B, Easter 2 – 1 John 1:5-2:2 “Living vs. Lying”

Light and darkness, black and white, night and day. When the sun rises the darkness disappears, and when it sets darkness envelops what was once seen in the light.

When we walk in the light of Christ, we walk out of the darkness, and expose what the darkness once hid. At this point in time we have two options available to us. One is to rid ourselves of the thing revealed by the light, or we can return to the darkness so we once again cannot see what was revealed by the light.

This is why the devil hates the word of God so much. When he hears the truth it reveals he is the chief of liars; that he never tells the truth; that he lies even to himself. Jesus, the Light of God reveals what the devil hides in darkness!

I imagine when Jesus descended into hell after being crucified on the cross, the devil was infuriated the light of God was not extinguished, but faithfully even there the light showed exactly what the darkness of hell was hiding. From that moment to now and unto all eternity the knowledge of their evil and the absence of God to forgive will be the sword in the sides of those whose phony faith once deceived them on earth.

In St John's first epistle, he writes what might be hard for our ears to hear. He speaks frankly about light and darkness, sin and truth, those who repent and those who are liars, those who know him and those who don't, the fellowship of the forgiven and the futility of the faithless. But John and the Apostles are writing these things so that their joy, your joy, and the joy of the one Christian church on earth might be complete. (1 John 1:4)

You see, now that the eternal battle has been won on the cross, the devil has only limited power. Yet this power works on all of us individually, internally, seeking to turn us from the eternal fellowship of the eternal kingdom with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and all the saints. Seeking to return those of the oneness of Christendom back to the oneness of self and sin! To turn us from the New Adam who resisted temptation and won forgiveness for us on the cross back to the old Adam and his original sin.

So serious is this that in the first days of the church, not even what might seem to be a little white lie was tolerated. In fact it still isn't! We have heard in the book of Acts the oneness and common holiness of the early church. But immediately after this account we can hear the consequences of a lie.

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God." When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much." And she said, "Yes, for so much." But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. (Acts 5:1–11 ESV)

What was the root of sin here; a lack of trust, greed, popularity, approval, a piece of glory perhaps? One will never really know! But we know they weren't selling the property to glorify God as they wanted it to appear. The oneness was for themselves rather than the one Christian and Apostolic church. And what's for sure here is this couple was made an example of for the sin they sought to cover with a lie.

The easy thing to do here is to quickly overlook this piece of scripture. But we do so to our detriment! In fact, overlooking any piece of scripture is not a wise course of action! Rather we do better to heed the warning and examine ourselves in the light of this text and John's words in his first epistle.

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. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 1:8–2:1 ESV)

If you are one with Christ; if you allow him to lead you from darkness into light, sin no longer separates you from God, but retreating back into the darkness and hiding the sin, perhaps pretending it doesn't exist, is a deathly exercise indeed.

Hiding the sin or returning to the darkness shows a lack of trust in Jesus. In fact, this action makes him out to be a liar, and it makes the power of the cross impotent. And if you relegate the cross as incapable of atoning for your sin, then in the darkness of your sin you remain.

The healthiest course of action for us who wish not to be swallowed by darkness is to acknowledge our sin before God, trusting Jesus' death and resurrection has indeed the power to cleanse us from sin. That by the atonement of Christ on the cross the Holy Spirit is cleaning us from our sin, and will continue to clean us from sin every day of our lives until we are called into the eternal oneness of God's holiness and peace.

…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 cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7 ESV) He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2 ESV)

Let us come clean to our sin, so the Son of Righteousness can shine the light of his forgiveness on us, cleansing us of all our sin. Then we can let this light shine from our forgiven hearts into a world that desperately needs the same resurrecting forgiveness and the eternal peace that comes from it. Amen.