Walk In The Light
Sunrise and sunset. One of the facts I’ve been reminded of now that I’ve moved to Minnesota is that it’s hard to be a good sunrise and good sunset. They are so beautiful that you want to stop what you’re doing and just stand there looking at the beautiful colors. It’s so beautiful that you want to buy some property on a lake, put up a chair or a dock, and just sit there watching it. It draws you in with its beauty. That’s where John starts this morning. He invites us to walk in the light. We read: “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. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out 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, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5–7 NIV11-GKE)
Walk in the light. That is the main point that John is making in these words. But, notice that he does not mean that literally. He does not want us to build a rocket and launch ourselves into the sun. If we ask the question, ‘what is the light,’ John answers our question. God is light. And just as important as that thought is, the second thought is just as important: There is no darkness at all in him. And so, walking with God, in the light, means walking out of darkness. It means resisting our sin and wrestling against it. There’s a great warning here in these words. Day by day, in every way, we need to be wrestling against sin. We need to be walking out of it. Why? Because if we don’t, the darkness will consume us. If we live for our sin, then our sin will be our God. And those who have sin as their God will end up in the place of eternal darkness when they die: hell. These words show us our sin, don’t they? They shine the light on the fact that there have been times when we have been friends with our sin instead of waging war against it. We have loved the darkness and not wanted to come into the light and leave our sins behind. And that’s a saddening and sickening thought. How wonderful these words here are, when John says, “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7 NIV11-GKE) Our sin—even those sins we commit when we love to be friends with the darkness—those sins are forgiven too. And with all the strength in us we spend our lives wrestling against our sins and walking out of the darkness.
So we walk in the light. We walk in the light by walking out of the darkness. But John writes more: “7
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:7–10 NIV11-GKE)
Satan is sneaky. And we see that in these words. Who would have thought that there would have been anything wrong with wrestling against our sin and walking away from the darkness of sin inside of us. But it can be. It can be wrong to walk away from sin if it sets off a chain reaction: First, We walk out of darkness by wrestling against sin. Second, if we begin to have some success in this area we begin to conclude that we don’t need to confess our sins. We can begin to conclude that we have our sins under control. And this leads then to the third stage. We look down on others who cannot hide their sins like we can. What a tragedy it is to conclude that just because you don’t call people bad names to their faces that those thoughts aren’t there in your heart. They are. You’ve just become better at hiding them than newer Christians.
Years ago I met a man who was new to Christianity. He was a brand new member of his church. And he invited the vicar over to his house after Easter. Everything about this guy was rough around the edges. But he made the point of letting all of his family members know who I was. He told them all, “this is the vicar.” He did this because he wanted them to come to church with him—his church. I remember how after the family members left, he asked me if I played chess. And I told him that I hadn’t played for years. But I could play if he wanted. So he took out his board. He won the first game. But the second game was not so easy for him. And the more difficult it was the more he smoked and filled the room up with smoke. And then, by a miracle I won the second game and there was a chain of foul language that streamed out of his mouth. He was so frustrated because he didn’t see it coming. And what he did was amazing. Now, let me be clear: what was amazing was not his over-smoking and his foul language. No, my friends in Christ, what was amazing is what happened after. He confessed his sins and I could see that even then he was fighting with everything inside of him to walk out of the darkness.
I mention all of this because we can be Christians for so long that we begin to fool ourselves and conclude either that we don’t really sin as much as others or that sin is conquerable on this side of heaven. That’s why what John says here is just as important as what says before. We walk in the light by walking out of the darkness. But we also walk in the light by confessing the darkness inside of us. Notice that that is the solution. Yes, we wrestle against sin and walk out of it all the days of our life. But take to heart what John says here: To your very last day, to your very last breath, you will sin. And the solution to that is confessing them. We cannot take those sins away. But Jesus can and does.
Notice then where these words finish: “1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1–2 NIV11-GKE)
I love what John says here because sometimes we end up asking the question, “why are your saying this?” And here he answers the question with two answers. First, John is writing this so that we would not sin. Every day we wrestle to walk out of the darkness so that the darkness doesn’t enslave us and consume us. And second, so that we would know Jesus who atones for our sin.
There are two beautiful thoughts in that statement. First, the word here describes what happens in the Old Testament sacrifices. When the blood of animals was connected with God’s holy word it covered up sin. It buried it so far and so deep that it will never come back again. As we confess our sins, our Savior Jesus buries them. Those around us might remember some times we said and did what was wrong, the selfish, sinful, self-seeking words and actions. Others might remember them. But because of Jesus covers them with his own blood. And so they are forgiven and forgotten in the eyes of his Father in heaven.
And just to make sure that we know this forgiveness is ours John adds two massive, momentous words. He could have just said, “us.” But instead he says “the world.” And he also says “All” the world. He does this so that we would know that because Jesus died on the cross the entire world is forgiven in God’s eyes. Now, there are many that despise this fact and will end up in the darkness on hell on the last day. But this double emphasis of “all” and “world” gives us double comfort. Because if Jesus died for the entire world, then I can conclude that Jesus died for me.
So my dear friends in Christ, walk in the light. Continue to walk out of the darkness of sin. And continue to confess the darkness inside of you. Amen.