“The Revealing and Restoring Light”

Scripture: 1 John 2:3-17

Last week, we discovered that when we claim Jesus as Lord and Savior, we also gain the Light of Christ. We don’t seek the light, and we can’t hide from the light – it simply is when we are in Christ. But what is the Light, and what is it for us?
First, we discovered that it is revealing. When we are walking in his light, the truth of God comes to the forefront, and nothing else can claim that power.
Second, it is only when we are in the Light of God that true Christian fellowship can be experienced. And Christian fellowship will always be complete for us – it includes not only all who love the Lord, but also the fullness of his presence.
Third, by the Light of Christ, which allows us to fellowship in the Lord, we will be cleansed by the Blood of Jesus. Again, it is this issue of unity with the Lord that brings divine blessings into our lives.

But the writer of this letter isn’t about to leave us wondering if this is all there is, and wondering what it is all about. He continues in our text for today with a few more issues that revolve around that holy illumination.

Read 1 John 2:3-6

Last week, we read that if we claim to be sinless, we are proven to be liars, and liars have no place in Christ. Today, the text gets a little more specific when it tells us that if we refuse to follow Jesus’ commandments, we also have no light within us.
Now just in case this causes a little confusion for you, don’t feel bad! We have just read that if we fail to follow the teachings of Jesus, we sin and have no truth, but if we claim to be sinless, we are liars. It’s a Catch-22, isn’t it? It’s bad if we sin, but if we say we are sinless, that, too, is bad! Can’t win!
But the truth is that we are human beings, and as such, we are prone to failure. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t make us perfect – it simply gives us a desire, a will to set sinful ways aside, and provides us with an avenue for forgiveness.
In Matthew 9:10-13, Jesus says that he has come, not for the righteous, but for the sinner. And in Romans 5:8, we are told that Jesus died for us while we were all still immersed in sin. Remember the term “atonement” from last week? Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary makes us worthy to be forgiven and to be one with God. Nowhere do we read that following Jesus makes us sinless – our love for him enables forgiveness for our sin, and it makes us worthy to be in his presence.

But that’s not all - the writer continues to offer additional wisdom regarding living within the teachings of Jesus. He says that when we do obey Jesus’ words, we show our love and admiration for God, and are acknowledging and accepting the Lord’s love for us.
Are we obedient all the time? No. It just goes to prove, though, that we have human faults, which in and of itself proves just how much we need the Lord’s presence in our lives! And when we do our very best in trying to walk in his way all the time, we show our commitment to Christ and prove our love for him. And as time goes on, we will discover that we walk more closely with him every day.

Read 1 John 2:7-11

Once again, the writer’s thoughts become a bit convoluted. He says that he is writing an old command and not a new one, and yet he is offering a new command, just the same. And what is the old command? What is the new command?

John 13:34-35 – “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” It’s very possible that this is the “old command” that is no longer “new”! In the Old Testament, we see many pleas for “love”, but very little acknowledgment that it has been received and recognized. But the New Testament is fully evidenced in the love of God for his people. And since God is unchanging, his love was just as full for the ancients as it was for the people in Jesus’ time, and just as complete for them as it is for the people of today.

I think that the intent of this passage is that the “old” commandment – that we are to love just as we have always been loved – has been made new for us through the Light and Love of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, that love is constantly being renewed in us, so that we might be renewed by it.
And the issue of walking in the Light of Christ is now directly connected to the Love of Christ. The redeeming and renewing love that is within us, and offered to others through us, is not only evidence that we are walking in the Light, but that it is overpowering the darkness that lingers in our lives. And just to make the analogy complete, we are told that hatred, the opposite of love, can only be proof that our lives are still under control by the world’s darkness.

