Title: Light Reflections
Text: I John 1:1-2:2
Truth: Christians are to reflect the nature of their Heavenly Father through a morally pure lifestyle.
Aim: To lead them to commit to a morally pure lifestyle.
INTRODUCTION
Labor Day our whole family went to the zoo and the Omniplex. One of the fun experiments at the Omniplex involves mirrors. As you walk through a maze it multiplies your reflection and confuses you as to which person is the real one. Bradley had gone ahead of me and I called out, “Bradley, which one are you?” He raised his hand and said, “This one, papa.” Of course, all the Bradley’s raised their hand and spoke to me.
I like those fun house mirrors where one mirror makes you shorter and squattier and some make you long and lean. A house of mirrors works on the simple assumption that being surrounded by mirrors is a disorienting experience. You find it difficult to tell which images are reflections and which are actual people.
Suppose those mirrors were dirty and smudged. It would be easier to detect who is the person and who is the reflection. Could it be that the reason why it is difficult at times to distinguish who is a Christian is not because peoples lives are so good and clean, but because Christian’s lives are so dirty and smudged? Could it be that the lifestyle of the typical Christian confuses people about what God is really like?
Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore we are to reflect the nature of God. The way we do this is through a morally pure lifestyle.
I John addresses some problems Christians were facing at the end of the first century. There are strong internal evidences in this letter that it was written by the disciple of Jesus known as John. Some church members had pulled out of the churches in Asia Minor and set up a rival “Christian” church. They claimed to have the only true doctrine and fellowship.
It appears that their beliefs were the beginnings of a philosophy known as Gnosticism. Gnosticism is alive and well in our day. You hear its fundamental beliefs in the teachings of Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons and very liberal theologians in some of the seminaries of our land. Basically, Gnostics believed that spirit is good but material is bad. God is spirit, and therefore, good. Since Jesus had a body He could not be fully God.
This belief led some to suggest that Jesus really didn’t become a man. He only seemed to be a man, to have a body (Docetism). They denied the incarnation of Jesus.
Another group accepted that Jesus was real but He was not divine. Divinity descended on Jesus at his baptism and left just before His crucifixion (Cerinthianism).
The Gospel of John emphasizes that the human Jesus is divine, I John emphasizes the divine Jesus is human.
The two false beliefs led to a couple of extreme unbiblical lifestyles. Some abandoned themselves to immorality. They believed it didn’t matter what they did with their body; it’s evil to begin with, according to this false doctrine. Others became very strict and denied their body is normal and good needs. It was all very confusing. Is God like the one taught by the Gnostics or is He like the one taught by the Christians? John begins his letter by telling the Christians they are to accurately reflect the true God by morally pure lifestyles.
John makes very clear the purpose for his writing this letter. He mentions four purposes. The first is in 1:4. Read. John wants Christian’s to be filled with joy. This joy depends on the Christian’s fellowship with God and fellow believers.
The second purpose explains how to increase a Christian’s joy. In 2:1 John teaches us that we increase our joy by decreasing our sin. John wants to move us from where we are to where we ought to be as accurate reflections of a holy God.
The third purpose was to promote doctorinal accuracy. Read 2:26. We will never know the joy of the Lord and the cleansing of sin from our life if we are confused about the truth of Jesus Christ.
The fourth purpose was to give assurance to disturbed believers. Read 5:13. When a believer is sure about Jesus then he knows his sins are forgiven and this fills him with joy.
I John is written for the Christian that wants more joy in their life. It is written for the Christian that is struggling with sin and guilt. I John is written for the Christian that is questioning some of his basic beliefs about Jesus. All of this is to produce a more confident Christian.
A Christian’s moral, pure lifestyle that accurately reflects God is based on Jesus.
I. BASED ON JESUS (I JN. 1:1-4)
In her book on contemporary letter writing, Better Letters, Jan Venolia says that, when composing a letter, you should “plunge right into your reason for writing” at the very beginning. She cites as an example a letter from Abraham Lincoln to his brother-in-law. Lincoln began his letter this way: “Your request for eighty dollars, I do not think it best to comply with now.” John doesn’t waste time getting to the reason for his writing.
The first three verses are one long complicated sentence. The main subject and verb are in v. 3, “we proclaim.” In light of what he says the “we” is probably a reference to Jesus’ disciples. In v. 2 he said they were witnesses to God in the flesh in Jesus. They are not only qualified to say these things about Jesus because they were eyewitnesses, they have been given an authoritative commission to teach these truths.
In the late ‘80’s the church I pastored went to Hill City, Kansas to restart a Baptist church. During the day some did construction on the building and others took a religious survey. We did VBS in the evening. We knocked on almost every door in that town of 2200.
