Light Breeds Fellowship

Introduction

I had the fortunate opportunity to attend college in Deep East Texas, being a kid that was raised in the big metropolitan area of DFW or Dallas/Fort Worth my idea of darkness was not the same idea of darkness one experienced in the rural eastern part of Texas. In bigger cities you have lights, and noise, and traffic. In rural or smaller towns you have a few lights, typically your sounds come from wildlife and traffic is typically some sort of deer, duck or tractor that is front of you and you have to slow down. I remember my 1st week in East Texas as a college student, I had such a hard time sleeping because I was used to the noise of the big city. I was used to helicopters, sirens, cars speeding down the street. Darkness is an adjective that describes a number of life cycles. A person who make depressed might say they are in a dark place, we may describe a song or a movie as “dark”. The author John expresses a sense of fellowship and vulnerability through the difference between darkness and light.

The manner in which we receive this message is reiterated. A message which they had heard from Jesus and now declare unto us. The message grows in value when we share it. The idea of being unashamed isn’t just sharing the fact that I am a Christian, it’s also sharing the blessing that Jesus has been in my life. There are two stages to being introduced to Jesus, one much hear, but in order to hear something must be announced. In this pericope, John delves into the fact that God has a specific character. It’s important to know who God is, what is the nature of God, what He expects from us and truthfully what we should expect of God. A number of questions arise to the surface based on this text:

What does fellowship with God look like?

What does it truly mean to walk in the light?

Why does the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from our sins?

Can you keep it real with yourself?

Understand the Nature of God

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. One of the things I appreciate about God is the absolutes in His nature. God is, and that’s the end of it. Not only does God have the ability to bring light to the world, He is light, He is the sustainer of everything good an perfect gift, it comes from Him.

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Light is the direct contrast of darkness, as God is light the people of God should be a light unto a dark world. Ephesians 5:8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” Light is necessary because it not only speaks to ability of God but the nature of how God moves for us today. Light does a number of things it can be revelation, salvation, judgement or ethical correction. Light also has the power to expose the things we fail to recognize or see. God’s power is light filled! The very essence of God is light, God is righteous, and within that light is love!

Light closes the loopholes! “In Him there is no darkness” the Greek translation of this phrase is “not at all”. You won’t find an ounce of darkness in God. This pushes us to see the remarkable nature of Jesus being God in the flesh, in God there is no darkness, Jesus, the human reflection of the nature of God was altogether sinless.

1 John 3:5 “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.” This is the beauty of the nature of God, wherever God is His power is evident, in the infancy of the earth it was perfection until sin entered the world. Jesus enters the world as a sacrifice of perfection, and now the Holy spirit is a perfect comforter. Everything God provides for us perfect!

Walking in the Light

Walking in the light brings a few things to the forefront.

We have fellowship with God

We have fellowship with each other

We have been forgiven of our sins.

Understand the fact that fellowship with God means we refrain from walking in darkness. Walking in darkness is a continuous manner to live in behave according to the customs of darkness, it’s the continuity of remaining in a place you were never created to be in. It’s ironic that the root word to walk is to “trample” which means to stomp or walk forcefully over something or someone. Proverbially this is what walking in darkness is, have you ever been in a dark room and tried to walk around, and maybe tripped or stubbed your toe or even knocked something over? The frightening park about darkness, is the longer you stay in a dark space the more adjusted you become. It’s similar to being in darkness and then being exposed to light, it’s blinding at first but once I allow my eyes to settle in it becomes comfortable.

As it pertains to fellowship before we can fellowship with each other we have to walk in the light and have fellowship with God, light attracts light. Remember the definition of fellowship association involving close mutual relations and involvement. Fellowship speaking to the participation and willing contribution I have in someone’s life. Typically I find myself in community with others who are living similarly to me. When we understand the nature of what Jesus has done I have no problem being vulnerable, I have no problem being open.

I walk in the light because I understand the nature of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made to forgive me of my sins. Pay close attention to the nature of that word “cleanse” the blood of Jesus “cleanses” us, understand that this is continuous. We make mistakes, we fall off the path, the issue isn’t falling off the path the problem is when we fall off the path and refuse to dust ourselves off and get back on the path that God has called us on.

Vulnerability Is Required

1 John 1:8–10“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

In mental health spaces, there’s a phrase we hear a lot of. “This is a safe space”. Understand in order for people to be vulnerable, in order for people to open we have to understand that we all have made mistakes and we cannot make people feel less that because their sin is different. Jesus died for all of our sins. As my grandma would say there is no big sin and little sin! We’ve all fallen short! Confession or acknowledgment puts us in a place of surrendering to the will of God. It’s cleansing to be open and vulnerable. Our acknowledgment puts us in position to be cleansed by God!

When we refuse to be open or act like we have never made a mistake we are not only lying to ourselves we make God a liar and devalue the sacrifice that Jesus made for our sins. The word of God is convicting and when we act like we have no sin, the word isn’t really in us. It’s not just about having fellowship it’s about honest fellowship, understand that salvation is a matter of life and death. When we lie to ourselves we lose fellowship with God and with our character. There’s no way we can develop in darkness! In darkness we can’t see what we need to work on, we can’t see growth, we can’t see what we need to avoid. Discipleship is about togetherness! John presents this text from a place of community.

“We have heard”

“We have fellowship”

“If we confess our sins”

“He has the power to cleanse us”

Fellowship and community go hand in hand, it’s a nod to the fact that we are in this together! We grow together, we walk together, we mourn together! Understand that you may make the decision to give your life to Jesus but it is sustained by working together! No one can go at this life alone!

The blessing is that the sacrifice of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness! We have nothing to be ashamed of because Jesus died for all of our sins!

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Forgiveness, Results Of

We all have seen and used those little electronic calculators. What happens if you get your information confused or make an error? You press the “clear” button and automatically all of the information is eliminated from the calculator. Then you begin again, without trying to sort out the previous mistake. In fact, there is no record of your mistake! It is lost forever!

That’s what happens to our sins when God forgives us. The consequences may remain, but the guilt—the legal condemnation for the offense—is gone.