Read 1 John 2:12-14

Two thoughts. First, this may seem to be an odd interlude in the midst of John’s call to walk in the Light of God. It does have a connection, though. And second, don’t get hung up with the masculine terms in these verses. It isn’t, I believe, referring to men as much as it is alluding to both the ages of people in the Church, as well as to the varying degrees of faith within the Church. And as we read through these verses, we begin to see faith in action.
Even the youngest, the newest in faith, will know forgiveness and by knowing Jesus, have come to know the Father as well.
Youth, those who are strong and confident in faith, are already battling the evil that comes from the one who is evil through the strength that comes to them from Christ.
And those who are highly mature in their faith – they not only know God, but they have an understanding that is greater still. They have come to know the depth of God, and this is wisdom.

This isn’t about some people having greater faith than others - it is about the power, by faith in Jesus Christ, that continues to grow and thrive in all who will walk in the Light of Christ.

Read 1 John 2:15-17

One more call to put your whole trust in what is eternal, and to set aside those things that are temporary in nature. And again, another comparison between loving “the darkness” versus loving “the Light”. Note that we are told that we can’t have it both ways – we can’t love the things of earth AND love God at the same time. We can’t love sinful ways AND love the way of Jesus. We can’t straddle that proverbial fence – Revelation 3:14-22, in its chastisement to the church at Laodicia, warns them against being “lukewarm” – trying to walk in Christ’s Light while at the same time being immersed in the ways of earth. They are told to seek the eternal riches of God, instead of the temporary things of this life.

This letter tells us that the things of earth are but sinful desires, and lustful thoughts, and nothing more than boasting over what we have gained and created, and that not one of these will ever come from Almighty God. “The World and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

The hopes and dreams that come from the world have no lasting power. They deceive us, they call us away from God, and they will always fail to satisfy our eternal needs. But do we need jobs? Food? Shelter? Family and friends? Purpose? Of course we do, but the point here is that we aren’t to LOVE these things, we aren’t to commit our lives to those things, we aren’t to put our hopes and dependency in them. They are to sustain us and bring nourishment to our physical being, but they are not to be worshipped and adored and bragged about.

Put first things first, put your first love first, put Jesus first, and let the second things take a distant back seat in your life. That’s what “walking in the Light of Christ” is all about.

“Eternal, Proclaimed, Forgiven”

Scripture: 1 John 1:1-2.2

Jesus is Risen! During this past week, he has already chosen several opportunities to prove the fact that he is no longer dead, but alive! The tomb is empty; he has, and will continue to appear to the faithful in a living form; he has spoken words of assurance to them; he has even walked and talked and eaten with them. But what are they to do with this new found revelation?
In the garden, Jesus told the women that the disciples should go to Galilee and meet him there. (Matthew 28:8-10) But why? What then? Will Jesus begin preaching and teaching and healing and all the rest, once again? What part will they play in all this? They must have had so many questions, and were getting so few answers.

That was Jesus’ way, though. He seldom gave straight forward answers to any question, and folks were always wondering “Why did he say THAT?” “What did he mean by that?” But eventually, they, and all who will follow the Lord, would know – they wouldn’t always receive the specific answers, of course, but they would begin to understand how Jesus worked within their lives.
Over the next few weeks, between now and Pentecost, we will be examining some of the teachings in John’s first Epistle. Some might think that we should be more chronological in nature, and start with the story of Pentecost, but I think that this letter will help us to better understand the events of Acts 2, and may even prepare us to personally receive the spiritual power that was evidenced on that day.

Let’s begin to see just what that power is all about.

Read 1 John 1:1-4

The first verse of this passage seem to have a strong parallel to the first verse of John’s gospel. But while the beginning of his gospel focuses on the creative power of the Trinitarian God, the focus of this letter is much more focused on Jesus. And this opening passage is, apparently, offered as evidence that the words that are about to be read are pure fact, that they are true and reliable.

Whether these words were written by John the disciple, or some other John, or a disciple of the disciple (there is a lot of controversy over who actually wrote the 5 books attributed to John), this author lets us know in no uncertain terms that the teachings that are about to be offered are not new, that they are not made up by the writer, that they come directly from Jesus Himself. The point is that this teacher has not created the message – that the words are God’s, and that this man is simply passing the words on from God.