Later, I was telling about my experience to members of the ministerial alliance in Velma. Almost no one in that community understood what I was asking with the last question of the survey. I asked, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord?” The Methodist minister, an elderly woman, said if I had asked her that question she would have been offended. Thinking she misunderstood what I was doing, I clarified that I was asking people if they were a Christian. If they were not, then I would explain how to become a Christian. She restated that I was being intrusive and offensive.
Well, think about it, what right do I have to stand on someone’s doorstep and ask them if they are a Christian. What right do I have to tell them they need to repent and put their faith in Christ? You have to admit that is bold. In fact, if Jesus Christ is not who He says He is then I am being arrogant and offensive. John says we have been given an authoritative commission because God’s Son has arrived and all people are to repent and worship Him.
Today, I’m not engaged in philosophical speculation about how you can know God, nor am I offering a tentative suggestion about how you can know God, nor is this a modest contribution to religious thought. No, sir, this is a dogmatic assertion that if you want to have fellowship with God, it will only be through Jesus Christ!
We are not to be offensive in our Christian witness but we are to be on the offense when it comes to telling this community about Jesus Christ. Our business is getting Jesus in front of peoples faces. A nonwitnessing Christian is in direct disobedience to the authoritative command of Jesus Christ.
What is it that John is proclaiming with authority? It is simply that the eternal God has historically manifested himself for the purpose of Christians having fellowship with one another, based on their fellowship with the Father and the Son. This results in them experiencing full joy.
John says the Being that has always existed, the disciples saw Him with their own eyes, they heard Him with their own ears, they touched Him with their hands. It’s true. God became a man!
Verse two is a parenthetical thought. It’s as if John says, “Yes, it is true. God became a human being. The One that had fellowship with the Heavenly Father also has fellowship with us.”
He picks the subject back up in verse three by repeating a few of the ideas of verse one and then explains the purpose for presenting the subject of the Word. Because Christians have fellowship with the Father and the Son, they have something in common with one another. God’s action in Jesus promotes fellowship among believers.
The word fellowship means to share something in common, to experience unity. In that day the word described business partners, joint owners in a piece of property or people involved in the same project. The word means more than like-minded people getting together to have fun or complete a project. For Christians it has a supernatural quality. It can’t be duplicated on a ball team or civic club. Whatever the Trinity knows of fellowship among the Godhead, Christians are to experience a measure of that love, acceptance, joy and communication.
God made us to need approval, affection, acceptance, comfort, encouragement and intimacy. He intended for those needs to be met by Him and others. The church is one of His most powerful means to provide for those needs.
This worship service meets some of those needs but to have them met more fully you need to be involved in a Sunday School class. There a group of people will get to know you and befriend you and support you when you have a need. If it takes having Sunday School class parties to make that happen, it will be worth the effort. Better yet is to get involved in serving people in this church. Better yet is to take the initiative to know people.
This sharing of life is what people most need in our day. It explains the popularity of dating services. This sharing of life is what the church is so deficient in developing in our day. This sharing of life is one of the most powerful tools for attracting people and keeping them once they come. People want this more than outstanding preaching and programs. It’s what you want. It’s why the Eternal One left the realm of heaven and came to earth. Christian fellowship influences our purity.
Psychologist Henry Cloud tells about the power of fellowship to transform people. He led a group that was struggling with various life issues. One of the members was a preacher who was struggling with sexual addiction. He’d wrestled with it for years. He’d confessed it and prayed over it for years, but was not successful in breaking his addiction. Finally, out of desperation he checked himself into a hospital for help. Going to the group was a part of his therapy.
One morning the nurse told Dr. Cloud that Joe, the preacher, was not coming to the group that day. Henry went to see him and discovered that the preacher had suffered a relapse. Henry persuaded him to come to the group anyway. In previous meetings the preacher had mainly listened and sympathized with others and their problems. Today, Henry left him no choice.
Slowly, painfully, Joe began to allow others to see his sense of shame and failure. He spoke to them about years of guilt: standing in the pulpit and being terrified that someone might have seen him where he shouldn’t have been the night before; claiming to speak for God when he was the biggest hypocrite in the congregation. And yet, for all the pain his behavior cause him, he couldn’t stop.
He barely choked out his confession. As he told his story, he stared at the floor; he could not bring himself to look anyone in the face. “Look up at the group,” Dr. Cloud told him. “I can’t. I’m too ashamed.” “Look up at the group. I want you to look into the eyes of the people listening to you. You must do this.”
Fearfully, this broken man raised his head. He looked around the circle, and every pair of eyes looking back at him was filled with tears. Every heart ached with pain for his anguish. There was no shame, no condemnation, just compassion.
