God is Light (1 John 1:5)
Introduction
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Illustration
2 weeks ago I began our series in the book of 1 John. I spoke about the source of our joy as believers and how it’s possible to have joy in the midst of trials when we base our joy on:
- our eternal life,
- our fellowship with God and
- our fellowship with other disciples.
God put that teaching to the test in my life over the last 2 weeks. I can honestly say that the last 2 weeks have been a very difficult trial, but there has been tremendous joy in the midst of that trial
- Joy knowing that although these bodies are failing, Lara and I have the real hope of new bodies. Bodies that do not fail, or get sick or need surgery. Bodies that are built to last for all of eternity. There is joy when we consider our salvation and the place the Jesus has prepared for those of us who follow Him as Lord and Savior.
- There is joy in the sovereignty of our God. God knew that we were going to walk through some difficult times. Never for a moment did I doubt that God was with us and that God had a plan and a purpose. For the believer, all things work together for good. God has a purpose and a plan and we never walk through a trial alone. There is joy in our fellowship with God.
- Lastly, there was so much joy in the fellowship of this local church. We have been surrounded and overwhelmed by the love of God’s people. Gifts, meals, cards and emails… People sitting with us and praying for us and helping with our kids. It has been absolutely amazing to be on the receiving end of your love and generosity. In the midst of this trial, we are full of joy.
Goal:
My goal this week is to help you understand how to have more joy in your life. 1 John makes it pretty clear that joy is the result of our eternal life, our fellowship with God and our fellowship with one another. Today we are going to study one test to see whether or not we have eternal life Because if we don’t have eternal life, we can’t have the JOY that eternal life produces. Then we are going to look at fellowship with God and how that impacts our fellowship with one another.
In order to have fellowship with God, we need to understand what God is like. 1 John 1:5 says that God is light. Look at that verse together with me:
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
God is Light (1 John 1:5)
John is very “visual” in the way he communicates. He loves using word pictures, so here we have this picture of what God is like…God is light.
Of all the things you can say about who God is, none of them would encompass more truth about God’s nature than the statement “God is Light.” Here’s why that statement is such a good reflection of God’s nature:
First of all, God is light in that He reveals Himself. It is hard to hide light. Light tends to want to shine. I have a cell phone charger with a little blue led light. When I first bought this charger, I placed it in my room one night and turned off the lights. That tiny little LED light from the charger lit up my whole room. In order to hide the light, I have to cover it up with 4 layers of duct tape.
It is the nature of light to reveal itself – to penetrate darkness. God is light in that He penetrates Darkness. Light by it’s nature shines – it’s hard to stop it. When light is placed in darkness, it seems to shine all the brighter.
It is in God’s nature to shine. His nature is to reveal himself to mankind. Unless we close our eyes and ignore what is right in front of us, it is impossible to look at His creation and not see Him revealed.
- If I look at the universe, I see God revealed
- If I look right here where he lives, I see God revealed
- If I look in a microscope, I see God revealed
- Best of all, when I look into God’s word, I see God revealed!
God’s character is revealed all the time – even in the midst of this dark and fallen world! I’ve seen time and time again that when the world gets darker, the light of God’s perfection shines brighter.
God is light in that He is perfect. Light symbolizes perfection in scripture. God is perfect, but He’s not just perfect…He’s infinitely perfect. He always has been perfect. He always will be perfect. God is light in the sense that he possesses moral perfection.
He lives forever and ever and has always existed in absolute perfection. He is perfectly good. He is perfectly holy. However, His perfection and His goodness and His holiness doesn’t drive Him to stay away from us, although we are by nature imperfect and unholy. He has a desire to dwell with us. Look at Isaiah 57:15
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
God is like light in that He desires to be known and to reveal himself. God is also like light in that He is the essence of purity, holiness and perfection. God is like light in that He penetrates darkness.
A person can’t live in darkness and live in the light at the same time. A person living in darkness has to separate himself and shield himself from the light in order to remain in the darkness.
One of John’s primary reasons for writing this letter is to supply us with tests to see if our faith is really genuine. If I claim to be God’s Child and a disciple of Christ, then it is expected that l no longer live in the rhelm of darkness.
- It’s not that I never sin
- It does mean that I belong to a different realm.
- I’m no longer in the realm of darkness
- I belong to the kingdom of light and to the kingdom of God
- AND that is proven over and over again with my life.
Are we living in the light? Or are we living in darkness? It’s a simple, basic test of salvation. A person’s verbal profession of faith can’t be trusted if they are living in darkness. This test takes the most basic part of God’s nature and asks you and I if we are living in a way that is consistent with the fact that God (who we serve) is Light?!
