Sermon Tone Analysis

Claim - Jesus Followers demonstrate (not earn) their eternal fellowship with God (walking in the light) through confession of sin and obedience to His commands.

- OR - Jesus Followers confess sins and obey God because they are in Fellowship with God (walking in the light)

Focus - A true Jesus Follower acknowledges and confess sin, and strives to be obedient because they have Fellowship with God though Christ.

Function - To test our attitude towards sin and obedience so that we are confident (or not) of our fellowship with God.

PRAY

Last week we saw from chapter 1v1-4 what our vision is as a Jesus Follower.

And it is to be in Joyful Fellowship with other Christians, with God the Father and with Jesus.

That’s our vision: Joyful Fellowship.

Our strategy to achieve this vision was very, very simple: It’s all through Jesus.

And it’s all made possible through Jesus, who is God, who became fully man and is to be proclaimed for all to hear.

And we defined Fellowship with each other and God in 3 core ways.

1 - Commonality - we share eternal life in, through and with Jesus,

2 - Solidarity - we hold to the same core truths about Jesus as taught in the Bible - primarily that Jesus is God, He became fully man, and he saves us.

3 - Shared Responsibility - we have the same task that God himself started in sending Jesus as our saviour, and that is to proclaim Jesus - so others can join us in Fellowship.

Now, it’s one thing to know that Jesus is the strategy to achieve that vision.

But it’s another thing to actually partake in the Fellowship.

Satan knows that God offers Joyful Fellowship, and Satan knows that he has made it all possible through Jesus.

But satan is not a Jesus Follower - a true Christian.

In fact lots of people call themselves Christians, but as 1 John will show us week by week, saying something is not the same as being something!

Now, it’s one thing to know all that about Jesus, but it’s another thing to partake in the Fellowship.

So, What John, our author of this book, does now is to give us practical test that will reveal if we are true Jesus Followers or not.

So,

Todays passage looks at the ‘measure’.

Todays’ passage, and much of the rest of 1 John acts as a ‘measure’ (or test) to see if we really do have Fellowship with God.

Jesus, who he is and what he did is the strategy

Todays’ passage, and much of the rest of 1 John acts as the ‘measure’ to see if we are really part of the Joyful Fellowship or not.

These are not going to be entrance requirements into Joyful fellowship - The entrance requirement is Jesus - our strategy.

These are the measure by which you, and in all likelihood others, will know if you are what you think you are.

A true Christian.

A Jesus Follower.

Let’s get going in tot he passage and this point will become clear.

We have 3 questions today.

The first is a matter of definition that helps us clarify what John is talking about as he introduces this section.

The second 2 are 2 ‘measures’ that John uses to identify true Jesus Followers.

So, not just what we think, know, or

We have 3 questions today.

The first is a matter of definition that helps us clarify what John is talking about as he introduces this section.

The second 2 are 2 ‘measures’ that John uses identify true Jesus Followers.

In other words, if we claim to believe in Jesus a

1 - What is ‘Walking in the Light’?

‘God is light.’

Light is a big theme in the writings of John.

Light is normally used in connection with Jesus being the light.

In fact he introduces Jesus in the Gospel of John like this:

Ok, but what does that mean?

Is he a light that shows us a path in the darkness?

Is he a light we can see far away that we need to walk towards?

john 1 3-

The light is more than just showing a path to God.

Light is a metaphor that represents Life itself.

Did you notice how in the kids slot the person who was blindfolded didn’t have the blindfold removed to be told how to get the prize.

No, the prize was delivered to him by the person who removed the blindfold - Light is the prize because light is life.

Just like light shines from a torch, so life shines forth from God.

That light represents the source of life would seem to fit best with the biblical data.

The reason I want to clarify this is because I for one, often misunderstand these verse.

So,

In English, we naturally assume the emphasis is on us.

We read v7 and say - ahh, I have to walk in the light.

I have to do the right things and then I have fellowship with God.

We make ourselves the strategy to gain joyful fellowship.

But no, God is light.

So to walk in the light, is to walk in God.

1 joh 1 6

NIV

If we claim to have fellowship with him (God/Light) and yet walk in the darkness (death), we lie and do not live out the truth.

(Because there is NO darkness in God) But if we walk in the light (in God with eternal Life), as he is in the light (the place of life itself), we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

It is to walk in a way that demonstrates what is already true for a Jesus Follower.

It isn’t the way we get to the light or darkness.

It’s a reflection of the reality.

No, we learnt last week that Jesus is our only strategy.

The price of eternal life is in and through Jesus.

We may claim to have fellowship with God, but in reality, we ‘walk in darkness’.

We are dead.

Jesus is not our stratergy, we think we can do it our own way.

It short, I think it’s fair to say that to ‘walk in the light’ is basically the same thing as to have fellowship with God, which is basically the same thing as being a true Christain, or Jesus Follower.

Remmeber God is Light, which means light must be defined by a who God is, not how to get to God.

So to walk in the light, is to walk in a way that demonstrates what is already true for us.

Our life demonstrates that we have eternal life.

Not earns eternal ife.

v7 now makes good sense

It might help to think of it this way:

This is not a like a fitness regimn where the goal is to have a 12 pack.

Where if you run up and down, dragging tyres, doing push ups and listening to ex-army instructors scream at you - then you will achieve your vision.

In fact, John is warning his readers against such thinking - that’s why he says in a momnet, that if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves.

No, to walk in the light i

John’s Gospel

This is not a like a fitness regime where the goal is to have a 12 pack.

Where if you run up and down, dragging tyres, doing push ups and listening to ex-army instructors scream at you - then you will achieve your vision.

This is much more like being in the Royal family.

You are made to be Royal through no effort of your own.

But we will see the evidence of it because you schooled at Eton, talk very proper and cut ribbons for a living.

Cutting ribbons doesn’t make you Royal, you are Royal.

Cutting ribbons is by product, or a measure we can use to see that you are really what you say you are.

John starts by defining God as light

Define Light - God IS Light - Eternal life

So, you either walk in the light or the darkness,

John doesn’t mention ribbons at all in his letter, so what are the measures he wants his readers to use to reassure themselves that they really do ‘walk in the light’.

And what a privileged to Walk in the light!

Fellowship with God

Fellowship with others