MS - Prepare The Way (3)

What’s up guys. Excited for tonight.

Tonight is week 3 of Prepare The Way!

And this means we are expectant, we are ready, we’re gonna get ready, we are in anticipation of Jesus to do something in this crazy season we are in right now. There are so many things we don’t really have control over, but He does. And we are gonna be prepared, get prepared, and help others make room for Jesus.

Last week we stopped after reading through verses 1-4 and I shut it down after we talked a little about fish stories and the often exaggerated truth that comes with that.

We heard some scriptures about a group of people seeing Jesus, walking with him, and truly knowing him.

The reason we’re going back to some of those scriptures tonight is because the truth of Jesus was exaggerated or not accurately told. So this letter we’ll look at is going to help us know what it’s like to learn from Jesus and walk with Jesus.

It was as the author walked us up to an ancient artifact protected by glass, walked us around it, and explained the history behind this treasured item.

What’s better about what we’re hearing tonight though is that this history isn’t history left in a museum. It’s been given to us to not leave behind or on the ground, but to pickup and carry with us.

I wanna give you something tonight that’s going to make you joyful. NOT happy, but joyful. Let’s look at this:

1 John 1:5–10 ESV

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. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

So here’s how we should view this. Like a Christmas tree! Our author has staged the letter with light at the very top shining down on everything below illuminating something beautiful and admirable. So let’s look a little deeper what we can learn from this.

We learn something about God, each other, and Jesus.

Here’s what we learn about God.

1 John 1:5 ESV

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. This is SO important! The word used here is a word that’s used for lamps, lanterns, torches and those are very specific words.

At my house there’s a running joke about candles and lamps. I LOVE candles and lamps lol. It’s because I love low light and comfortable atmosphere. But here’s the thing…it’s comfortable because it’s not completely dark. There’s light. Light that’s not overpowering or too bright or gonna give my eyeballs sunburn. No it’s an inviting light to hang out in, work in, or just relax in. Again - it’s not darkness.

The words like lamp, lantern, and torch are all specific kinds of light that are used to navigate dark places or maintain visibility forever or a specific amount of time. Regardless we know darkness because of light and we know light because of darkness.

The kind of light here that describes God, is the kind of light that the Bible says is shining into the hearts of his people. Things like:

John 1:4–8 ESV

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

and

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

#2

He’s light that has been shining from the beginning. He’s not been over come by the darkness, but has always shined and never gone out. This means he’s always true, consistent, and stable. We can trust this.

Because God is this way, if we say that we have fellowship with God, and don’t reflect that, something is off. We’re not practicing the truth.

Here’s what we learn about each other.

If we walk in the light of God we have fellowship with God first and then one another.

Fellowship -

This subjective sense of fellowship (ἔλεγεν, Ac. 4:32) is a spontaneous expression of the disposition of love created by Christ and the Spirit. It is not economic in the sense of a planned communistic economy, nor is it legal in the sense of a constitutional socialisation of property (the Essenes, cf. Ac. 5:4; 4:36 f., where we have individual and voluntary acts), nor is it philosophical in the sense of an imitation of the order of nature (Cynicism, etc.). Brotherly love is willing to forego its legal claim to ownership (4:32: ἴδιον εἶναι). All egotistic striving (πλεονεξία) is submerged by readiness to renounce earthly goods in obedience to the saying of Jesus (Lk. 12:33; 14:33; Mt. 6:19 ff.) and for the sake of helping brothers in need

Friedrich Hauck, “Κοινός, Κοινωνός, Κοινωνέω, Κοινωνία, Συγκοινωνός, Συγκοινωνέω, Κοινωνικός, Κοινόω,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 796.

We also learn that:

1 John 1:7 ESV

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 blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us.

This is very specific.

Let me ask - how does BLOOD clean anything? Every time I played outside and got hurt and bled on something..that VERY quickly turned into a stain. You guys ever done that before?

So I guess the real question here is what kind of “clean” are we talking about here?

I need someone to read Hebrews 9:22

Hebrews 9:22 ESV

22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

The shedding of blood here provides forgiveness of sins. The kind of “clean” the Bible is talking about here is a clean slate. A transaction that removes a debt and that debt is a sin debt.

We learn here that Jesus’ blood was a good enough amount to make us free and no longer owing a payment we couldn’t ever work enough jobs and save enough money to pay. Wow.

This transaction frees us up to have relationship with God and relationship with each other.

This is the most important thing to understand about this relationship/friendship. It takes real vulnerability and it ALWAYS cost something to be a good friend and to have good friends. This is called sacrifice. I’ve had to make sacrifices and the real friends in my life have had to make real sacrifices to stick around and put up with me. There’s sort of a transaction. Never anticipated, but it shows up.

Here’s the thing. Romans says that

Romans 5:6–7 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—

The greatest, deepest, most faithful friends and friend you could ever have are all found in Christ.

In Christ you’re satisfied, but also the friends you have IN Christ are satisfied.

Some of you here tonight need to hear this. You’re looking for friends or feel like it’s impossible to make friends or you’re just really hard on yourself about it.

Making friends and friends is tough. Even when you get older it’s tough finding good friends.

To help this situation you need to be a friend in Christ, walk in his light, and walk with others in Christ together.

This keep you in the Way and helping others take their next steps.