For the first time in his life, Joe was not alone with the brokenness that paralyzed and crippled his soul for so long. A few folks saw his deformity and still chose to be his friend. In that moment, a man that taught grace experienced grace. He sobbed.
Henry Cloud writes that Joe’s addiction was broken that day. He still had work to do. He still had a long way to go. There were confessions to be made, and new habits to be formed. But the cruel sin and loneliness that gripped him was broken by that ring of fellowship. (Jeremy Houck, Sermon Central)
That story illustrates why John goes on to talk in v. 4 about joy. One commentator said the word could be translated “excitement.” John says as a Christian grows in his understanding of the eternal life he has gained in Jesus Christ and grows closer in his fellowship with other believers, he will have a growing, solid joy. It all begins with Jesus. God’s action in Jesus produces joy.
A Christian’s moral, pure lifestyle that accurately reflects God is based on Jesus.
A Christian’s moral, pure lifestyle that accurately reflects God is based on fellowship with God.
II. THE BASIS OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD (I JN. 1:5-2:2)
The passage makes two statements about fellowship with God. First, there is a description of God (v.5). Second, there are deceptive claims made about sin (1:6-2:2).
A. Description about God (1:5).
God’s character determines the nature of our fellowship with Him. John said he was proclaiming a message he heard from Jesus. He wasn’t inventing this message. The life and teaching of Jesus communicated that God is light. The word “light” refers to God’s glory, His truth, His goodness and His purity. We know which one he specifically means because he states it negatively: “in Him there is no darkness at all.” It is emphatic. There is absolutely nothing in connection with evil. There is no spot or hint of imperfection in God.
The Gnostics were wrong. Jesus can have a human body and still be sinless and holy.
The point is if men are to have fellowship with God they must be holy and righteous. They must live moral, pure lives. It is sheer nonsense for a person to claim to know God and live an unethical lifestyle. When we have fellowship with the holy, moral God of light it will affect the way we live.
The girls use to have a mirror they used to apply their lipstick, rouge and merange. It had lights all around. You could flip that mirror to a side that magnified your face. It revealed every blemish that needed corrected or covered.
In the Christian faith truth is not just something to know with your mind, it is something to be lived by your life. A person who claims to have fellowship with the God of light but participates openly, knowingly, unrepentantly in immorality is either a liar or at the very least is not taking God seriously. It’s as impossible as trying to keep one foot in the boat and the other on the dock as the boat moves away. You can’t maintain a foot in both for long in both.
If we are going to have fellowship with God, and that’s the greatest purpose any human being could have, then we need to live moral, pure lifestyles.
Next…
B. Deceptive claims (1:6-2:2)
John denies three claims of the false teachers who said they had fellowship with God.
First, the false teachers denied that their sin interrupts fellowship with God (v.6-7). Read.
The word “walk” describes a person’s lifestyle. It refers to their words and actions and attitudes. It describes their words and visual witness. This person’s lifestyle is one of habitual sin. We have a right to question whether someone is genuinely a Christian when the habit of their life is to live lives of sin and immorality. John says a person who lives this way and claims to have a relationship with the holy God is a liar. They deliberately know that such a claim cannot be the truth.
They not only contradict this claim with their words. They contradict this claim with their life. They don’t do the truth. We tend to think of the truth as something you believe, but in the Bible the truth is also something you do or you don’t believe it. Many neighbors around our church believe that Jesus is the Son of God but they don’t live for God. They don’t do the truth.
On the other hand, if we live in a way that shows we have fellowship with God there are two benefits. We have fellowship with one another. Wouldn’t you have expected him to say we would have fellowship with God? A pure, moral lifestyle that is progressively removing sin from our life will improve our fellowship with people as well as God.
Another benefit to our fellowship with God is it continually cleanses and erases the stain of sin. Continual fellowship with God is going to deal with us about our sin. Like the preacher with the sexual addiction, we will be forced to deal with it. The outcome will be a healthy, holy relationship with others and God.
Most weeks I will have a conversation with someone who says, “I know I don’t talk like I’m suppose to talk, and I’m doing things I know are clearly wrong in the Bible, but in my heart I really do believe and I am a Christian.” John is saying wait a minute. What evidence do you have that you really know God? God is light. He is purity and holiness. You can’t have fellowship with him and live a continual lifestyle of immorality and impurity. Do you really know God? Don’t be deceived into thinking that you are a Christian.
A second deceptive claim of the false teachers was a denial that sin existed in human nature (v.8-9).
