Monday, March 29, 2021

The Fellowship of God 2: Walk In Love 1 John 2:7

The Fellowship of God 2: Walk In Love

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1 John 2:7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

Review

Theme/ purpose – John writes this letter to show the true fellowship and the family of God and counter the false fellowship of Gnosticism. One is a fellowship base on the new birth and can be seen in doctrine and in action, the other false fellowship is based on an appeal to some higher esoteric mystical knowledge and shows no evidence of light, love or truth.

John is establishing who is the Family of God, the Gnostics are trying to enter the family without being born into it or exhibiting any of the characteristics of God’s family.

Outline

Introduction: The Person of Christ and the Purpose of the Letter 1:1-4

Fellowship's Code

Walk In The Light, Stay in the Light by confession of sin 1:5-2:2

Fellowship's Conduct

Walk In Obedience, keep His commandments 2:3-6

Walk In Love, the superseding commandment 2:7-17

Fellowships Creed, Walk In the Truth Jesus is the Christ 2:18-19.

Fellowship's characteristics. 3:1-24.

Fellowship's cautions. 4:1-21.

Fellowship's cause. 5:1-21.

- Modified from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.

The Fiat of God’s Love – 1 John 2:7-11

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

The Foundational Commandment

No, we’re not talking about a little car from Italy. A fiat is a command or act of will that creates something without or as if without further effort. An authoritative determination, an authoritative order.

In the previous paragraph (1 John 2:3–6), John has been talking about keeping the Lord’s commandments, if we know Him and if we love Him then we will obey Him. Now he focuses on “The Commandment,” the identifying commandment of the New Testament believer and disciple, the commandment that Jesus said was His new commandment. This new commandment is the foundation upon which all the New Testament is based. This command took Christ to the cross, forgave our sin, and now extends the Gospel to the entire world. This commandment supersedes all the Old Testament law that we could not keep and replaces it with just one command that we can keep because it has been given to us in our union with Christ.

That commandment is love and specifically that we love one another. At the end of his earthly ministry as He is preparing his disciples to carry on the work of the Gospel without His physical presence, Jesus tells his disciples, John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

And He repeats it again John 15:12 This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you”

John begins by telling the Christian, “I’m not giving you a new commandment.” The Gnostics were trying to convince the Christians of how exciting their new knowledge and way of seeing religion was, but John says you don’t need something new. You already have something greater than new knowledge, you have an old commandment, given to you from the beginning of your walk with the Lord, and it goes back to the time the Lord walked upon earth. Then he says in vs. 8 “Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shines.” 

What John is emphasizing is that this command is not new in the sense of never heard before but it is new because of the change it has brought and will always bring, “the darkness is past and the true light now shines.” The newness of Christ’s command to love was just as fresh and powerful as it was when Jesus first uttered it. John says, it is yet still  new because it changed and renewed everything about us and relationship to God and our relationship to one another.

This commandment overpowers and supersedes all others because it was meant to be the fulfillment of all that had gone before. Love is the fulfillment of God’s Law, the finality of all previous commands.

Romans 13:8–10 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

“Love one another” is forever new because it supersedes and replaces the old. Paul’s great chapter on Agape love ends with this truth, “1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

So foundational to the life of the church and the life of the believer was this old but always new command that John says 1 John 2:9–11 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

The Power of Loving One Another

The “new commandment” of Christ is vital to our walk as followers of Christ, if we can’t obey it then John says we are in stumbling in the darkness and don’t know where we are going.

Loving one another is vital within the church and in our own life, but its effect is not limited to just the family of God. It is not only vital for our own ability to stay and walk in the light, but it is also essential if we are to show a lost world the light of Jesus’ love. The love of Christ is just four words to the lost until they can experience it and often the first way they experience it is by seeing it in us, in the church, between brothers and sister in the Lord’s family.

