Series:  1 John Series
Message:  The truth about the ‘S’ Word
Pastor Bret Johnson     Sunday, May 9, 2004 - Mother's Day

Listen to the Message 

The truth about the ‘S’ Word

Introduction

        Mother’s Day—all kinds of sermons on Mother’s.  But if we spoke on every holiday we would never be able to teach the whole counsel of God’s word.

        In so many churches today we avoid the ‘S’ word.  It is an unpleasant word and a word we don’t like to hear.  We especially don’t like to be called one

8 ¶ If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth.

 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.

 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

 2:1 ¶ My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely.

 2 He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

 3 ¶ And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments.

 4 If someone says, “I belong to God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth.

 5 But those who obey God’s word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him.

 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.

Secular prophets are rising up and saying the kinds of things Christians should be saying. Gary Trudeau, who writes the cartoon strip Doonesbury, said in a commencement address, "We live in an age where men and women would rather be envied than esteemed. And when that happens, God help us." Dan Rather did a radio spot entitled, "Whatever Happened to Sin?" Ellen Goodman, the Boston Globe journalist, did a column on the goodness of guilt. Meg Greenfield of Newsweek did an article on the possibility of moral absolutes. Even the secular press corps, the group everybody loves to hate, has entitled this presidential campaign, "The Campaign of Character." And perhaps the most powerful of the secular prophets was Ted Koppel in his address at Duke for his commencement. And he said:

We have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us. Shoot up if you must, but use a clean needle. Enjoy sex whenever and with whomever you wish; but wear a condom. No. The answer is no. Not no because it isn't cool or smart or because you might end up in jail or dying in an AIDS ward - but no because it's wrong. Because we have spent 5,000 years as a race of rational human beings trying to drag ourselves out of the primeval slime by searching for truth and moral absolutes. ... In its purest form Truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder; it is a howling reproach. What Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions. They are commandments.