From the Epistles of John: Who will go with Jesus?

Good day dear friend

We are busy discussing 1 John 1:5-6.

Last time I promised that we will look at the kinds of deceptive darkness we walk in, which do not go along with God, the light.

What is it that you do but do not feel comfortable about? You maybe justify yourself that it is not that wrong. 

Perhaps you excuse your behaviour from 1 Corinthians 6:12 as we often do, thinking that everything is permissible. Or do you tell yourself that God would not mind? Yet you have that lack of peace - something keeps niggling at the back of your mind that this is not right. It could be a known sin that you justify, like deciding that a lie is only a white lie. It could also be petty theft; you take small things like stationery from work and justify it by saying they don’t pay you enough anyhow. Then it could be a matter of relationship. You feel that the person deserved it and therefore you are not going to forgive them. Or it was not your fault, so the other person should be the one to apologise.

While we’re on this topic, I’d like to point out how wise the Lord is. Why do you think it is written in Matthew 5:23-24 that when your brother or sister sins against you, you should be the one to make right with them? Is it possibly because they might feel condemned and find it difficult to ask for forgiveness? Therefore, the loving thing to do is for you to recognise it and be humble enough to go and forgive them without their asking.

Do you have an idea how bright God’s light is and how little darkness He tolerates? Yes, we are forgiven in Christ and we live by grace, but we do read in Philippians 2:12-13: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose”. If we have been saved by grace and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-10), why would the Lord have put Philippians 2:12-13 in the Bible? If we are not saved by works but by faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, what salvation is Philippians 2 referring to? It is being saved from the power of our flesh and Satan’s attempts to keep us from becoming like Jesus, from becoming the light God is. We have to work at it along with the Lord.

Consider the following:  “…as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless”, (Ephesians 5:25-27), “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel”, (Colossians 1:22-23), and “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.  So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him”, (2 Peter 3:13-14). Doesn't this set a standard for us, something to work toward?

We so easily justify the things our flesh likes to do, but which are condemned by the Word of God. There are many small things we do and are convicted of by the Holy Spirit, but because we like it, we ignore His promptings. This is the darkness that John referred to in our passage under discussion. Purity and holiness open the canal for God’s power and peace to work in and through us. When Jesus comes to rapture His church, He comes for a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless, (Ephesians 5:27). I don’t know whether you experience the same, but it is as if the Lord is intensifying the promptings for me to live holy and blameless. He prompts me daily to confess behaviour not previously confessed and to deal with relational issues and bad habits, such as being critical and judgemental. It is as if He desperately wants me to be ready for the rapture, and the tempo with which He works on me (Philippians 2:13) seems to be extremely urgent.

People, the time for playing church and having a form of godliness is over. It’s time to get serious with your sanctification. 

From the Epistles of John: What will the Light reveal about you?

Good day

When I read the epistle of John, I can sense the love that radiates from John. But this first epistle of his is actually a portrait of God’s character of love and holiness. John succeeded in painting a clear picture of the Lord regarding these characteristics, putting you the reader and believer before this mirror to view yourself in the light of who God is, challenging you to become like Him.

Today we are put before the first of a number of these challenges in this book, a challenge I have failed many times, but God’s grace has pulled me through every time, allowing me to start over again.

We read in 1 John 1:5-7: “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.”

This is a powerful statement and as direct as it possibly could be. Why do you think the Lord is called light? Have you ever experienced the following, or maybe seen it in a movie, or maybe imagined it to happen to you. You are not properly dressed, or maybe not decent, or don’t feel you would like to be seen by others the way you look at that moment. You’re walking in darkness from one point to another and suddenly the area lights up brightly. Embarrassed you desperately search for a place to hide, but find none. You are exposed in the state you are in. How did it feel or do you think it would feel? Did you feel exposed?

As a child, I had a dream. Maybe you had a similar dream for I have heard of a few people who did. I was still in primary school when I once dreamed I was entering the schoolyard and, as I looked down, I realised I have never put on my trousers that day. The bottom part of my body was completely naked. All the children were around me and there was nowhere to hide. I will never forget the embarrassment I experienced in that dream.

We feel exposed and embarrassed when we are not acceptable to people as we perceive it, don’t we? Yet we try to fellowship with the Light of all lights whilst having darkness in our behaviour and values. How exposed do you think our behaviour is to the Lord who is light? Can you hide something from sight in a brightly lit room?

How much behaviour do you try to justify? “God will understand”, “everybody does it”, “it’s not that bad”, and the worst one that I tried was the passage in 1 Corinthians 6:12: “‘All things are permissible for me,’ but not all things are helpful.  ‘All things are permissible for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything.” Did Satan have me on a leash on this one? Every time I tried to get rid of my pet sins, this passage was used to justify what my flesh enjoyed doing. However, when I looked up this passage just now in the online Bible, called Bible Gateway to quote it to you, I noticed for the first time in the newest version of the NIV that it said: “I have the right to do anything,” you say... and suddenly it made much more sense. We don’t have the permission or the right to do whatever we like, but our sinful nature wants it, as the Corinthians claimed, and therefore we justify our sin.

But God is light and in Him is no darkness at all and neither can darkness survive in His presence. You will never have peace and will always be disciplined if you try to fellowship with the Most High and continue in your sin (Hebrews 12:4-11). We ask ourselves why we do not have peace and get so much trouble. We pretend to love the Lord but do what we like. Darkness cannot abide in the presence of the Light. Jesus said in John 14:21 and 23 that if we disobey Him, we do not love him.

“Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy,” the Lord told Israel in Leviticus 19:2. God has separated Himself to be light, to be perfect, and to accomplish what He set for himself to be and to do, and so should we.

Next time I will look at 1 John 1:7 as well as the kinds of deceptive darkness we walk in that causes us so much trouble.

With love in Jesus

Henry