God is Light
1 John 1:1–5 (NLT)
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
Mission of Reveal – Reveal Jesus, draw people into the LIGHT
Intro John, Apostle, “disciple who Jesus loved” – had seen, heard, and touched Jesus
1 John 1:1 (NLT)
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.
Proclaim/Declare/Shout
THE ONE – who existed from the beginning – He is a man, but not a mere man. He is also fully God for he ALREADY EXISTED in the beginning
JOHN’s GOSPEL –
John 1:1–5 (ESV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
1 John 1:1 (NLT)
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.
John so excited! We have heard, seen, touched with our own hands.
He is the Word of Life!
1 John 1:2 (NLT)
2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.
This one who is life itself – He is the resurrection and the Life, he overcame death
He is the creator
He was REVEALED to us! – God chose us to reveal himself.
We testify! – He is the One who is Eternal Life!
He was with the Father and then revealed to us.
1 John 1:3 (NLT)
3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
HEY! Again, PROCLAIMING – shouting, testifying! We have ACTUALLY SEEN AND HEARD.
WHY? So you may have fellowship with the Apostles!
Hitch your train to someone who is going somewhere!
Hang out with us!
WHO DO YOU HANG OUT WITH? Who do you FELLOWSHIP with?
In Middle school – my small group of friends all went on to be pastors
In college – several in my small group went on into ministry
Are you fellowshipping with those who are in darkness or in the light?
With a group always talking about Stock Market – probably heavily invested in stocks, or crypto, or real estate
Always talking about hunting or boating
John the Apostle wants to have Fellowship with us – SO THAT we can have fellowship with the SON!
Who hang out with? The MOST popular people?
Do you want to hang with the Creator of the Universe?
He is writing to Christians and wanting to take them deeper.
Do you want to go beyond just getting saved and actually having fellowship with Jesus?
1 John 1:4 (NLT)
4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
He is writing this some 30 years AFTER the resurrection! Still Joy, still excitement!
WHY DOES JOHN WRITE?
You may have Joy! (1 John 1:4)
You may not be deceived (1 John 2:26)
You may KNOW that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13)
1 John 1:5 (NLT)
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
Heard the message directly from Jesus!
God is light! – purity, holiness, truth, revelation, clarity
In Him – no darkness, no evil, no evil ideas,
NOT AT ALL
Greek and Roman gods – they created gods in man’s image
Our own pictures of our father – sometimes angry, sometimes selfish
Lustful, judgmental, vindictive
The gods could be kind, but they were much more often cruel, capricious, vain, vengeful, and careless.
1 John 1:5b
“God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.”
BUT ISN’T THERE A GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT? ISN’T HE ANGRY IN THE OT?
Isn’t God a “comic-kill joy” not wanting us to have any fun, always concerned about breaking his laws, and getting offended when we want to try things our own way?
ALL ABOUT THE LENS…
ILLUSTRATION:
We often see it as Aggressive and destructive, or passive aggressive and snarky or suppressed.
But there is righteous anger. Anger –THE MORAL EMOTION – “I am against that! That is WRONG!” – saying it and feeling it with passion.
We equate anger with yelling and screaming or violence
NOT NECESSARY
My Son – learning to ride a bike, I told him to stay beside me or behind me, had ridden on ahead. I said to stop. He stopped pedaling but tried to balance and accidentally ended up in the road and almost hit by a car. The driver of the car was freaked out and angry, I was angry because he hadn’t listened and almost died.
SAME WITH GOD – God doesn’t want anyone to die or get hurt, or be separated from Him for eternity.
2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
“not wishing” – not willing, not desiring, not wanting
1 Timothy 2:1–4 (ESV)
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
We are supposed to pray for kings and rulers because God wants them to be saved.
God is so loving He even cares about politicians
Paul talking about praying for kings and rulers and those in authority – God desires for everyone to be saved. We are supposed to pray for our leaders.
I’m not a Biden fan, in fact for the last 4 years, I’ve been waiting for him to leave office, just Biden my time. – Praying for his salvation!
God’s Love
God so loved the world (John 3:16)
God desires all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4)
God doesn’t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9)
God gets angry because people are doing things that hurt others or
Probably nothing gets me angrier than when someone hurts one of my kids – particularly one of my kids hurting another kid!
GOD TOO!
Matthew 18:3–6 (ESV)
3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Human trafficking -gets me angry.
When people fall into idolatry – God gets angry! They are hurting themselves and others!
1 John 1:5b
“God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.”
Isaiah 45:7 (NKJV)
7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’
Genesis 1:1–5 (ESV)
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
God uses darkness, calamity to bring about His will.
Isaiah 45:7 (NKJV)
7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’
Create calamity – tried to explain away.
God is GOOD, He is going to use it for my good and His glory.
PICTURE???
Fires in California? Yes!
WHY? To expose the pride, to expose the darkness,
Palisades, CA? wealthy neighborhood
MY JOB AS A PASTOR: To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable
God does the same, He LOVES US ENOUGH to disciplines us.
Hebrews 12:5–11 (ESV)
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Discipline is painful
SPANKING is painful -
BUT WHY?
Hebrews 12:6 (ESV)
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
ILLUSTRATION: Friend Brian, Loved God, but was getting into a snarky spiteful Christian place.
Several months ago he had a heart attack, it humbled him and drew him back to God.
IT WAS A CALAMITY IN HIS LIFE. He spoke about it afterward and was grateful for it because it caused him to realize what was most important. Relationships with his wife and God and others.
2 weeks ago he went home to be the with the Lord.
1 John 1:5 (NLT)
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
God is light – He is perfectly loving, perfectly just, no unrighteousness
When you go through trials, God is light, He is with you, He is using this to draw you to Himself.
APPLICATION:
Where have you been questioning that God was good? Choose by faith to believe He is good and using the experience for your good and His glory.
What darkness do you have in your life that you need to bring into the Light?
Since God is light and has no darkness, God is not trying to humiliate and destroy you, but liberate and heal you. By faith, step into the light, confess your sin and be healed (James 5:16)