Walk in Light

Intro

This week we stepped into a new year. There is something about starting something new that makes you look back on what is old. By starting a new year I often feel motivated to look back on the previous year. I think through what was great, what was not so great, What did I accomplish, what did I leave as just a thought in my head, Where I grew spiritually, where was I stagnent, Where was I obedient to my Lord and Where was I disobedient. These are the types of questions I believe followers of Christ should ask themselves regularly but especially this time of year. While the rest of the culture is making resolutions to try harder at something to improve something physical or material we are to look for new things to surrender. It was while thinking through these questions that I was drawn to the book of 1 John. I felt led to begin this new year by starting a series going through this book because this book helps us do what all Christians want to do live what we believe. If you make the commitment to be here the next several weeks and come with an expectation of hearing from God’s Word you are going to have a better understanding of who Jesus is and how you can not just know things about him but actually let Jesus be the light that guides every single step you take in 2025.

1 John 1:1–4 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

These opening verses give us part of the reason why John wrote this book. but if we are going to understand the full picture we have to look at the situation in the churches that he is writing to. This letter was written to be circulated among multiple churches who were in crisis. They had been invaded by false teachers.

These false teachers were coming after the church doctinaly, meaning they were trying to change what they believed about God, mainly they did not want to accept Jesus as God

They went after the church morally, they minimized the seriousness of sin. Saying you could have fellowship with God regardless of your behavior

They also went after the churches socially. The heritic’s spiritual pride thinking they were the only ones with all the answers resulted in a lack of botherly love

John wrote to combat each of these attacks,

John also wrote to reassure the believers who’s confidence had been shaken by the heritics that their salvation was secure because of Jesus.

As we go through this book we are going to become more firmly rooted doctrinally churchy way of saying you are going to know who Jesus is

We are also going learn how to defend those who would attack our view of morality. Our culture does not view sin as a big deal and why would they if they dont know Jesus. What we have to really on guard against is letting that belief into the church. We are going to see how John addresses that.

We are going to learn how defend ourselves from developing the prideful attitude of the heritics John was writing about. Because if we aren’t careful it will creep in and destroy us from within.

And lastly if you walk through this book with us. If you are a true follower of Christ my prayer is that we get to the end and you have that assurance that what Jesus did for you on the cross was enough, and you can go forward with assurance and confidence in who you are because of who your savior is.

Looking at the first four verses we see John introduces this letter by establishing his authority, and also Jesus’ eternity.

He’s saying that Jesus has been here from the beginning. and then he got be an eyewitness of the word becoming flesh in Jesus. He’s kind of flexing a little bit. He’s saying not only did I see him but the Son of God who’s been here since the beggining of time. I touched him. kind of a weird thing to say. If someone asks you if you’ve seen one of your friends lately you most likely arent going to say yes I saw Him and guess what I also touched him No thats weird but we one verse in and John is already addressing one of the things his opponents were teaching that Jesus was just a person that the Holy Spirit rested on later in his life. And John is saying no I touched him he wasn’t just a vessel for the Spirit. The word that was there before the foundation of the earth that word became flesh I know this because I touched him he’s physical.

He goes on to say on behalf of all who saw and touched Jesus. We are telling you about it so that you may have fellowship with us as we have fellowship with God.

1. Joy is found in fellowship.

John said that he wrote this letter so that the Christians who read it would be in fellowship with him as he is in fellowship with God and then their joy would be complete.

We often think of fellowship as simply friendship. but it is so much more than that. Fellowship in scripture refers to a shared conviction that manifests itself as mutual responsibility and status.

So John’s joy as well as our joy is made complete when we are bound together by fellowship that is not based on our personalities or likes or dislikes. No the basis of our fellowship is what John said in the first two verses. Jesus is the Word of Life. We have fellowship with God by believing that as well as with other believers who believe the same. This also means that its impossible for a believer to be in fellowship with non believers. Micheal

John found joy in his fellowship but his joy was made complete when others entered into that fellowship as well. Nothing should bring us more joy than someone entering into fellowship with God, and if it doesnt bring you joy. You need to check your heart to see if you are in fellowship with him.