This should be the easiest command to keep for us who have known the love of the Lord and yet it is often neglected and ignored. You don’t have to be a Christian very long before you realize, Christians can be unloving, unforgiving and even vicious toward one another. Nor is this reality something new.

Paul talking about the same thing we are talking about this morning told the Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Now let me be honest with you as my church, you folks are easy to love. You really are and we all know I am probably one of the most lovable people you’ll ever meet. My wife has made sure of that by getting rid of all my negative characteristics over the years. And though you and I find it easy to love one another right now, at other times it can be heartbreakingly difficult. Nothing has left me more devastated as a pastor than seeing church members I loved walk away in hate, of me or of someone else in the church they once loved. It is easier to let them go, to ignore and disobey the Lord’s command, but it is His foundational, New Testament command, “Love one another.”

We must obey it, no matter how difficult, because our Lord has commanded us, His love compels us and because we will cease to walk in the light if we quit loving one another. And because the world will never believe that God loves them, if they don’t believe we love them, and they won’t believe we love them if they don’t see that we truly love one another.

Illustration: Gandhi rejects Christianity because of what he say in Christians

Gandhi, when he was being educated in England, was exposed to Jesus. Upon reading the words of Christ he was greatly attracted to Christianity. Yet in the end he rejected Christianity and stayed in the darkness of Hinduism. In his writings he said that he would have turned to Christianity except for the contradictions to the teachings of Jesus he saw in the lives of the people who claimed to follow him.

Transition:

Next flowing from the command of loving one another as the family of God, John begins to address the members of that family.

 The Family Of God’s Love – 1 John 2:12-14

12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

The Faithful Family

John writes to the family of God and calls them by group, the little children, the fathers and the young men and then repeats that some way of addressing them. Some have said that this was based on their ages and that is possible, but to John they were all little children and he uses that term more later in the epistle. It could be that John is addressing all of them with all of these terms as a way of reminding them who they all were as the family of God and the experience that he attributes to them fits the label at different times in their growing Christian life.

They had all experienced the forgiveness of sin as become as “little children” As “fathers,” or parents they had known the One that is from the beginning. And as “young men,” they had experienced spiritual warfare and by faith had overcome the wicked one. John repeats and adds to these groups and experiences and in this we see that this is a form of poetry or prose based on the Jewish form of poetry that repeats a thought or an idea, adding to it to give it emphasis.  It would be written like this:

John's Hymn To the Family of God
I write unto you, little children,because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
I write unto you, fathers,because ye have known him that is from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men,because ye have overcome the wicked one.
I write unto you, little children,because ye have known the Father.
I have written unto you, fathers,because ye have known him that is from the beginning.
I have written unto you, young men,because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

Understood in this way, the sequence and repetition of “children,” “fathers,” and “young men” has greater meaning. They knew their sins were forgiven, they knew they walked and had fellowship with the Eternal One, and now like strong, young warriors who had overcome Satan’s attacks they were ready for the next fight.

Illustration:

John Hymn has the same inspiration as us singing the hymn “Onward Christian Soldier”

1 Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before!
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
Forward into battle, see his banner go!

2 At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee;
On, then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
Brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise

Refrain: Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before!

The Power of God’s Family

One of the wonderful things about reading and preaching from the New Testament is how easy it is to apply the verses to our lives. No need to look up Old Testament customs and manner or explain foreshadowing or types. You just have to read it, understand that it was meant for us today and then apply it. And what a great application John gives us.

This is who we are, the family of God and this is the power that we have as a part of that family, the most powerful family in all the universe. There is power in knowing we have been forgiven and are now eternally safe in the grace and love of our Lord. There is power in knowing the One who created the universe and holds time and eternity in His hands. There is power in the family of God and in that power of forgiveness, grace and faith, I can overcome. I need not be a victim of Satan and his host, because I am a member of the most powerful family of all. I will win the battle of faith. I will be strong in the race of life and yes, I will overcome the wicked one. God’s word has told me, it is so.

