God is Light

 

I have a problem. I have become a Mac user and a disciple of Apple. There was no conflict in my life a few months ago. Microsoft ii was; with all its flaws, breakdowns, reboots, technicians, crashes, etc.

 

At the office I am Microsoft and at home and the road I am Apple. The war for my allegiance is fairly strong. Because I want to prove Apple’s superiority I now have opened myself up to the world of computers and the wider control of the internet and software. You know the battle. Will programs sit on your computer or will you be attached to the cloud out there on the internet and have everything you need available on line from anywhere in the world. Microsoft versus Google.

 

Now for computer people and those attached to them this is huge, interesting and confusing.

 

Make it simple for me …please. Take the technology and tell me how to make a phone call, order my internet and my cable and deal with the huge number of choices and people that want my attention. Make it stop. Give me a secure environment in which to live.

 

I love this poem from my university days and one of my favorite authors at that point of my life.

 

The Brick – Michel Quoist

 

The bricklayer laid a brick on the bed of cement.

Then, with a precise stroke of his trowel spread another layer.

And without a by-your-leave, laid another brick.

The foundations grew visibly,

The building rose, tall and strong, to shelter men and women.

 

I thought, Lord, of that brick buried in the darkness at the base of the big building.

No one sees it, but it accomplishes its task, and the other bricks need it.

Lord, what a difference whether I am on the roof top or in the foundations of your building, as long as I stand faithfully at the right place?

 

Give me something to build my foundation upon.

 

St. Jerome  late 300 ad translated the bible from Greek into Latin -

In his commentary on Galatians

Story about the apostle John - the aged author of this letter.

They used to carry John into the congregation that met in Ephesus.

The only thing he would ever say was “little children, love one another.”

After a while people grew weary of this repetition and asked him: “Master, why do you always say this?”

“Because”, he replied, “it is the Lord’s command, and if this only is done, it is enough.”

 

In a world where we are filled with uncertainty and doubt and confusion and too many choices.

• This letter is about assurance, knowledge, confidence, and boldness.

 

Certainty.

 

Words

• To perceive – 15 times
• To know – 25 times

 

• We have the assurance that the reality of Jesus is true and that what He spoke of and represents is eternal life.

 

Certainty about Christ

 

We know the truth about God and about Christ.    

1 John 5:20

20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true — even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

We know Jesus came because of the love of God

1 John 3:16-17

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

How do we know – Jesus was sent     

1 John 4:9-10

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

1 John 1:3

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,

1 John 2:20

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

 

Certainty about eternal life

 

We know that we know him  

1 John 2:3-4

³ We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.

 

We know that we are in him – and he in us

1 John 2:5

5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him.

We know that we are of God

1 John 5:19-20

19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

We know we have passed from death to life

1 John 3:14-15

14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

 

We are then born of God, we know God and are in Him enjoying an intimate communion which is actually eternal life.

 

John’s point

• There is an assurance for the Christian

 

1 John 5:13-15

¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴ This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

 

If someone says they believe and disobey God, and hates his brother, they are a liar

• This is our starting point

 

We want to go three directions today

 

Talk about God

 

Talk about you

 

Talk about where you go from here

 

Refresh

 

John is attempting to address some real deficiencies in the church and the state of belief.

• He wants to say that it is going to lead to destruction or at least a life of being unfocused.

 

To address this he begins with God - And his nature.

 

What is our picture of God? What is our concept of God?

 

CS Lewis

“If God made man in his own image, then man has returned the complement.”

• We have attacked the character of God and created a God of our own liking. God is the transcendental interferer – and we don’t like it.

 

The God of revelation.

 

• It is his nature to reveal himself.
• God is not inert; he is active and wants to reveal himself.
• He desires to be known. God is ethical. His light is ethical.
• There was no secrecy in Him; He is not hiding in the shadows.

 

Some scripture

 

Light as revelation of truth

    

Vs. 5 content

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

 

Gen 1:3-4

³ And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. ⁴

The earliest expression of the will of the creator

• This week we have the great particle accelerator trying to recreate the first initial big bang – to find missing particles of nature.
• The God who creates begins with light. Without light nothing else is possible, no growth, no life, no beauty.

 

John 1:1-9

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning.

³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood ^a it.

⁶ There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹ The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

God illuminates  JESUS STORY - Man born blind

 

 John 9:1-7

9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

³ "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

⁶ Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. ⁷ "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

 

Moral element – not just seeing but walking.

• Right conduct and good vision.

 

John 3:19-21

19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

 

Personal to our story

• Men are to know truth and act as if they do

    

John 12:35-36

³⁵ Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. ³⁶ Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light."

 

Light as perfect moral righteousness

• flawless holiness
• You cannot look upon evil.
• If God is in the picture then no error can tolerate his presence.

 

Hab 1:13

¹³ Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;

you cannot tolerate wrong.

Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?

Why are you silent while the wicked

swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

 

 

Result

We are to pass on this truth. That is our task.

   2 Tim 1:13-14

¹³ What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

• These are nonnegotiable truths.

