Living In The Light
Living In Truth: A Study Of 1 John • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsJohn lays out for the church what it means to Live in the Light. We are in the light by obeying His commandments, loving one another, and being faithful in our relationship with God.
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning
As you are getting settled, go ahead and open up to 1 John chapter two.
In case you weren’t able to be with us last week, we have begun a short series on the book of 1 John.
This is in preparation for the focus that God has for us this year.
We will talk more about that in a few weeks as we roll out the vision that God has given us for 2020.
I am really excited about this year for a number of reasons, but mostly because it is going to allow us to know God and ourselves better.
If you missed last week, please take some time this week and go listen to the podcast so you can catch up.
As always, these messages are going to build upon one another as we move forward through the text and I don’t want you to miss out on what God is speaking for you.
A good friend and I were talking this week and he very accurately said that this has been a heck of a year this week.
I don’t know about you, but my week was nuts.
I don’t anticipate that changing anytime soon. lol
I say that because our habit is to assume that “next week will be easier”.
I’ve been living in that dream for a few years and I’m finally realizing that this is my normal.
Last week we watched the Bible Project’s introduction to 1, 2, and 3rd John.
God has us in this book to prepare us for walking through the book of Ecclesiastes.
The focus of that study will be to give us a better perspective on this life that we are living in.
We are growing in God’s likeness and as a result, we are beginning to experience His life.
We can all agree that living as Jesus did is not what we would consider normal.
John sends this letter to a church that is experiencing some trouble.
We learned last week that there are a few men in the church that have decided that they don’t believe that Jesus was the son of God, they begin sharing that belief and are trying to convince the rest of the church that they are correct.
John’s intent is to warn them of the troubles, remind them of what they know, and to encourage them to trust the Holy Spirit.
In chapter two today we are going to see John giving very specific warnings and instructions on how to deal with the opposition they are facing.
Last week we went through chapter one and talked about how important it is for us to share what God is doing with the people in your life.
We also looked at how important it is for us to examine our lives through the lens of scripture so that we can understand how we are to live and to be able to recognize when we and others are stepping outside of who we are to be in Jesus.
These men were purposefully causing division in the church and leading people astray and doing it all in God’s name.
We saw that just because someone call’s their actions God’s will doesn’t mean that it is and we can know what is true by examining their words and actions against scripture.
If they don’t align, we know and can proceed accordingly.
Let’s pick up where we left of last week at the beginning of chapter two.
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.
He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.
If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.
But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.
Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
In the previous chapter, John directly addresses the claims of these deceivers and now he is going to remind us of what we have been given to deal with the problems that we face in life.
John’s goal in this letter is to help the church to be in fellowship with Christ who is the Light.
In this first section, he is giving us a reminder of how we are to stay in fellowship with God.
Live in the Light by obeying His commandments.
Live in the Light by obeying His commandments.
We all sin.
All of us find ourselves struggling, daily, with sin.
We are all going to mess up.
Unfortunately, it is something we will always struggle with, but Jesus has made a provision for us through His death.
When we do sin, we must run to the father and He will be faithful to forgive us.
I have said many times recently that how we respond to God shows the world who God is.
The same is true about how we respond to sin in our lives.
If we run to the father He will forgive us.
The people that are close to us are going to know about what is going on with us and they are going to be encouraged by it.
Have you ever noticed that when someone else in your life shares something they are struggling with, it encourages you to be more open about what you are struggling with?
In our culture we have this idea that my sin and my life are mine.
By keeping all those things to ourselves, we create a fake culture of perfection.
It is neither sustainable or healty.
However, when we share our struggles, we create a culture of authenticity, love, and forgivness.
The body is built up becuase we are being real about what is going on in our lives.
When we hold all that stuff in we are walling ourselves off from the people that God has put in our lives to help us with our struggles.
John starts this chapter by telling the church why he is writing.
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.
The goal is to not sin.
1 John 2:1
As we are growing in our relationship with Christ, being made in His likeness, we are ridding ourselves of our sin nature.
But, until we are made perfect, there is sin.
He tells them that Jesus is advocating and pleading with the Father on our behalf.
He also makes the distinction, that Jesus isn’t just pleading on our behalf alone, but on everyone’s behalf - all are included in this provision
We will circle back around to this later.
But with so much controversy going on within their church, how is the world supposed to know what it means to “live in the light” as we talked about last week?
Each of us must allow the Holy Spirit to evaluate our lives and make necessary changes.
We begin that process by asking if we are living in the light.
That question, as it turns out, is an easy one to answer.
And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.
Are you obeying the things that God has commanded?
We cannot go and cannot do the things that God is calling us to do if we don’t move beyond this point.
We cannot be the church that God wants us to be if we are just here to play the church game.
If we are here just to go through the motions, we are not living in the light.
It is imperative that I point out two things about this statement because we often get it backward.
Obedience is a RESULT, not a Function of God’s grace.
We often try to imitate obedience, thereby making it a function of our relationship with God, but it won’t last.
