“Celebrate the Light!”

Scripture: 1 John 1:1 – 2:2

In one of our sessions at my seminary class this week (on the Reformation), our professor asked us to respond to, basically, this question: “How do you know what God wants you to know?” As you may guess, this inspired some silence for a few minutes! So I will ask you the same question – “How do you know what God wants you to know?” Think about it.
The question that was poised to us was in the context of the incredible conflicts and bloody wars that ensued during the reforming centuries. Everyone seemed to know that their relationship with God was the correct one, and that anyone who disagreed with them, regardless of how minor the difference may have been, didn’t deserve to live! And they then set out to see that they didn’t! It was not one of Christianity’s more glorious periods!
How do we know what God wants us to know?

Read 1 John 1:1-4

At the time that this letter was written, the church had been in existence for 50 years or so. It had experienced some good times, as well as some not so good times. It had received some great teaching, and some not so great. It had grown in faith, but it had also suffered and struggled in false faith.
John knew that the people needed a refresher course in what it meant to be a Christian, whether they were in a time of blessing or one of persecution, and so he writes in verse 3 - “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.” John didn’t try to express his relationship with Christ in great theological terms, or with high sounding phrases, or in grand expository. He simply told the people what he knew for certain, because he had seen it, or heard it.
When we offer a witness to others, it should never be given in a way that is confusing or questionable. When we come to see the truth in a particular way, simply tell the story the way it happened, without embellishment.

John goes on to say that the church is in fellowship with both the Father and the Son. We can’t have one if we don’t have both. In John 8:19, Jesus told his disciples “If you knew me, you would know the Father also.”, and in John 10:30 – “I and the Father are one.” Therefore, John is telling the people that it must also be true that if we are in that fellowship, we are also in fellowship with each other. And when he relates this, he says that his joy is complete.

“How do we know what God wants us to know?”

It is through our fellowship with God and the Church. And it is in that fellowship that truth will be revealed and we will come to know what we need to know at that time. And that was one of the major road blocks in the 16th century. Faith was being defined by the church. The people would be told how and what and why, and that everyone must believe the same and be the same. And as the reformation began to take hold, the reformers didn’t seem to be much different. This was the great failing of the church during the reformation – there was no universal fellowship.

Fortunately, the Holy Spirit doesn’t work that way.

Read 1 John 1:5-7

It’s all about the Light.

John Wesley wrote:
When I was young, I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.
--John Wesley

The Light of God, in our fellowship with him, is all there is. And the Light shines on each of us in a unique way. We are gifted in different ways; we are used in different ways; we share the grace of Jesus Christ in different ways; we serve in different ways – the only commonality that we seem to have is, first, in the fellowship, and second, in the means of our salvation. The light of Christ reveals our uniqueness within his Body, and it shows us the glory that is in the Blood.

John uses the analogy of light and dark to teach the church about good and evil, about truth and lie. Let me offer a personal example for just a moment. Years ago, when Diane and I were first married, we had a cat named Tiger. Tiger was a hunter extraordinaire, and loved to go outdoors, especially at night. She had a way into the house through a loose window screen, and early one morning, she came in and jumped up on the bed. I was barely awake, and reached down to pet her. I thought that I was petting her foot, until she got up and moved, leaving her “foot” behind. I lifted the object up into the early morning light to find out what it was, just as Diane woke up. She asked “What are you doing?” And I replied, as the light revealed the truth of Tiger’s “foot” – “Tiger just brought us a gift.” It was a dead mouse.
In the darkness, I couldn’t tell the difference between my petting something that was good versus something that was dead. It was only in the light of the new day that the truth was revealed. And it was then that Diane, in no uncertain terms, made me get up out of bed and throw the “deadness” outside.

God reveals his truth to us when we turn to him, when we give our lives to him, when we become one through our fellowship in him, and it is then that the Godly Light can reveal the truth for our lives.

Read 1 John 1:8 – 2:2

John gets down to the bottom line – our sinful ways can only exist when the light of truth is not on us. He tells us that no one is without sin, and that we are only deceiving our self if we think otherwise. But when we turn to Christ, his light will reveal the sin that is in us, and then the reality of it all comes out. When we allow God to rid us of our “deadness”, he takes it away, and throws it out into the darkness where it belongs. It cannot exist in the light.

So how do we come to that moment when God’s light can finally shine on our lives to reveal the things he wants us to know?

Studies and surveys have revealed that relationships require four ingredients: Time, Touching, Talking, and Trust.
- Homiletics On Line -

And this is true of not only human relationships, but also that with the Divine.

Time – we need to be intentional in making time for those who are important in our lives, and not as a shallow or token gesture. It needs to be real and substantial.
Touching – Whether it is physical or spiritual touching, it is the most obvious way to show another that we truly care. When I was on my first Kairos (a prison ministry) weekend, we were doing a listening exercise, and when the one who was telling the story (a Hispanic) came to a particularly tragic point in a story regarding his mother, the other man (a white man) reached out and touched his arm and said “Oh no!”. Touching is not something you do in prison! When the exercise was complete, I asked the man how he felt when the other reached out and touched him. He said “I felt as though he understood.” Touching is OK!
Talking – communication lets each person in the relationship know exactly what is going on – in both the good sense and the bad. But it must always be a two way street.
Trust – is the glue that binds every relationship together. It is not only the basis for our life together, but it draws us ever closer to each other and gives us the desire to be closer.

In our relationship with Christ,
Do we truly trust that the Blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to wash us clean?
Do we honestly and frankly share our lives with the Almighty?
Do we reach out to God to experience that Holy Arm around our shoulders in times of struggle, and the Holy Hand on our arm when we need direction and comfort, and the Holy Presence in our life when we are seeking strength and truth?
Do we give God our best time, and not just the leftovers?

When we do these things, we walk in the light and we leave the darkness far behind; when we do, we fellowship in the glory that surrounds our revealed relationship; when we do, we rejoice in the understanding that God is all about the good in and for our lives, and that nothing else can matter.

In the Light of glory, we can rejoice in the knowledge that God is with us, and that our fellowship with him will only get better. We need to celebrate the Light that brings us into his truth, every day of our lives.