If there is no such thing as sin then our human minds can't fathom freedom. So the very tangible freedoms we currently experience in our society will be lost and replaced with the very sins we ignore and deny...
Text / 7:59 - 8:11
At the end of the Feast (7:2) as everyone was leaving town a group of Jewish leaders legally/sexually trap and drag an adulterous women before Jesus hoping to legally/spiritually trap Him in His judgement of her.
'If anyone here is without a single sin, go ahead and throw the first stone at her.'
The problem here is one that Paul makes devastatingly clear in Romans 3 - EVERYONE has and will sin. Since there is no eternal escape from the guilt of sin outside of a relationship with Christ who alone mediates forgiveness, everyone standing around Jesus and that woman ought to have engaged in a serious stone throwing fight to the death!
Specifically this group was banking on Jesus' response to the law in Leviticus 20:10 regarding adultery. (Paul takes on extensive law about sexual sin in 1 Cor. 6 and quite honestly makes the case at just how it obscures our experience in Kingdom living.) But Jesus neither flippantly frees the woman thus denying Jewish law, nor does he condemn her to death and so disillusion his followers regarding His teaching on repentance, forgiveness and grace.
Instead he convicts every man and woman standing there and offers the same opportunity to acknowledge their sin, regardless it's context, believe in Him and 'leave your life of sin.'
Q. Current realities of a life lived in sin 8:34-36 and the Eternal Consequences of sin according to Jesus 8:24...Sin is real.
It's apparent even in the midst of the most beautiful of human relationships. It's apparent in the beauty and brokenness of nature, diseased crops and trees and animals. The question isn't do you sin, but how do you sin?
Q. Is it possible to discern sexual purity from sexual sin today in America according to the same divine standards Jesus?
Text / :12
'I am the light of the world.'
The 2nd I AM statement. He is the bread, now He is the light. This light reveals truth, it reveals the path to salvation, it reveals the fulfillment of true and ancient promises with the Father, it reveals the reality of sin, sin particularly hidden in the hearts of the very people of Israel, of God.
Read John 1:1-5 about the eternal nature of Jesus as the light.
Read John 8:58 - Jesus, the True light, truly is older than Moses.
Read Matthew 5:14-16 about our role as divine luminaries of Christ.
Why this analogy? Some historians believe that during the great Feasts of Israel several massive torches were built up and ignited on the temple-mount. Flames jetting upwards several stories with the glow revealing much of Jerusalem in the night sky.
Jesus is greater than this light.
He illumines the heart, mind and soul. He never burns out nor dims. His Truth never falters. His salvation never flickers. The tangible analogy would be easy enough to grasp. Just like His claim on the final day of the Feast (7:37-39), everyone was focused on the temporary and the tradition and the physical temple...Jesus wanted to arrest their focus on Him in the Glory of the Father.
Text / :31-32
'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.'
Is Jesus, after all of His about simply believing in Him for salvation, now saying that in order to be saved a person must perfectly obey his teaching? No.
In fact, this isn't so much about salvation but about discipleship. Look back on :30, once again many people put their faith in Him, but we know that most people leave when His teachings get difficult or when the religious leaders make threats or when the Roman officials extinguish hope.
'Actual disciples, students, followers, family of Mine demonstrate our divine relationship through a lifestyle fully engaged with My teaching, my truth. It's in the midst of living alongside me throughout your life that you'll personally and intimately discern Truth and it's this very Truth sourced in Me that offers true freedom from a life chasing sinful desires, slaves to sin.'
Living sacrifices. Worshipping in Spirit and Truth. Renewal of the Mind. Conformation to Christlikeness. Testing and approving Gods perfect will.
The disciple demonstrates his or her discipleness to Christ through perseverance in Christ's very teachings. Salvation is demonstrated in the life of the disciple.
Not perfection. Not points. Not a guessing game. We can't compare the Apostle Paul to the thief on the cross. Both experienced salvation, one after minutes of belief, the other after decades. Yet both demonstrated obedience to Christ's truth.
We don't earn salvation. You don't earn discipleship to Christ. One may be more mature than the other but not more saved. Let's God discern who is forgiven. You and I engage Him in truth and life daily demonstrating Whose we are.
Challenge /
Jesus may have 'slipped away from the' crowd in order to fulfill His mission, but He is no longer in need of disappearing. He is here and He is now and He has told the Truth.
Are we, as the Body of Christ, actually and honestly and wholly demonstrating our salvation through lifestyles, life rhythms that proclaim Christ's Truth.
Are we living UP / IN / OUT lives founded on the truth of the Gospel? I have to ask this question daily. Am I adoring the Gospel? Am I wearing Truth not only on my sleeve but on my heart and on my soul and on my mouth? Am I still carrying the cross?
Are you?