“It’s Mighty Dark Out There!”

Scripture: 1 John 2:18-27

Last week, we began a series based in 1 John, looking at the difference between the light of heaven and the darkness that we experience in the world. Coming to understand this difference is a test in faith – it’s the difference between whether we are truly a disciple of Jesus Christ or not. Is our faith Christ-centered, or is it seen simply as an social opportunity; is our faith centered in the work of Jesus Christ, or is it in the works that we do; is our faith a matter of tradition and routine, or is it a means to pay honor to the Living Lord?

Read 1 John 2:18-23

Christian author, lecturer and missionary Elisabeth Eliot wrote:
How does it feel to be, as Paul said, like stars in a dark world (Philippians 2:14-18 )? In that same sense, a Christian might well pray,” Lord, make me a star”.
--Elisabeth Elliot, A Lamp for My Feet (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Vine Books, 1985), 109.

Elisabeth, I believe, is telling us that with all the darkness that surrounds us, why should we withdraw from it? Wouldn’t it be better to be a point of light that shines with true direction for ages to come? There are enough people who are promoting the darkness and nowhere near enough to dispel it with a spiritual light.
John is telling us the same thing. To tie this section together, the disciple is telling us two things: first, that antichrist is not only coming, but has already arrived; and second, that antichrist spreads nothing but lies – that the truth can never be in him.

So what is this about many antichrists already being here? Isn’t there only 1 antichrist? John would have us know that there are many lesser beings who oppose the teaching of Jesus Christ, but that in the end, Satan – the main antichrist, the primary “opposer of Christ” – will appear to carry out his destructive work. And these “junior” antichrists – who are they? They are those who may have once been part of the church, but have separated themselves from the Body and are now spreading a false gospel.
Now, we have to be careful that we don’t begin to pronounce judgment on those people! Condemnation isn’t our job – that’s Christ’s responsibility, and he will carry it out in the final days! But we are to be discerning in those things that are being taught. John would have us know that the “antichrists” are those who deny that Jesus Christ is the Anointed One of God. It isn’t just those who teach falsehood – but those who deny Christ.
But the question still remains - how do we know the difference between Christ’s truth and the worldly lie? That is still an issue that must be addressed, even though it may not be a condemnable offense. And the answer is that Scripture is our only reference for the difference between the divine and the worldly.

Why do people make it so difficult? We hatch all kinds of complex schemes and explanations as to how we are to walk in the world, when actually, all we have to do is open up our Bible and read it! We go to great lengths to justify our actions and thoughts, while all the time, scripture is available to us with no justification necessary.
The only requirement on our part is to commit to study and examination. We make it so difficult for ourselves that those “antichrists” must be having one great laugh at our expense!

John continues with his letter to tell us that we – the Church – have an “anointing from the Holy One”, and in that, we have been given the truth. Remember from last week, when we talked about how the Light of Christ reveals the truth for our life? How it makes very plain the difference between truth and lie? It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that gives us that full and correct vision, and allows us to recognize the difference. But what if we deny the vision, ignore the Spirit in our decision making?
We must remember that God doesn’t force anything on us, and the accepting or rejecting of his truth is still an option. Satan’s lies are powerful and very convincing, and if we aren’t careful, any one of us can be deceived so very easily. In Galatians 5:25-26, Paul tells that if we live by the Spirit, we have to keep in step with the Spirit. It takes some practice and effort, but if we fall out of step, that’s when we get into trouble, and the “antichrists” can begin to sound pretty convincing in those times. And that is when the “darkness” can win another round.

Read 1 John 2:24-27

“See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.” Once again, we are reminded that God does not force his word into our lives. We have the responsibility to remain faithful! Discernment comes to the fore once again. We don’t get to rewrite scripture, we don’t get to reinterpret the word of God to our way of thinking, we don’t get to make updates to the eternal word in order to make it conform to the societal norms of 2012! “What we have heard from the beginning” is how we are to live throughout our life.
But have you ever wondered just who we have heard those truths from? From our neighbors and friends? From our parents? From many different teachers in the church – both good and bad? We need to be very careful about this one. I don’t believe that John was referring to human teachers. I think he meant the teaching that comes from the Holy Spirit. In verse 20, we read “you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” The anointing that brings us to know the truth is of the Holy Spirit. The problem is that Satan can make his voice sound a lot like the Spirit’s, and we need to be able to tell the difference! How? By staying close to the Lord in both word and deed.

You see, it’s the Light of Christ that lets us know. But it’s also been said that:
Those wishing to come out of the dark may have to take their hands off their eyes.
- Homiletics On Line

It would seem that we have the power to ensure that our own spiritual blindness is effective in keeping us away from the truth! Why anyone would want to, I have no idea, but I am convinced that many do! There are days when the darkness is so pervasive, and life is so unbearable, that all we want to do is to hide in the depth of “nothingness” to just get away from the reality of life. Unfortunately, that is no solution, and the truth can only be put on hold for so long. Eventually, the heavenly light will penetrate the deepest darkness that could ever envelope our soul, and it will finally show us the way out.
That’s the power of the Holy Spirit at work in faith. When we try to stay in that which “we have heard from the beginning”, when we make every effort to stay in the truth of Christ, the Spirit will always win over the darkness.

But there is such a lot of darkness out there, and there is so little light! Even the light of Christ doesn’t let us see very far – is the dark that overpowering that even the Spirit of God can’t penetrate it very far?

As the story goes:
Late one evening, a father asked his son to go to the barn for some tools. The boy begged his father not to send him, admitting he was deathly afraid of the dark. His father put a lantern into his hand. “How far can you see, son?” “As far as the mulberry tree,” he replied. “Then go to the mulberry tree.”
When the boy arrived there, his father asked, “Now, how far can you see?” “I can see to the currant bush,” said the boy.
When the boy arrived at the currant bush, his father asked again: “How far can you see from there?” This time it was the henhouse. Next it was the fence, and finally the barn. And so the boy, step by step, was able to complete his journey.
- Homiletics OnLine

Faith leads us through the darkness, one step at a time, one day at a time, until we finally arrive at our destination. If we truly have faith, do we need to see all the way to eternity? Do we have to fear that the light we carry will fail us and the darkness will overpower us? The truth is that neither faith, nor light, nor hope, nor Spirit, will ever fail us. They will lead us in truth through the deepest and darkest of days.

Michael Card put out a song a few years ago with the name “That’s What Faith Must Be”. The chorus shares these words with us:
To hear with my heart
To see with my soul
To be guided by a hand I cannot hold
To trust in a way that I cannot see
That's what faith must be

Not one word of this says that we have to do it on our own, or that we can do it in our own way! The only thing we need to do is to listen to the Spirit, and follow him as we are lead through the darkness that surrounds this life.

“That’s what faith must be”, and no matter how dark the world may be, it cannot beat back the Light of Christ. Remember the “4 t’s” of all relationships – time, talking, touching, and trust? Don’t talk to the world – talk to the One who not only has all the truth, but is all of the truth. And the vastness of the dark will shrink down to a size that even we can handle.