Later in this same letter John write once more about this truth and gives it a powerful retelling, 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Transition:

After John encourages the family of God in their strength then he turns to the battle they must face against the false love of this world.

The Failure Of No God’s Love - 1 John 2:15-17

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

The False Love

Now after John has encourage and inspired his family in the Lord, he gives a warning. A warning of a battle they must be aware that they are fighting every day they are on this earth. A battle against the world false love. He warns them, “Do not love the world or anything that is a part of this world.

He is using the word, world (kosmos), in a spiritual sense, as the realm that is under the power of the prince of this world, Satan. This “world” is a direct contradiction of God’s love and it is in conflict with heaven. As Christians, as God’s family we are not fighting sinners, those are the people we are to win through our love, but we are fighting the world, the kingdom that holds them bound in it’s sin and false love.

This love of the world is seductive and appealing to the lost who don’t know anything else but John’s warning here is to the believer, “Love not the world.” The same world that holds the lost prisoner, can often seduce and bewitch us and pull us back into its influence. It will act as though it loves you but in truth it wants to destroy you.

Jesus warned his disciple on the last night of his life, John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  

James the brother of Jesus was adamant, James 4:4 … know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Vs. 16. The reason the love of this world is false and incompatible with the true love of God is all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. It is a counterfeit love, it is the bait of a sinful, dangerous trap, used by this world, this anti-God system of values, goals and desires to lure the Christian away from God, away from His love, away from His light away from His truth and plunge us into stumbling darkness.

The word lust is epithymia in the Greek and it means to have a craving, a longing, a desire for something that is forbidden, something that is wrong.

John is telling his readers to understand the battle, understand what is at stake. The world and its lust, its desires, its hope and dreams are temporary, they all will pass away, but the one who fights the battle, stands in the light, knows the true love of Jesus and does God’s will, that one will live forever. And the accomplishments, the work, the spiritual investments of that person are deposited in heaven and also are eternal.

John is just restating what His master once told him, Matthew 6:19-2119 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The Power of Resistance

I’ve always found it interesting that the three lusts John mentions here, seem to be an echo of the original temptation in the Garden and of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. This battle against the false love of the world has been going on since the beginning of this world.

Genesis 3:6 6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, (lust of the flesh) and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise, (pride of life) she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Matthew 4:3-9 3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. (lust of the flesh) …5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6  And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. (pride of life)… 8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (lust of the eyes)

You can see it is the same battle, but can you also see the difference? Eve and the first Adam, lost the battle and gave into the love of the world and it destroyed them. But Jesus, the second Adam, our Lord and Savior won the battle, overcame the temptation and with His sinless life and sacrificial death, He saved us from that destruction.

Jesus later when he was teaching his followers put it this way, in John 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

The lesson should be clear for us, love this world and it will destroy you but turn your eyes upon Jesus, the one who truly loves us and we will overcome this world. Instead of everything we worked for just turning to dust, we have a reward that waits for us eternal in heaven.

Illustration: Paul’s last eternal words

The apostle Paul lived his whole life after salvation in this truth, rejecting the love, honors and glory of the world he knew, he fought for and in the love he found on the Damascus Road. From that moment on it was only about the love of Jesus Christ, the power of the Gospel and the hope of eternity. Do you remember almost the last words Paul wrote while waiting to be offered up from a Roman prison cell? As he waited for Nero’s final judgment and the sword that would take his life, he wrote to his son in the faith Timothy. These verses were his final life’s declaration that we know. From that dark, despairing cell he wrote…

In 2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Conclusion

Written to us

….not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. Paul wrote those words to us. John wrote to us, “He that does the will of God lives forever!” Put an exclamation point on the end of that statement because it is a statement that should be amplified and then codified in our life on this earth.

Only the love of God, experienced through the family of God, gives us the power of God to resist the lust of this world and realize the promise of eternal life. Put an exclamation point on the second chapter of John by living, walking and fighting in the light of its wonderful truth.


