Who Do You Say You Are? Series

That little phrase ‘from darkness to light’ should be an accurate description of what has happened in the life of every Christian.

1 Peter 2:9 says, ‘But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;’

This is who we are, not to be so special, but SO THAT we might PROCLAIM who He is.

That is the call upon the life of every believer and the question is as to whether we will follow that call and live a life in the light God calls us to.

Someone has said that the ‘Ten Commandments were not multiple choice’ and neither is the Christian life a ‘take this and leave that’ series of choices. God has called us to a life of total surrender to His will and His calling.

Last Sunday night we looked at the first 4 verses of chapter 1.

1) John alerted us to the missing ingredient in life of church: TRUE FELLOWSHIP.

2) This kind of fellowship is not an agreement of facts or ideas but is a Person

3) This fellowship is not only with one another but with the Father and Jesus the Son.

4) The end result is to know real joy: A constant and not a variable.

Not based on circumstances but on a genuine relationship with God.

In Romania, after communism fell we became aware that many children there were warehoused in huge orphanages. While babies had most of their physical needs met(food, shelter …etc) they were very seldom picked up, hugged or played with. Many of them had what doctors called “failure to thrive syndrome.” This meant that even though they might have been many months or even years old, they still looked and acted like newborns. What they did not have is family that would encourage growth.

Many Christians seem to have this same ‘failure to thrive syndrome’.

It may have been years since they made a decision for Christ but they still have many of the characteristics of a brand new believer. They know little, do little and sometimes care little for the things of the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 4:14, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”

John saw that barriers existed from people enjoying this kind of true fellowship:

TRUE FELLOWSHIP has an enemy: SIN – darkness – self-deception

John used the contrasts of Light and Darkness & Saying verses doing The Christian life is to amount to more than just mere talk:

If we are living in true fellowship then our walk will back up our talk.

If our walk contradicts our talk then we are living a lie.

IF WE PREACH A LIFE CHANGING MESSAGE THEN WE SHOULD HAVE LIVES THAT ARE CHANGED!!

1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

A woman put an ad in the local paper: “Lost 50 pounds! Selling my fat clothes – they’re in good condition, sizes 18-20.” She was bombarded with phone calls, but nobody wanted to buy the clothes – they all wanted to know how she had lost the 50 pounds. She didn’t know it but the ad said less about the clothes and more about her success which meant she no longer needed the clothes. People in this world are less interested in the religious activities we go through but they are more interested in the true change in a person’s life.

I could put an ad in the paper, ‘Come get free parking, comfortable air conditioning, and a front seat to stretch out on’. That is not what we are here for but what a visitor should find is a building full of changed lives.

Three important questions we can ask ourselves this morning to help our lives get back where God desires them to be.

WHAT DOES HIS LIGHT SAY ABOUT WHO GOD IS?

(5) And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

John says that one of the things that Jesus made sure we knew was that ‘GOD IS LIGHT’…’no darkness at all’.