Why might it be necessary to know this? It’s important – as important for the Church of today as it was for the Church of the late first century AD. It’s important to understand that this is not some made up teaching, or a modified or revised teaching, or even an interpreted teaching that is being presented here. It is actually who Jesus is, it is actually what Jesus taught, and we have to accept this fact as the basis for the rest of what we are about to read.

We are told that this Jesus was not a figment of someone’s imagination – he was heard and seen and touched, and he IS the Word of Life! He came from the Father, so that he could be with us. Jesus was not a spirit who appeared to have a physical form – he was real, he was physical, even though he was also God. It may not make a lot of sense to most folks, but we are never called to understand everything about the Lord – we are only called to believe and rejoice. And the writer John says that he, and others, are witnesses to this truth.

And why are we told of this truth? So that fellowship within the Church may occur, that without acceptance of this truth, there can be no true fellowship, and that our Christian fellowship will always include fellowship with God, and this is a reason to rejoice. And just in case you think this refers specifically to covered dish dinners and Spring cleaning days, it is far more than that. Christian fellowship occurs when the faithful come together to serve and learn and live in the name of Jesus Christ.
This fellowship appears when we discuss and learn about the Lord’s call on our lives; it occurs when we engage in a mission together – whether locally or far away; with people we know or in the company of newly met Christians; to be a Christian witness to people who are not yet familiar with the saving grace of Jesus Christ; to be engaged in spiritual warfare with others. And yes, it can also be seen at dinners, and clean up days, and in efforts to spruce up the church so it will be warm and welcoming to others. But there is a lot more to our fellowship than just being together.

Read 1 John 1:5-10

And now, we see God’s message begin to unfold. The writer John tells us that God is light, and that where there is Godly light, there can be no darkness. Let’s take a minute to think about the differences between the light and the dark.
Darkness is everywhere that the light doesn’t shine. Without light, there is only darkness, but the only way to eliminate light is to remove it. Darkness cannot destroy light, but light will always destroy darkness. These attributes are true for the light and dark we are familiar with day in and day out, but the light that we are reading about here is spiritual in nature and refers to God, and therefore this darkness can only refer to evil. The darkness of sin has no power over the Light of God, but God has infinite power and authority over evil.
And where do we find this Light? In John 8:12, Jesus tells us that he is the Light of the world, and when we follow him, we will be walking in his light, and the darkness, or sin, will no longer have any impact on our lives. But is the light solely a gift from Jesus? Verse 7 tells us that we “are to walk in the light, as He is in the light”. The implication is that this Light is not exclusively of Jesus – that it is from the Triune God – Father, Son and Spirit, and without trust, without faith in all three aspects of God, we will still be apart from his light.
And the writer offers one more caveat – that simply saying that we have fellowship in Christ, without truly being committed to him and his way, isn’t enough. Without a relationship with Jesus, we will still be walking in darkness – without Jesus in our life, we will still be immersed in sinfulness. (Luke 13:22-30)
And it is this “Light of God” that qualifies our fellowship. Are we truly fellowshipping, serving, walking with Christ, or are we just pretending, going through the motions, and staying just outside his ring of glorious Light?

The author of John’s letter warns us that unless we are in the Lord’s Light, even though we may appear to be one of his, even though we say we are his, we are only deceiving ourselves. And if we think we can claim righteousness without claiming Jesus, it isn’t so much that we are lying, but that we are, in essence, saying that Jesus is the source of the lie, that his call to a relationship with him isn’t what is important – that it’s all about what our words say, not what our life says! And none of us should ever be content in that attitude!

Read 1 John 2:1-2

Now here is the gist of the message – we all must do our very best to avoid committing sinful acts, but when we do, and we all will, those who are in Christ – those who are truly walking in the illuminating and revealing Light of God, can find forgiveness. It is by our faith in, and relationship with, Jesus that he is able to intercede on our behalf. Jesus is, John tells us, our atonement.
And some may be wondering what atonement actually means. It means that by the sacrifice that Jesus freely accepted on our part, we become worthy of God’s forgiveness – his eradication of the claim and control that sin has on our eternal lives. Think of it this way – by our faith in the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, by the shedding of His blood on Calvary, we are now “at-one” with God. By the Blood of Jesus, we have been made worthy.
And the critical part of this are the words – “by our faith”! Jesus offered himself up for the entire world, but without accepting that gift, without stepping into the Light of Christ, the offer of forgiveness will go wanting. There will never, and there can never be any forgiveness in the darkness of the world.

