Walking In The Light | Shawn Miller

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Transcript

Welcome And Sermon Setup

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It has certainly been good to be here this morning. And I know we had a resurrection service last Sunday, which I always really enjoy, but it is good to have a normal service again this morning. I really enjoy the Sunday school that we're having right now and going through the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, and just discussing, looking at it almost word for word, and seeing what we can benefit from it in today's life. So this morning's sermon is entitled Walking in the Light, and this is the first of a mini-series that I feel led to do on the book of First John. And this series, uh, over the next few turns of me preaching, this series will not be a word-for-word study, but will more be a thematic study, more focusing on the themes that John covers in the epistle of 1 John.

Why First John Was Written

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Before we go into the text, I'd like to give a little bit of a context to the book of 1 John. It is a little bit difficult to actually land on a context for this book. As we go out of the Gospels and into Acts and then more into Paul's epistles, we don't read a lot about John. And with the similarities between this epistle and the Gospel of John, there is conclusive evidence that John the disciple is the author of this epistle. He gets the credit for penning 1, 2nd, and 3 John. Another thing that's interesting is this epistle begins on a bit of a different note than a lot of the epistles do. For sure, the ones written by Paul and Peter. Paul and Peter normally start their epistles by introducing themselves as Paul the Apostle of Christ, almost as if their authority of being the apostle of Christ gives a little bit more credibility and weight to the message that they're about to write. But John keeps himself anonymous in both the gospel and in the epistle. I don't have an answer for why he did that, but it is an interesting note that it is different from a lot of the epistles that we read in the New Testament. The context of what exactly, who exactly John was addressing is a little bit difficult to lay uh my hand upon because of not hearing a lot about John since the Gospels. According to theologians, it would seem, and this makes sense, that he is giving oversight to a community of small churches in the area of Ephesus. And if we skip back to the book of Revelation, which John is also credited with authoring, if we look into the first few uh chapters of Revelation, we see that the first few chapters actually have a focus on the seven churches, the seven stars being the seven churches. And it's very interesting that the church of Ephesus is the first one that is addressed in the book of Revelation. If you read into that portion of Revelation, the same things that they were battling with in 1 John are the things that Jesus addresses about the Church of Ephesus. So there is that connection of John, the author of 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, and then John also the author of Revelation, and the setting being him being in oversight over a cluster of small churches in the area of Ephesus. I did find that interesting. In chapters 2 and 4 of 1 John, he indicates that there are a group that has left these churches. And this group is set on almost disproving the deity of Christ, that Jesus is in fact the Messiah, and that he is actually the Son of God. And not only do they leave, but it is addressed in in the second and third epistle, they actually kind of come back and create strife amongst the ones that stayed, which for us is not a good thing. And it's almost as a form of damage control that John is trying to do with the ones that left and the ones that stayed. John assures the ones that stayed that Jesus is indeed the Messiah and that God is still with them as they endeavor to adhere to the truth. Another thing that's interesting and maybe different from a lot of the other epistles is 1 John is almost written in the tone of a sermon of encouragement rather than a letter of admonition. To encourage the ones that are in the churches and are trying to believe what they've been taught, to encourage them to keep on believing. Another interesting thing about the Epistle of John and the Gospel of John is almost all of the key ideas and key words in the epistle come out of Jesus' teachings in the Gospel of John. John's goal is to encourage these Christians to stay true to what they already believe. There's three themes in 1 John, and those are God is light, God is love, and God is truth. These are the three themes that John brings in the first epistle. Two of these themes are introduced by the phrase, this is the message. And this is simply meaning that John is saying, This is what we heard from Jesus in person. This is the message. Remember, John was a disciple, he was with Jesus, he heard Jesus with his own ears, he saw Jesus physically with his own eyes, he touched Jesus with his own hand. And here he is saying to these themes, he begins with, This is the message. Basically saying, What we heard directly from Jesus, I am now bringing to you. These are the teachings of Jesus.