If someone is living in the darkness, it breaks their fellowship with God and may indicate that they are not saved. (not that they lost their salvation, but that they were never saved in the first place) They may have honored God with their lips, but their heart is still far from Him. Living in darkness breaks fellowship with God. And ultimately, robs us of our joy.
Your joy is made complete when you know that you have eternal life and when you enjoy fellowship with God. Before we talk about how to walk in the light, let’s look at what it means to be living in darkness
Living in darkness breaks fellowship with God (1 John 1:6)
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Too many people want fellowship with God on easy terms. I mean they want to separate Biblical discipleship from biblical ethics. There is a thread of believers in the church who want to approach God on their own terms, who take the commands of God’s Word far too lightly and then wonder why they have stalled out in their relationship with God.
They are trying to live in the light and live in the dark at the same time, but the two are incompatible with each other and wage war against each other. It’s no wonder these people don’t experience the freedom they are looking for, but misery. AND , it robs them of their joy.
If we claim to have fellowship with God, yet we are habitually walking in the darkness, then we are lying to ourselves about our salvation. Jesus said in John 8:12
12 … “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
According to Irenaeus (a disciple of John’s), the ancient Gnostics were blatant antinomianism. I want to familiarize you with this term, antinomianism. Antinomianism is the belief that once we are saved we can live however we want. We can live righteously when we want to but sin is no big deal because it is covered by grace.
The Gnostics believed that you could become truly spiritually enlightened and progress beyond the possibility of defilement by sin. They concluded that such a person could be righteous without necessarily doing righteous deeds. It is a possibility that John is writing this passage to counteract that false teaching.
Antinomianism is still a commonly held belief among some in Christian circles today. One well known preacher is currently pushing forward 2 beliefs from God’s word and one that is not. He says that once you are saved:
- You can’t be more loved by God – that’s True
- You can’t be more accepted by God – Also true
- You can’t please God more – that’s not true!
You can’t please God without God-pleasing activities. There is a striving that is involved in pleasing God. People who are saved, prove it by the way that they live. We should be suspicious of people who claim to have a mystical intimacy with God and yet are living in sin – who are walking in darkness. If God is light, then it is ridiculous to think that we can have fellowship with Him if we are living in darkness.
Discipleship without an intentional striving to please God is an illusion. People who are believers live to please God. They want to obey God. Their striving after God is a proof of their salvation. Let me show you that from Scripture: (not in notes)
Psalm 5:4
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
Isaiah 59:1-2
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
John’s words in 1 John 1:6 are becoming all the more clear. If someone claims to have fellowship with God while walking in darkness, then they are living a lie. They are not practicing the truth.
This passage is a test of salvation. A person who is saved is someone who has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Paul uses these words in Colossians 1:13
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
Peter communicates a similar idea in 1 Peter 2:9
9 …you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Disciples of Christ are people in the kingdom of light.
I emphasize this fact because there are people who believe that “Walking in the Light” is reserved for only the super saints – the Billy Graham’s of the world. John is saying here that every Christian is defined by their walking in the light.
- Non Christians walk in darkness
- Christians walk in the Light
All Christians, no matter how feeble they are or how many times they might fail, are people who walk in the light. The light might be dim, but they are walking in the light.
Several years ago, when I worked at the PV Campus, Pastor Jon was preaching a sermon and he said that he was the worst sinner he ever knew. He explained it this way: He said he could only know a fraction of another man’s sin – even if that person was a convicted felon. But he knew absolutely every sin that he have ever committed and therefore, he was the worst sinner he knew.
After that was taught, a man stood up and walked out in a huff. He met with one of our staff to voice his disagreement with Pastor Jon’s message and then left. A few years later he showed up in my office and informed me that he had never sinned even once since the day he was saved. He was really bothered that pastors on our staff claimed to still deal with sin in their own lives all the time.
He was so bothered that he was screaming at me in my office and when we was done, he tore out of the parking lot.
Is God’s word saying here that a disciple of Christ never sins? In case you are confused (in case you might think that is what John is saying here), skip down to verse 8 “8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
Walking in the light doesn’t mean we are sinless. It does mean that we belong to a different realm. A new kingdom. A kingdom of Light. We have a new King and we are making an intentional effort to honor that King.
- We are people who are actively and intentionally seeking and striving after God.
- We desire to know God better
- We are concerned with His honor and glory
- We are anxious to please God
Disciples are not sinless, but striving. Let’s look at what it means to Walk in the light
“Walking in the Light”
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
The first step is Repentance. We can’t claim that we are walking in the light unless we have repented of our sins. The American church does not want to talk about repentance anymore, but it is a critical part of our spiritual walk. The sinners prayer is supposed to be about repentance. Here’s why:
Ephesians (2:2-3) says that before I met Christ, I was
- “following the course of this world,
To repent, we have to first come to grips with the reality of our sin and say,
- “I’m done with that!”
