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.
Ps
119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
1
John 5a This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you:
More messages have been sent in the past
24 hours across the globe than there had been sent between the birth of the
King of Kings, Jesus Christ and the birth of “the king” Elvis Presley. What am
I saying? With texts, email, facebook, not to mention a plethora of other
e-mediums as well as the old letter and stamp variety and a telephone call,
more messages are delivered and received then anyone in the bible could have
fathomed. In verse 5 John says “This is the message…” OR the reason I am
writing to you or speaking to you is this. The words are about to come that
describe why he is writing a letter at all.
It is a message he and others have
heard. This is not John’s message. This is a message from someone else that John
and others have heard and want to repeat. So much so, in a day when pen and ink
were not readily available, where sending a message was not a few mouse clicks
or thumb types away, John thought this message was important enough to write and
send and circulate so many people could hear it and do what he was doing,
repeat the message for other – like I am doing for you now.
The message is one they have heard from
“him” – who is “him”? 1 John 1:1-3 (appropriately from the bible version called
the MESSAGE) From the very first day, we
were there, taking it all in — we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our
own eyes, verified it with our own hands.
The Word of Life appeared
right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most
sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of
God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling
you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with
the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, this important message worth
repeating is form God’s son, Jesus Christ.
Here is that message from Jesus to the early church, and to the church
today: 1 John 1b God is light; in him there is no darkness
at all.
We know that God is many things. But the
important thing to know about God at the moment is that God is light. How
important is light to our lives? Gen 1:1-5
In the beginning
God created the heavens
and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God
was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God
saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. And
there was evening, and there was morning — the first day. First
thing created was light, because without it, darkness rules and life is not
possible.
1 John 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we
lie and do not live by the truth.
What happens when you walk in darkness? You walk cautiously, you walk
slowly, you walk blind. You run into things, trip over things, can’t find
things. Walking in the dark is DANGEROUS.
If we say, we and Jesus are like this (fingers crossed) but walk in the
darkness we are lying to ourselves.
1 John 1:7 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.
If we walk in the light, we not only get
to walk with God but also know what heaven is like on earth through fellowship
with each other. And we live KNOWING our
sins are wiped out by the blood of Jesus!
1 John 1:8 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.
One of the greatest joys in life is to
know you are walking well with God (walking in the light). The problem is, we
get in the way. I want you to know for
certain that you are walking right with God.
Let’s experience 1 John 1:9 (pray for and declare forgiveness)
******************* You have received that forgiveness through no
effort of your own – it is the work of Jesus on the cross. For Jesus, that work took a lot of
effort. We don’t apply effort to be
forgiven, we apply effort because we are forgiven.
When Pat Riley coached the Los Angeles
Lakers from 1982 to 1990, the team won four NBA championships. In taking over
the New York Knicks in 1991, Riley inherited a team with a losing record. But
the Knicks seemed able to play above their abilities and even gave the eventual
champions, the Chicago Bulls, their hardest competition in the play-offs.
How does Riley do it? He says his talent
lies in attention to detail. For example, every NBA team studies video and
compiles statistics to evaluate players' game performances. But Riley's use of
these tools is more comprehensive than that of his rivals. "We measure areas of performance that are
often ignored: jumping in pursuit of every rebound even if you don't get it,
swatting at every pass, diving for loose balls, letting someone smash into you
in order to draw a foul." After
each game, these "effort"
statistics are punched into a computer. "Effort," Riley explains, "is what ultimately separates journeyman players from impact players.
Knowing how well a player executes all these little things is the key to
unlocking career-best performances."
Why a story on effort? Knowing the light – even having the light is not enough – we MUST shine the light for others. We have work to do.
John
8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Matt
5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city on
a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house. In the same way, let your light shine
before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in
heaven.”
Keep
the Light Burning
On the coast of Norway is a lighthouse
where a keeper lived with his two children. One day he went to the distant
shore for provisions. A storm arose, and he was unable to return. The time for
lighting the lamp came, and Mary said to her little brother, "We
must light the lamp, Willie." "How can we? We ain't big enough." But the
two children climbed the long, narrow stairs to the tower where the lamp was
kept. Mary pulled up a chair and tried to reach the lamp in the great
reflector; it was too high. Groping down the stairs, she ascended again with a
small oil lamp in her hand. "I can hold this up," she said to her
little brother. She climbed on the chair again, but still the reflector was
just beyond her reach. "Get down," said Willie; "I know what we
can do." She jumped down, and he stretched his little body across the
chair. "Stand on me," he said. And she stood on the little fellow as
he lay across the chair. She raised the lamp high, and its light shone far out
across the water. Holding it first with one hand, then with the other, to rest
her little arms, she called down to her brother, "Does it hurt you,
Willie?" "Of course it hurts, but keep the light burning." Are
we keeping the light of God's love burning in the world even though it hurts?
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