1 John 1:5-10, "If God is Light, Then..."

A few years ago, I was at a prayer retreat with the New England District pastors. A pastor I’ll call S.T. asked us to pray for him. He had been a pastor in our district for over thirty years. He was about to spend three more days alone with God for a heart examination and he confessed that this was terrifying him. How is this possible? Someone that has known God for so long, and taught others to know Him, is afraid to be alone with Him. Because we all have places in our hearts and lives that we keep hidden in the dark. We do this because it’s more comfortable. To bring them out in the light and look at them can be scary and disgusting, and will require us to change. And S.T. was being honest. He was choosing truth over self-deception, and confession over hiding in the dark. That’s exactly what keeps a man in fruitful ministry for over thirty years. And that is where healing and cleansing is found for any of us.

Where is the community in which you can bring all your sin and shame out into the light, confess it, and instead of being condemned and crippled, find healing, cleansing, forgiveness, and fellowship.

God is light. Fellowship with God is a lifestyle of practicing the truth in words and actions. In today’s passage, John is going to use the illustration of walking in the light of truth to describe the person who is truly in fellowship with God.

Message: God is Light

If you want to know God, you’ll have to get used to the light. John’s context is an association of God with a powerful light (like a blazing fire). In the beginning of our world, there is a connection between God, His words, light, life.

Genesis 1:3 “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”

The light is the basis for all life in the rest of creation. Light also guides God’s people as they follow Him (burning bush, pillar of fire, lampstand in tabernacle, etc.).

Deuteronomy 4:24 “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

That fire is the picture of His judgment, both good and bad. It is a delight to those that fear Him, and the fear of the arrogant. It purifies and it destroys.

Malachi 3:1-2 ““Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.”

Malachi 4:1-3 ““For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.”

This was John’s framework for understanding the nature of God, and the promise of the Messiah. As John contemplated Jesus’ identity and purpose, he connects the Hebrew framework to Jesus in two ways:

Light and Life: John 1:4-5 “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.”

Light and Judgment: John 3:19-21 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved 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.””

(Of the heavenly city in the new heavens and earth:

Zechariah 2:4-5 “and said to him, “‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ””

Revelation 21:23-25 “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.” (connotations of glory and purity)

Revelation 22:5 “And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (connotations of life, healing, and belonging))

1 John 1:5 “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.”

Just like last week, John proclaims truth revealed in Jesus, then lays out the implications. What are some of the implications for us of this truth, that in Jesus we learn that God is light? John gives us five implications. Two implications are positive promises. But he begins and ends with warnings, and puts one in the center.

Implications: If/Then...

1 John 1:6 “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

If you remember from verse 3, John’s goal is that his readers would have fellowship with the community of Jesus, and with God the Father and God the Son. Many people claim to commune with God but don’t really. Many of them are preaching from pulpits and teaching in Christian settings. How do we know the liars from the true?

John links those that walk in darkness with the liars, and contrasts them with those who “practice/do” the truth. The truth is not something we simply know or agree to. We demonstrate our agreement with truth by our practices, our actions, what we do. My words should be God’s words, and my actions should match. “The single cause of atheism today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Brennan Manning

After this warning, John gives us a promise.

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 cleanses us from all sin.”

John introduces a word he will repeat eight more times in the next five verses. It’s the “s” word, sin. Walking in the light is living life in the light of God’s presence, in the context of the community of believers in which I can be known. As I do that, my sin may come to light. But the promise is that the same light that exposes me reveals the cleansing for that sin by the blood of Jesus. The community of people who walk with God should be a community in which those who’s sin comes to light are not crippled by our condemnation, but healed by the grace of Jesus (Hebrews 12:13; James 5:16).

1 John 1:8 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

This verse is the central implication of the five. When you enter the fellowship of God’s people, here is the one thing you should not do: pretend to be perfect. Or even okay. You’ll only deceive yourself, and you’ll never know the truth. And ironically, the one thing we should not do is the very thing most of us do. My name is Ken, and I am a sinner. The truth is I am powerless against my sin.

The next verse offers the antidote.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

(Psalm 143:1) Confession is speaking the truth. When I become aware of my sin, I need to speak out loud that I have sinned. I need someone to hear my confession, and pronounce over me forgiveness and cleansing in Jesus Christ. “My name is Ken, and I am a sinner.” You say, “Hi, Ken.” I am powerless against my sin. Then you say, “Ken, God has mercy for you, and forgives you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ. May He strengthen you and keep you by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is faithful in every way I am faithless. He is just in every way I am unjust. He is my forgiveness and cleansing.

I need a community that will hear my confession without condemnation and shame, and offer me cleansing and healing by bringing me to Jesus. Are you that community?

1 John 1:10 “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

One final warning. It’s much stronger. If we want to lie to ourselves by pretending to be okay, that’s bad enough. But don’t make God a liar.

If God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all, then His words are true. His judgments are just. If God is light, then we have the hope of life. Those that fear Him and love Him need fear nothing else. Those who arrogantly pervert justice and walk in disobedience to Him have everything to fear. John is telling us that Jesus has revealed to us that God is light. Jesus embodies for us the revelation of God’s nature in His purity and power. If we have true fellowship with Jesus Christ, then even though we live in a dark world, we can know God and walk without stumbling.

Application: The warnings in this passage are for those that make public professions of their relationship with God and their sinlessness. “If we say…(verses 6, 8, 10)” If you are going to claim to know God, to have communion with God, the first warning is that your lifestyle had better align with His truth. Practice what you preach. The second warning is that you can’t walk in the light of God’s truth and claim sinless perfection. You’ll only deceive yourself. If, however, you confess your sin, you have fellowship with all those that have received cleansing and forgiveness in Jesus.

True spiritual maturity does not come from the appearance of perfection. True spiritual maturity grows as we are honest with ourselves, and choose to be honest with someone in the church about our sin and need for a Savior. But this requires a special kind of church community. Most people will never do this because the church too often shoots its wounded. When someone is honest enough to confess they are broken, powerless, and struggling, too often we cripple them with condemnation. “You did what? You struggle with that?” We respond condescendingly or with trite Bible quotes, and instead of healing, we add another wound. How can we create a better culture within the church? How can we create a culture in which the expectation is that: 1. we will all sin; 2. we will all be real about our sin; and 3. we will come together not to compare achievements but to share with each other the cleansing we have in Jesus?

Who are the two or three other brothers or sisters you meet with through the week with whom you can confess your struggles and failures, and have them speak words of forgiveness and cleansing through the work Jesus Christ? What kind of community could we form if we all practice this with someone this week?

Questions for Discussion

What did you learn as you put last week’s passage into practice this week? Is there anything we can celebrate together?

What do we learn about God in this passage? Why is light so helpful in understanding the nature of God?

What do we learn about people in this passage?

What do we learn about Jesus?

What are some factors that keep people walking in darkness rather than bringing their struggles with sin out into the open?

What are some ways we can form a community of healing, cleansing, forgiveness, and fellowship for sinners?

What part does God’s word play in forming this community, and forming the follower of Jesus in their walk with God?