This is God’s promise and plan since long before Creation was ever put in motion, and it will continue to hold true as long as God is, which is forever! It is the message of hope in Christ, it is the message that his disciples have been carrying since that first Easter, and these are the words that we all must be sharing with those who still walk in sin’s obscurity and oblivion.
A life in Christ is not a lie. A life in Christ is not a burden. A life in Christ is not about laws and demands. It is about faith in a Light that reveals truth and power and eternity. It is about an offer of forgiveness and a promise of neverending life, and it’s a guarantee that the word of God is always true.

Can the message of Jesus possibly get any better than that, or any easier to share?

“The First, But Not the Last” - Easter

Scripture: John 20:10-18

A 13th century poet wrote:
The gloom of the world is but a shadow behind it. Yet within reach is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see. And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look. Life is so generous a giver: Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, the angel's hand is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They too conceal diviner gifts. –
- 13th-century poet Fra Angelico

Early on that first Resurrection morning, the few remaining faithful, men and women alike, could only see gloom and shadow. It was a dark day for them - their Lord and Teacher had been torn from their lives. The terror of these last few days blanketed their lives and hid the radiance and glory of God from them, and it would continue for a while longer. They were in hiding behind locked doors, they were filled with sorrow, and life as they had known it, even though they had great difficulty in understanding it, was forever changed. It would only be later that they would come to see just how radically it had really changed, but they knew that it had changed, just the same.

And the first who would experience the full impact of that change was no other than a woman called Mary.

Read John 20:10-14

John’s Gospel is the only one with such a minimal comment from the angels. In the other gospels, we read of the angels’ words being more of a resurrection message than John’s account, but the intent is unmistakable, just the same. “Why are you crying?” they ask Mary, as if to say “Why do you only see the gloom of this day? Can’t you see the Glory? Can’t you see the beams of heavenly light that have been shining through the darkness since Friday?”
John’s account is also the only one in which the angels’ are placed at specific locations in the tomb – that is, where Jesus’ head and feet had been. The angels were more than just God’s messengers of Hope – they represented the beginning of a new day, a new age, a new way, and while we might think that one such awakening should be enough, God would give these forlorn men and women many such messages over the next few weeks.

What would keep these folks from actually believing that Jesus had risen from the dead? They had seen his power in the past – he taught with an authority unlike anything they, or anyone else for that matter, had ever seen; he had taken a stand against the Jewish authorities and a stand with the poor, the oppressed, and the outcasts; he healed diseases and infirmities; he even raised some from death into new life. And yet, when “push came to shove”, he did nothing to save himself!
Why would he do that? He had the power of God within him, the mantle of Elijah was around him, but he never used any of it for his own benefit! What good was it all if he couldn’t use this authority for his own benefit?
And what about their lives? Now that Jesus was gone, who would lead them against established thought? Who would teach them the true way? They were, I believe, blinded by both fear of what may be coming their way, and by confusion over what might not be coming! It was going to take more than one angelic announcement to restore their “Godly vision”!

Read John 20:15-16

What was it that gave Mary this new vision? It was the Lord’s calling her by name! The man in the garden didn’t look like Jesus, and he didn’t act like Jesus, but apparently his voice was that of Jesus. Others would “recognize” the Lord in different ways – some would know him when they saw the piercings in his hands and feet, others in the breaking of the bread at Emmaus, Thomas would lose all doubt when the Lord invited him to touch him, and others after a night of unsuccessful fishing.
Jesus will come to anyone who seeks him in a way that will help them understand. He wants us to see him for what and who he truly is – not our desired image, not the world’s image, but his true Godly self. For some of us, it may be in a word, for others a vision, or a selfless act by another person, sometimes a passage of scripture. But the answer always seems to come after we respond to Jesus’ question “Who are you looking for?” And when we say “Jesus”, that is when it all begins.

