Good morning and welcome to Spring Break. That great week in mid-March that in distant past memories would net you a free week from school. Oh, the sweet memories of what a 12 year old could cram into a sun washed week with no homework. Long days filled with bike riding, football games, tree climbing and harrowing trampoline games. I don’t know who came up with the idea of Spring Break, but I’d like to buy them a Happy meal.
Marge and I had such a fantastic day in the Lord yesterday. We started out super early (especially since it was day one of the time change) and were at church at 7:30. We started out by teaching the Early Birds class and then due to another teacher being absent, taught a second class at 9:20. After that we hustled home in order to change and then be back shortly to serve at out church’s version of VBS this year which we are calling “Spring Break Out.” This year our outreach pastor had a vision for something new and different and I love it. We are taking over a local middle school and having a 4 day sports and fine arts camp there. Instead of having the community come to church, we are taking the church right into the middle of this community. Also, it’s not just arts and crafts and other standard VBS activities, but they get to pick their activities. Basketball, soccer, music or arts. The first day went great, what a joy to be among the youth of our nation. The pure smile of a child at play is a special thing indeed. A young heart not yet tainted by the darkness of the world. It reminds me of the verse from Jesus in Matthew, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 18:3) I’m blessed to be able to share the love of Jesus with these kids this week.
Today we once again have the privilege of starting a new book in the Word of God, the book of 1 John. Many Bible scholars believe the last three books of John to be the last written in the entire Bible. They are definitely the last written by John. It’s believed that he first wrote his gospel, then Revelation and then 1,2, and 3rd John. Although they are called letters they don’t follow the form or style of a letter as they have no salutation or closing. They appear more as a written sermon. These 3 short books from John pack a punch and prove the old saying is true, ‘good things come in small packages.’ Let’s dig right in and take a look at the first chapter of 1 John, the 23rd book of 27 total in the New Testament.
“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. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:5-10
God is light. I love this comparison. It is one that challenges my mind. One that stretches me to try to grasp it’s deep meaning. The correlation between God and light is one that is woven throughout His Word. It is used 285 times throughout the King James version, 177 in the OT and 95 in the NT. It is the third thing recorded that God creates in Genesis right behind the Heavens and the Earth. “ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” (Gen 1:3-4) It is the light that John addresses here today, clearly saying that “God IS light and in Him is NO darkness at all.” Let’s explore the light of God.
I love the comparison of God as light because light is something that we can all intimately relate to. It’s something that we have lived with daily since our births. Something that in fact, we have become so used to that we don’t really think that much about it. It’s there when we need it and that’s great. But you know you never really appreciate light until you don’t have it. When you need light, nothing else will do. But notice here the scripture doesn’t say God is “like” light but states clearly and emphatically that “God IS light.” Let’s look at a just a few ways that God is light.
God is physical light. This is what we can most easily relate to. The physical presence of light in its various forms that penetrates our daily existence. Yesterday as Marge and I tackled the long 4 minute drive to church, we headed east for half of it. The sky was on fire. The sunrise was the most brilliant color of deep salmon that it caused you simply to pause and admire. To stop your life and look. We couldn’t stop talking about the deep, deep color that was being produced. The inherent color of the sun is yellow through our atmosphere so how in the world was this stunning color before us, covering the sky from horizon to horizon? God was in that sunrise, He is light. On Maui, the single biggest tourist activity was to drive to the top of Haleakala, a 10,000 foot extinct volcano to watch the sun come up. You would have to leave at 2:30 in the morning to make the 2.5 hour drive all the way up to the top in order to be there for sunrise. Once at the top it would be near freezing with winds gusting to 25 mph. But as the sun came up you would be forced into a decision. What to do with God and His light. I heard many unbelieving tourist that had no other choice but to use the word God in their descriptions of what they saw. God is light and when we truly experience the light, our minds cannot explain or comprehend, and we revert back to our maker and creator. God is light. He made light and the light is indeed good. Now don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that God is simply in a sunrise and you should somehow limit God to that and worship a sunrise. Far from it. The radiance, beauty colors and variety of light that stimulate us visually on a daily basis are reminders from God. It’s little whispers from Him…I am the light.
God is a light that reveals. Imagine that I am the Smithsonian Institute and I have been allowed to not just look at the Declaration of Independence, but they are going to let me hold it. In order to do so I must put on a pair of special white gloves that will keep any dirt, or oil from my skin from damaging the delicate 243 year old parchment. But as I go to grab it, the lights go out. The room is bathed in darkness. I feel around for a switch as do the others. I am running my hands along the walls searching for a switch that will bring the light back. A few minutes later the lights reappear and we all breathe relief and refocus on the Declaration. I reach out to take hold of it but the officer yells for me to halt. He grabs my arms and holds up my hands. I had apparently run my hands over something very greasy and dirty and my white gloved hands were no longer clean and pure but dirty and filthy. Soiled from me interacting with the room. You see before the lights went out, my hands were perfectly clean. But in the darkness, even though my hands were soiled, I THOUGHT they were still clean. But the light revealed the true state of my hands. The light revealed the fact that I had become unclean to hold the great old document. Because of the light I realized the need to wash my hands and put on new gloves. Without the light I was oblivious.
