What’s Wrong?

If you have an annoying penchant for always being right, even about the most trivial of matters, then the Internet has helped you immensely. With a smartphone in hand, you can access www.iamright.com and stock up on important-sounding arsenal to help your point whether you’re in a car, at a sporting event, or just ruining someone’s meal away from home. Despite nitpicky ways of proving others wrong, there are times when it is important and necessary to do so. Jesus highlights three areas in which the Spirit will carry on his work in proving others wrong through the church:
“When he [the Spirit] comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:8-11 NIV).
Jesus explains each of these with some detail. The heart of sin, according to Jesus, is that it tricks us into thinking we do not need a Savior. Christians tend to focus on condemning all types of specific sins, but the message the world actually needs to hear from us about sin is universal: we all need saving and we cannot save ourselves. Whenever the subject of sin comes up, that’s the context in which the Spirit carries on Jesus’ message best. Sure, we may have to field queries about whether such and such IS a sin, but we do well if we first remind the world that it needs a savior other than itself.
The heart of righteousness has been trickier to nail down. Some people think it describes the vast differences between a holy God and the rest of us. Others think Jesus, by identifying his plans to return to the Father, is pointing to God’s faithfulness to keep his gracious promise to extend his kingdom to sinners all over the world from every tribe, tongue, and nation. When Jesus departs, the Spirit through Christ’s church must take up Jesus’ constant talk about the faithfulness of the Father to keep his promises, the bigness of his kingdom and the patience he has in corralling sinners into joining it. Even better, we should back up our talk with behavior that is generous and gracious to others, from the transient beggar on our doorsteps to the saint who we now see everywhere but at our gatherings as a church.
The most overlooked item on Jesus’ list is judgment. The prince of this world stands condemned, because his system of returning evil for evil is now exposed. His system of oppression and lording over others is proven wrong. His myth of using force and violence to establish and keep power is roundly rejected at the cross. Jesus repeatedly opposes the prince’s “judgment” about the “right” use of money, state authority, and violence with his speeches and actions. As his church we are to do the same, because the prince still stands condemned, not by swords, wealth, or stately decrees, but by a humble savior who was crucified and raised—undoing the power of death itself and our fear of death. All too often we still clamor for a king and trust in modern-day horses and chariots, even after God went through the trouble of taking on our nature to exemplify a different purpose for our lives in this fallen world.
John describes how Jesus sent his Spirit for us to carry on what Jesus started. He showed us the way to treat sin, righteousness, and judgment. Are we willing to follow his way? Or will his message die the death of a thousand qualifications as we tell ourselves about purity, discipline, wisdom, and choosing lesser evils? Our lamb has conquered, so let’s follow him! And this time we will be proving others wrong for good reason.