 

 

Monday, March 22, 2021

Fellowship Of The God's Light - 1 John 1-2

Fellowship Of The God's Light - 1 John 1-2

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Introduction: 

Unlike most other NT epistles this one has no salutation at the beginning and no benediction at the conclusion. These four verses of introduction correspond to the opening eighteen verses of the Gospel and three verses of the Revelation. All these opening verses tell us the focus of John’s writings and indeed the focus of all his life, the Word, the Logos, who is life.

John 1:1-10 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world

Revelation 1:1-3 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

The epistle of First John is built around the repetition three themes of antagonism: light vs. darkness, love vs. hatred, and truth vs. error. These three “battles” flow in and out of the letter.

In the letter, John gives the five reasons he is writing his first epistle:

That we might have fellowship (1:3). that ye also may have fellowship with us. This is the main theme of the first two chapters, which we will try to cover today.

That we might have joy (1:4). And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

That we might not sin (2:1–2). My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

That we might know truth and error (2:26). These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

That we might have assurance (5:13). These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God

John the Last Apostle

John may have been much younger than His Lord, whatever his age actually was we can be pretty sure that since Jesus probably began his ministry at 30, the age when a man was qualified to served in the Temple, its very probably that his apostles would have been around that age or younger. By the time John writes his epistles, he is the last surviving apostle. He calls himself the elder and the aged. It is thought that he may have been close to 90 years old.

In the age we live in, it sometimes seems that everything we once thought was true and unshakeable about our doctrine, about our churches, about our nations and our families is now rapidly changing. Suddenly nothing is sure, truth is no longer truth, right is no longer desirable and wrong accepted as a necessary human right. As unsettling and disheartening as this is for us, can you imagine what it was like for the last living apostle, John. Everything and everybody that once were a steadfast part of his life are now gone. His brother James, killed by the Pharisees while still a young man back in Jerusalem. His fishing partners and later his coworkers in the work of carrying the Gospel, Peter and Andrew, both gone. No apostles left, Paul is gone and as far was we can tell from the letters none of the other building blocks of the New Testament are living. No mention is made of Mark, Luke, Barnabas, or Silas. In their place there is a new generation of pastors and workers that John is trying to teach.

On top of the loss of his family and fellow apostles, the truth of the Gospel and even the Person of his Lord and Savior is under attack, often by those who dare to call themselves,  Christians. Toward the end of the first century a new false Christianity, called Gnosticism, was making inroads into the churches. The Christianity that turned the world upside down in the first half of the century,  was now at risk of being turned upside down itself.

Gnosticism, was a philosophy of existence or being. It involved speculations concerning the origin of matter and how human beings can be free from matter. In particular, Gnosticism held that knowledge is superior to virtue, that the nonliteral sense of Scripture is the true meaning and can be understood only by a select few, that evil in the world means God’s could not be the creator, that the Incarnation was impossible because deity cannot unite itself with anything material—such as a body, and that there is no resurrection of the flesh. This teaching resulted in beliefs like Jesus not being a human at all but was merely a prolonged theophany, or that Jesus was the natural son of Joseph and Mary, upon whom Christ came at the time of baptism. Some Gnostics practiced asceticism because they believed all matter to be evil. Antinomianism, or lawlessness, was the conduct of others, since they held knowledge to be superior to virtue. - Wycliffe Bible Commentary

In spite of all the things that seemed to be changing the very foundations of Christianity, John knew that the truth hadn’t changed and can’t change. That Jesus the son of God, very God of very God, God in the flesh had not changed that he was the same, yesterday, today and forever and so John writes these letters to strongly and boldly proclaim again, the truth of Jesus Christ.

