"You Light Up My Life"

Walking in the Light

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.

OUTLINE:

I. Intro

a. Welcome & Intro

b. Scripture Reading

c. Opening Prayer

d. Question & Story

II. Defining Light

a. God is Light

b. Reason we Can Have this Light Within Us

III. Walking in this Light

a. How do We Know We Are Walking in His Light

IV. Conclusion/Invitation/Closing Prayer

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a. Welcome & Introduction

>> Good morning New Brighton Christian Church! How is everyone doing this morning? I hope you had a great Christmas celebration with family and friends – however, that took place in person or via a Zoom call. It has certainly been a different kind of year, hasn't it? Vacations, school, dining out, shopping, and the holidays have all been impacted and changed this year, haven't they? Typically, you can't dine-in at a restaurant, travel has been limited, and holiday gatherings have changed. But at least we have one unchanging thing, and of course, that is God – He is still on His throne, He is still in charge, He is still in control, and He knows what we're going through. He hasn't abandoned us – He'll see us through however that looks.

b. Scripture Reading:

>>> Let us stand for the reading of God's word and a brief prayer:

I'll be reading from the First Epistle of John, 1 John 1:5-10, and I'll be reading from the English Standard Version:

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. (1 John 1:5–10 ESV)

c. Prayer:

Father in heaven, we come humbly before your Word this morning, asking you to help us to listen to what the Scriptures have to say to us about you and about ourselves. So, help us this morning, our gracious God, to open the eyes of our hearts so that we may draw nearer to you, to know and revere you, and to love you more deeply and sincerely. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. (Please be seated)

d. Question / Story:

>>> If I were to ask you to define the word "L-I-G-H-T" in five words or less, could you do it? Think about it for a minute and raise your hand if you want to give it a try. (Pause – look across the audience for a response.)

>>> Answer: "Light" can be defined as 'the absence of darkness' or put another way – darkness is the absence of light.[1]

>>>> I want you to think of the darkest place you've ever been or experienced. I mean so dark that you can't even see your hand in front of your face, not even a shadow or outline of your hand. Can you think of such a time? If you can– how did it make you feel? The total absence of light is rather bothersome and disconcerting, isn't it??

>>>> How many of you have heard of Lookout Mountain and Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN?? If you haven't, then if you start driving South from here towards Kentucky, you'll start seeing signs (usually painted on the roof or sides of barns or other outbuildings) advertising: "See Lookout Mountain" – "Visit Rock City" – "See Ruby Falls" and that's all the signs would say. As a kid, we stopped in and visited Rock City, which is at the top of Lookout Mountain. Now Rock City was made entirely out of rocks quarried from the nearby mountains. Every building, every house, every information center were built out of this rock.

Rock City was located on the peak of Lookout Mountain, so-called because you could see five different States from this vantage point at certain points (Slide – Picture – Lookout Mtn).

At the bottom of Lookout Mountain was Ruby Falls. We visited these Falls, which was in a cave 1,100 feet below the mountain. We took an elevator down to the Falls. The first thing I noticed was how much cooler it was down there than the surface temperature. It literally gave you the chills. The area was lit by strings of multicolored lights that bounced off the stalactites and stalagmites. (NOTE: Stalactites grow down from the cave ceiling, while stalagmites grow up from the cave floor. It's easy to remember which is which: Stalactites have a "T" for top, and stalagmites have a "G" for ground.) A small stream flowed through the cavern, and you could hear the waterfall off in the distance around a bend.

Our guide led us on a very narrow trail through the stalagmites towards the fall. The path was well lit but slippery from the moisture and water that dripped from the cave's roof. Our guide explained how the Falls had been discovered, explaining the difference between stalactites and stalagmites and so forth. Just before we reached the bend in the trail that led to the falls, he asked us to stop, stay in our place, and not move. He wanted to give us a moment to feel what absolute darkness felt like. He flipped off a switch, and the cavern became absolute black. There was no illumination of any kind – no light from the elevator, no light seeping through the walls – nothing – just absolute blackness and blankness.

