Acts 3:11-24				1 John 3:1-7				Luke 24:36-49

Do you have “cringe moments” – those things you’ve done in your past that make you cringe?  Maybe it’s some embarrassing mistake… or some misunderstanding.  

I think often of a moment from eighth grade.  I was at a school dance.  Some boys from my class said they would give me fifty cents to dance with a girl who wasn’t very popular.  I thought it was an awesome offer, because the girl and I were reading buddies: we ordered books from the monthly book catalog, read them, then swapped.  I was getting free money for dancing with my friend!  
	
While we danced, I thought I should share my good fortune with my friend – I told her that I was getting fifty cents to dance with her, and I would love to give her half.  I basically told her that she was the butt of a joke.  Maybe I was too.  I was pretty naïve.

I don’t remember how the dance ended.  I imagine she wasn’t as naïve as I was.  I may have ruined her evening.  All these many years later, she probably doesn’t even remember the incident, but I remember it regularly and cringe.

But maybe some of your cringe moments are about something darker… some sin you committed against someone that hurt them.  Maybe it ruined the relationship.  Or maybe it’s some secret sin – something you got away with, but you know you did it.  Maybe you have already acknowledged it as a mistake, and have already confessed this sin to God.  But you can’t let go of it.  It returns to your thoughts again and again, and you cringe.

Holding on to a sin like this – dwelling on it, remembering it and cringing… this is a bad form of guilt.  Sometimes guilt can be good – it can make us aware of our sin and our need for forgiveness.  But sometimes guilt can be bad.   It can keep us from moving past our sin – keep us from letting God take it away.  This bad guilt can really be an effective tool of the Devil to stop a Christian in his tracks.  

Part of the problem is that we think like humans instead of thinking like God.  We are unable to “forgive and forget”.  There is no “delete” button on the human brain.  

But God is different.  When he forgives, he doesn’t see that sin any more.  To his point of view, you never even did that wrong thing.  Jesus changes everything. This is what our reading from 1 John is talking about.  Are we, in fact, sinners?  Yes.  But that is not how God sees us.  He sees us as his very own children.  1 John 3:1-2
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now,

We don’t see this transformation yet.  Our sinful nature limits us.  We still see our failures and our “cringe moments”, but this won’t last forever.  Verse two continues:
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.1 John 3:2-3

The way God sees us is the way we will be in heaven – pure and righteous.  Free from all the corrupting influence of sin.  He sees us to be the same as Jesus.  Some day, we’ll see ourselves free of sin, because some day we will be.  We’ll be with God in heavenly perfection.  Some day.

In the meantime, we lean on God’s love, and through faith we receive the forgiveness he offers.  Through faith, we believe him when he says things like Psalm 103:11-12
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

God is not interested in tearing us apart.  He’s interested in making us whole again.  In today’s reading from Acts, when Peter is talking to the crowd outside the temple, he is telling them about the freedom that comes with bringing mistakes and “cringe-worthy” actions to God.  He doesn’t say: repent then, so God can punish you for your sin.  Acts 3:19-20 says:

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

It’s not about punishment.  It’s about God taking away those things that make us cringe – those things that hurt and embarrass us.  We may not be so good at forgetting, but God certainly is, and as his dear children, he wants us to live a guilt-free life.

So how do we do it?  How do we live a guilt-free life?  How do we live with all our past evils and the harm we’ve done?  Jesus talks about it in our reading from Luke.  Luke 24:46-48
[Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

It’s why Jesus came: that he should take our sins upon himself and leave us sin-free.  The new life he gives us is one that follows his example – a life where we love other people and share the good news that God wants to relieve them of the terrible burden of guilt they carry.  

And notice the last thing he says to his disciples:  “…stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”  What power is he talking about?  The Holy Spirit.  

There it is!  That’s how we deal with a burden of guilt –. with the help of the Holy Spirit we give it over to God.  Just like he took away the sin that caused those feelings of guilt, God can take away the guilt as well.  

Is this a free ticket to sin?  Certainly not.   First of all, continuing to do things that we feel regret about… things that make us cringe… doesn’t make any sense.  Why would I want to cause such sadness for myself?  But secondly, there is something much better for us.  1 John 3:5-6
You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning

This passage isn’t saying that Christians no longer sin.  It’s saying that Christians no longer have to sin.  Our life is no longer defined by our “cringe moments”.  Our life is now defined by our relationship to God in Jesus – a relationship that declares us to be sin-free and guilt-free.  

Romans 6:1-11 says it this way:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

We are dead to sin and everything that goes with it – including the heavy burden of guilt.  Now, our lives are about Jesus.  

Do we still sin?  Yes.  Do we still feel guilt?  Yes.  But as we grow closer to God, he helps us leave sin and guilt behind.  Living for Jesus means leaving that all at his feet and living in the joy of God’s love.  As unburdened children of God, we can live for him and love others.  

What sin from your past still burdens you?  Is remembering that sin helping you or hurting you?  Are your guilt weighing you down?  Bring it to God.  

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  Romans 8:33-34

You’re forgiven, Christian.  Jesus himself declares you innocent.  We all have things that make us cringe.  Don’t let it stop you from living for Jesus.