Reading First John Chapter One

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Turn in your Bibles to 1 John 1. 1 John 1. I'd like to read the text, and then we'll take it portion by portion as we go through the text. 1 John 1, and I will read verses 1 through 10, which is the entire epistle or the entire chapter. 1 John 1, 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified 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. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed 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. 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. I will again read the first five verses of this chapter, then I'd like to go back to the Gospel of John and read the first five verses of that first chapter. Again, the first five verses of first John chapter one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have 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. 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. Now, with that in mind, listen to the first five verses of the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Very, very similar introductions to both his gospel and his

Direct Source And The Message

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epistle. The word of life was God from the beginning. John had the opportunity to walk with the Son of God physically. To John, the word God was both the Father and the Son. And he experienced close fellowship, physical fellowship with the Son. Have you noticed as we read those first five verses in the epistle that he doesn't address it as a singular person? He doesn't say I. Who are the we those who saw, those who heard, those who touched Jesus. So I believe he's saying, myself and the apostles, we're bringing this to you. We that have been with Jesus are bringing it to you. Just as we had fellowship with Jesus, so now you can have fellowship with Jesus. The only difference is we were able to see him in person. We were able to physically talk, hear, and touch him, but you also can, even if he's not physically here. And then in verse 4, and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. We are telling you about these things so that you can experience what we experience. And by you experiencing that, it brings us much joy. That is the introduction. And then we come to verse 5, and he says, We now have a message. We now have a message for you. In other words, this is what Jesus told us. This is physically what Jesus told us. We heard him teach these things, and now we're bringing it to you. The transfer of information always carries more weight if it comes from a direct source. So on Friday, I had the opportunity of being at a at a summit here locally at a uh leadership summit, and there was a speaker that uh that talked there. His name was Rod Olson. So I am fascinated with Navy SEALs, special ops, the discipline, the learning, the training it takes for these guys to accomplish what they do. The speaker that was there is Rod Olson. He teaches leadership to the commanders of the Navy SEALs. Now, do you think his words meant a lot to us with not hearing it indirectly, not hearing somebody else talk about this Rod Olson that teaches these commanders? No, we were like, I was like from Jeremy to me away from him while he was speaking. And it was very interesting. It was the coming from the direct source. This guy sitting down with these guys, teaching them leadership. This was John's experience with Jesus. I was right there, and now this is the message that I'm bringing to you what he taught us. That's the message. So, what was John's message? God is light. Isn't light everything? We just lost

Unobstructed Light And Fellowship

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our lights intentionally. Light is everything. Have you ever wondered how life would be without light? So we need air, we need food, we need water. And couldn't we say we need light? How would it be to live in total darkness? Light was the first thing that God created that we have a record of in Genesis. How it would be to live physically without light is how it is to live spiritually without fellowship with the Father. In total darkness. True fellowship with the Father is unobstructed light. Unobstructed fellowship in direct connection to the Father. So I have Starlink internet service at home. We have Starlink internet service. And if I go on their app, there's one section that says obstructions. And if I'm at home connected to my internet and I've got the the this the I guess the dishes on my roof, and if I log in, it says your Starlink has an unobstructed view of sky. In other words, there is nothing between the dish and the satellites it's connecting. That is the only way that I get internet service if it is unobstructed. Folks, this morning, that is the only way we can have fellowship with the Father if we have an unobstructed connection with the Father. Unobstructed light. Mike, I did not forewarn Mike about this. Mike, would you be willing to come up and help me do an illustration? If you'd want to stand like right there, maybe back a little bit. How exposed do you feel right now? Decently. Decently. Okay. Well, we're not gonna pick on Mike's flaws, but I see a lot of good things. There is direct connection between. I'll try to keep it out of your eyes. There's direct connection between this light and Mike. He's like an open book right now. We can see basically anything we want to see on Mike right now. There's unobstructive view. If there's an obstacle that starts coming between this light and Mike, we see a lot of shadows. And where there's shadows, there's hints of darkness starting to creep in. The bigger that object becomes, the more darkness that creeps in. And the bigger that object becomes, all of a sudden the light is totally blocked. And there's a disconnect between the light and Mike. Thank you, Mike. We could have the lights again. Thank you, Mike.