Honestly, it was uncomfortable and disturbing. It just felt disconcerting. After a few seconds, I lost any sense of direction, distance, or even time. I couldn't tell you how close or how far away the elevator was, whether it had been a few seconds or a few minutes. There were no reference points. Left in that state for long, I think it would literally drive you mad. Then the guide turned on a small flashlight, and there were instant relief and a sense of well-being and easiness. I could see again – I knew where I was at – I knew where we were going – I knew in what direction the elevator back to the surface was. Then he turned all the lights back on, and everything felt "right" and "good."

>>> We continued on our short trek to the Falls, and it was stunning and beautiful. Backlit with multicolored lights, the falls dropped into a water pool that was lit up by underwater lights. It was simply an awe-inspiring sight. ( SLIDE – Photo – Ruby Falls)

II. Defining Light

>>>> So what is this all about? All this talk of "light" and "darkness"? Notice how John is using the metaphor to describe God. He boldly proclaims that – GOD IS LIGHT, and THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN HIM. John liked to use this metaphor of "light" to describe God and Jesus – because in his gospel account, the word "light" is used 24 times, including Jesus using this word to describe himself (John 8:12), and it's used over 163 times in Scripture! Anytime a word is used in Scripture that much, we need to pay attention to it.

a. God is Light

>>>> In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, one of the first questions is the question, What is God? There the answer is given, "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." Now, that's a good answer. It is surely better than the answer we would receive on the street corner or in the office or at the coffee shop, that now standard assessment of God that makes Him into the image of us. "I like to think of God as" [fill in the blank]. That's the way people talk today, isn't it?

>>>> Well, at least the answer of the Shorter Catechism is not a reversal of divine revelation. But it is, however, incomplete, for it only indirectly answers the question. And perhaps it does this to guard the unsearchable greatness of God. However, the Apostle John pulls all the stops, directly answering the question under the Holy Spirit's inspiration. What is God? John hits the mark straight on. He writes (v.5), "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

>>>> The Greek Church has long called John "the theologian." He has earned this title because of his ability to bring a clear definition to difficult concepts. And here in v.5, using the simplest of language (language that even a child can say and picture), John summarizes the divine Being as being absolute "light."

>>>> Now, John is not saying anything new here. He is simply borrowing from the language and imagery of Scripture. Throughout the Old Testament, we find "light" (in some form or another) to depict God. For example, in Exodus, God reveals Himself to Moses in the burning bush and to Israel as a cloud of fire that illuminates their way. And then, at the end of Exodus, when the tabernacle is erected, God's presence is signaled again with fire present in the golden lamp-stands. Now, the Psalms also make use of the imagery. David writes in Psalm 27:1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation." And in Psalm 104, we read, "You are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment."

>>>> Now, this Old Testament imagery, of course, is also used in the New Testament of our Lord Jesus. For not only is His coming described as "a light for revelation" (if you remember what Simeon said of Him), but also Jesus says of Himself (as we heard in our call to worship), "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). And then Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6 concerning our resurrected and now exalted Lord, saying, "he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light…."

>>>> Interestingly, while John certainly knows and believes Jesus to be "the light" (for he uses this term over 20 times in His Gospel alone), here in 1 John, he nevertheless focuses on God the Father. It is Jesus (he tells us) who has given John

[1] Stephen D. Renn, Gen. Ed., Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Word Studies for Key English Bible Words Based on the Hebrew and Greek Texts, (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody:MA, 2006) pp. 598-599.

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(and the apostles, those first eyewitnesses) this very message to announce. Look at the beginning of v.5. It reads, "This is the message we have heard from him [from Jesus] and proclaim to you."

>>>> Now, at first, I thought this expression, "God is light," was an odd and vague way to summarize Jesus' message of what He taught while on earth. But the more I looked into the matter, the more it made sense, for the message, "God is light," is in fact a summary of the Gospel, or at least the starting point of the Gospel. You see, here's "the message" (and this message will become clear as we move on in our passage): God is light (that is, He is perfectly holy and pure). Man is not the light (that is, he is sinful). Thus, sinful man needs a sinless Savior, a man who is "God of God, Light of Light," as the Nicene Creed rightly puts it. So, "God is light." That's where the Gospel starts. That is the foundation of Christ's teaching.