1 John 1:5–7 “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. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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.”

John immediately goes into defining attributes of the one that we are able to go into fellowship with. with the key statement being “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” We see here that light and darkness don’t go together.

2. Light and Darkness cant fellowship.

Light and Darkness cant fellowship because God’s light illuminates and overpowers all darkness. Remember that light was created in Genesis before the Son meaning in that time God was the light. Meaning God is as bright though most likely brighter than the son. Moses Do you think if you go to the surface of the sun you are going to find any darkness? no and in God there is no darkness at all either. He has no darkness in him at all so how could we be in fellowship with him and walk in darkness?

Do these verses mean that if we sin we don’t have salvation no. what it means that if you are in fellowship meaning having full agreement and conviction with God about who he is which is light. How could you possibly stay in that fellowship while choosing to walk in darkness. The evidence of true mutual fellowship with God is us living in the fullness of life revealed by Jesus. Your ability to walk in light is not the reason for your fellowship with God it is the proof that, that fellowship is there. You can say you are a believer all day long you can post on your social media you can go to church, you can make a read through the Bible plan your resolution, but words don’t show you are in fellowship actions do. I can say I love my wife and im committed to her but my actions are going to determine if thats true or not. You cant have a good marriage and cheat on you spouse and you cant have good fellowship with God by choosing to refuse to walk in the light that he is the source of.

As children of God we are children of light. I don’t know about you but I want to stop being a child of light who’s trying to toe the line between light and darkness. I want to walk in the light so fully that when I do stumble into the darkness I feel so uncomfortable that I cant wait to run back to the light. That is what I want to cultivate in myself in 2025 my hope is that you would come alongside me to help me walk in the light as I will come alongside you to help you walk in the light so we will experience fellowship and complete joy together.

John ends this chapter with showing one of the dangers that can destroy that fellowship, which was what was happening to the churches he wrote this letter to.

1 John 1:8–10 “If we say 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 we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

3. Denying sin keeps us from Fellowship

John looked at what was happening in the church and what he saw was a group of people saying that sin wasn’t that big of a deal. Most importantly they were saying their sin was such a minor deal that it wasn’t really sin. They had taken the bar of the standard for walking in the light and they had lowered it to be right below where they were. Instead of confessing their sin. They were denying it. They had told themselves this lie so much that they believed it and they thought they were sinless cause they were above that bar.

It would be like if there was an average high school basketball player who was losing his minutes. instead of trying to listen to the coach and improve his game he decided to go back to playing middle school where he knew he would be the best player. and then convinced himself that he was a great player cause he could score on 12 year olds. He feels good about himself but he’s delusional because he is holding himself to a laughable standard.

Thats what some in the church were doing in the 1st century and thats sadly what many still do today. God has clearly defined what sin is in the Bible, It is not our job to define what sin is. Its his standard not our standard. We are called to rise up to his standard not lower his standard below where we are. if we do this we are calling God a liar saying his standard isnt as important as he says it is. You cant be in fellowship with someone your actions say is a liar.

John is making the case here instead of denying your sin and being excluded from fellowship theres a better way. Confess your sin because guess what he is faithful and he is just and will forgive your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness. It’s a better way because it is the only way. we dont have to climb up to reach his level he says if you will confess your sins I am faithful even when you aren’t faithful I am and I will forgive you and purify of darkness so you can walk in the light.

Conclusion

As we close today I want to give the same plea that John gave his audience. Come experience the joy that is found in truly being in fellowship with God and other believers. Dont lie to yourself by walking in darkness and saying you are walking in the light. Don’t call God a liar by sayin your sin isn’t a big deal. Don’t let your sin keep you from fellowship with God where you can find true joy. Not when there is a better way. stop downplaying your sin and start confessing it. Allow him to cleanse you from the darkness of sin so that you can walk in the light.

As a church family lets begin this new year in fellowship with God and in a fellowship with each other that is rooted in our shared conviction of who God is and what he has done. Lets stop being content with some darkness here and there and lets strive through the power of the Holy Spirit to walk firmly in light

What is the darkness you’ve allowed to stay?

What is the sin you’ve acted like isn’t a big deal