What IS a Christian? - A Christian is in the Light

Introduction

Pastor Keenan

Next Gen Pastor

very brief testimony

short intro to series and topic (What IS a Christian) (A Christian is in the light)

We are learning about what it means to be a Christian, what it should look like to others to be a Christian, and what it should like and mean to us to be a Christian.

let’s all look at our Scripture we will be in today and turn to 1 John 2: 3-11

1 John 2:3–11 CSB

This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands. The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him: The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked. Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the word you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Pray

As we read through this passage there might be some things that you may be thinking, walking in light and darkness, walk just as he walked, remaining in Him, keeping Jesus’ commands, I don’t know what all he’s saying

Originally Christians weren’t called Christians they were called followers of the way.

John heard from Jesus first hand the command to be salt and light to the earth.

Matthew 5:13–16 ““You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

He could have been about 15 years old when he became a disciple of Jesus.

He considered himself the one whom Jesus loved. So he really knew and had been taking in what Jesus was teaching.

So when we are hearing John talk about walking in the way that Jesus walked and being in the light what he’s really saying is that someone is saved and living out being a follower of Jesus, not just saying it. He just doesn’t have the same vocabulary that we do when we are talking about Christians.

Here is your first point

A Christian is in the Light

What does it mean for a Christian to be in the light?

A part of being in the light is to keep Jesus commands

verse three says, 1 John 2:3 “This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.”

What are some commands of Jesus?

Go make disciples of all nations baptize them in the name of the father son and holy spirit, teach them all I have commanded you.

Love the Lord with all your heart mind soul and body and love your neighbor as yourself

Do not permit any of the little ones to come to me for the kingdom of God belongs to those such as these

When someone slaps you give them the other cheek as well, as for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well, For the one that forces you to go one mile go with him two, give to the one who asks from you and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

What does it mean to keep Jesus commands?

The word used here to keep can also mean to conform, observe, and follow.

So really when it says if we keep his commands that we know that we know Him if we are conforming to Jesus commands.

When we conform to something we become more like that thing

So to keep Jesus’ commands it means to follow his commands or observe them and hold them as what we base our actions off of

It doesn’t mean though that we’ll be perfect in doing it, but it does mean that we should have the desire to put his commands first

Let’s go to 1 John 2:5–6 “But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him: The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.”

The love of God is made complete when someone is saved

God loves the world and desires for everyone in it to be saved but God’s love is full once we make the decision to have God save us and live in the light.

A Christian may be tempted to live in the darkness but once you have been saved and the love of God is made complete there’s nothing that can take that away from you. When God finishes a work then it’s done.

When John is saying that

When we are saved the Holy Spirit seals us Eph 1:13-14 and in John 10:28 it’s clear, Jesus says once we are in Him there’s nothing or no one that can take us from the Father’s hand.

I shared last week that I was saved at six and for some of my middle and high school and early college years I was living a life of sin. I was saved and had asked Jesus to be the Lord and savior of my life and I had that desire at one point. But through the lack of effort that I put into my relationship with God, I started to be less and less like Jesus and would follow less and less of his commands. To a lot of people and sometimes even myself I didn’t look like or feel like a Christian. I did a lot of bad stuff. I lied, got drunk was doing drugs, stealing from people, doing stuff with girls I shouldn’t have. Everything under the sun. But every time I would be doing these things I was being convicted the whole time. That’s because I was saved despite me turning away from God. When I came back to him though I remember crying so hard I fell asleep and when I was asleep I had this dream that I believe God showed me what I was doing. In it I had my eyes closed and I kept running backwards away from God and where he was leading me and because I was running backwards I kept tripping over things and falling down because I didn’t know what was behind me. Eventually that caught up to me and instead of falling over something smaller I could pick myself up over, I fell into a hole where I lost my sanity and the only one who could help me was God. In my dream I finally opened my eyes and God made me aware that he had his hands out the whole time that I was running backwards and that he had never left me. He made me aware that I closed my eyes because I was prideful about how I would do things and that I could hear Him but I wasn’t willing to put all the effort in to what and how He wanted me to do things. And at some point when I started to run backwards it was because of my shame. I thought that God didn’t want anything to do with me and that I messed up too bad to be his son and to be considered a good Christian so I just thought I would just run back and get away from Him so he wouldn’t be mad at me. Through all of that when I realized how big of a mistake I made and how long I had been closing my eyes and running, pretending to be in the dark, God still was there and had me the whole time.