>>>> In 1 John 4:16, John writes those famous words (words that have been inducted into the Bumper-sticker Hall of Fame), "God is love." And you know it is interesting to note how many of our evangelistic presentations start with this definition of God rather than the one given in 1:5, "God is light." But, I think the apostolic ordering is significant. I think it matters that "Light comes before love." That is, I think that it is necessary that we first recognize God's moral purity, His absolute goodness, and thus our impurities and innate badness before we come to see this "love" that so loved the world that He sent His only Son.

"My God, how wonderful thou art, Thy majesty how bright, How beautiful thy mercy-seat, In depths of burning light!/How wonderful, how beautiful, The sight of thee must be, Thine endless wisdom, boundless power, And aweful purity!"

>>>> It is this "aweful purity," as the poet Faber called it, this awesome radiance, this starting point that must be our starting point! For it is because of the Being of God that He is "light" (that He reveals Himself to us in "perfect purity and unutterable majesty"), that we come to see the blackness of sin and with this a recognition of our need for forgiveness and cleansing.

If We Say We Have Fellowship (vv.6-7)

>>>> So that's v.5. This verse gives us the revelation of God as light. In vv.6-10 we have what is to be our self-evaluation, our self-evaluation in light of this light. Or I'll put it this way: In v. 5 John gives his thesis: "God is light." And then in what follows (in vv.6-10), he systematically shows what it means to walk and not walk in that light.

>>>> Thankfully, John has made his First Epistle quite preacher-friendly, for he has nicely divided this second section (vv.6-10) into three clear parts. Do you see the phrase repeated three times in our text, in v.6, v.8, and v.10? It is the phrase, "If we say." Of all the New Testament writers, John is the most ordered and the most poetic. And here he orders his teaching poetically as follows: First, with this phrase "if we say" (and what immediately follows), he introduces some aspect of false teaching or thinking within the church. Then, he follows this with a denial or contradiction of this teaching or thought. And then, finally, he provides a refutation or a correction.

>>>>> So look with me at vv.6-7 and let me show you how this all works. "If we say we have fellowship with God while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." So that's the claim as well as John's denial of it. And then here's the correction, "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."

>>>> Well, God's Word here teaches us that just as the right emotions toward God and about the things of God are necessary, so too is godly behavior. In Romans, Paul calls this reality "the obedience of faith." And here in First John, it is labeled, "walking in the light." John teaches that we cannot claim to have fellowship with God and continue to "walk" ("habitually live") in "darkness," in disobedience. In other words, he tells us that we are not to be "spiritual schizophrenics," pledging allegiance to God with our lips, but trampling on His law with our lives.

>>>> Those who profess to know God are to be distinguishable from the rest of the world (as distinguishable as light is from darkness). And we are to be different especially, as we shall see in vv.8-10, in our attitude towards sin and our actions against it.

>>>> But, before we go to those final verses, let's not skip over v.7 (John's correction), that wonderful verse where he writes, "But if we walk in the light, as he [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." Now, notice here the two results or consequences of walking in the light. The first result is church fellowship, fellowship with other believers. And here we see that if we are rightly connected to God, we will be rightly connected with others, with those who also walk in the light.

>>>> So that's the first result. The second result is that "the blood of Jesus … cleanses us from all sin." Here's the logical connection of thought: When one walks in God's light, such a "light brings a penetrating revelation of who we are." And thus, the only way forward, for those who walk in this light, is to cling to the cross, to see the sacrificial blood of Christ to be our constant divine remedy, and to see also the consistency of the cross's benefits to be our greatest encouragement in leading a "consistently holy life." So while some find Jesus' blood disturbing, we are to find it preserving, preserving our fellowship with each other and with our Father in heaven.

If We Say We Have No Sin (vv.8-9)

>>>> So (vv.6-7) that's the first claim and correction. Let's move on to the second. Look with me at vv.8-9. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

>>>> Here, the claim sounds quite contemporary. I "have no sin." "I'm not a sinner!" That's the gist of it. Here is simply someone who denies what we call "original sin," that we are all born 'bad,' that there is something fundamentally wrong with human nature brought about by Adam's sin.

