Sermon – 04-14-24 – Easter 3 – Cycle B
Scripture – Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; using John 1:1-13
Sermon Title: “From Sin to the Light”

One person says, “Rev. M, you talk about sin too much. You make it seem like we are always sinning.” Another person comes along and says, “Pastor Mary Etta, you don’t talk about sin enough! You should be preaching brimstone and hell!”

I promptly searched the internet for “brimstone and hell!” Along with the usual chatter about the sufferings in hell, I found this unusual comment.

What’s up with “fire and brimstone”? What’s brimstone?
www.straightdope.com/21342781/what-s-up-with...
May 19, 1999, 11:00pm PDT. Dear Straight Dope: Innumerable times I’ve received warnings against doing certain things at risk of suffering the “fire and brimstone” of Hell. What is brimstone, and why is it so bad? Also, what is the origin of the expression? Shouldn’t they update it to something that actually scares adolescents like fire and algebra?

Because our scriptures today take us right back to the subject of sinning, I am asking, “What is sinning, exactly?” I answered myself by saying, “Sinning is disobeying the Ten Commandments. Sinning is not living the Golden Rule which is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Also, we have these two powerful statements which summarize the Ten Commandments from a positive side instead of a negative side: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You shall love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.”
Then on the night when Jesus met with his disciples before the cross experience, Jesus said to his disciples, “You shall love each other as much as I love you.” As much as Jesus loves us! Will we ever achieve that level of love? It is a goal.

But there is more to this sinning story. I use the word “works.” If an action or a word on our part makes people feel good, it works. If an action or a word on our part does NOT hurt anyone, including God, it works. We can screen our actions and words that way in our minds but, did you ever notice that our mouths or our actions don’t wait for our minds to process the idea. We are like Peter, blurting out something without letting the mind process it. Teasing, bullying, failing to help someone is sinning. Punching the person next to us is sinning. Sinning is darkness.

These days we hear so much about darkness. Don’t miss a beat, call it sin! But our scripture today has two sides. We have covered the dark side. What is the other side? Of course, you are way ahead of me. The light! Jesus is the light. Jesus came to earth to include us in the light. We are welcome to be in the light. When we sin we are placing ourselves in darkness. Remember that anytime we hurt someone or don’t help someone when we could, we are placing ourselves in the darkness. We become separated from God. Yet the light is available to us. When we are in the light, we are not separated from God. In fact, God calls us his children.
“I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to walk in the light of Jesus!” Amen