 

God is light.

• Light scatters darkness – it is the truth about which all other claims are measured.
• Light penetrates everywhere unless it is deliberately shut out.
• Light reveals reality, exposes what the darkness hides.
• Light makes us uncomfortable as it illuminates.

 

CS Lewis – we believe the sun has risen not because we see it, but because by it we see everything else – God simply is – he is light – he is self existent – we can ignore him but we do so at our peril.

 

This collides with our story

 

Our place

• If we have one foot in the world we are at peril – a compromise existence is difficult.

 

Started by speaking about keeping things clear, concise, and take away the confusion.

 

Follow me – Jesus words are not a demand to “build the kingdom” with our effort, not establish a beachhead of truth with our effort,

• but to receive, to enter, to seek to inherit and to follow.

 

The key is to first follow.

   

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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, purifies us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

 

We can illustrate the reality of God in our life by:

 

1. Keeping our relationships right

 

⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

• Our life must be characterized by right behavior.

 

Our lifestyle is different.

• If our life is characterized by greed, jealousy, envy, malice, bitterness and a critical and unforgiving spirit we have some things to settle.
• If we do not build up others, stand with them, support them, love them unconditionally – we have some things to settle.
• If we persist in known sin we cannot be in touch with God.

 

(This does not mean we are thrown out of the kingdom, it does not mean that we are out of His influence, it means we have cut off communication and must make a conscious decision to get back on track.)

 

One mark of our fellowship with God is that we are in fellowship with other believers – some responsibilities there:

 

 ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

    

1 John 2:9-10

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

If we do not:

• We spend more and more time away from fellowship we step out of the influence of others and their speaking into our lives and the give and take that goes with fellow strugglers in Christ.
• Mention A Team

 

John 3:19-21

¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."  

 

We can illustrate the reality of God in our life by:

 

1. Keeping our relationships right

 

2. Keeping our theology right

 

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

 

We need God – we need to be exposed to his love. The hunger must be satisfied. If we fight it we will in essence deny who we are.

 

• We redefine sin. It is all about us. We will make it in this world. No one will tell me what to do or believe or tell me how to live my life.

 

God exposes who we are by His very nature.

• You cannot escape him.

 

When was the last time you have really done something stupid and hurt someone?

• You are caught up short and you are hurt and realize you have missed this stuff and ignored it but now it has born fruit that you did not count on.
• You are now extremely sensitive and wary of what is going on around you.
• Our lives are being sensitized and softened by the spirit of Christ.

 

Is it ever possible to be in such a state that we will never sin again? Such a state of grace that we have put it away and dealt with it forever. No

 

 

We can illustrate the reality of God in our life by:

 

1. Keeping our relationships right

 

2. Keeping our theology right

 

3. Keeping our communication with God honest

 

¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

We have no place for God whatsoever and need to be honest about the coldness that will come as we look at eternal questions.

 

• We must essentially ignore the fact that theft and adultery and murder and lying and hatred and fraud and harsh words and innuendo are tolerable.
• That the sins of greed, jealousy, envy, malice, bitterness and a critical and unforgiving spirit are something to be ignored.

 

If we deny these things we are calling God a liar – we should take this as a shock. We embrace the darkness.

 

We cannot be forgiven until our awareness turns into action.

 

 

The way through

Practices of the Christian are not to redefine sin but check his/her life with the searchlight of God’s word and confess that which is deficient.

 

The nearer I am to God the more conscious I am about my own rebellion and sin.

 

The light shows the way ahead and allows believers to coordinate actions and conform their lives to one another.

 

Our actions to confess – vs 7

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, purifies us from all sin.

Purifies – continuous action of repentance and faith – the blood keeps on purifying.

 

Can we come back again and again for fresh forgiveness? Yes we can.

 

The lie – it’s me again – the failure – I thought I had this down – not sure I should confess this – but – oh well.

 

The blood of Christ applies to all sin – when we come to penitence and faith we come for that time and that situation and that encounter.

 

We cannot say – I have tried to deal with this addiction problem and it will not go away. No…every time it surfaces we must deal with it. These things run deep and have deep roots and are against God’s best for us.

 

The purifying properties of God’s love extend to each and every sin – every time in every place.

 

To walk in the light means that we are increasingly conscious of things that would hinder our life with God and thrust us into darkness again.

 

 

⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 

 

A positive response to God’s light a specific confession of our thoughts, words actions and attitudes.

 

We must come often to him.

 

This is done directly to God.

 

If we have offended someone we are to ask for forgiveness from a person and God.

 

We are to expect a forgiving spirit in return if we confess to God.

 

God is faithful – he is faithful to his own nature.

 

   

2 Tim 2:13

¹³ if we are faithless,

He will remain faithful,

for he cannot disown himself.

 

God is just

 

His inflexible righteousness

Each of us will receive his just due.

The penalty for our sin was paid – it does not have to be paid again.

 

We are forgiven and the darkness is dealt with as well. We will live in a resurrection, new life.

 

Story of the John and Eloise Bergen in Kenya.