>>>> I love how John replies to this old but still 'alive-and-kicking' heresy. He says that such people are untruthful and self-deceptive. Those who deny sin, those who say, "We are not sinners," deceive no one around them and certainly not God. The only people they deceive are themselves.

>>>> I think I could have some sympathy for those who deny their sinful nature if I lived in a cave in some remote desert and never interacted with a single human being. But since I live with people all around me, I can't help but see everyone's sinful nature's everyday effects. Like every parent in the world, I taught my children not to hit, not to bite, not to lie, not to steal, not to be selfish. But why am I doing this? Why is it that lying and stealing and hitting came so natural to them? Is it just my kids? Is it just their distorted genes? And why is it that I have never had to spend one instant telling them how to love themselves, but I battle daily to make them consider others better than themselves? You see, those who deny original sin deny the very nose on their face. Yet, the sad fact is that we live in a world where people have Pinocchio-sized noses, but they choose to bury their faces in the ground.

>>>> I have learned through both Scripture and experience that man is both majestic and monstrous. We indeed are majestic, for, among all creation, we alone have a capacity for rational thought, moral choice, artistic creativity, social relationships, and humble worship of the divine. But we are also monstrous. As Jesus said, "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly" (Mark 7:21-22). It is out of the heart, from the very root of our being, that sin sprouts.

>>>> Fredrick Nietzsche said, "If God is dead, everything is permitted." And he was right. But, if God is alive and if He is light, well, then sin is not permitted, and yet surely it is committed. And that's why John tells us next that the only answer to the denial of sin is the confession of sins. For if there is anything we are to "say," it is not that "we have no sin," but that we are full of sin, from the head down to our toes. You see, everyone is sinful, and therefore everyone sins. The person who denies this does so only by dismissing or re-labeling his evil thoughts, words, and deeds (justifies them). But the person who is not living in denial comes to see the sense of John's solution, the solution to "confess our sins" to God.

>>>> Throughout Scripture, we find many warnings about "the danger of concealing our sins," and yet "many promises of blessing if we confess them." And here in v. 9 we are reminded of the blessing that confession brings. Confession to God of our specific sins, our wrong thoughts, words, and deeds, including "the good which we omit, as well as the evil which we do," brings forgiveness and cleansing. Look at v.9; what a wonderful verse to memorize. Pin it to your heart. "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

>>>> Abraham Lincoln once said, "It is the duty of nations as well as men to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon." And indeed, genuine repentance or confession does lead to mercy and pardon, or forgiveness and cleansing, as John words it, because God is truly "faithful and just." "He is faithful to forgive because He has promised to do so, and just because His Son died for our sins." So, again based on Christ's blood, God forgives (that is He cancels the debt and brings restoration), and God cleanses (that is, He removes the stain of sin, making us holy and thus renewing our fellowship with Him).

If We Say We Have Not Sinned (v.10)

>>>> Now, John will continue some of these same themes as he moves on into Chapter Two. But before he gets there, he adds one final thought. And that's what we see in v.10. Here he deals with one final false claim: "If we say we have not sinned, we make him [God] a liar, and his word is not in us."

>>>> Once, a woman came to Charles Wesley, the great hymn-writer, and asked him to pray for her. She confessed to him, "I am a great sinner. I am a Christian, but I sometimes fail so dreadfully. Please pray for me." Wesley looked at her rather sternly and replied, "Yes, Madam, I will pray for you, for truly, you are a great sinner." Well, taken aback by Wesley's demeanor and straightforward reply, she answered, "What do you mean? I have never done anything very wrong."

>>>> Here in v. 10, John is dealing with this type of person. Oh, they may admit they are a sinner by nature (oh, so sinful!), but certainly not by deed. "I'm a sinner, but I haven't done anything very wrong. I'm a sinner, but I haven't ever sinned." That's the gist of this false claim. And while we may laugh at that Wesley story, this attitude towards sin is no laughing matter. Most commentators agree: This third false claim is "the most serious of all." To claim to have not sinned in the past or the present is a serious mistake in moral judgment.