The Last Apostle and the Fellowship of God’s Light

1 John 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

The Person. 1:1, 2

John names Jesus as the Word, the Logos. With this name, this title, John is declaring the reality, the truth, of the revelation of God in the person of Jesus. John then gives his witness of his own personal, first-hand experience of his life and time with Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, raised by his earthly father Joseph. John, heard him teach in the synagogues, he heard him preach the Sermon on the Mount, He saw Him heal the sick, give sight to the blind, cast out demons, walk on water, calm the storm, feed thousands with only a few loaves and fishes. John saw this same Jesus raise Lazarus from the grave. Then he saw Him beaten, tortured, humiliated and then crucified on a Roman cross and then he saw his Lord die and all the earth turn to blackness. But that was not the end of what John had personally seen. Oh, no. For 3 days later, he heard the reports of Mary, ran to see the empty tomb and then, and then he saw Jesus alive, returned from the dead victorious in glory, power and light. Finally, on Mt Olivet, he watched as Jesus ascended back into the throne room of heaven and heard the promise of His return.

John in his Gospel and in these letters stands and says, “My eyes have seen him. My hands have touched him. He is the Word of life!”

The Purpose. 1:3, 4

Now John writes the next generation of believers, some at risk of the lies and seduction of a false knowledge, a gnosis, that was not based in truth or reality and not proven by first hand eye-witness accounts, but on a philosophy that masqueraded as a new, better, deeper, more fulfilling way, but in truth it was pure deception. It is still with us in many forms, but this also hasn’t changed it is still a deception, still and error, still a lie and not the truth.

So, lets look at the first two chapters of 1 John as John establishes the standards and the conduct of the Fellowship of Light. First, it is a Fellowship …

The Code: Walk In Light - 1 John 1:5–2:6

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

The Fellowship Kept by Confession 1:5- 2:2

John writes that the fellowship demands walking in the light of God. He says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If there was to be fellowship, then it demands staying, dwelling and walking in light and not in darkness. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, then and only then do we have fellowship..”

Walking in the light of God, John points out does not require some special higher gnosis, some obscure hidden knowledge, but instead something that every child of God understands, the confession of sin. Vs. 8- 10, 2:1-2 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 2:1–2 1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

To stay in the light, all they must do was turn from the darkness of sin and in humility and repentance confess and once again, they would be walking in the Fellowship of that light.

Staying in the Fellowship of Light

For us to being in the Fellowship of Light means keeping ourselves in the light of God. John is writing to Christians, church members, so he is not speaking of initial sanctification or salvation but instead of progressive sanctification. Day by day overcoming sin and darkness through the same power of God’s grace and forgiveness, that saved our soul. Now it keeps us in the light of fellowship. It is simply, conviction of sin, confession of sin and the forgiveness of sin.

This is what Paul taught in Colossians 2:6-7 6  As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7  rooted and builded up in him, and established in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

When John says, “that ye sin not” it is written in the aorist tense, the past tense. He is telling them not to remain in unconfessed sin, not to believe a sinful lie, but to confess and trust in Jesus forgiveness.  He reminds them and us, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”

There is no secret, no hidden, deeper knowledge, no need for a second blessing, or a heaping helping of speaking in tongues or a miracle healing service, where some charlatan lays hands on me or teaches some new revelation. No all that is required is to just walk in the light, to stay in fellowship with God and with your brothers and sister in Christ and you do that by confession of sin and turning always back to Jesus’ love, forgiveness and light. All the time, every time, this is what we must do. When we practice this then sin will not become a practice in our life. Sin will not dominate us, will not control us and we will walk in the fellowship of light.  

After John tells this new generation of Christians that fellowship is first based on walking in the light of God, he then gives the next aspect of fellowship and that is the conduct that defines the fellowship.

The Conduct: Walk in Obedience - 1 John 2:3–6

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

The Fellowship's Conduct

John tells the new generation of Christians, if you are in this fellowship then it will require something of you, it will require not just bowing the knee in repentance but also bowing the knee in obedience. 1 John 2:3 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

The word know, used here, is the word the word ginosko, the same word that the word gnosis and the idea of Gnosticism comes from. But here John is using it in contrast to some vague, esoteric knowledge that you may or may not attain to. Here he is saying this is how you absolutely know that you know Him, you will keep His commandments.