- “I don’t want to live like that anymore.”
When a person repents, he realizes (through the power of the Holy Spirit) that his life was heading in the direction of darkness and death and destruction and (through the power of the Holy Spirit) he intentionally changes course. It’s a 180 degree turn towards the Light. There is a recognition of sin and a Godly sorrow over it.
No one is a Christian who has not made this conscious decision to turn away from the things of the world and to turn towards a new, vibrant relationship with Jesus. It’s a radical change.
It does not stop with an acknowledgement of sin. There is no value to a belief that does not lead to action. We give proof to our repentance by the way that we live. Repentance is real when there is an acknowledgement of sin that is accompanied with this Holy-Spirit-fueled-endeavor to turn our lives around and follow, wholeheartedly after Jesus.
We may be imperfect. We may still struggle with sin. BUT, there is a godly sorrow over that sin and an intentional striving after God. That’s repentance and it’s a necessary first step to walk in the light.
The second step is a confession of sin. Look a couple of verse down to 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
We have a light fixture with 3 light bulbs above our bathroom mirror. There used to be only 1 light bulb working in that light fixture. I looked pretty good in that mirror with 1 light bulb. One day, the other 2 bulbs got replaced and when I looked in the mirror again there were imperfections that I noticed that I never saw before the light was intensified. I had some work to do!
When we draw close to God, we are drawing close to the light. The light becomes more intense as we draw nearer to the source. As we are exposing ourselves to more and more light, the light is exposing more and more areas of darkness.
When an area of darkness is exposed, I have the choice to confess that sin to God or to hide that sin from God (as if that is possible). When I confess my sin to God, it increases my fellowship with God and brings me more real joy.
If I try to hide my sin from God, then I’m avoiding the light. I’m resisting the Holy Spirit. I’m refusing to be honest with myself. If I can’t be honest with myself over my sin, then how do I expect to be honest with God?
If we are dishonest about our sin, there is a barrier to our fellowship with God and a limit put on our joy. Confession is an essential part of walking in the light. Confessing our sins means that we were open to the work of the light. It means we let God search us and when He finds an area of darkness, we are willing to pull down our defenses, respond to God in humility and let go of that sin.
Remember what God said in Isaiah 57:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
Not only does Walking in the Light eliminate barriers between us and God, but it opens up new opportunities for fellowship in the body and opportunities to experience forgiveness of our sins
The third Step is to spend time daily in the study of God’s Word. Discover God’s will in God’s Word. He wrote it out for us! Study God’s instructions and then do what He says. Willing, happy obedience to God’s Word is proof of our love for Him!
Walking in the light produces fellowship and cleansing
Take a look at 1 John 1:7 one more time: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
#1 Fellowship with one another:
Since verse 6, John has been claiming that walking in darkness prevents us from having fellowship with God. You would think in verse 7 that he would make the opposite point and say that is we walk in the light we have fellowship with God. There is no doubt that that is true. However, he goes one step further: walking in the light means that we have real, meaningful fellowship with one another. Koinonia fellowship. Fellowship that shares a deep sense of unity that’s founded solely on the person of Jesus Christ. Fellowship produces joy!
#2 Cleansing from Sin
This verse suggests that God goes way beyond just forgiving the sin. It’s cleansing. He totally erases the sin. It’s as if it never happened! God makes a provision to purify us from whatever sin might otherwise hinder our relationship with God and our relationship with others. What was that provision? Nothing less than the precious blood of Jesus
When we walk in the light, it opens us up to receive cleansing through the blood of Christ and to enjoying fellowship with one another and with God in an open, honest, transparent relationships.
Joy is the ultimate result of walking in the light. Joy is the result of our salvation, Joy is the result of our fellowship with God and Joy is the result of our fellowship with one another.
Life Application
“Walking in the Light” 1 John 1:7
- The first step is Repentance.
- The second step is a confession of sin. 1 John 1:9
- The third Step is to spend time daily in the study of God’s Word
Walking in the light produces fellowship and cleansing
Teaching Outline
- God is Light in that He reveals Himself. It is hard to hide light.
- God is light in that He penetrates Darkness.
- God is light in that He is perfect.
Living in darkness breaks fellowship with God (1 John 1:6)
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” Colossians 1:13
“…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
Disciples of Christ are people in the kingdom of light.
Disciples are not sinless, but striving.
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