Three Ways Light Changes Us

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What does it mean for us to walk in God's light? What does it mean for us to have an unobstructed connection and fellowship as John had with Jesus physically? What does it mean for us to have that connection with the Father even when we can't see him? For John, fellowship with God meant to keep Jesus' commandment commandments. John 15, verse 14, you are my friends if you do what I command you. Jesus' own words. I like to read a few portions in John and in the Gospel of John. The first one is John 3, verses 19 through 21. This is Jesus' words, and this is a judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. And then also in John 8, verse 12. And again, Jesus' words, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. This morning, as we I'm going to focus in on walking in the light. Yes, light exposes the ugly, but light also exposes the good. Light exposes the clean. I think way too often when we when we talk about God shining his light into our lives, the first thing that comes to mind is the ugly. And there is ugly in each one of us. But this morning, I'd like to make sure that we get that light is a good thing. We cannot live without light. And we cannot have fellowship with God if we don't allow his light to shine through us and expose us, make us an open book. When we fail to keep Jesus' commandments, that is what we call sin. To live without sin is extremely difficult. And John is not telling us that we have to be perfect, but what he is telling us, live an open life. Let God shine into your life and expose what is there. This morning I'd like to bring out three points on walking in the light. The first one, point number one, is God's light reveals. God's light Reveals. When we are in complete fellowship with God, our life is an open book. I could tell that Mike felt fairly exposed up here. Everything else was dark. He had the spotlight on him. We could have started naming all the good things. I don't know if we would have found any flaws on Mike this morning or not, but we could have started naming things because he was basically just open before us with the light shining on him. Light doesn't create the mess or the good that we hide in our lives. Light simply exposes it. Talking about the ugly, we all know we can sweep things under the rug at home. If we get company and the rug gets pulled back, then it exposes the dirt. That can only be hidden for so long. When the light shines, when God's light shines on us, nothing is hidden. His truth doesn't exaggerate our flaws, it only reveals what's already there. God's light also reveals the cleanliness in our lives. God's life also reveals the purity that you're striving towards. God's light also reveals your want for communion with Him, your desire. When it comes to clean glasses, I'm almost OCD about clean glasses. I have in my office at home, I have can lights. And there is nothing better to see all the flaws on your lenses than holding them up to like can lights. My thought pattern is if I have to wear glasses, why look at the world through a dirty lens? I want to look at the world through clean lenses. The light of God shining through us is an awesome thing. The challenge in the first point of God's light reveals is don't allow sin to block that light, to block that sweet fellowship that John experienced with Jesus. Don't allow any obstructions to come between you and the Father. Number one was God's light reveals. Number two is God's light gives direction. God's light gives direction. It's very unhandy. Probably most of us have sometimes stubbed our toe on the kitchen table, or you're very tentative, you know where you're going, but yet you don't know where you're going. You face a lot of fears when you walk in darkness. Light takes away a lot of fear. Light removes a lot of fear. As you're walking through your house at night, even the small light on your phone, or maybe it's a dim hall lamp or something, any kind of light is like, oh, now I can see. Now I can move forward with confidence. That's what God's light does. It gives direction. Suddenly we can move with confidence. It shows us how to live, shows us how to respond in difficult situations. It helps us to not be constantly tripping over things we don't see. This morning, if you are struggling to find direction in your life, or if it seems that God all of a sudden just disappeared, take inventory and see if there is any obstructions between you and the light of God. Of God is light. But just as the illustration that we had with being back here with the spotlight, even with the obstruction here, it started in small, but as that obstruction became larger, it blocked out more light until all of a sudden there was darkness again. Don't let the small things grow into huge obstacles between you and God. Take

