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. And how do we
know this to be true? Because Christ did not remain in the grave! Alleluia! Christ
is Risen! {He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!}
As John writes in his gospel, “These things are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may
have life in his name” (John 20:31). Amen!
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
T SOLI DEO GLORIA T
[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/03/29/did-pope-francis-say-there-no-hell-not-quite-vatican-insists/470442002/
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