>>>> In Proverbs 30:20 we find one of those poignant proverbs: "This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, 'I've done nothing wrong.'" Now, that's not just the adulteress today; that's almost every unbeliever in our culture. From the oval office to death row, we have become experts in eating from the forbidden tree, wiping our mouths, and then turning to the world and saying, "I have not sinned. I have done nothing wrong. What do I need to confess?"

>>>> But God's Word tells us here that God hates such denial. Why? Because to say that you have never sinned is to call God "a liar." Why is it to make Him a liar? Well, because God makes the opposite claim. He claims, "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23). He claims, "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). So who is right and who is wrong? Who is doing the lying? Is it the man who claims he has never sinned, or is it God who claims that all have sinned? Well, there is only one right answer. And I think Romans 3:4 puts it well: "Let God be true, and every man a liar."

>>>> It was said that a man who claimed to be 'without sin' once confronted Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher. Intrigued, the preacher invited this man home for dinner. After hearing the claims through, Spurgeon arose from his chair, simply picked up his glass of water, and threw it straight into the man's face. Well, immediately and understandably, this 'perfect' man showed his imperfections, causing quite a scene, allowing his anger and language to cross the line of courtesy. To which Spurgeon (with a twinkle in his eye, I would imagine) replied, "Ah, you see, the old man within is not as dead as you claim. He had simply fainted, and I have revived him with but a glass of water!"

>>>> I don't know if that story is true or not, but it does help to illustrate the point, for I think there may be a few 'perfect' men and women this morning who need a good splash of water to awaken them to their imperfections. For you see, no one in the kingdom of God on earth "has been so transformed by God that they have reached a level of spiritual maturity that excludes the need for ongoing forgiveness." No one has "fully surrendered" or reached "sinless perfection." We are all still sinners in need of grace and God's constant forgiveness.

IV. Conclusion/Invitation/Closing Prayer

"God is light." That's the message John has for us this morning. And if we are to walk in the light, as we are called to do, our first step is to recognize the darkness within, have a proper self-assessment, and have a proper attitude towards sin. So, we are not to say, "We have no sin." Nor are we to claim, "We have not sinned." No, rather we are to admit that "We have sinned" and "We still sin." And we are thus to confess these sins and receive the perpetually benefits of the blood of Jesus Christ.

And so today, as we have gathered together in the name of our Savior, I pray that the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," will shine in "our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Amen. Let us stand and close in pray.

Prayer: Lord, this morning, we have looked into your light. And we admit it is burning and blinding. Your holiness is too extreme for us to gaze upon. But we are grateful today that it is because of the revelation of this light to us that we see our need and that we freely embrace your divine remedy. Lord, help us confess our sins to you and help us look to Christ and Him alone as the only hope of our salvation. We pray this in His name. Amen. Thank you, and have a blessed week!

PERSONAL NOTES (references/thoughts) in preparing for “You Light Up My Life”:

Read: NIV Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, NLT, and The Message translations of 1 John 1:5-10.

References used:

           Kenneth L. Barker & John R. Kohlenberger, NIV Bible Commentary, Vol 2: New Testament, (Zondervan, Grand Rapids:MI, 1994) pp. 1077-1086.

           Glenn W. Barker, 1 John, pp. 293-313, in the The Expositor's Bible Commentary with the New International Version: Hebrews through Revelation: Vol 12, Gen. Ed Frank E. Gaebelein (Zondervan, Grand Rapids:MI, 1981).

Stephen D. Renn, Gen. Ed., Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Word Studies for Key English Bible Words Based on the Hebrew and Greek Texts, (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody:MA, 2006) pp. 598-599.

           R. W. Orr, The Letters of John, pp. 1571-1575 in, The International Bible Commentary with the New International Version, F.F. Bruce, Gen. Ed. (Guideposts, Carmel:NY, 1979).

           John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary, pp. 1944-1951, (Nelson Publishing, Nashville:TN, 2005).

General Notes:

           Believed to be written by the Apostle John, "the disciple Jesus loved," and the author of the Gospel bearing his name and written around 90-95 AD, in Ephesus to the church there and the local churches in Asia Minor. A form of Gnosticism had taken root and had begun to creep into the churches. John is writing to reaffirm these early believers in the faith, and he is speaking not from second-hand information but as an eyewitness to the events surrounding Jesus.