Confession Restores Fellowship

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care of it if God reveals it to you. Obstructions break off that fellowship that we can have with the Father. First one was God's light reveals. Second point, God's light gives direction. And the third point is God's light brings growth. We wouldn't have any life on this planet if there wouldn't be for light. Plants wouldn't grow, trees wouldn't grow, we as humans would probably fizzle out. Light isn't just helpful, it is absolutely essential. It is absolutely necessary. John's point is that our fellowship with God works the same way. We don't just need inspiration. We don't just have our fellowship with God to inspire or to make it a good day for us. It is how we truly grow in our spiritual life with allowing God's light to shine into my life. John says in verse 7, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Fellowship with the Father, our vertical relationship, us and God, me and God, translates into horizontal relationships, me and you. If the disconnect is between God and the uh between God and myself, then I'll have a hard time having connection between brothers and sisters in Christ. In order for us to have fellowship with one of another, we need to be in tune with our walk with God. First comes the vertical, followed by the horizontal. God, myself, myself, and others. God's light not only exposes, but it cleanses. It cleanses. In today's world, it seems the last few years there's been a lot of emphasis put on light therapy, in uh faster healing from injuries. Folks, this morning, God's light is therapeutic. It is not only exposing, but it is healing. It heals whatever ugly it exposes if we bring it to Him, which leads us into verses eight through ten, in confessing what we find in our lives, confessing the ugly. Verse 8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And then probably a lot of our most one of our favorite verses in the whole Bible, 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. To confess simply means to agree with God that I've sinned. To confess does not mean blasting it out to everybody we know. Yes, if it has offended somebody, then confession needs to be made person to person. But it simply means agreeing with God that I have failed, owning up to it, telling God that I did fail, and I am repentant, and I want to turn away from it. Even though Christ's death satisfied God's wrath toward our sin, the inclin the inclination to sin unfortunately remains in us. Romans 3 verse 23 says, All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Wouldn't it be nice if the temptation would just never approach? We'd never be bothered by temptation, but unfortunately, we've been born into a sinful world. But the death of Christ has made a way for us to overcome and be repentant and have victory victory over sin. Confession of sin is not simply to avoid punishment. And please get this. Confession of sin is in order for us to stay in fellowship with the Father. Again, confession of sin is not only for us to avoid punishment. In my growing up years, when I was at the tent revival and my heart started pounding, I will say it was more to avoid punishment of eternal damnation in my mind then than it was for anything else. And that might be a small part of it. But folks, this morning, confession of sin is in order for us to stay in connection with the Father, to stay in complete connection and fellowship with the Father. God cannot stand sin. And if sin is between us and Him, there's obstructions. But when we confess that sin and we move past that and we repent and we live victorious, that's why confession is needed to reestablish that connection and fellowship with God. When I start viewing confession as necessary to reestablish my connection with God, it looks totally different than if I view it as avoidance of punishment. Confession reestablishes connection and fellowship with the Father.

Closing Encouragement And Prayer

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In conclusion, we have an awesome opportunity of unobstructed fellowship with the Father, just as John did with Jesus. Here he's saying, This is the message that God is light and in him is no darkness. There's no sin. Depicting his purity and his holiness. Walking in the light doesn't mean pretending that we're perfect, but it does mean that we stop hiding. Be an open book. What you see is what you get. Walking in the light means we stop managing the darkness. We stop controlling the darkness. We stop choosing when we want to walk in the light and when we don't. Walking in the light means we stop trying to convince ourselves that the room is actually all clean. Walking in the light exposes the good. Don't forget that. Embrace that. Light is good. We step into the light and allow it to expose the good and at times the ugly. And finally, I'd like to leave you with this. Let's remember confession is the key to staying in fellowship with God, our Father. My encouragement to all of us this morning is as we leave here, let's look at our fellowship with God as John had with Jesus here on earth. I know Jesus isn't here physically, but he has sent his Holy Spirit as a comforter for us. And I know we're we like tangible things. But folks, this morning, if we can live lives of purity, unobstructed by sin, we can have the same fellowship with the Father as John did when Jesus walked on earth. And that's my encouragement to all of us this morning. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Our Father God, this morning, thank you for your word. And I pray that we could take it to heart and that we could learn from the words that John penned in his first epistle of John and in chapter one. Lord, we invite your light to shine upon us, and I pray that we could we could embrace this as a good thing, and that we could live lives that are wholly open to you and everyone around us. So, Lord, thank you for light. Thank you for you as the light. I pray this on your name. Amen.