For me, it was a word that was given in a moment of overwhelming frustration during an hour or so of unanswered prayer. There were several times that I tried to get up and run away, but I was unable to stop asking him for the answer I had been looking for during the previous 15 to 20 years. For all who seek his face and word, it will always come in a way that we can relate to and can accept, but seldom anticipate!

Read John 20:17-18

Now here, at least for me, is the important issue of this entire passage. First, the Lord tells Mary that she shouldn’t hold on to him. Theologically speaking, this is odd, in that we should all hold fast to our Lord and all that he stands for. So there must be some other, deeper, meaning to Jesus’ words.
Some think that they were intended to interrupt a physical act on Mary’s part – that of throwing herself at Jesus’ feet. But it could also tell us that we aren’t to keep Jesus all to ourselves. Note that Mary is told to go and tell the others about what she has seen and heard, beginning with the disciples. And this is probably the most important thing we have to learn from the Lord. It isn’t enough that we claim Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior – we are to carry his name and message to the entire world, beginning with those who are closest to us, and spreading out from there.

The truth of Jesus should never be limited to our future rescue from apocalyptic destruction. Jesus is about the here and now.
The fullness of Jesus isn’t limited to spending eternity with him in glory. It must include our life in him today.
A life in Christ isn’t just about a relationship with him – it brings us into union with the Triune God – Father, Son and Spirit!
And above all, life with Jesus can never be seen as singular in nature! The Body of Christ is about living within a family – the entire family of God.

“Don’t keep me to yourself”, Jesus said, and to paraphrase John Wesley, “share my words and story with as many other people as you can, in as many ways as you can, in as many places as you can, at all the times you can, for as long as you can!”

Mary would be the first to receive the post-resurrection command to go and tell others, and quite honestly, she would be a strange choice. She was a woman who had no standing in Jewish culture. She had been demon possessed by, not one, but seven demons, until Jesus freed her from their control. She was a faithful follower of Christ, but she would never be seen as part of his inner circle of disciples.
She wouldn’t be the first to doubt the truth of that Resurrection Day, but she would be the first to claim its truth, and to be called to share the Good News of that day, and to go and begin telling all who would listen about the Risen Jesus.

And just think about where that led? She told many of the disciples – at least all who were still in town, and they would tell the others, and all would go out into the surrounding areas and towns and tribes and nations to share the glory of Jesus with anyone who would hear. Notice that she wasn’t told to convince anyone of who Jesus was and what he could be for them – all she was supposed to do is to tell them about him.

As the story goes,
A monk found a very precious gemstone. He put it in his knapsack and carried it with him. One day he met a traveler in need who asked the monk to share some of his provisions with him. The monk opened his knapsack to share his food, when his fingers found the gem. So he lifted out the stone and gave it to the traveler.

Overjoyed by his good fortune in the valuable stone, the traveler went on his way. A few days later, however, the traveler caught up with the monk. He begged him again: “Please, give me something more precious than this stone,” he said. “Please give me that which prompted you to give the stone to me [in the first place].”
--As told by Donald T. Shelby, Santa Monica, California, 2 August 1992.

We can carry out every commandment that we read about in Matthew 25:31-46 – we can feed the hungry, can give a drink to the thirsty, we can welcome the stranger, clothe the needy, care for the sick and visit the prisoner. But the thing that is far more precious than all of this is to share the power that is behind our desire to even do them. Jesus will always be that greater gift.
Just as Mary was called, we, too, are called to share the grace and glory of Christ with all who we come in contact with. She may have been the first to respond to his call, but can any of us afford to be the last?

Each of us must simply be the next!

