Walking in the Light

1 John 1:5-2:2

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But 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, purifies us from all[b] sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for[a] the sins of the whole world.

1) Faith vs deeds?

First point I'm going to make is on the subject of faith vs deeds. John states that if we claim to have fellowship with God who is light but our walk is in darkness then we're kidding ourselves. I'm going to suggest my thoughts on the subject, including how it then relates to the later part of the text that we're looking at. Simply put, I think that when we have faith it will lead to actions. Therefore I still hold that we are saved by faith but that faith will be evidenced by our behaviour. Not necessarily overnight, although it does sometimes happen but if our claim as Christians is that we chat to, hang out with and know the almighty living God who created everything that we see around us it surely must have some impact on us?

We know that when we hang out with certain groups of people either we influence them, they influence us or a mixture of the two. We are not however inert, unchanging entities, we are affected by what is around us. We see that in the old testament simply being in the presence of God meant that Moses's face ended up shining so brightly that he veiled it. But as Christians we go one step further, we meet with God, know Him as Jesus did and are then filled, in dwelt with the Holy Spirit. That's incredible.
To use another metaphor if I said that I believed I was in love with Zoe but then followed that statement by never spending any time with her, talking to her, buying her things or in any way acting differently it would be very hard to argue that my belief was true. In fact when people are in love you often can't get them to shut up (see comic) so if this is the effect that falling in love can have what more when we say that we believe that 1) God is real, 2) He loves us and 3) He's done everything possible to restore our relationship to Him, we're forgiven and free. Is that not exciting and liberating? Having been forgiven so much how can we not then forgive others, how can we not be transformed by having encountered such a stupendous love? Inspired to respond and react. But remember of course that it's that way round we recognise God's love first and then we are compelled, don't beat yourself up about your actions or try to earn God's love.

2) Accountability

So practically once we've got our heads around the idea that God loves us, how can we respond? The next verse states that we will walk in the light, there will be fellowship and we will be purified by Jesus's blood (note illustrating that it is God's actions that purify us, not our actions). The metaphor of light is one that recurs throughout the bible and here although it could simply be a reference to our actions matching up I think that combined with the later part referring to fellowship and confessing our sins is that it's a calling to be accountable to one another. To bring our lives out into the open including where we have fallen short. Why?
Well firstly it helps build the relationships with God and each other because it involves honesty rather than lying or trying to portray our "best version" of ourselves. Which sounds fine when it's put like that. However ask yourself this question what is the problem with people knowing the true state of our innards? People thinking less of you? Really? Aren't they probably going to be in the same boat and secretly glad that you're either not as great as you were pretending to be or if they knew what you were really like that you've admitted it.
There's lots of things that hold us back from being open with each other and bringing sin or parts of us that we're unhappy with to the light. It could be that you fear rejection by others, you're trying to be polite, you think that your problems aren't worth anyone's attention or that deep down there's some pride lurking away there - you don't want people to think less of you. Now I'm not saying that we should go baring our souls to everyone we meet necessarily but in the context of church, cell, marriages and friendships are we too open or too closed in general? God's perfect love will cast out fear and when we embrace community and trust we should expect that we will begin to open up. And as Christians, individuals and a community my challenge to you is to try to be the first one that takes that step to open up and be vulnerable. Set the tone, be willing to fail and endure a loss of face to show others that it's OK, a sacrifice borne out of love inspired by Jesus's example. For Jesus did not come in His glory but having been made vulnerable, even vulnerable to scorn and ridicule of those He created.
And although I think it's a good thing in general the most important place to start is those that we're closest to and are accountable to. Let's encourage that at different levels, find people that you're comfortable to bring issues into the light with as it'll free you up from hiding, release us from the oppression of bearing guilt and have someone to walk through the issue with, as there is genuine hope of change.

3) Jesus's multitasking

And why is there genuine hope of change? Well it's partly the point I made earlier that we respond to God's love but it's also specifically Jesus's actions as mentioned in the passage. He is both the sacrifice that atones for our sins and consequently also the person who is our advocate, the person who speaks in our defence.
The Greek word for "atoning sacrifice" in this passage is hilasmos which is from the Hebrew kapporeth which refers to the Mercy Seat of the Ark. The word is translated as either propitiation, literally to make favourable or to appease or expiation literally to make pious or the removal of sin. Here the word is used in a form not to describe the process but to refer to Jesus as the sacrifice or thing which allows us to be made faourable with God/remove our sin. We have various metaphors and ways to understand the process by which we are forgiven through Jesus on the cross. Interactive part of the sermon: Vote do you want an outline of the models?

Chronologically:
Ransom/Christus Victor
Satisfaction/Substitution
Moral influence

Start with satisfaction/penal substitution - sin as an affront to God's honour in private could be forgiven but publicly there must be justice - Jesus satisfies the debt. Penal substitution is that God's moral law has been broken and that the price is paid by Jesus.
Moral law - Jesus's death is an act of exemplary obedience which affects the intentions of those who come to know about it.

I'm not going to get into the details and if people want more details Kate Guthrie for one led a session on this during cell so has some notes. Particularly depending on your emphasis on whether Jesus was removing sin or satisfying God's anger or both you can have different understandings of the cross. But the point I'd like to emphasise is where there is agreement - God loved us before we had repented and made a way for us through Christ to be completely restored in relationship with God. I want to focus on the fact that Jesus's life, death on the cross and resurrection has done everything to free us and also enabled us to be in relationship with God and in dwelt by God in the form of the Hoy Spirit who will
As a side point from this part of the passage that may be more relevant to me than anyone else in the room I'd like to put out the idea that if Jesus is our advocate that maybe we do not have to spend as much time defending ourselves or justifying our actions as we probably do. Jesus has got that one covered.
But not only does Jesus offer us hope for ourselves we look at Him more widely for within His death and resurrection is hope that our world, nations and institutions may be redeemed. It's an interesting thought that our collective sins may be forgiven and also that we should forgive those institutions too.

4) Saints or sinners?

And once we understand that working out how not to sin becomes easier. First though in true Cambridge style I'll define my terms to reduce any misunderstandings. I define sin as a deviation from God's perfect (as opposed to permitted) will. God is completely good (or "light" in the passage) and therefore he wants good for us collectively and individuals. But with free will we have a choice as to whether we rebel and go our own way with all the consequences. Our world and nature is tainted but through Jesus we have the hope of redemption. God has started His work in us and He will finish it, we are being transformed. But within the process we still can decide whether we follow God with our heart, in the decisions that make up life.

Let's be aware that we have been made new by Jesus's actions, that not only has Jesus demonstrated love through his sacrifice but that when we accept that love we are changed, we are being changed and we will finally be changed. This means that we do not have to rebel but we can choose to follow God, to lay down our rights in submission to God. John is writing this to encourage people to change some of their views which would hod them back "that you might not sin". We are being changed but part of the problem can be how we view ourselves.
Not a popular concept in this generation but one that we see in the context of God's actions to get us to this point and also the fact that he intends good things for us. Imagine being asked by your parents or best friends to be blindfolded and transported somewhere for a surprise present. You would gladly give up your right to know, to decide where you go because you trust the people organising and you know that it is for a good purpose. Do we think about God in those terms?

Daniel John, 23/02/2010