God’s light illuminates the sin that soils our lives. Sin is darkness and in God there is NO darkness. The sin in our lives repels the Holy presence of God and we must deal with the darkness if we wish to have true fellowship with God. His light reveals the sin in our lives and through confession to God and repentance, the fellowship will be restored.
God’s light is pure. Have you ever witnessed a really bright light? I mean really bright. What about spot lights? Like those that they used to have at movie galas? The other night Marge & I were coming home from dinner with friends and a few miles away we could see a few of these spotlights circling the sky. They pierced the night sky like great arrows of pure white being launched into the night. As we got closer we realized they were at a mall on I-35 and we passed right by them. The huge lights had to be pulled behind a trailer and they ran off of a generator. The light that they put forth was amazing. The light was so pure and strong that it would blind the human eye.
In fact, anytime that God would attempt to present himself to humans they would be carefully instructed not to look at Him. The purity and brightness of God’s countenance would blind and kill. (Ex 33:20, 1 Tim 6:16)
When we were growing up, spring cleaning involved ‘sun-washing’ stuff. We would bring linens and upholstery items out of the house and let them sit in the sun for a day or so to soak in the sun. The result was that ‘stale’ things would become fresh, their odor magically removed by the sunshine. The pure light has a power to cleanse. The same is true of God’s Word in our life. The purity of God’s Word in our lives when we bask under it at length will cleanse us with the power and purity of it’s light. God is light and His light is pure and Holy to us.
God’s Light guides. When we lived on Partridge here in Fort Worth, we had a really big back yard. In the far back part of it we had put an older hot tub that I had picked up cheap on Craig’s List. We loved to go out at night and sit in that hot tub under the stars. The wind would rustle through the cherry laurels as we would enjoy the hot water and gaze up at God’s sky. But on really dark nights the path would disappear. At first we’d use a flashlight. But after a while I bought a bunch of those little solar lights and I lined the whole path with them. They would soak up the light during its abundant presence in the day, and then release it at night to illuminate our path. It brought light to us when we needed it most. The light would illuminate the things in the path that we could trip over or stumble on. It brought light to things that in the day were simply not a problem. But in the dark, these same obstacles could bring harm.
Now think about this scenario as related to our walk with God. God IS light. The Bible is God’s Holy Word. Therefore, God’s Word is light, a light that illuminates our path. “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105. So if God’s Word is the light for us, what is the darkness in our life? Sin. Recall verse 5, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” God is holy, perfect, righteous and just and there is no sin, no darkness, in Him. At all. None. Since we are born with a sin nature, we are born with darkness in us. The goal is for the light of God to shine in our lives, revealing, illuminating and bringing into full view, the darkness of sin. The light will penetrate the dark, but the dark flees from the light.
It’s important to note how we react to the light of God. There are three different ways you can react to the light of God, 2 are wrong and will not produce joy in that life. One is the way of God and will produce not just life, but an abundant life, full of joy and peace. It’s been said that there are 2 ways a man tries to meet God on his own. By either having man rise up to meet God or by having God descend down to meet man. But man’s thinking is flawed, neither of these can ever happen. We cannot ever hope to meet God on our own. God is light and in Him there is no darkness. Man is sinful and dark and therefore cannot be in the presence of God. Only through the intervention of Jesus Christ can the meeting of man and God become a reality. Look at the 3 ways of dealing with the light that Johns brings to our attention.
1) We say we have fellowship with Him but we walk in darkness. (1 John 1:6) This is claiming that you walk with and follow God yet you are walking in the darkness of sin. You not only sin but you embrace sin, you walk in it. We’re told that this walk means “we lie and do not practice the truth.” You see we know the truth, we just don’t practice it. This person knows the difference between right and wrong, they just don’t choose to do it. They see sin as OK, it's just a part of life. This is bringing God down to mans level.
2) We say we have no sin. (1 John 1:8) This person reacts to the light belligerently. They say that they can live a perfect sin free life, one that is worthy of God. This is man elevating himself up to God’s level. Man is incapable of offering God a perfect life. We are told this way we “deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Notice here that we no longer have truth as an option. It’s not a choice because it’s not even in us. We can’t practice it like in the first example because it doesn’t even exist within us. To think that we can live sin free and be good enough to get into Heaven is lying to ourselves and shows that we have no light (God) within us.
3) We walk in the light. This is walking in the light of Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word. If we do this we’re told we “have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
This is a beautiful life. A life that will still wrestle and struggle with sin, but one that will admit the sin to God quickly and repent. A life that revels in the glory and beauty of God’s light. A life that allows the light of God to reveal the sin in their lives so that they can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. A life that embraces and lives in the power of the Word of God and allows it’s cleansing power to work freely. A life that allows the guidance of the Holy Spirit to shine its light into their souls, directing their steps and their thoughts. A life that allows the light of Christ to shine through their lives, showing that light to the world by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
God is light and in His glorious light I will walk daily. Amen.
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