We put on spiritual fruit by acting or pretending to be something that isn’t authentic.
The best way I know how to explain this is by pointing to New Year’s resolutions.
We try to change who we are, by manipulating our behavior, and they don’t work.
Years ago we made a New Years resolution that we wouldn’t start any new projects at our house until we finished the ones we had already started.
We agreed on it together around 10am.
By Noon we were building a fire pit in the front yard. *Face palm*
I referenced this same idea last week with the well-known phrase, “fake it till you make it.”
Compare that to change happening in our lives because of love.
Change that comes as a result of
My dad tells a story of when he and my mom first started dating, he dipped tobacco.
It wasn’t long into their relationship that my mom informed him that if he ever wanted to kiss her, he was going to stop dipping.
To this day, I have never seen my dad dip.
He was motivated by a desire to know my mother.
My dad stopped dipping.
But he didn’t stop because he had too, he stopped because he wanted too.
These aren’t perfect examples, but they point to the heart of what John is trying to say.
If we are obeying the commandments as a result of the love that we are experiencing, we can be sure that we know Him.
But, if we are obeying the commandments as a result of the love that we are experiencing, we can be sure that we know Him.
John then gives a warning concerning this idea.
We will see him repeat this warning one more time and then give another before the chapter is done.
If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.
1 John 2:
It can’t really be more cut and dry than that can it?
He creates a really great juxtaposition in his explanation of this idea.
But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
John is giving us an incredible tool here.
Remember, the leaders of the church wrote to him asking how to handle the situation they found themselves in.
We don’t know the content of their letter, but it seems evident that they are not only asking how to handle it but are also having some doubts about what is true.
They are questioning their own beliefs as a result of these deceivers.
John shows them how to discern between those that know God and those that are pretending to know God.
How do we know who to trust? Look at their life and see if their actions line up with their own words and the word of God.
There is an obvious question that one must ask if they are really trying to understand this section.
Do you see it? Do you see the question?
What are His commands?
If we know we love God by obey His commandments, what are they?
I’m so glad you asked. Look with me at this next section.
Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.
I am writing to you who are God’s children
because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.
I am writing to you who are mature in the faith
because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you who are young in the faith
because you have won your battle with the evil one.
I have written to you who are God’s children
because you know the Father.
I have written to you who are mature in the faith
because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I have written to you who are young in the faith
because you are strong.
God’s word lives in your hearts,
and you have won your battle with the evil one.
John reminds them of what they have heard from the beginning and how they saw Jesus live this commandment out in daily life.
He is pointing to what we studied last year in Exodus when God made the covenant with His people.
Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
Live in the Light by loving one another.
Live in the Light by loving one another.
For us too, this is not a new commandment.
We talk about these often and for good reason.
Have you ever noticed that the things we talk most often about come directly from this commandment.
Love God - Abiding
Love one another - BLESSing, Committing to Community and Joining God to Set People Free.
There is a reason we keep talking about these things.
We keep talking about it because that is all that is important.
There is a theme to living in the Kingdom of God.
That theme is dying to ourselves and allowing Christ to live through us.
The commandments have never changed and never will.
Until Jesus comes back, our call is to get better and better at loving God and one another.
Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
1 John 2:
Jesus lived the example for us and revealed what it means to live for one another.
By living as he did, we spread the light into a dark world.
Here, again, we see John giving the same warning that he gave in the previous passage.
1 John 2:
If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.
John is making sure that the church fully understands how to distinguish between those that know God and those that simply claim to know Him.
We need to heed this warning, but we also need to use it to evaluate our own lives.
If there is hatred or anger in us, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to address those feelings.
We must let the Holy Spirit address any sin in our lives.
To not allow the Spirit to do so, is to choose to live in darkness.
I am writing to you who are God’s children
because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.
I am writing to you who are mature in the faith
because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you who are young in the faith
because you have won your battle with the evil one.
I have written to you who are God’s children
because you know the Father.
I have written to you who are mature in the faith
because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I have written to you who are young in the faith
because you are strong.
God’s word lives in your hearts,
and you have won your battle with the evil one.
John
John wants them to see the blessings they have received as believers.
Their sins have been forgiven
They know the one who was from the beginning (Jesus).
Because of this relationship with God, they are strong and have overcome the evil one.
In this last section, John turns from encouragement and exhortation to warning.
John also wants to make sure that they understand that he is writing to all of them.
John’s reference to children/mature/young isn’t a reference to their level of maturity, but rather, their age.
This message is for any believer regardless of how old they are.
This is important because of the tendency we have to hold different expectations for people.
John is saying that the expectation is the same for everyone.
The truth and the commandments don’t apply differently based on age.
The application is the same across the board.
By our nature, we tend to look at others around us and have expectations based on varying criteria.
John is clearly stating that we need to hold the same expectations for ourselves and others because that is how God sees us.
We use our self imposed inferiority as an excuse for why we aren’t called to do the same things as others that are “closer to God.”