Just as Jesus was real, substantial, and knowable, so also are the conduct that keeps Christians in fellowship with him and with one another. To stay in the fellowship of light, follow the commands of the One who is your leader and Lord. You must obey Jesus Christ.

Ruled by the Risen Ruler

The first century age of John had more in common with our age than we sometimes realize. Certainly, our social life is different, yes our technology has made a world of wonders but one thing hasn’t changed at all, people don’t like rules, They don’t like being told what to do. Sometime even people who say they are Christians, don’t like to hear about rules. They love to talk how Jesus set them free, but they don’t want to discuss how Jesus set them free to serve Him.

Please, don’t misunderstand sometimes when a preacher starts talking about rules and standards, the sermon devolves into a form of legalistic items for how to dress, wear your hair, the right kind of music, entertainment or a whole host of other man-made or preacher made rules. That is not what John is talking about when he talks of Christ’s commands. The rest of chapter two is about Christ’s commandment and we’ll take that up next week, because it is too important a subject to just mention in passing. John devotes more verses to that commandment than anything else.

What we do need to understand when it comes to the commands of Jesus Christ, what I need to accept as nonnegotiable and irrevocable, is if I am a child of God and walking in the fellowship with Him, is that I must obey Him. I must obey my Lord, Savior and King who gave His life to save my soul. I must.

Throughout the Old Testament God called out to his people to obey Him.

1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

Jeremiah 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Jeremiah 11:4  Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:

That call of God has not changed. The Old Testament people of God failed over and over and over again to be able to Obey the voice of God, they could not as a people keep the Covenant of the Law. We would also fail and in the same way, but Jesus came and with Him a new Covenant, a covenant of Grace, a promise of mercy. A covenant we have entered into by faith, a covenant not kept by us, but the power of God through Jesus Christ.

Now Jesus invites us into the blessings of that New Covenant, into a relationship with him and in that fellowship we now have the ability to obey the commandments of our King. Something that was impossible to do before is now what defines us as Christians, as those in the Fellowship of God’s Light.

Here is the difference, instead of hearing the demands of the law telling us to obey, we now hear Jesus say, Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Whatever Jesus requires of me, whatever command he gives me, no matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice, I can do it, because He walks in the yoke beside me. When I fall beneath the load, He gathers me back up and puts me on my feet once again. When my shoulders grow weak and I groan under the strain of the burden, His shoulders just grow stronger and He carries me along. His burden, his commandments, his rule of my life is light because he is strong enough to carry us both and he does over and over again, day after day, year after year, he carries me as I willing and lovingly obey him.

 Come Unto Me

1 Hear the blessed Savior calling the oppressed,
“O, ye heavy-laden, come to Me and rest;
Come, no longer tarry, I your load will bear,
Bring Me every burden, bring Me ev'ry care.”

Are you disappointed, wand’ring here and there,
Dragging chains of doubt and loaded down with care?
Do unholy feelings struggle in your breast?
Bring your case to Jesus, He will give you rest.

Refrain: Come unto Me; I will give you rest;
Take My yoke upon you, hear Me and be blest;
I am meek and lowly, come and trust My might;
Come, My yoke is easy, and My burden’s light.

 Conclusion

The Fellowship of Light has these first two foundational elements:

Walking in the light by knowing and applying the power of confession and

Showing the reality of that fellowship by conducting my life in obedience to Christ.

The world is filled with people who call themselves children of  light but are walking as children of the dark. They don’t see the need to confess what the Bible defines as sin and they don’t care to submit themselves in obedience to their savior’s commands. Whatever may be the eternal state of their soul, the state of their life in the present is not in the fellowship of God’s light. You can’t be in the darkness of unconfessed sin or the rebellion of an unsubmitted life and walk with God.