Are you in here tonight and are saved but you are like me, closing your eyes and running backwards from where and what God has called you to? If you are then I want you to stop before God allows you to fall into a hole like he let me because of my pride.

If you’re are saved, you know that you are called to be salt and light to the earth and what we just read, that we are to be in the light.

That we are supposed to be following Jesus’ commands.

Maybe you say you’re a Christian but you get into arguments with your family, or other Christians.

1 John 2:10 “The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”

But if we don’t then that would mean that we are not remaining in the light.

You may think you treat people well but do you gossip?

You may not think talking about your friends or venting about people to people that know them is nothing to worry about.

But what are you really doing? You’re not loving them. You are hurting their image to other people and in turn hurting them.

Maybe you have a hard time being welcoming to others or being compassionate.

Maybe it’s that you have a sharp tongue.

That you are so quick to be critical of others and their work and be harsh with how you treat and speak to and about others.

Or maybe you’re like me and you’re saved but after a while you thought you could do life the way you wanted and have been running away from God because of your shame.

Tonight, if you’re saved, and you’re playing with the darkness. Go be in the light and be a light. Stop falling and hurting yourself. Let God take care of you and walk as He walked.

Maybe not all of us though are saved. Maybe you’re here and you have no clue about what it means to be in the light.

So let’s talk about the opposite, what it means to be in the dark.

1 John 2:4 “The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

1 John 2:9 “The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.”

1 John 2:11 “But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Tonight maybe you’re sitting here and you have been to church for a few times or maybe you’ve been going your whole life.

Or you have a friend who you’re not sure if they’re saved but know they have grown up in church

Something to think about before we get into the text.

When people ask you if you’re saved or if you’re a Christian your response is that “you go to church” or that “you believe in God”

Maybe you have a friend who you’ve asked if they’re saved or a Christian and they same thing.

Hold on to that question and let’s look closer at verse 4. The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Here’s your second point

A Lost Person is in the Dark

This is a tough verse to swallow

We want to be inclusive to everyone now and make sure that no one’s feelings get hurt and we have John here calling people a liar and they don’t have the truth in them

It is hard to hear but there’s a reason that John is being so black and white here

He wants to make sure that the followers of the way or the Christians can tell who is really among them or not.

Then the Christians know who needs to hear the Gospel, understand it, and be saved.

The Gospel is something that should be offensive. It’s telling people what they’re living their lives for is wrong. to stop living their lives how they want to and follow Jesus instead.

I’ve never met anyone who wants to be wrong.

But John makes it clear in these three verses, if you aren’t following Jesus and keeping his commands you’re in the darkness.

Remember how in my dream, I was closing my eyes and walking backwards and I kept falling over things and hurting myself. I was saved but because of my pride and shame I was acting like I was in the dark. I was pretending like I didn’t know him. But on the other hand if you haven’t been saved and you don’t really know God, then you really are in the darkness. When you’re going through life you might have other people who are imperfect, or some good morals you picked to try and keep you on a good path but you have no purpose and no direction and you can’t handle everything life throws at you. So you are going about life falling, hurting yourself, getting stuck in holes, getting scared because you don’t know where you’re going now and you don’t know where you’ll end up after your life ends. When you’re in the dark, you don’t know where you’re going at all. You have a thousand voices trying to get you to go different directions and because you’re so confused or prideful you only listen to who you want to. But that whole time when you’re trying to make your way in the darkness there’s someone calling out to you in a still small voice who knows you already and loves you and wants the best for you. And when you finally listen to Him and call on Him to save you from the darkness and sense of feeling lost He comes to you and all of a sudden you’re now in the light. You can see.

If you’re here tonight and you’ve been in the dark your whole life and you’ve been having God pull at you tonight or maybe it’s been a long time and you know God’s been calling you. I want you to ask you to stop trying to walk around in the darkness and let Him light up your path and allow Him to lead you in a purpose and lead you through and over obstacles and trials and challenges that only He can handle.

If you want to be saved and are in the dark and are tired of doing things on your own falling I want to lead you in making that decision tonight.

five fingers.

prayer of salvation

Or maybe you’re saved and you have a friend who you know is in the darkness.

Maybe they say they believe in God or they go to church or give one of those indirect answers when you ask if they’re saved but you know they aren’t.

This is what they’re going through. And even though you’re in the light they aren’t and they need someone who can see what’s going on around them to share with them who God is and what He’s done for us.

If you’re here tonight and have a friend or have had someone on your heart that’s been living in the darkness. Will you act on that this week. Will you have a gospel conversation with them this week?

Will you be light to those that don’t have it?

Pray