The way it is written it could mean that some were claiming that they didn’t have a sin nature that lived in rebellion to God. In other words, they were basically good not basically rebellious to God. Or it may mean these people were claiming they no longer sinned. Either way John says this person is deceived, and they are empty of any truth. John’s words apply to those who excuse or deny sin by explaining it merely in terms of physical, psychological or social causes. We are rebels toward God. We must face up to this. If we do not we are self-deceived.
The proper Christian response is to confess sin. To confess means to agree with God. It is to say about our sin what God says about our sin. We don’t deny them, hide them or excuse them; but we confess and forsake them. He uses the plural “sins.” We don’t give a general confession of sin. We name them specifically. Confession is a sign of repentance of sin.
When we come clean about our wrong-doing and change our mind and behavior about those particular wrongs, God forgives our sins and cleanses our sins. Our confidence that we will be forgiven and cleansed of our sins is not based on our response but on the character of God. He is faithful. He promises all who repent will be forgiven. He is just. He will do it in a way that is right and correct according to His holy character. In other words, when a person repents of sin and asks God to forgive him, it would be wrong for God to withhold it from him. That’s how strong John’s statement is about the assurance of forgiveness of sins.
Joe, the preacher, was miserable when he sought to conceal his sin. His life was filled with self-loathing. Think of how much energy went into hiding his sin from his family and his church. Whatever pleasure he gained from his sin, he paid a terribly cost psychologically, spiritually and relationally.
When we lie to others about our hypocrisy, it is not long until we begin to lie to ourselves. Our society is filled with people telling lies about sin. What the Bible calls adultery the world calls love. Gambling is called a victimless entertainment. The Bible calls it stealing and not loving your brother. The Bible teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, but Brad Pitt says he won’t marry Angelina Jolie until homosexuals can marry in the U.S. That’s two very deceived people.
So what is your excuse? Honestly, you know what the Bible calls it but have you denied the truthfulness of the Word. The first step toward spiritual healthfulness is to tell yourself the truth.
A third deceptive claim of the false teachers is that the individual had not sinned (1:10-2:2).
The first denial was that sin did not harm a person’s relationship with God. The second denial was a rejection of a person’s personal sinfulness. Now they claim that they had not committed any specific acts of sin in the past. They had no guilt. This was the most blatant of all the denials. Maybe these people felt they were incapable of sinning.
John said these people make God out to be a liar. The entire plan of redemption is based on the fact of human sin. Albert Schweitzer was a great humanitarian. Many of his actions were Christlike. But Schweitzer was personally offended that someone had to die in his place for him to be accepted by God. He denied God’s plan of salvation for sinners.
This is the worse denial. It removes people from any possibility of salvation and forgiveness of sin.
John wants to discourage us from sinning, but he knew that inevitably we would disobey and disregard God. He didn’t want to encourage sinning by over stressing God’s leniency. But he did want them to know God would forgive them. The way he avoided both extremes was talking about Jesus’ role as an Advocate and a propitiation (2:1-2).
The word “Advocate” was a legal term. It refered to the lawyer who defended the accused. As our lawyer He doesn’t say we are not guilty. Instead, He offers his substitutionary death as having satisfied the legal demand for the punishment of sin.
Secondly, He is our propitiation. The word refers to pagans offering a sacrifice to appease the anger of the gods. The only part of that explanation that applies to God the Father is to say that Jesus’ death on the cross satisfied the justice of God to punish sin. If people understood that it was Jesus Himself that defended them before the throne of God, and it was His death for their sins that made it possible for them to be forgiven, they would be discouraged from sinning but be encouraged to ask God for forgivenness.
Some young men were out living the wild life when they came across the cathedral of Notre Dame. As a joke they persuaded one of the group to go to the confessional and admit to all kinds of sins. They thought it’d be a great joke on the priest.
After the young man had admitted to a number of great sins the priest was to give him his penance. The priest was a discerning man and knew what was taking place. He told the young man he was to stand at the foot of the cross in the sanctuary where there was a replica of Jesus on the cross. Then he was to look up into the face of Jesus and say three times, “You did all this for me, but I don’t give a dam.” (Children, the priest didn’t use the word as a curse word.)
The young man went to carry out his penance, but as he looked into that beaten and crucified form, the words didn’t come so easy. It didn’t seem so humorous. He began haltingly, “You did all this for me, but I don’t give a dam.” He began a second time, “You did all this for me, but I . . .” He couldn’t finish. So overwhelmed with Christ’s act of salvation he dropped to his knees and confessed and repented of his sin.
The young man became so passionate about Christ that he wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to Christ. He entered the priesthood. He did well and in time was given an prominent position in the Catholic church. His assignment was to be the bishop of the cathedral Notre Dame in Paris--the place where it all began for him.