“The Servant” (Holy Thursday)

Scripture: John 13:1-20

Jesus is the ultimate servant, and stands as the perfect example for all who profess a relationship with him. He loved us beyond all reason, he gave to us beyond all expectation, he left everything behind so that he could create a way to glory for all who believed in him, even while they were yet completely unworthy to be with him.

He left his personal glory behind so that he could come to earth in a human way. He left adoration behind so that he could receive the animosity of his creation. He left his heavenly Kingship behind so that he could become a servant to humanity. There is none like him, and there never will.

Read John 13:1

“He loved his own who were in the world”. These weren’t the “perfect” people who would be expected to surround the greatness of God, it would be the very dregs of society – a thief, crude and smelly fishermen, a tax collector, the young and old, several women, one of whom had been under the control of a seven demons (Luke 8:1-3), wealthy and poor alike, and eventually, even a Pharisee or two.
The Lord would show them the full extent of the love of God! This includes the one who would betray him to the authorities, the one who would deny that he ever knew Jesus, and all the rest who would desert him at the very time he needed their love the most! He knew these people completely and intimately – he knew their weaknesses, he knew their sinfulness, he knew their doubts, and yet he would reveal the fullness of heavenly love to each and every one of them!

And tonight, we come together as those who he also knows completely and intimately, and he knows everything about us, too. And he withholds nothing from those who love him, even as incomplete and poor as our love may be.

Read John 13:2-11

The task of washing the feet of the master’s guests always fell to the least of the household servants. But on this night, the Master would invite his servants to sit and be ministered to. He washed them on behalf of Almighty God, as a sign of welcome and cleanliness and worthiness for each and every one of them. By the grace and mercy of the Godliness of Jesus, each of these weak, sinful, inadequate, unworthy people was made right by the servanthood of Jesus.
All would be very uncomfortable with this, but Peter would express his discomfort by initially refusing to let Jesus wash him. But Jesus allays his objection when he tells the disciple that this washing was the only way that Peter could be one with the Lord Jesus. And he relents.
Jesus would have even washed Judas that night, even though he knew what was to about to come.

Tonight, he will wash us, too.

Read John 13:12-17

And Jesus explains why this had to happen. First, he says that he was setting an example before them, that even as he came to be their servant, they, too, must be a servant to all they come in contact with. Oh, it’s true that many wanted to elevate Jesus above all, and that many in the years to come would want to elevate the disciples about themselves, but Jesus wants us to understand that greatness isn’t something thatany of us should strive for – it’s the greatness of a “servant heart” that must be our goal in this life.
And that is the second lesson that he offers that night – Jesus came to be a servant, and he came to be a messenger, and neither position should ever be construed as one that inspires glory.
He says that since they, and we, now understand this, that we are charged to do the same as he has done.

Read John 13:18-20

But there is one among them who will not be blessed, who will not be allowed to be God’s messenger, who will not be chosen to be his servant, even though the Godly plan will be carried out through the one’s deceitfulness.
But those who will be faithful to him, even though all of them are on the verge of turning away from him, will continue the ministry he had begun. All who hear and believe those who go out in his name will be accepted by the Lord, and all who accept Jesus for who he is, are also accepting the Father.

Jesus knew just how fickle and half-hearted these folks were, and he was still committed to hand his name and his message over to them. Why? Because even though he would be leaving, another would come to lead them and inspire them and to work through them. (John 16:4-15)

Are you prepared to be a servant of the Most High God, to be his messenger to the nations, to always have in mind the call to “serve, and not to be served”? The truth is that no one is truly prepared, but we can be willing. Jesus welcomes us, he cleanses us, he makes us worthy to be his in every way, and he sends the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to make it all work.
He serves us, and calls us to do the same for others. He washes us, prepares us, and teaches us the truth of God, and expects that his own will do the same for others. And in that call, we will serve each other on behalf of Christ tonight.

At this point in the service, we held a washing by washing each other's hands, and then receiving Holy Communion.

Matthew 25:31-46 (in particular v. 40) tells us “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.” Tonight, by our service to each other, we have been servants for Jesus.

And that’s a pretty good start!