Those exclusions don’t exist in God’s eyes and they shouldn’t in ours either.
God has the same expectation for each of us.
Love Him
Love one another as Christ did.
I don’t know about you, but as I grew up in the church, this was not my reality or the reality of anyone I knew.
We looked to the Pastors and staff and thought it was their job to do the work of ministry.
That somehow their calling was higher and therefore required more effort and sacrifice.
If you will notice, John didn’t say to hire some staff so that they could love others as Christ did.
I’d like to say that we aren’t like that here at TGP but that is only something you can answer for yourself.
I’m not in your head.
Do you look at others in the body with different expectations than you do for yourself? If so, why do you think that is?
All of us have been given the same commandments.
Do you realize what this means for us?
We cannot live like the world and prioritize what the world does and be followers of Jesus.
Matt 6:
Their sins have been forgiven
They know the one who was from the beginning (Jesus).
Because of this relationship with God, they are strong and have overcome the evil one.
In this last section, John turns from encouragement and exhortation to warning.
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.
But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.
I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
We cannot chase after the things in the world and God at the same time.
It is one or the other.
Our American culture says that chasing the dream is serving God and that we are born with that right.
Jesus says the opposite and John repeats it.
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.
But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.
I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:
We are going to really dig into this idea more over the next year and discover what that means for each of us.
But we need to spend some time this week asking God what this means for us.
What does this mean for you personally and what does this mean for the church?
How does this change ministry for us?
God is telling us that we are to live for him.
Live in the Light by being faithful.
Live in the Light by being faithful.
In this last section, John turns from encouragement and exhortation to warning.
You can feel him making the corner here.
He is making his last warnings about the deceivers.
Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.
But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.
I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
John is drawing a line in the sand and clearly stating that these men are not part of the body and never have been.
But he encourages them that they do not need to fear to fall into the same trap because of the Holy Spirit that lives in them.
You see, we have the truth living inside of us and he will help us to discern what is true and what is a lie.
I think it is important here that we side bar and make the distinction between discernment and judgement.
Discernment is the truth, as revealed by the Holy Spirit.
Judgment is an opinion that is derived from our comparison of one another.
The Holy Spirit that is living in us gives us eyes to see the truth as we are being made into His likeness.
John is saying that we do not need to live in fear, but to live in faith, that is informed by what we have experienced from the beginning.
This is how we remain in fellowship with God.
This fellowship is how we enjoy living in the Kingdom right now.
We are surrounded by lies and the schemes of the enemy who is constantly trying to rob our joy by twisting God’s words.
We talked about this last week, that by sharing what God is doing in our lives, we are a steady reminder to one another of God’s goodness.
Our joy cannot be stolen when life gets hard, because we will not allow others to forget God’s goodness.
I started today by telling you that my week was crazy.
I have had conversations with a lot of people this week that are struggling with lots of different things.
As I have prayed with them and for them, my heart aches with theirs.
I had to go measure and draw a store this week that had been run through by an F250.
In the front door and out the back wall, jumped the curb and was stopped in the air by pine trees.
The driver had some kind of adverse reaction to his insulin and went into a diabetic coma while driving.
He is fine now, but the 19-year old that was working behind the counter will be in the hospital for at least a month and a half.
I’m there measuring what is left so we can give a price to rebuild the store and I look down and her blood is still on the floor.
I am devastated for a young lady that I’ve never met, but her life will never again be the same.
It’s been a hard week.
I was telling Bethany Thursday night that in spite of the hardness of this week, I wouldn’t trade this life for anything.
I wouldn’t trade it because there is an incredible, mysterious, underlying feeling of joy in the midst of all of this.
Not because I enjoy any of it, but because I am right where God has called me to be.
By being where He has called me, I can be there with those in my life that need me.
It doesn’t make sense in the economy of this world, but that is because it is the economy of the Kingdom of God.
As followers of Jesus, we are the children of God and citizens of the Kingdom.
I know this is a lot, but I want to leave you with this thought today as we end.
It was in one of my devotionals yesterday morning.
“Scripture says clearly that to achieve victory over your mind it must be continually renewed by the power of God’s word. states “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
God puts conforming to the world and being transformed by the renewal of your mind in opposition. There is no grey area. Your mind is either being won for the kingdom of God or lost to the world. You are either thinking pleasing thoughts to God or not. You are either experiencing the abundant life Jesus made available to you or not.
For a long time, the idea of renewing my mind felt exhausting. Honestly, reading the Bible was incredibly boring for me. But I discovered that the Bible is only as life-giving to me as I am willing to be transformed by it.” - https://www.first15.org/01/11/renewing-your-mind/
The only way we can Live in the Light, is to become made into Jesus’ likeness.
We have discussed at length how that happens.
I’m not going to beat a dead horse anymore today.
The Word is clear that we are all called to love God and one another.
The expectation is the same for all of us.
Let’s live as citizen of the Kingdom.
Let’s do this together.
Pray.